Last days in Greece

The lake in Ioannina

We have had a leisurely few days, first in Ioannina (our friend Aliki's ancestral home town) and then in Thessaloniki. We are very impressed by Greek roads, especially the highways, funded by the EU and making travel very straight forward. Glorious mountain scenery too, from Meteora to Ioannina.

Bluey at Hotel Kastro

In Ioannina we stayed at Hotel Kastro inside the walls of the castle. It is a local neighbourhood and we enjoyed both the Hotel and promenading with all the locals in the evening once the hot sun started to go down. We also like the custom up North that when you order a drink, you practically get dinner (in the form of a variety of mezes) to accompany it.

Lunch - and family get together

We had a couple of nice encounters with local people here - a family in a restaurant we chose who treated us like long lost family members and gave us lots of extras, and the owner of a 5 star boutique hotel that we wandered into seeking a drink in an air-conditioned space. The hotel's bar and restaurant facilities were closed but he insisted on giving us a beer on the house and we sat and chatted for quite some time. Great hospitality all round.

Free beer at a 5 star hotel

Alexander the Great

Thessaloniki is hot and humid, but it is a beautiful city - very chic with many cafes and bars to hang out in and stylish shops. It is really too hot for much sight-seeing and we have seen lots of old stuff already this trip. We visited the market this morning and will take a boat trip tomorrow but it's a good chance to re-group and stock up on essentials before our tour in Albania. So we have washed again (we have another, tiny, Airbnb apartment a few metres from the sea), I have had my hair cut and a pedicure and Lester has cut his toenails! Ready to go!

It's damned hot!

Drink and free Mezes

Thessaloniki market - Modiano

Nice church!

We have had some amazing food in Greece and it is pretty cheap. We have also enjoyed chats with a variety of local people. They are happy to share and to give their opinion on the current financial and political situation. And they love hanging around having coffee. A most pleasurable 18 days.

Meteora

There is no doubt that this place needs its own post in our travel blog. It really is one of the most spectacular sites we have ever seen, up there with Mt Sinai, Capadoccia and Uluru. Extraordinary rock formations touching the sky and 600-700 year old Monasteries built on the top of them, caves in the rocks where hermits lived (for ever), a multi level Pre-historic cave site (Theopetra) with a human skeleton (we are talking 25,000 years old here) and sunset to die for.

We did 2 four hour tours with Meteora Travel, one in the morning visiting 2 monasteries and viewing others plus the cave, then a late afternoon one to visit another monastery, a very old church, hermits caves and to see the sunset. Such a memorable day!

Human skeleton in foetal position

Hermit caves up on the cliff face

Waiting for sunset

Athens to Delphi

We are old hands at the Athens Metro now so getting back to the Airport to collect our hire car was easy. We now have Bluey - a very cute VW Polo.












Impressed by the ease of  heading North, the quality of roads and the lovely drive through mountains to Delphi. On route we stopped at a Greek hill town for a scenic lunch and to watch a bus and a truck do the impossible. Getting past each other took 10 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing, lots of help from people in shops and all under the watchful eye of a resident in her dressing gown who came out when the truck bumped her balcony.

Then it was on to Delphi, where, later in the day we braved the hill to climb up to the top of the archeological site. Delphi was the centre/navel/"Omphalus" of the world according to Zeus and therefore everyone else and the place where the Oracle chewed oleander leaves and gave strange prophecies that others had to interpret. Dodgy, if you ask me.
We stayed at Pitho, a family run guest house in the main street - helpful chatty owner, nice room and very good breakfast. All we need really.
The next morning was spent at the Museum where all the old valuable stuff that was found on the archeological site is now placed - interesting, and more importantly, air conditioned (as is Bluey!). Okay, we're soft.

Nice old stuff here

The Oracle (?) at the navel of the world

Good view, but required effort

The 5th century BC version of gold foils - for blokes (rich ones)

Athens overview

I always enjoy cities more the second time around. The first visit, the focus is on finding one's way around and doing all the must-sees. Subsequent visits are more relaxed, exploring local areas. Athens this time was no exception. Stayed in a great Airbnb apartment in a city neighbourhood, where the owner, Dimitris, lived upstairs. Apartment buildings are not particularly inspiring and this was no exception but open the door and there was a spacious kitchen, decent bedroom, large lounge and a good bathroom/laundry, all very nicely decorated and equipped with more than we could possibly use. Space! A washing machine! A clothes line! A really good shower! Bliss!

Visited the outstanding Acropolis Museum, had the obligatory dinner in the Plaka, had bubbles (first time in 3.5 weeks, but who's counting) at 2 amazing bars (Brettos and the Grand Hotel Bretagne roof top bar, on a tip from some clients in Brettos), caught the Metro to Kifissia (the Athens version of Chapel Road) and ate a local restaurant on Dimitris' recommendation. And did 2 loads of washing. And bought some English breakfast tea. Fellow travellers will understand that the latter two are very important and need to be mentioned in a blog.

Despite all media reports, all was fine. Minor political rally in Syntagma Square but ther were more people watching the changing of the guard at Parliament than at the rally. Everything seemed calm although the working Greeks we have spoken to are very concerned about the country and their future (although this is always the case in Greece it seems). Nor were we threatened or pick-pocketed.

outside Acropolis Museum

View from Acropolis Museum cafe

Grand Hotel Bretagne roof top bar

Parliament from GHB bar

What we learnt on Icaria

What have we learnt in Icaria (and what has been reinforced)?

1. It's OK to stop in the middle of the road when driving to chat to someone in another car, on foot, or to talk on your phone
2.Wine from grapes grown in soil without calcium and with no additives except sulphur will get you inebriated but won't give you a headache.
3. Stress is bad so don't
4. Useful activity and physical work is good
5. Old people and kids are part of the family - they don't need a separate table, it's OK for them to dance and sometimes they might need help
6. Eat non-processed food, lots of veggies and use olive oil but never butter
7. We don't have much stamina when it comes to festivals - but we are prepared to work on it
8. Icaria is beguilingly, seductively beautiful and gets under your skin

Off to Athens tomorrow

Typical Icarian day 2

Lazy morning then to Evdilos for coffee.

We then caught a ferry to another island we have never heard of, Fournoi, partly to see it and partly because the ferry travels along the North coast of Icaria, giving us a different perspective.

Then back to Evdilos for dinner in one of the Tavernas along the harbour (Koralli). Tough life really. The restaurant is on the left in the photo right.

Typical Icarian day 1

Such an idyllic place. Routine is mainly coffee, a morning swim, lunch, siesta or reading, some sightseeing, dinner in a picturesque spot.

Coffee at Carte Postale - a cool bar

For example, Coffee at Carte Postale (left).

Then some wine tasting:Drove up into the hills behind where we are staying to Afianes winery. Personal tasting conducted by the wine-maker (a pharmacist) and his wine-maker daughter. Each village makes its own wine using techniques handed down through generations and all vary. Afianes uses a variety of  those techniques, including storage in an earthenware pot buried in the ground. The bouquet of the wine was beautiful but we didn't like the taste so much. The other 2 wines (barrel) were lovely, a white using bagara (spelling?) grapes and the red using Fokiado.

Then it was on to Agios Giorgios for a meal at Platanos Taverna, where the chef comes out, sits down with you and you work out what to order. Zuchini fritters crispy on the outside but melting inside, with tzatziki, melanzane (eggplant rolls filled with cheese), souvlaki, and melt in the mouth goat