Blogs from Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece, Europe - page 7

Week 20 in Greece 29th March- start of a 4 day bus trip to Epirus Region in North Western Greece We stay at Hotel Drakolimni ( Meaning: Dragons of the lake- lake a 5 hour walk away). It is at the tiny village of Tsepelovo, with an elevation of about 1100 metres above sea level. The Hotel Drakolimni is the only hotel opened every day of the year. There were about another 3 other hotels and some private rooms to rent in Tsepelovo, but all only open during the summer. We stayed at the hotel for the 3 nights we are away, and use it as a base for the bus day trips we take. 150 people live in this little stone village. However we saw about 10 people the whole time we were there at ... read more

HOLY CRAP. This is probably the most POORLY planned traveling excursion imaginable. The day before, I was dismayed by the fact that only 1 train leaves for Thessaloniki from Skopje...at 7am. Holy shit. Now, getting up at 7 is nothing to quibble about...it's just the small detail that there was something I had forgotten to pack for this European stint. A watch. A goddamned watch. After a couple of days here, I'd gotten used to not ever knowing what time it was (usually I looked to the position of the sun in the sky for a clue...though this never worked when it was crummy out). The only thing outside my realm of control was waking up on command. Holy shit. Factor in trudging through inches of snow with all my worldly possessions on my back without ... read more

We had new heating oil delivered Tuesday 3rd Feb. This is the first time it has been refilled this winter, so indicates that it has not been very cold, unlike other parts of Europe. The 4th Feb and we went into Salonika and did a bit of window shopping. There are flower sellers on the corner selling tulips and hyacinths, now that the weather is starting to become spring like. In Salonika today it was supposed to be 11 C today, with an overnight low of 7C. However you still see Chestnuts being roasting on the coals by street sellers. We caught the bus to Upper Toomba, a suburb of Salonika, where Michael’s friend Stavros has a super doper Patisserie /Café. Yu can have coffees outside under shaded tables in the summer or in the enclosed ... read more

Week 13 in Greece 2nd Feb 2009 We have had some milk weather in the past week-called The Halycon Days. Wikipedia says: The usage derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek legend of Alcyone. In the context of the legend, the halcyon is a type of kingfisher that builds its nest by the sea; the bird charms the winds and waves so that seas remain unusually calm during its nesting season, the seven days before and seven days after the winter solstice. There is more often than not a temporary improvement of the winter weather in Greece sometime during January. Mama's chooks liked the warmer whether- up to 17 C one day and increased their output of eggs. However, it is back to 2 C overnight this evening. Last week in Perea I noticed a specially made ... read more

So I arrived here in the "Anonymous Village In Greece Because of the "Colorful Practices of the Eagle Eye"" about a week ago. "Franc" picked me up at the Thessaloniki airport. Soon after arrival "Franc" took me on a tour on his quad around the village. The first night in town we went out to dinner to one of his friend Mimi's Family restaurants and ate tons of food and drank a lot of wine. After dinner We went to the beach and got two stray dogs that we found earlier in the day. Some of the other things we have been doing are practicing yoga, hanging out, visiting with some of "Franc"s friends and family. Most recently we have been working on getting A factory building cleaned out to be turned in to an Olive ... read more