Exploring Greek Military Areas on Leros

17

Tuesday 10 September, 2013 by Uncle Spike

We had hired a tiny little Kia Picanto to explore the Greek island of Leros one summer. Yep, this was it… but what a little star that car was! By the way, we called it Eugene 🙂

.

.

Having taken us all over the island on all the ‘nice’ roads, here are some of the places a Kia Picanto perhaps shouldn’t go, or rather, where a Kia Picanto wouldn’t normally go! Yes, Eugene had a bit of an off-road streak in him, with a fetish for creating clouds of red dust, hitting the rocky unmade mountain roads and causing yet more testing of the handbrake!

.

.

.

Ah yes, and then there’s this…. this link will show you a short video of how Eugene took us into some forbidden territory… 😀

………………………………..

After a few kilometres, we were greeted by these sights….

………………………………..

.

.

It was at this point that we thought, “Hmm, perhaps time to turn around”!

Leros is quite militarily significant to Greece, with a violent history of invasions, battles and occupations, not least, a major battle during WW2 when the Nazi’s defeated the Allied forces of Italy and Britain, fighting over the fact that the Italian navy had their Mediterranean fleet based there. Nowadays it is quieter, but it’s very very close to the Turkish mainland, with whom there is a slightly less than cordial relationship at the best of times, and as we were three Turkish passports holders, the thought of being challenged by the Greek army, right on their turf, was perhaps foolhardy at best

… … … … … … … … …

The story continues in…

“Eugene Goes To Town”