It’s been over two weeks since our road trip, and we’ve had enough time to sort through our impressions. After many years of summer holidays in Italy, you might think Greece is the next logical destination. Both countries are known for their ancient history and must therefore be very similar. Wrong!

In the Peloponnese, you can see and feel the influences of the Orient everywhere. Cities like Tripoli could easily be mistaken for Tripoli. And actually, gyros and ouzo are very similar to kebab and raki. It’s these influences that made this holiday so exciting for us. Modern European culture meets the early antiquity of the ancient Greeks, but the footprints of the Roman Empire are just as palpable as the involuntary remnants of the Ottomans. For millennia, the peninsula was the link, or rather the buffer, between the Orient and the Occident, and as a result, it was forced to develop its very own identity.

When you meet a Greek person outside the tourist hotspots, you sense a cautious reserve. We often felt like we were being sized up before a decision was made on how to interact. With a friendly “Yassas” or “Kalimera,” we could usually break the ice quickly. I can only guess that this reticence is partly due to centuries of invasions, but also surely because “the Europeans” have imposed a great burden on the Greeks with austerity measures. A burden whose impact is reflected in the infrastructure.

The European Union, on the other hand, seems to be financing many infrastructure projects, so excavations, motorways, and irrigation systems are at a high standard. The irrigation, in particular, surprised me. Virtually all plantations are equipped with targeted drip or root irrigation. You see black hoses everywhere, bringing water directly to the plants. The archaeological sites are also mostly in good condition, although I would have wished for more explanatory signs. And the motorways, part of the European motorway network, are so new that some are still under construction. Away from these flagship projects, however, the picture changes quickly. Country roads overgrown with grass, dilapidated buildings, and outdated infrastructure.

The water supply seems to be secure everywhere, but waste disposal is still very basic. Sewage treatment plants appear to be the exception, and so wastewater is mostly just discharged into rivers or the sea. It seems a bit strange to a Central European when a pipe emerges from under the quay wall in the port of Galatas and brown sludge flows into the harbour basin. It was also unusual for us that, for this reason, you don’t dispose of toilet paper in the toilet in most cases, but in a bin next to it. Not a pleasant sight. Electricity, on the other hand, is not a problem, while the quality of the internet varies. But all the lines are attached to poles, not laid underground as is common in Germany.

Mobile phone reception was quite reliable, especially near settlements. The Wi-Fi at the campsites depended on the available wired internet, but was usually rather slow for an entire campsite. No wonder that at least one campsite therefore relied on Starlink, which gave me the opportunity to test it. I’m pleasantly surprised; I didn’t expect 150 Mbit/s with a ping of 40 milliseconds. That can easily keep up with the internet in Germany. While we’re on the topic of digitalisation: card payment or Apple Pay was possible everywhere, even in the smallest taverna on the beach.

For travellers with experience in southern countries, none of this is a deal-breaker. In the end, as a camper, you just want a level, shady pitch, clean sanitary facilities, and some electricity. That was always provided. Even though the trip was our summer holiday this year, we’re not the kind of people who lie on the beach for three weeks. We also want to see the country and accordingly had several sights on our itinerary. Here, the Peloponnese offers an endless wealth of ancient and medieval sites, scenic features, and vibrant cities. We largely ignored the latter and focused in particular on the archaeological sites.

Here you often notice that Greece’s history goes back further than Italy’s. Mycenae allows you a glimpse into the time of 3,500 BC, while Mystras gives an impression of the Middle Ages on the Hellenic peninsula. And for everything in between and after, there are other excavations and sights. With Kalavryta, it also becomes clear that Greece has not been spared from invasion and suffering even in modern times. If you were to turn off at every brown sign directing you to a sight, you could easily spend several months on the peninsula and probably still not have seen everything. And much of it is likely still slumbering undiscovered in the ground.

For a beach holiday, we would go to the west. Stone beaches are just not for us; you can’t lie comfortably on a towel and you need beach shoes to get into the water uninjured. The west, however, offers a long and wide sandy beach north of Kalo Nero. Unfortunately, the weather for us was very windy and sometimes rainy, probably due to travelling in September. The first two weeks without a sandy beach, we had fantastically warm weather. Not good planning on our part. On a positive note, the beaches are not plastered with clubs like in Italy. Legally, beaches in Greece are public property and cannot be leased, which means the business model of the bagnos doesn’t exist here. There are occasional beach tavernas, and at least at the one we visited, the sunbeds were free and we could escape the sandy wind a bit.

All in all, we really liked the Peloponnese. Even though the relaxation part of our summer holiday was a washout this year, the road trip was absolutely worthwhile from a cultural perspective. A look into the past and the cradle of democracy is worth it in any case, and I can warmly recommend a holiday on the peninsula. The region is also well-suited for hiking, cycling, or water sports. For pure beach holidays, however, less so. The few sandy beaches are not very touristy, and you’ll search in vain for large hotel complexes. But that has its own charm, you just have to like it.

Yassas!