Blogs from Kozani, West Macedonia, Greece, Europe

Finally managed to wake up at 11:30am, Steve is horribly hung-over and is just miserable. We got up and made breakfast and Steve laid down while I tried to straighten up my suitcase somewhat. After Steve got up we headed to Papadia’s house for lunch and on the way we went by Steve’s maternal Papous’ old farm to take some photos. Theo Thanasi farms there now; he keeps a few chickens and grows a bunch of vegetables. Thanasi stopped by while we were there and showed us around and gave us more vegetables. We went to Papadia’s and ate lunch with her, Papa, Naouma, and Vasou. We had no meat at lunch because they are all fasting until August 15thfor the Festival of Panagia, which is basically the festival of Mary in Eastern Orthodox religion. After ... read more

A cookout was planned at Pappous and Yiayia's house in Mikrokastro for everyone to come say farewell to Steve, Alice and Magda. We’re not sure whose idea this was or how it ended up being here, but Xristos did at least volunteer to man the barbeque. Steve and I slept in a little and Magda went to Siatista with Xristos to buy paper goods, soda, beer and meats for the cookout. She bought 17 kilos (about 40lbs!) of meats!! Holy Crap!! Steve, Alice and I drove into Kozani to get the CDs, souvenirs, luggage locks (for the bus), tape and packing materials. First we went to the liquor store and bought (to bring back to the States) a bunch of different ouzos and tsipouro. Tsipouro is a strong distilled spirit containing about 45 percent alcohol by ... read more

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, ... read more