Family Visit!!

  Thessaloniki, Macedonia Region, Greece
Thursday, November 6, 2008

WOW! I am way behind on updating my traveling adventures! It is MIDTERM time here in Thessaloniki which seems to be adding a lot of unnecessary stress to my life. Last week, October 24 my wonderful parents came to visit me in Thessaloniki!

dad and i at on the White Tower

I was so excited to take them around to all of my favorite places. The first night they came we we just went out to my favorite gyro place which turned out to be a hit. They really are fabulous. Anyway, the next day we did some touring of the city, went to some places i had not been yet and some that i had. We went in the Museum at the White Tower and it was really cool! I didn't expect it to be so cool inside!! They had all these different displays about the history of the city and of the tower. For dinner i took them to my favorite tavern that i go to with all of my friends that has the best chicken souvlaki and some of our favorite servers.
On Sunday morning, my dad rented a car and we drove to the city of Volos. It was about 2.5 hours a way. On the way there we drove by olympus which was exciting to see again! Volos was pretty cool, we found a yummy pizza place for dinner because lets face it, Greece knows how to do pizza. On Monday we took the ferry boat out to Skiathos, one of the islands where Mamma Mia was filmed. Most if it was done on Skopelos, but the cast stayed on Skiathos and did some filming there. On the ferry ride there as we were pulling out of Volos, we were followed by a bunch of dolphins out of the bay! It was really exciting. I love dolphins.

dolphins on the way to volos!

They were so cute! Skiathos was beautiful! We got a nice little taxi tour of the island. He took us to the top of the island to get a nice view of the city. We also went to some monasteries and some nice beaches. There was also a cute little shopping street where we took pictures because most things were closed for the season. If you ever want to travel to a Greek island make sure you go in the summer. That is tourist season and the best time to go. By october many of the people in the villages on the islands go back to the mainland for the winter months. I slept the whole ferry ride home.
Tuesday was OXI day. This was the day that Greece said NO, oxi (pronounced oh-hee) to Mussolini when he wanted to send Italian troops to Greece which ultimately prevented them for entering WWII altogether. There was a cute parade on the shore of Volos with people dressed up in uniform from the 40's as well as current Greek soldiers. It was really cool to watch. After the parade we started making our way back to Thessaloniki. We stopped in Lichtohoro, the base of Olympus, for some dinner and i got to see the mountain one more time. It is still REALLY cool to think that i did that. Still unreal.
Wednesday we did some more walking and shopping in the city. My mom and i found some cute scarfs at shop near where i live. We really cant get enough scarfs. I think i get at least one a week. haha. We had a late lunch and did dinner on our own cause i had to get ready for school on thursday. After school on theursday I met up with my parents in Aristotle Square, where there hotel is and pretty much the main part of town, and we went back to my favorite tavern.

mom and i at the taverna

Afterall, we do go there every thursday. My friends Veronica, Joana, Kathryn and Heather came and met up with us later. It was so fun having them there to meet my parents :) After they went to bed my friends and i stayed and listened to some music, drank some wine and went home. In the morning i met up with my parents for breakfast on the roof of their hotel. It was quite tastey. Then we had to say goodbye. I was so happy that they got to come and see what its like here. It really is hard to explain. Now they know I am all setteled in and having a great time! :)
Thanks for coming mom and dad! I LOVE YOU!