The Final Countdown. Day 30: Thessaloniki, Greece - Skopje, Macedonia

The original plan was to get a late train to Skopje, Macedonia, but this is no longer running. The train is supposed to go Thessaloniki - Skopje - Belgrade, and we were going to catch the first leg today, and then the Skopje - Belgrade leg in a couple of days time. As the Greek side of the journey no longer ran, we weren't sure if the Macedonian leg would, so we wanted to get to Skopje with plenty of time to change plans if we had to.

Therefore, we opted to get the early bus and get out of Thessaloniki without experiencing it at all. It ended up merely being a place to rest our heads. The little we saw didn't really thrill us, but I'm sure once you got away from the main streets it would have been quite beautiful. Oh well - another time!

Back down the 3 flights of stairs and onto the street, we walked back again to the bus and train station, although the cool morning air made this bearable. At the station, there was already a big green bus waiting, so we set up camp. A few other people joined us, mostly with tiny amounts of luggage. They might have been taking advantage of the offer for €20 one way, but only €30 return. Obviously we were only going the one way.

A little after 8am, another bus pulled up right in front of us, and this turned out to actually be the bus we wanted. We put our things on, milled around outside the bus for a while, then had our tickets checked and on we popped.

The journey was uneventful. Apparently we went through a really rough, bumpy, jerky and downright uncomfortable half an hour, which seems to be the half an hour I passed out well and truly. I didn't even have my travel sickness tablets! I was just so, so, so tired. Dan and I generally wear our seatbelts on these even though we don't have to - Dan made the good point that if something goes wrong and our insurance asks us, at least we can say we were wearing our seatbelts! This seems a really insignificant detail, but I mention it because I want to remember just how uncomfortable these seatbelts were - the clasp sat in exactly the wrong place up on my lap, and my arm was always resting on it and it was painful. Ok, whinge over.

The bus ride was about 4ish hours. It took me a while to realise but we actually got in early - we were supposed to arrive 11.30am local time but we were at our accommodation already by that time. But first: tickets from Skopje - Belgrade.

The train station was somehow hidden. We could see the tracks, but couldn't find the actual station. An unassuming set of doors in the corner of the bus station led us into the completely still and silent train station. Ok, we made it. We found the ticket offices, and I thought all of them were shut, but Dan noticed a lady sitting at a computer at one. However she, like all the other booths, had a blocker up across the little speaky-hole. We sort of loitered around to see if she would look up but nothing, she adamantly looked at her computer and no where else, so we shuffled off.

We wondered if there was somewhere else to buy tickets or maybe a machine so we did a half hearted look around the station, before noticing that a man was talking to the lady at the ticket office. She must be open after all! We leapt at the opportunity and lined up behind him. When it came to my turn, I apologised for only speaking English and she said she speaks a little - she understood us perfectly and the little she spoke she spoke well!

I asked if there was a train running from Skopje to Belgrade and she said, yes, but it goes overnight. Perfect! That's exactly what we were after - the sleeper train. She explained the ticket prices and the bed situation, and then gave us the price. We hadn't worked out the exchange rate yet, so we dithered with our calculators before coming up with it being €20 per person. Awesome! We went to pay, but she would only take cash.

No matter, we managed to find an ATM easy enough and returned to her, this time a queue forming very closely behind us. The lady looked exasperated - I think she was supposed to be on her lunch break. A few minutes later, we had ourselves two tickets from Skopje to Belgrade in our hot little hands and we were able to go find our accommodation.

This proved slightly more difficult than we expected. Being a non-EU country, we didn't have the ability to use the internet. Dan had pre-loaded the address into his offline maps, but after walking for about 10 minutes, we were supposed to be right on top of it. The area was...rural, to say the least. Crumbling houses, stray dogs, no sign of a city. Either we are in completely the wrong place, I thought, or we have chosen very, very badly.

We eventually worked out that the numbers of the houses was not chronological, and in the distance we could see a little sign saying "Aloha". Let's give that a go! Through the gate and...a little slice of paradise, it seemed! A small, round pool, outdoor chairs and what looked like beautiful apartments surrounding it. Ok, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

There was an open door and a stair case, so we made our way over to that. Nothing. Peeked around a corner. Nothing and no one. A lady popped out, and spoke to us. I apologised and said we could only speak English, and she ended up having only a very small amount of English knowledge. Turns out she was the cleaner, and we were about an hour earlier than we were said we would be because our bus ended up getting in much earlier.

The next few minutes was a flurry of phone calls to "the boss", passing phones back and forth for translation, before we were ushered down a set of stairs - where we found the reception. She motioned for us to sit and said "5 minutes!" Apparently she still had to clean our room. We told her not to rush, and sat in the cool reception area, which bizarrely also had a small gym.

Soon enough it was time for us to be ushered to our room. She opened the door, and we were presented with a beautiful apartment, complete with well. Yes, well. Apparently this run down area of the neighbourhood is the "old city" and various bits cannot be destroyed. Therefore in the centre of our room was an ancient well covered with glass, turning it into a coffee table. Pretty cool! It made the sound of running water all day but thankfully that stopped at night (otherwise I would be up peeing every 5 minutes).

The first thing I noticed was that we didn't have a washing machine, and this concerned me. I hopped on the booking site to make sure we had been given the right room, and we had. I had found some tokens in the corner of the room and thought maybe they were for the washing machine down at reception, so I thought no more of it, got myself comfortable (which means taking my trousers off) and sat down for a few minutes.

Knock knock. I fly off the bed to put my shorts on while Dan answers the doors - it's the manager, come to take the booking fee and give some information. Dan follows him back to reception while I stay in the room, exploring what we have. I find a menu for food and drink in the fridge,and that we can even order room service. A short while later Dan returns with an enormous map, and explains that the washing machine is free to use, and the tokens are so we can have something out of the fridge.

All questions answered, we wonder what to do next. We really, really needed to do some washing, and not having the machine in our room meant we were at the mercy of others - namely, the machine was already being used. As we were pretty stuffed, we decided to find somewhere for lunch, then do some grocery shopping and call it a night.

So lunch. Where to start. Turns out our accommodation was about a 15 minute walk to anything really. The places I had wanted to eat were mostly in the Old Bazaar which was quite a while away, so I had found another within walking distance that was supposed to do traditional food. When we got there, we were presented with a massive menu. I ordered us some wine (which was a bit pricey), and then when the waiter returned I asked him what he recommends from the menu, what traditional/local food they serve.

"We don't really have local food," he replied, and pointed to the meat saying that they have meat. I was a bit surprised as the reviews said it was great for traditional Macedonian food. In fact, I had written down a list of food I wanted to try, but my list was in Latin characters, and there was only one thing I could make out on the menu with the Cyrillic. One thing famous in Skopje is a really flavoursome baked beans dish. When he said they didn't have traditional food, I pointed to this on the menu, to which he replied, "we don't have that at the moment."

So to be honest, I was pretty pissed off. I think we just got a really dud waiter, but I didn't know what to order. In the end, we got two starters (which were in many ways the same, and again the waiter didn't say anything to help us). One was good - it was feta stuffed peppers, but the other, which was a baked feta (so much feta!) was just too salty. Then our meals came, and they were really average too, and tasteless. I left pretty unimpressed, and bloated.

On the walk back we passed a mall, and as my cold was progressing more and more to a possible chest infection I wanted to get some vitamins. On the outside of the mall we had seen there was a DM inside, so in we went. The previous day in Thessaloniki we had stopped into a pharmacy for some hayfever tabs and some vitamins - the vitamins there ranged from €7-16 - no way was I paying that when I was paying 40c in Berlin! The DM here was cheap and stocked the same German things, but was literally twice the price. Ok still, so that made my vitamins 80c instead. That's fine!

Also here was the supermarket. A real, enormous, proper supermarket. The kind that had been lacking for a long time on our travels. We bought breakfast (the usual, eggs, mushroom, tomato and this time a baguette), as well as wine (of course, a big bottle of Macedonian red) and we bought some pastries for dinner, and made up a leafy salad. Done and done! There was also some blue fanta in the mix, but sadly only the bottle is blue, not the liquid!

We left the mall and returned to our room. I had a nap, and then we worked on writing for a little while with the doors nicely open, looking at the lovely little pool. Periodically I would get up and check on the washing machine - finally, it came free! I ran back to Dan and we put some already-sorted clothes into a bag. The washing machine was in Macedonian but we figured it out from the pictures, and soon a load was underway. The dryer looked like it still had hours to go on it, so this would mean we would be hanging the clothes up all around the apartment.

For dinner I microwaved one of the pastries and put together a simple salad. I had found the apartment already had balsamic vinegar, so easy! With it we paired the wine - a giant 1L bottle with a dancing man on the front. When we were living in Germany, our favourite drop was a €2 Macedonian bottle of Cab Sav/Merlot so we had high hopes for Macedonian wine. This wasn't great, but it did the job. Before dinner, we noticed a few cats had been hanging around, and 2 of them in particular were pretty friendly (although a lot more skittish that Greek cats). One very much wanted to be inside our place - which meant we had to close the door.

We managed to get another load of washing on this night too, which pretty much cleaned all of our clothes. We hung it all up around the flat on every available surface, including across the TV and Dan fashioned a line out of some shoelaces. Excellent - soon we will have clean clothes!

We only drank half the bottle when we decided we had had enough. Also while shopping we had bought a couple of cheap Macedonian brand colas to see what they tasted like - so we had plenty of liquid that night. Then...bzzzzzzzzz.

BBBbbbbzbbzzzzzzzz.

There's a big fly in our room. Doing laps. We tried to ignore him for a while but it proved too much. Dan tried to slap it with his flipflop. Just ended up banging on the walls (Sorry neighbours!). We lamented having no bug spray when we thought of my hair spray...ok, this wasn't going to be nice, but it might stop this thing. It came close to me, and I gave it a good spray with the hair spray. It obviously didn't particularly appreciate this, and it's flying around the room became increasingly frenetic.

Dan and I each brandished a thong and tried to hit or squash the fly as it zoomed past us. We were essentially trying to play tennis with this fly. Back and forth. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. Jump. Miss. I was literally breaking out into a sweat, and I was working so hard. Eventually the little fucker landed on something, and Dan was able to put it out of its (and our) misery.

On that note, we pretty much went to bed. Tired after our fly swatting workout!

Til next time,
xx

The Final Countdown. Day 29: Meteora - Thessaloniki

Today was a travel day, and pretty uninteresting to be honest. We checked out of Host El Greco - took us an age to find someone and then walked to the train station just as one pulled in. It was the train we needed so we hopped on immediately, and set ourselves up on a four seater with all our luggage.

Previously there had been a few questionable people on the train so we had wanted to keep all of our luggage close and not in the luggage racks. 

As the ticket inspector hole punched our ticket, he said something to us. He got blank stares in return. He repeated himself in broken English saying we needed to change trains at a station, the name of which I didn't catch. This set me on edge - I was hoping to just sit back and relax for the next three hours but now we had to change and we didn't even know where. When we came through again after the next stop, I asked again which station, and then had him write it down on my ticket. 

He had a bit of difficulty writing with the train moving but eventually he managed, tongue between teeth, and the station was nothing like I had imagined. Dan checked maps and it was about an hour away. 

I wasn't feeling great - my cold seemed to be coming back after the hikes and the fresh air, and the train was really, really hot. There was no air. It became really full and then we reached the unpronounceable station - and everyone got off. Turns out everyone had to change here, which was probably why the ticket inspector was a bit bemused. 

We ran across the platform and Managed to nab a four seater again and keep it to ourselves for the journey. We Set off and I got some writing done! 

We arrived about 11.30 am into Thessaloniki. I still wasn't feeling amazing, and the idea to just have a day in our hotel was rather appealing. Once off the train dan and I made a beeline for the ticket office to hopefully purchase train tickets to Skopje, Macedonia for the next day. 

When I went up to the counter and asked for tickets, she replied that there is no train. Bugger. This is what we had read but the Serbian Railways website said it was still running. She then pointed out a ticket office down the corridor that could sell us bus tickets for Skopje. 

Upon arriving there, the old man bumped me to the young lady who could speak English. There's one bus a day at 8.30am, it takes 4 hours and costs €20 per person. Dan hadn't been keen on just buying a ticket straight away without researching so I told her we would check in to our hotel and be back to buy tickets. 

The walk to our hotel was arduous this time. I thought it was closer than it was, and the majority of the path was under construction and it was in full midday sun. We finally made it there and climbed one very high set of stairs. I threw off all my backpacks while Dan waited, and checked us in. The man seemed apologetic that we would have to climb another two flights of stairs and asked if we wanted to leave our luggage in a space down there. 

We've done worse! I replied, grabbed the key and up we went, onto the third floor. The hotel was Hotel Kastoria and our room was 34a. 34b, which I peeked into, was enormous - ours was a small postage stamp in comparison! It was pretty stuffy so we turned on the aircon to try to cool it down a bit. I realised they had only given us one towel (which should have been a pretty telling feature of the room) so went downstairs (2 flights) to get another (and back up 2 flights again).

As is usual, and you're probably coming to realise, by now I was getting hungry. Dan and I both researched Thessaloniki - Skopje bus companies and both came to the same conclusion - there is only one company that runs, it's €20 and leaves at 8.30am. Ok! So the plan became - go back to the ticket office and get some lunch. We hadn't had any down time really since we began this adventure, and where we were in the city wasn't very appealing, so we just decided we would eat and come back and catch up on things (such as sleep, and this blog!).

The walk back to the station was a big easier, and we looked a bit at the strange stores we passed on the way. There was a whole corner seemingly dedicated to army outfitters, which seemed odd. The purchasing of the tickets wasn't a drama, and then onto lunch.

No highly nutritious meal, no, we went back to Goody's Restaurant. It's Greek, at least! This time we both tried the mexican burger (even though I knew it would upset my belly with the caramelised onions), and of course the maxi fries and maxi drink. We plonked ourselves down and watched the looped "Goody's Fashion" parade on the TV. When our burger arrived, it was pretty damn tasty, and about €6 cheaper than we had gotten on the boat. I continued to peruse the menu, and we impulse bought a couple of sundaes as well, seeing as it was hot.

Initially I thought this had been a bad idea - the lady didn't really know what she was doing. The sundaes didn't fill the cup, and looked a little limp. Also she was referring to the recipe board, and my orea sundae ended up with what looked like scotch fingers on it instead. I took it back, and she piled it high with orea as well, so win-win. They ended up being totally delicious and just what we needed!

Again, we walked back to our accom, it was hot and sweaty and I looked in a few shops as the clothing was ridiculously cheap. No purchase though. I had a bit of a nap and then we both caught up on blogs and photos for a while, until we felt a small bit hungry and thought about dinner.

We tossed up between having a nice dinner out - it was our last night in Greece after all - or saving some pennies and having another gyros, which was typically Greek anyway. Gyros won out, and I had googled a place on the waterfront that was supposed to be good. We walked there the long way, and by golly the waterfront was strange! It was a Saturday night, and it seemed that every underage tween (or maybe everyone under 21) in the entire city was hanging out on the pier. Dan and I felt totally out of place being as old as we are. Everywhere we looked were groups of 2, 3, 4, 5 girls or boys sitting in a little circle. There were very few mixed groups - either boys, or girls, or couples. And hundreds of them!

We did a quick lap, took a couple of hurried photos, and continued back along the pier to the foreshore. Finding the gyros place was slightly complicated but we came across it, and their gyros were a little more expensive coming in at €3. Well. Once we received them we knew why! We definitely went out on a gyros high! These were enormous. As big as my head. The wrap didn't even try to close. And it was jam packed with chips. There was no garlic/yoghurt/sauce on this - the meat had so much flavour it wasn't necessary. We were very happy with our purchase and after sitting in the perfect summer night air for a little while, we went back to our accom to - yes - pack, and get ready for - you guessed it - the early start in the morning.

Til next time,
xx

The Final Countdown. Day 28: Meteora

Today was going to be a BIG DAY. We tried to prepare as best we could, but our legs were still a bit shaky from the 4.5 hours of hiking we did the night before.

We decided we would preload with a big breakfast and just pay for it at our accommodation and had settled on the omelettes. Once outside our room however, the lady who owns the place asked if we'd like any of her handmade "pies". There was ham, cheese, vegetable and coconut to choose from. I thought this mean there were no eggs this morning. Each was €1 (donation, although she wouldn't give them to us until we put the money in the box), so we got a ham one each and a coconut to share for breakfast dessert. She also made us some "local" tea which was free.

The pie was actually like a sausage roll, but it was very tasty as was the coconut one to finish one. Once we were done, it was time to prepare for the hike ahead. We got ourselves plenty of water, and packed some ham, cheese and crackers for a lunch snack as well as the muesli bars.

First stop: the train station to get tickets for the morrow. We get there (it's backwards to the mountain), and there's a sign up basically saying "be back in 30 minutes". Fine then, back the way we came and ready for our real start. Today we were going to start off on the same path we took yesterday, but instead of going up the intrepid one, we would take the actual path. This would lead us to the Holy Trinity and the St Stephen's monasteries.

I'll back track and mention that there are 6 monasteries in total open at the top of Meteora, although each have their own days that they are closed, and different opening hours. On Fridays, only 4 of the 6 are open, so we based our walk around those (although ended up basically making it to all of them anyway). I use the word monastery for all of them (like they do), although 2 of them are actually nunneries/abbeys, for women.

Today our legs were a lot wearier than the day before. Partly due to the exertion from yesterday, partly because we knew what was coming, and also yesterday we had been sitting for a long time so it felt good to stretch the legs. As we entered the main path, a dog came racing up behind us, following us, then leading us. I thought it was with the family behind, and after a while of the dog just getting a little bit in the way, Dan and I stepped aside to let the family behind us pass - with what we thought was their dog.

We reached the FOOTPATH sign, and kept going on the "easy" path. Somehow, this path felt a lot more difficult than the scrabbling up the rock face we did the day before! It was just consistently steep, whereas yesterdays would do it in bursts. My short-twitch muscles go much better for really steep / flat / really steep / flat than consistently steepish, so we had to make a lot of stops on the way. Also our legs were tired.

Finally we popped out at the base of the monastery, the Holy Trinity. I knew this was one you had to pay to get into and as a result I thought it was supposed to be quite nice. But first to get to it: up what felt like a few hundred stairs.

But guess who we met here! The doggo who had joined us on the pathway much earlier. He came to greet us about halfway up the stairs, running forward and then back towards us, as if showing us the way. At one point, a lady ahead of us was leaving and she said to us, "He's not our dog!" to which I replied, "not ours either! He followed us for a little while and now we've met him here!" Forward and back, slowing down as we would slow down, the doggy stayed by my side as we entered the top gate of the monastery.

There was a man sitting in the shade at the door of the building, and he hissed and clapped his hands, which stopped the dog dead in his tracks. Aha, definitely a stray dog then. We farewelled the doggo and walked up to the man under the shade, wondering what would happen next. "€3", he said. I asked if I needed to cover up (because I knew we had to dress modestly - my knees were covered by my long shorts but my shoulders were bare), and he said there were some skirts inside for us to both put on.

This seemed odd to me, but had I actually paid attention to any research I would have known - pants/shorts for women are not allowed, only skirts. Men must wear pants, or at least shorts that cover the knee. It seemed that bare shoulders were ok, but I was really surprised by the trousers thing! Maybe too form fitting? Either way, Dan and I both donned a skirt and went inside.

There wasn't much to see; a couple of frescos and a small chapel, which was very nicely painted. Soon we burst outside, and there was a beautiful view over the rock tops and to the town below. We weren't in there for very long, and soon we were descending the stairs again. I said to Dan that we will go to the next one, which is a convent and is supposed to be free, and then we can decide if we go into any others.



The walk was gently uphill and just across the top of the rock, and didn't take us very long. It was swarming with bus loads of tourists. Simply swarming. We somehow managed to push our way inside, and it turned out that entry wasn't free, but €3. I had been going by outdated information apparently, as had our hostel which had this one as free. Considering the masses of people inside, we decided to about turn and go back, and head towards Sunrise and Sunset points again.

Therefore we had been inside 1 and but visited 2 by this point. The walk across the top is quite simply, with gentle slopes up and down and is not very taxing. It's just getting up and down that's the challenge! We got to Sunrise rock and took a few photos, but first we met a lovely ginger cat sitting in the shade on the way! The kitty got a good patting, and after we had finished taking photos, the cat had preempted us walking to the other side and was sitting there, waiting for us, meowing, reading for another round of pats.

Saying goodbye to the kitty, it was then onto Sunset Point to take a few more photos. While here, we tried to take a few on-the-edge-of-the-world type photos, but it seems that during the day the place is inhabited almost solely by the giant, flying, yellow-green shiny beetles. It's very disconcerting having one of those things smack into the side of your head, especially on the edge of a precipice! We had wanted to have lunch snack here, but the beetles were too much. Also at the top of Sunset Point was a happy, fluffy doggy that would follow people around and rest in their shade shadow. He was so fluffy and loved a good pat!





Near the entrance to Sunset Point it was shady, so we sat on the ledge here, accompanied by another cat who was a little skittish but loved the fact we had food. The person next to us kept kicking or scaring the cat, which wasn't ideal, and we gave it a little bit of our ham. We had ham and cheese on crackers - neither of us felt hungry but we needed to have something.

Next up we had to decide if we did the Rossanou Monastery/St Barbara now or later. Our hotel had said it shut at 4pm, but the sign outside said 2pm, and it had two entrances - one you went up to and one you went down to. We were at the down-to spot. Alright, let's do this, we thought, even though we have to come all the way back up again to continue our journey.

I am so glad we did! After descended some uneven wooden and earthen stairs for what felt like an eternity (with me thinking the whole time, how am I going to get back up this?) we arrived at the entrance. This was supposed to be free as well according to the literature, but upon entering we had to pay €3 again. We had come all this way so we figured, we might as well. This was a really lovely monastery, or nunnery, as it was for women. I put on my long skirt, and Dan found a pair of enormous trousers to put on, and do up as tightly as they would go.

This one was a lot larger (or had more public areas) than the Holy Trinity, and we were far more impressed! We went down to the chapel, which was just gorgeous, and outside a nun sat with some hand made goods for sale. Upstairs was also a little shop, with wine and oil, and also a lot of handsewn products which would have been made by the nuns themselves. So much more industrious than the men, we thought! After being at the Holy Trinity which was a bit nothing, this was amazing. It also had a really good description of St Barbara, who was the saint of this church.

In the chapel, the depictions on the walls were particularly brutal, a theme which would also show in the last monastery we would visit. Depictions of heads being cut off, limbs being cut off, being people crushed to death with large rocks - all sorts of medieval torture devices were pictured all over the walls. It was rather confronting and not at all what I expected! I assume it had some thing to do with persecution. Into the next room, the paintings on the walls were much more saintly, and I was mildly relieved (as I do not deal well with the idea of torture at the best of times!).

The little shop inside stocked all sorts, many handmade crafts such as purses and bookmarks and painted stone magnets, as well as Holy Monastery Wine and olive oil. I wanted to buy so many of the things!

Back outside, we marvelled at the beautiful flower garden, and sat down in the shade to reapply our sunscreen. I mostly wanted a sit down because I was delaying the inevitable - climbing back up all those stairs. I had thought I would count the steps, but this eventually proved a bit too much! However, they were nicely spaced for going up (less so for going down), and we actually powered up them in no time.

In the distance we could see the next three monasteries just around the bend of mostly flat, but open and unshaded road. It took us about half an hour to round the bend, surrounded by the sound of mystery cow bells. We could see one cow down in the valley, but that was not where the cowbell sound was coming from. That mystery will remain unsolved.

The sun was pelting down by this point. Around the bend was the Varlaam Monastery which I knew wasn't open today, and while there were a few people around it as it was quite shady, it was obvious it was closed. Our main objective was to see inside the Great Meteoron Monastery, which was supposed to be the biggest and the prettiest. It was also very much uphill. We sweated and puffed our way up, passing buses and cars and more buses and more cars. Great. It's going to be overrun.

Outside were a couple of little food and trinket stalls, and we took note of them for the return journey - we were both in some dire need of some sugar! We descended some stairs to the main entrance of the monastery and were confronted with two things: a staircase going up now of probably a couple of hundred steps (why go down to go back up again?) and the fact the staircases were overrun with school children/tweens, their voices echoing across the valley.

We didn't really want to do battle with them inside, so we sat underneath a tree to wait for a little while. Near us was a tap, and a few people washed their hands and faces from the tap, and I wondered if the water was drinkable. One lady partially filled her water bottle, so I did the same. Tasted fine enough, so I filled it up and we figured we would find out in a few hours if it wasn't drinkable!

Ok. Time to tackle the stairs, now that it had cleared out of people. By now it was a little after 2pm, and the monastery closed at 4. The stairs weren't all that bad after all, and the view across Meteora was beautiful from the platforms. At the entrance, we paid, and I put on my skirt and Dan put on his oversized trousers. There was a tap nearby which had clearly been turned on at some point, so I asked the monk if it was drinking water, and he said "Oh drink water from the square! Very nice water in the square."

We definitely had left the best til last - and we were very glad we had done it in this order! Each one was bigger and more elaborate than the last. The Great Meteoron Monastery (it has a lot of different names) was enormous and had a lot of areas open to the public, while the others were either tiny or reasonably small. Through the door, we were able to visit the old wood working area, full of old wine barrels, and a lot of other paraphernalia for wine making, and see the ossuary.

We then went upstairs, and visited the chapel. This was much, much, much larger than the others, and extremely ornate. Of interest, in one of the smaller rooms, was that the paintings on the wall were the same as that in St Barbara, namely, the same torture scenes. I don't really know why this is. From the chapel, we burst out into what had to be the square, and in the corner I noticed a little fountain and tap. I went straight up to it and started filling 1 of 3 drink bottles. Other people saw me do this, and pushed me out of the way to start filling their own before I had finished, and taking photos, leaving me standing there looking like a knob. Oh well!



It was quite overrun with people at this point but later on, as it got closer to closing time, the people thinned out a lot and the square was then empty, while now it was fully packed. We tried working systematically around - next along was the decking overlooking the valley and other monasteries - possibly the most beautiful of the lot. Continuing the circuit we came across - you guessed it - cats! Sunning themselves. Dan went in for a pat and one was particularly playful, and spent quite a long time chewing on his fingers and grabbing his hands.



Still on the upper level was the shop (ok, so this monastery was as enterprising as the women!) - although it lacked the hand made crafts that made the nunnery's products so special, and also the old kitchen. Down a level was the museum (!) - which was certain unexpected. It wasn't very large, but it went through a brief history with artifacts of the area and Greece's occupation at certain times in history, as well as propaganda posters - nothing or very little to do with religion, and it was very interesting. In the next museum were religious artifacts, many of which were so finely and intricately detailed that they had put magnifying glasses in front of them so you could clearly see the magnificent work. Downstairs was another small museum with amazing original scriptures and books.

By now we were really, really worn out, and had to have a bit of a sit down. Thankfully there were plenty of chairs here! I wondered if the men working here (many of whom were very young) were monks themselves, or whether they were employed by the monks to work here? This is something I need to research. It was clear in the nunnery's that the ladies were nuns, with their extremely modest clothing and habits.

Time to say farewell to this monastery and figure out how to get back to our accommodation the quickest way possible. First though: back down all those stairs again and a soft drink for some sugars! This used up the last of our coins, so that also answered our question of whether we should get a bus back down or not - we can't now, so walking it is!

On the map, I had seen a dotted black line which meant there had to be a path somewhere. We didn't want to take exactly the same route as the night before because it would take us a long way out of our way. We descended a little way and Dan stood out on a ledge and saw the path we needed, beginning at the Varlaam monastery. So in the end, we got up close to this one too - our tally was: we went inside 3, and visited 5 out of the 6 available. Not too bad, I don't think!

Past the monastery and onto a roughly hewn stone path. But a path it was! (Again, not as intrepid as the day before). It was pretty slow going - my legs were tired and my knees were hurting, they really don't like going downhill. We could hear some odd noises when suddenly Dan stopped and said "Turtle!" And sure enough there was a turtle (or a tortoise, we just called him a tortle) hiding in the bushes about half a metre away. He seemed very far from anything. And then I spotted another, right on the edge of the path at eye height. He was so cute! He would put his head in a little, then pop it back out, blink at us. We took some photos and carried on.



Nothing much else of interest on this route - we did see another tortle, and the surrounds - when I was able to look up (I was afraid of slipping), were really tropical, rainforesty and beautiful. Just as we were about to think we had made a grave mistake and weren't where we were supposed to be, we heard the sound of cars and knew the road wasn't too far away.

We burst back out onto the road, which was completely open to the beating heat of the sun. Our progress was slow, but we kept plodding on! Back through Kastrati, back into Kalambaka. We detoured to the train station to see if we could get tickets for tomorrows train to Thessaloniki, which was a success. This was a change of plan - we had originally thought to stay a full day in Meteora and get the late train to Thessaloniki, but there was no way we could hike again on the morrow so we got ourselves the early train. Also, we didn't know what the train/bus situation was going to be to get from Thessaloniki - Skopje, so we wanted to hedge our bets.

Shuffling, we managed to drag ourselves back to our hostel and our room, collapsing. In total, we were gone for 9 hours. That's a fair amount of walking. Mostly uphill. Or downhill, which is also pretty taxing. We. Were. Pooped.

When we had the energy, we cracked into the bottle of rose we had bought the day before, celebrating our victory of completing the hike up - across - and back down again without succumbing to getting a bus. Go us!

I had researched dinner, and had chosen a place called Pub 38. Not a super Greek sounding name, but it got great reviews and it did some Greek food, but also some different things (which after 2 weeks, we were quite happy for). We were the first patrons, and we sat outside. This place was known for its beer, so after requesting a recommendation, I went with a craft local red ale "which tastes a bit like wine" and Dan tried the local draught. What happened next is we ordered far too much food. And drank too much beer - as by too much I mean, I had 1 and a half. But it filled me right up.

The food was incredible. Starters were cheese balls and what looked like a warmed up Greek salad. Then our enormous burgers were placed in front of us and I regretted everything! I also ordered another beer, which was a mistake. The burger was delicious, but I couldn't eat all of it, and a local kitty got to taste some pretty amazing beef patty. I couldn't finish my beer either, and in the end we had to leave a little bit.

Both Dan and I were stuffed, but I think I actually did myself a bit of damage. My belly was so distended, and I felt so ill, that when we got back to the apartment I lay down, writhed in agony for a while, groaned and finally fell into a food coma sleep while Dan packed our luggage... There's only been a few times I have truly eaten myself to sleep, and this was one of them!

Til next time,
xx

The Final Countdown. Day 27: Athens - Kalampaka / Meteora

You guessed it: this post also begins with an early start! As previously mentioned, the hotel owner started breakfast early for another guest, so he made a bit extra for us. It had been a particularly sleepless night - I got up twice to check that the windows were really shut because the traffic noise was so loud I was sure the cars and trucks were driving through our bedroom. Seeing as we had only gotten to bed at 1.30am and would be getting up at 6.30, we had really wanted to crash had. This did not happen. At about 5.30 we got out our ear plugs and managed a bit of sleep (should have done this sooner, but too tired to even look for them until desperation set in.)

The alarm went off, we got ready and wearily shouldered our luggage and went down the 4 flights of stairs for breakfast. The other guests were already there, and we grabbed our continental breakfast of bread rolls, ham and cheese (some cakes and fruit too), watered down juice (as always) and scoffed it pretty quickly. We wrapped up a couple of little cakes and stashed them in our pocket for snacks later, and just as we were leaving I grabbed an apple and put that in my pocket too.

Checking out was merely handing the key over, and we were off and away towards the station, the area still smelling like pee. Our train wasn't until 8.20am, but because we hadn't been able to get tickets yet and weren't even sure there were any, we wanted to go early so arrived about 7.35am. I went up to the ticket counter, and in a matter of minutes I had two shiny tickets to Kalampaka, Meteora in my sweaty little hands.

I should clarify: Meteora is the big rock; Kalampaka (or Kalabaka, there are two spellings which are interchangeable it seems!) and Kastraki are the two towns at the base of the big rock. We stayed in Kalampaka as it was closer to the train station, but both are walking distance from each other and kind of blend anyway.

It was a pretty long train journey, about 5 hours, and our allocated seats were not only backwards but facing an old could who seemed to be taking up lots of space. My throat was still quite sore, and I was tired and grumpy. I managed to doze a little, but soon my legs and butt and knees were in agony from not being able to stretch them into the little old lady I was facing. There were so many empty seats on the train. I was also starting to get motion sick, so I got up for a stretch and a toilet stop, and when I came back I decided to just sit behind Dan (still facing backwards) so I could stretch out - and move if someone came on needing the seat.

After a little while, Dan joined me on the seat behind. At one point, I looked to the window next to me and noticed a bee had flown onto the vents below the window. As you may know, I hate bees. Well, more specifically, I am terrified of bees. It borders on a phobia - I know it's illogical, and I know bees are good for the environment and I never want to see one hurt, but I really, really, really don't want them anywhere near me. I go into fight or flight mode - and by that I mean just flight mode.

It moved, so I moved. I launched up out of my seat, tried to get past Dan's long legs, tripped right over his legs, sent my phone flying down the carriage and I came landing on the seat opposite. It really was quite the spectacle, and was pretty loud. Everyone look at me but I don't care. I collected my phone and my wits and warily watched the bee.

Dan grabbed a piece of card to try to coax the bee onto it and..I dunno? I thought maybe take it to the window or something? I was saying "Just leave it!" Which he should have, because the next thing I knew it was flying all around the carriage again, with me ducking every time it came close. It hit a man in the back of the head, before flying onto a curtain. At this point, he picked up a newspaper and smacked the bee until it was dead. I was very sad. I hadn't wanted it to be killed, just to be not near me.

Everyone seemed to think this was a great victory but I felt bad - if I had just stayed still it would still be alive. Stupid fear! Even I know it's stupid.

Soon the old people got off, as did most of the train - we weren't at Kalampaka yet so I was quite confused. Our train was running late, and a little while before we pulled into our stop an Indian couple started talking to us. They wanted to know about getting a taxi up to the top of Meteora to see the monasteries and then come back down. We said we had no idea as we would be hiking it, and he proceeded to tell us the details. They were only going to be in Meteora for about 4 hours so good luck to them! Later in the day, Dan and I wondered if they had ever made it up the rock or not...

Our stop! Off we jumped, and headed straight to the ticket station. We wanted to be prepared this time, and so asked the lady behind the counter if there were train tickets from Kalampaka to Thessaloniki for a few days time. She said there were indeed, but her systems were down at the moment. This was fine - at least there were trains running!

It was hot out here, and thankfully our hostel was only about a 5 minute walk away from the train station. Up a flight of stairs, of course, and we were met by a man bounding in energy who raced us through check in. Host El Greco calls itself a "eco friendly" hostel but I'm not completely convinced, also it said it had free breakfast but we had to pay, with the "money going to kids in Africa". Righto, no way to verify that this is where our money is going, and I was a little bit sceptical.

Anyway, our room was alright and we collapsed for a short while. The plan we formulated was: go to the supermarket to get snacks and supplies, go find a late lunch, and then in the evening go up Meteora (sounds easy when I type it like that!) and see the sunset from Sunset Point. We had googled the best photographic places along Meteora and Sunset Point wasn't toooooo far from us, as well as being one of the better places for it.

First things first: lunch. I was starving. I wanted something pretty fast and not very far away, although nothing in Kalampaka is too far away. I found a place called Taverna To Paramithi which got mixed reviews, but was also on our map so we would be able to get a free drink or free dessert. It looked pretty at least and the food was cheap. On the way we stopped at the supermarket, grabbed wine (of course) and some snacks for the hike, and made our way to the restaurant.

The ambiance was indeed very beautiful as we sat outdoors with a view of the rock, surrounded by jasmine plants. Our waiter was pretty grumpy and seemed really rushed - there weren't many people in there at this time (about 2.30pm) so there wasn't a huge rush to get food to our table. We ordered a variety of food: wine (of course), a Greek salad, stuffed tomato and stuffed capsicum, and a souvlaki plate, all to share. It was all pretty damn tasty - especially the stuffed vegetables! Another waiter came along with a smile, and I showed him the map and asked if the free dessert was still available.

Again with a smile, he left and grabbed for us a couple of baklavas with icecream, which was very tasty (I purposely asked that waiter instead of our other one!). We paid up (it was pretty cheap) and wandered back to our accom. We really needed a sit down after our big lunch and busy morning, and we had about an hour before we needed to make tracks, so it was really good to have a rest.

At about 5.30 we left, knowing that sunset was a bit after 8pm and we didn't really know how long it would take us to get up there. Donning our walking gear and lots of sunscreen, we headed out. Soon I realised we probably should have taken bug spray too, although we weren't attacked very badly at all in the end.

Consulting both the map we had been given and Dan's offline maps, we found the beginning of one path up to the mountains. It was paved with big uneven stones, but was a proper path none-the-less. One or two lone hikers passed us coming down as we were going up, which made me wonder if we were the only people heading up at this late hour of the day. It was pretty hot and sweaty, but we were climbing at a rapid pace.

We reached a GIANT rock with two arrows painted on it, saying "FOOTPATH". One path was the one we were currently on, which was quite clearly a path. The other was just steep rocks and rubble. Dan consulted the map, and said we needed to go up the rocks and rubble. I couldn't quite fathom that the maps called that a path, as it was pretty indistinguishable from the undergrowth, but we set on up it and not only did the little spot on the map move in the right direction, but we started coming across the little stone tower markers, which became a beacon to let us know we were going the right way as other people had crossed this path before.

The scramble was very intrepid, but it was fun, and we made really good progress. It would alternate being steep and flat, which gave us time to catch our breath, and admire the view. At one point, we reached a junction. I said to Dan, "Any idea which way to go, love?"
His reply: "Up."

Thanks darling.

We only made one wrong turn, but it took us to an amazing view point. Unfortunately there were a few extra bees and giant yellow-green beetles (that looked a little dung beetles/scarabs, they might have been!) which were looking ready to attack, so we hastily left. My shoes are pretty slippery so I didn't go at a very fast pace, but we made really good progress none-the-less. The path really wasn't a path - I continued to question whether we were going in the right direction until I would see another set of stone markers.



Soon, we landed on a big of an uphill clearing, and could clearly see Sunrise Point (not to be mistaken with Sunset Point) which is actually very close to Sunset point. Excellent! We had actually made it! We popped out onto the road and sat for a minute, surveying the view and congratulating ourselves for the trek. It had taken us about an hour from getting to the beginning of the walking trail.

Walking along the road, we stopped to check out Sunrise Point. It wasn't supposed to be quite as beautiful as Sunset point, so we took a few pictures and carried on. There were already a lot of people on this rock, and there were also a lot of people with their wine and picnics at Sunset Point when we got there too. We should have brought the wine that was sitting in the fridge! Nah, it would have been too hard to carry.



We walked along the rock and found a second level. Surprisingly, no one was sitting here, so Dan and I setup camp here. Even if we stood up, we weren't in anyone's view. A little uncomfortable perhaps, and we had to keep shuffling, but it was a great spot. Another few people ended up sharing it with us - but we of course had prime position.

Some American girls set up next to us; one was obviously quite interested in photography and had some serious kit; the other - far, far, far less so. We couldn't help giggling at their conversation. The non-photographer demanded a few pictures of the photographer, saying "Don't make me look fat. Does this make me look fat?" At one point, I leant over to her and told her that the strap on her top was twisted, saying "You've got to make the picture perfect!"

Later on, the non-photographer was trying to take pictures of the photographer, and she was clearly utterly hopeless. The photographer kept saying "How have you made this blurry?!" and there were many, many attempts. I think also the non-photography kept taking panos on her phone while trying to take a selfie - and there was a lot of giggling about that.

Dan and I took a tonne of photos here - it was actually quite hard because the sun was really bright and blowing out the sky. But we had plenty of time - we had arrived at about 7pm to this point, with sunset about 8.20, so had lots of time to practice. It was indeed very beautiful, to our left was one high rock face, in front, a valley, with a little rock in it. To our right, 3 of the monasteries perched precariously on the top of the rocks - we would be visiting some of these on the morrow. We ate a couple of the muesli bars we had brought as snacks.

The sun set, the valley turned from golden to blue, the sky turned pinkish and Dan and I needed to figure out how the hell we were going to get down. Dan thought we should take the road that we could see below, I wondered if we should take the path that we forewent for the steep rock climbing. We went with the road (the correct choice).

It took us about an hour and a half to get all the way down again - the road was winding but not very steep thankfully, and we occasionally had to go into the gutter to let cars pass, but we were generally the only ones on the road. There were no street lights so we were guided by moonlight, which was rather beautiful. As the light faded, we saw a few bats, and soon it was fully night time.

I remembered that my jacket has a reflective arm band, so we unravelled this from it's little hideaway pocket and instantly I felt safe on the road knowing that my arm would reflect our position and let drivers know where we were. (Also the fact my jacket is garish pink/orange probably helps too).

By going down the hill this way, we had to walk through Kastriki town before getting to Kalampaka, and at the base of the road we started coming across signs of civilisation. We contemplated getting some food at some point, but neither of us were hungry at all. As we were walking through Kastriki, a big black dog joined us for a stroll, being a bit of a guide doggy. It then wandered in front of a car and Dan and I both shouted out "DOGGY!" to try to get it away. Thankfully, all was well, the car passed and the dog trotted away.

At some point in Kastriki, everything was starting to complain (took a while!) so I crumbled and checked google maps - we were literally only 15 minutes walk from our accommodation, so I pep talked myself and we stumbled across the finish line.

Neither of us had any appetite, so we had nothing for dinner this night. We figured out our plan for the next day - would we take the bus up instead? We really tossed up this idea, but in the end decided a) we didn't want to be beholden to a time table and b) that's cheating - we were there to hike Meteora!

Til next time,
xxx

The Final Countdown. Day 26: Paros - Athens

We had to check out today but we still had almost a full day in Paros. We didn't really know what we wanted to do with the day so we meandered our way to the bus station to find we had just missed the bus to Golden Beach which was one of the main attractions. I really didn't know what else do to, and eventually we settled on getting a bus to Naoussa but that wasn't leaving for over an hour. 

We wandered through the white washed streets of Parikia trying to get lost and see what we could see, occasionally popping out on the waterfront and diving back in again. With time still to spare before the bus left, we got a frozen yoghurt each - we are in Greece after all! Must have yoghurt. I got natural yoghurt with fresh banana, chocolates sauce and crunchy bits, and Dan got toppings of sour cherry, chocolate and strawberry flakes. 

We could see people gathering around a bus so we headed over there. There were people already on the bus but a lot of people standing outside too. We stood outside for a while not sure if we could get on, under the guise of "enjoying the sunshine". One person jumped on so we followed - the rest of the bus crowd following us also. The man came up he aisle to check our tickets and we were away. 

The drive to Naoussa only took about 20ish minutes which was good as the only bus back was at 4.30pm, so that left us plenty of time to get our luggage and go to the foreshore. 

When we arrived in Naoussa we got off a stop early with everyone else but it was the right stop right on the water front. We started wandering leisurely and as we went to cross the road, two giant geese were just sauntering down the road ahead of us. No one seemed to pay any attention to this other than us. 

There was a small bridge that wasn't really necessary and didn't really lead anywhere - I think it was a throwback to an old castle - and so we went over to it to cross it because I like bridges. 

Underneath I noticed more geese, some with very very strange colourings (they were huge with bright red on their noses - very ugly) and also some ducks - also with very odd colouring. In the shallow water beneath the bridge there were also a lot of little fish - the birdies dream! There was a short pier so we walked across that, thinking there might be a nice view to the buildings and boats on the waterfront. 

Suddenly we hear a smacking sound, and see a man smacking a fish against the bricked fence next to the boats. That's a bit violent. Then we realise it wasn't a fish, but an octopus. And he kept slamming it and smacking it into the fence - the staccato sound seating through our brains each time as we knew exactly what was happening even we weren't watching. It was pretty awful. It seemed the octopus got longer as a result - maybe tenderising it? It was brutal. We kept walking the other way along the pier and eventually the sound stopped, and we sighed with relief. 

We could now walk back the other direction past the octopus beating corner and along the foreshore. This is a fishing town to all along were fishermen setting up, fixing their boats and thankfully no more octopus beatings. The water was crystal clear and we could see all sorts of sea urchins and fish and anemone and sea cucumbers. 

At the ending the shore shore was a rocky outcrop leading to the ruins of a fort. We had seen people climbing all over these rocks and wanted to give it a go. We made it to the fort hut the rocky path beyond it was a bit much for my slippery shoes so we abandoned that idea. The water was filled with what I can only think were jelly fish - they looked entirely spherical and just sort of bobbed everywhere like whiteish orbs. 

Back on land we did a once around all the restaurants. I saw one that did a fish deal for two people - and it was teeming with cats and a duck after scraps. After going around once we returned to this place and got ourselves a table outside looking out to the water. 

To be honest the food wasn't amazing, but the service and ambiance was nice, and Dan and I ended up with a kitty each at our feet which we fed our scraps too. About four were milling about at the time, and the bloody duck kept eyeballing me. 

The fish plate came with a variety of whole fish - we are getting rather good at deboning them now - and a Greek salad. Some cheap white wine (I think it was watered down). At one point I looked up from the meal and noticed some octopus had been draped over the sign of the door ahead of us - I wondered if one had been our octopus we heard being beaten earlier?

Just as we were leaving another two cats of note arrived - one with a weird looking black eye who was appreciative of our scraps (my bloody cat wasn't) and another that had clearly been in the wars very recently and looking at it made us sad. We scrounged through our fish to find it some flesh left, gave it what we could, and left. 

There wasn't an awful lot to do here and we had until 4.30 for the bus, so we wandered trough the streets and did a reccie to the bus stop to see how far it was. We found quite a large church and a little park full of cats - but these were all quite skittish no matter how hard the Pied Piper Dan tried to get a pat out of them. Back on the waterfront we endeavoured to find our first cocktail of the trip - but they were all so so expensive, starting at €10. We found a place with couches doing cocktails for €8, so just settled in here to wait for the time to pass. 



We did a bit of research on some trains and buses for one of our next legs - we had heard that the train we intended to catch from Thessaloniki - Skopje and then later from Skopje -Belgrade may have been cancelled until June. It didn't say anything like this in the Serbian Railways website, but we took note to research this later. 

Downing our delicious sour cherry and strawberry cocktails, we went to he bus station. No dramas catching the bus back to Parikia, and we slowly walked back to our accom to pick up our belongings. 

As much as we had enjoyed Goodys on our first long ferry, it's pretty expensive, so we opted to bring our own food for this leg of the journey which would take about 4 hours. Dan sat down near the port in a little park and I went back to the supermarket. 

My little shopping list consisted of squishy cheese (if available) and accompanying meat, wine (duh), tomato and feta and olives for a pretend Greek salad and maybe something for dessert. I took a little longer than expected because I had trouble finding things. Cherry tomatoes were horribly expensive so I chose a couple of normal tomatoes. I ended up getting some olives from the fresh service area which was no problem (after watching two Americans be rather obnoxious trying to buy meat and cheese from the deli also, I figured I'd be a breeze!). The squishy cheese was eye wateringly expensive but I got it anyway. I naturally chose the slowest counter, and then proceeded to slow down everything even more as I hadn't gotten a price ticket for the tomatoes, and then to pay via card she had to walk to the other side of the store. She actually did the tut-sigh when I pulled out the card. Oh well! Got, in the end. More expensive than I would have liked but still cheaper than Goodys, slightly better for us and we got wine. 

Today my throat started to get sore, which was a massive bugger. Do not want to get sick! I had looked for some vitamins or soothers but there was nothing in this store. Back with Dan in the Park, we shouldered our luggage and went to the port entrance - the first people to get there. This boarding experience was a million times nice than that in Santorini. Only a handful f people getting on. No rushing no pushing. The boat arrived roughly on time - getting on was no problem and was e found a seat on the very top deck in the sheltered area on some lounges - a nice change from the school style seats we had been sitting on. 

We couldn't fully see the sunset from here - it was hidden by the body of the boat but if we stood up we could, and we had seen it twice anyway. It glowed a lovely orange pink as it slowly went down. 

As the sun was setting we ate our wine and cheese, feta and tomato. Te olives turned out to be really overpoweringly salty so I didn't have many of these. Across from us another set of travellers had also wine and cheese picnicked for the journey / ours was a bit fancier tho!

Even changing into warmer clothing, there was still a cold breeze out here so we eventually decided to migrate indoors. Everyone around us had already done this, so Dan did a reccie and off we went. We found some lounge chairs near the departing point and plonked ourselves down for the remainder of the journey. We finished off the wine and polished off the Greek orange chocolate I had also bought, typed the blogs furiously and soon enough it was time to get off at Piraeus. We would be staying a single night near the main train station before heading to Meteora on the morrow. 

We weren't looking forward to walking through Piraeus again. Originally we were going to take the actual train straight to Larissa station (main station) but they weren't running, so metro with a change it was. There wasn't a huge crowd getting off the ship so it was pretty easy to get off and walk through the streets unmolested. On the way, I saw a homeless man under a rug with a box of kittens in front of him, which were trying to climb out of the box. 

Getting the metro was fine - as we were the first stop we just bagged a whole four seater for all our stuff. At the change, the sign said a 15 minute wait so we settled in for this - however with 8 minutes to go a train rocked up, so we scrabbled for our stuff and jumped on just in time. Phew!

At Larissa station we wondered if we could buy tickets for tomorrow from a machine, but this was not the case. We would have to go to the ticket office in the morning and fingers crossed there were tickets available!

By now it was approaching midnight and thankfully our accom was only about five minutes (of pee-stinky) walk. The gentleman at the Neos Olympia hotel greeted us. 

Checkin seemed to take an age, and I had been wearing the bags for ages, and I started to get fidgety. I didn't want to take it off because I wasn't sure id get it back on again tonight. I tried everything to lessen the weight, and a couple of times accidentally knocked the counter. The man apologised for taking so long. He then mentioned that breakfast started at 8 - at which point I butted in and asked if there was *any* way we could possibly have a bite to eat a little earlier as we would be leaving before 8. He asked when we would be leaving, we said around 7.30, to which he replied "ok you be downstairs at 7.15. I'm making breakfast then for some other guests."

Extremely thankful it was time to go to our room and crash. Four flights of stairs later (!) we made it up there, by now it was about 12.30am. We had to be up at 6.30, so it really was just a place to lay down and shower (and also get fed, thankfully!) before jetting off again. Quick showers - hot water and good water pressure is really something you appreciate when you travel - and off to bed. 

Til next time,
Xx

The Final Countdown. Day 25: Parikia, Paros

The night before our host had offered to help us hire a car. There seemed to be a lot to do on the island so this sounded like a great idea to me - as I would be the passenger (I'm a woeful driver). I didn't realise that this had stressed Dan out so much, so we slept on the idea and in the morning Dan finally told me he just wanted a day to rest. That was absolutely fair enough and I wish he had said something sooner.

We slept in and had our breakfast in our little balcony. As we had a little outdoor washing line, we took the opportunity to hand wash some stinky clothes as they would dry quickly in the sunshine. 

Our host had shown us on the map that there are two bays in Parikia, one the closest to the port, and the other about half an hour walk beyond but with much nicer beaches. We decided to make this our destination today - to relax by the waterfront. 

We took it leisurely and found the little arched alleyway we were supposed to take the night before when we got lost. The alley was filled with kitties as someone had put some food down, and we patted one friendly cat which we mistook for the kitty of the night before. She too was pregnant but had slightly different colouring. We called her the fake kitty - we ended up seeing her a few times but never our other friendly cat. On the waterfront, the ferry arrived. We perched ourselves up on the brick wall to watch people embark and disembark. The boat created quite. If waves that splashed with force against the brick wall - except we were behind a few large stones and managed to miss the splashes by about half a metre. 

We walked a little further and came across a supermarket. While in here, we checked the time, and Dan made the suggestion that we have lunch first even tho it was quite early because by the time we make it to the beach, we may end up being starving and not enjoy our rest. Good idea, so we about faces and returned to the town centre. We had been recommended a place called Chaniotis Restaurant by our hosts that makes cheap traditional foods. We found it easily enough, walked inside and had no idea what we needed to do. There was the town drunk in the corner with his finished beer eyeing us, while the lady behind the counter continued setting up. I think we were a little early so we walked out, figuring it what we would do. We did a small lap around the whitewashed streets and reappeared about 15 minutes later - things looking a bit more ready for service. 

Apparently the man who owns this cooks up a selection of different dishes everyday, so we chose from the trays in front of us. Each tray had a price tag, and I ended up somewhat copying the people in front of us even though I thought it would end up quite expensive. 

We chose an eggplant parmigiana type thing and a veggie casserole for the side. For the other dish we chose what was translated to meat and rice filled lettuce balls (but may have been wine leaves?) with a side of rice.  We initially chose something else for the side but the cool advised us not to mix those two, and said rice would be the better option. He was right of course! Also Turns out we didn't pay for any of the sides even tho they had their own price tag! It ended up being a really inexpensive meal. 

We grabbed our tray and took it outside to eat and people watch. The lettuce wraps in particular were creamy and delicious and the rice soaked up their extra sauce perfectly. Also with the eggplant and casserole we got some much needed veggies. 

Sated we continued on our mission. We popped back into the supermarket and picked up a bottle of wine. We thought it was €1.50 but it was actually €4, damn those confusing "loyalty card" buy stickers! Oh well. 

Onwards and upwards, quite literally. It didn't take us too long to walk around the first bay. This had a sandy spot and a few people were setting up to swim here. We thought about just stopping but he had told us the one around the corner was more beautiful so we carried on. And up. The path around the tip of the bay became a bit intrepid and the path quite rocky. At one point, I could hear a cricket chirping and just not getting any further anyway no matter how far we walked. It was like it was in Dan's pocket! I eventually looked up from where u was treading and there I saw the little bugger sitting on Dans backpack. No wonder he wasn't getting quieter! As Dan removed his bag the cricket jumped off, and I exclaimed "it's gotten even closer!" The critter was now on my backpack but soon jumped off. It was a funny little interlude on our trek. 

Once up and around the tip, some of the path became fenced off due to a house. We continued behind the house until the path ran out, and headed down some slippery stone steps. Back on track. We saw people ahead of us go down towards the beach so we knew we in the right spot. The beach here was rather secluded and there were no fishing boats around. We descended to the beach and began to walk to find the perfect spot. It wasn't as shelteredbhere from the wind so we kept walking until the wind died and we found a little tree to set up under. 

Others were sunbathing but Dan and I do not do that. Dan because he is literally incapable of sunbathing due to his ginger pale skin. And me because I just find it boring and too hot. 



We got down to our bathers and sat on our towels in the shade of a little tree. A good sunscreening followed, and then Dan grabbed the red wine we had just bought from his bag and I took out our little sippy cups and he poured us a glass. Yamas! Cheers. The sippy cups actually come from Norway - while on the Norway on a Nutshell tour we cruised through the fjords. The onboard shop sold single servings of red and white wine in these little cups, slightly shaped like a wine glass but with a lid. We loved them so much - we thought they'd be great for picnics - that we took them home wth us (not before getting another round of course). These cups have come with us on this journey and have proved invaluable. Not just for wine, but if hostel rooms don't provide cups and we have some multivitamin dissolvable tablets, or so we can economise by getting a large bottle of juice and use our cups instead of buying smaller more expensive juice bottles. A bit luxury, a bit wanky, but we like it!

We drank down the wine, contemplating getting into the water. Hardly anyone was swimming, which made me wonder how cold it was. No matter - we were here to dip and dip we would! 

The. Water. Was. Freezing. It literally hurt our feet and calves. It took our breath away. Unfortunately we are not the sort to just jump straight in - no we like to drag out the torture. So inch by inch we entered the clear crystal blue water, exclaiming each time the fresh water hit a new, sensitive, unwet part. The backs of the knees were the first hurdle. The next - well, you can guess. Once our limbs stopped hurting I'm pretty sure they just went numb, and it was quite fine then. At some point a largeish fish bit me on the calf and I exclaimed. Why do creatures like to bother me so?

Eventually after a lot (and I mean a lot) of dithering, I finally threw my upper body under the water. My breath was instantly gone it was so cold, and I splashed about for a bit. Ok. That was done! Time for Dan to go under. 

I think it took him another 20 or so minutes t actually go under - he was dithering far more than I! But eventually he threw himself under, came up spluttering, and we had done it - gone for a splash on a Greek island!

Time for more wine. We waded out of the water flopped onto our towels and poured another. I lay back on my towel using a bag as a pillow and we just watched the world go by. A few more people came to the beach and we could hear the squeals as they each entered the cold cold water. We watched one man launch himself into the water and literally swim to the other side of the bay (to parikia) and at some point he swam back again. We watched a cruise ship come in, which caused our calm bay to create a few miniature waves. 

We thought we would go for one more splash holding our wine glasses but a quick toe in the water brought an end to that idea! Instead we perched ourselves on the old pier or water break dangling our feet in the water and sipping our wine. Dan grabbed a towel and our shoes and we dried our feet, getting ready for the trek back to Parikia. 

The walk back didn't seem as arduous as the walk there. The scrabbling of the rocks from this direction was quite easy even with the hot sun beating down on us now. More people had come to all the beaches as we headed back to our accommodation for a quick shower before dinner. 

On the walk back we popped into the supermarket and got - you guessed it - nmore wine. Our plan for the evening was to have a bottle of wine on our rock from the night before and to get a couple of gyros. We got the wine and went back to our accommodation. 

Time to head to dinner and watch the sunset. Almost everything went to plan, except we got to the seaside gyros place and I had forgotten the wine. Back to the accommodation and back to the gyros place. 

Our rock was free so we sat down, poured some wine and tucked into dinner - the sun still quite high in the sky. This wasn't the best gyros we had had but it was tasty and did the job. It probably went a bit weird as we didn't eat it straight away. 



The sunset was beautiful but not quite as amazing as the night before. I think this was because more boats came in and this made the water less glassy, and there was a slight haze on the horizon. A man with a professional looking camera was darting everywhere taking photos - I think we ended up in a few as subjects when I spotted him standing behind us! 

Sunsetted, wined, fed, we wandered back to our accommodation (not getting so lost anymore) and called it a night. 

Til next time
xx