Blogs from Central Macedonia, Greece, Europe - page 20

Journey and Arrival Had a beautiful train ride up from Athens to Thessaloniki. The railway winds needlessly through mountain passes and gives beautiful views of the land below. Got delayed by fire on route for an hour as well, which I suppose is traditional :D Passengers were mostly unfriendly and untalkative with the exception of the gorgeous Greek girl, Daniella who sat beside me from Larissa to 20 mins before Thessaloniki. A real local, living in the country and going to uni in the nearest big one which was Aristotle, Thessaloniki, she was beautiful and very touchy-feely which left me attentive for the entire time she was there! Arrived in the station a couple of minutes before Ionnais, who now comes with shorter hair but looked well! Down to the local megamall for some good dinner ... read more

When one imagines a Greek holiday I suppose most will picture endless sunbathing, indulgence of all Greek cuisine (hmmm, olives) and possibly even a good dose of Island nightlife...I certainly tried to contain any expectations I might have given my invitation saw me trundling off to Greece in a mini-bus crammed with 15 of us...it was a story of 1 priest, his wife, their 10 month old daughter, 11 Romanian girls/ladies, a crazy old Romanian driver and me. After a 24-hour manic journey, which included a 3 hour delay at the Romanian-Bulgarian border (yep, we hadn't even made it out of Romania before encountering our first hurdle) - police papers needed for the person responsible for the minors of the group. We had to drive back to the nearest Romanian town to organise them...apparently we were ... read more

My flight landed in Thessaloniki, Largest city in Northern Greece. I spent one night here then caught a bus to Alexandoplis( a city 40km away from the Turkish border). Thessaloniki: The Athens of Northern Greece. Nothing great about this city. Nice waterfront full of restaurants and bars looking out in to the Aegean Sea. The main square had a stage set up and a open mike night for bands. each band would have about 20 to 25 minutes. The one band's lead-singer looked like J.C., they were playing covers of ZZ-Top, Matallica, Nirvana, and AC/DC. Oh yea the AC/DC song was "Hells Bells". Who would have known. It was a very fun night. Alexandoplis: City of about 40,000 people, small town feel. Friday night they close down all the streets down by the waterfront pedestrian ... read more

I got up around 10:45 and ran over to get breakfast at the hotel before they stopped serving at 11am. Steve stayed in bed. Steve B's mom joined me for breakfast shortly after I got there and Steve showed up about 11:15 and was denied breakfast, he was not happy! We had all decided the day before that we should go to the Akrotiri Bar area of the beach because they had lounge chairs with padded cushions and they were definitely the busiest. Alice and Magda had gone to the beach early as they were up early. We decided to drive down to the beach because it was easier with the floats and we wanted to bring the camera today. Steve B. got some photos of me and Steve out on the float. Steve and I ... read more

We were up last night until about 2:30am packing for Pefkochori and once again it is positively sweltering! Between the heat and the stupid dog barking we got no sleep. We had to get up (from tossing and turning, not sleeping) at 6:30am to get to Grevena by 7:30 to meet up with Steve B. and Susie and pick up the Vitara. Steve B. can only drive the Vitara when Magda or Pappous is in the car as this is the way it works in Greece . Magda can drive the Vitara because Pappous went to the Greek Embassy in Boston to get some special permit. Otherwise only the owner can drive the car. Pappous was going to take a taxi back to Megaro. We set off for Pefkochori after grabbing some tiropitas and ham and ... read more