Just wanted some advice, opinions etc. My latest escapade has tentative plans to arrive in Greece via ferry in Patras, and then head north with the trip culminating in the italian alps. Time span is approx 2 weeks.

I have 2 major burning questions though

1) Ideal route through Greece. Just looking for any must-see's, great rides / scenery etc. that people have experienced. I really wanted to go to Meteora, but some people say east coast, some say west, some say something else. Just ideas really, we don't really have time to do a lot of backtracking so trying to figure out a route we could include a lot of sights.

2) Thoughts on route through to croatia? Basically i've got two options, loop around via bulgaria / romania and come back across, or some combination of albania/macedonia up through montenegro. I've been through both romania and montenegro before. What are thoughs on albania / macedonia? I'll be honest by knowledge of that region isn't fantastic! I loved romania so wouldn't mind going back, but it's always fun to go somewhere new!

Anyway, i've read quite a few threads that touch on various parts of this trip, but some are at least a couple years old so thought i would reach out again for some valuable input.

Graham

PS - off the biking topic, but anybody ever heard re: renting a car for a trip through eastern europe? Have a couple friends who may want to come along in a metal box, but I fear that finding a car rental company that would actually let you cross these borders may be very difficult! In their mind it's a road trip, but in my mind i've just procured my very first support vehicle for a trip!