Santorini to Salonika to Mikrokastro - Day 13

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I woke up just before the alarm went off and decided to get up and finish packing the last minute stuff and have some breakfast. Steve and I went up to breakfast while Alice finished getting ready. I’m really going to miss the breakfasts at the Lilium! By the time we ate and went back to the room to make a final check it was pretty much time to drag the luggage up 2 flights of stairs (Steve!) to the pool area and go check out. We got to the Santorini airport about an hour and 15 minutes before boarding. Security seemed more than a little relaxed (to say the least!) than in the States or even Athens . We boarded a bus from the gate that took us to the 737 out on the tarmac, everyone boarded in about 5-10 minutes and we taxied right out on to the runway and took off. I think ours was the only commercial plane at the whole airport! It was a short flight to Athens , about 25 minutes or so flying time, another bus to the terminal at the Athens airport. I think we walked the entire length of the terminal to get to our gate for the flight to Salonika . We only had to wait about 30 minutes to our boarding time, another bus to our plane, which was an RJ100, with a 3 and 2 seat configuration. Somehow even we had been assured by the ticket agent in Santorini that we were all seated together, we weren’t.

When we arrived in Salonika , Alice and Steve’s cousin Xristos and their mom Magda were waiting for us at the gate. After lots of hugging and back slapping between the cousins, we got our luggage and went to the Europcar rental desk to pick up our car. We got a Toyota Yaris, which was fairly new (only 6,000 km) and pretty roomy. For some inexplicable reason Xristos and Magda came in Xristos’ small car instead of the Suzuki Vitara (SUV) that Magda was using, so we had to jam almost all of the luggage into the rental Yaris, plus Xristos still had to stop in Salonika to pick up his wife and 2 kids! Yikes!! The cars were stuffed to the gills! When we stopped to pick up Xristos' wife and kids, we double parked and all went up to Xristos’ sister’s apartment to say hello to everyone. Finally we got on the road to the village of Mikrokastro ! I think it took about an hour and a half to 2 hours to get there. The highways are new, and the speed limit is 130 kilometers per hour, but Xristos drove like a maniac topping 150kph as often as possible. The Motorway Egnatia (E-90) goes across a big flat plain, but then heads into the mountains. They cut tunnels through the mountains when they made the new highway, so that cut several hours off the journey on the old road. The only problem was the Yaris only made about 92 hp, so we had a little trouble keeping up with Xristos on the steep uphill grades, but just kept my foot to the floor and tried my best!

We arrived in Mikrokastro around 6 or 7pm and met Steve’s Pappous (Grandfather) and Yiayia (Grandmother) whose house we were staying at upstairs. There was no running water in the chorio (village) when we got there due to a problem with the wells. Mikrokastro has 3 wells, 1 of which they had to shut off due to contamination. So each day they fill up the cistern overnight and the running water lasts until it’s gone, which isn’t long most days since everyone seems to have a garden they need to water. Steve's cousin's house has a reserve water tank (and an actual bathtub with a shower), so we showered there. Also would be remiss in mentioning that although the house we are staying at has indoor plumbing that consists of a toilet, sink and handheld shower, but no tub or shower stall. When you shower the entire bathroom is the shower and the mop up process takes about an hour according to Alice . So we don’t plan to shower there even if there is water as it is a process. Pappous and Yiayia don’t typically use the indoor toilet anyway; they still prefer to use the outhouse they have been accustomed to forever. Not a big deal, it’s actually a contoured cement pad with a hole in it, just a bit ripe when it’s sweltering out and there are some flies involved. Any port in a storm as they say!!

Xristos, his wife and the girls took us all out to eat in Siatista. We went to a restaurant right in the plateia near the beginning of the town. When we got back to the village, we went to Mythos (one of two local bars in Mikrokastro) for a beer. I was so tired; I think I fell asleep in my chair at the bar!

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