Our Grandiose Greek Adventure

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• Entry from Thessaloniki

Trip Start Jun 28, 2008 Trip End Jul 19, 2008

  Thessaloniki, Macedonia Region, Greece
Saturday, June 28, 2008

Day 1 - June 28th - Flying Calgary to London


On route to London Gatwick via Thomas Cook airlines (not the best airline in the world, had to pay to drink water. Almost thought our meal wouldn't be free either. Not to mention that all the prices for the 150ml drinks are in pounds....ouch). Still no damper on the vacation as the seats were super roomy and we have a zillion more miles in the air to go *sigh*. Can't wait for the smoke break (Curtis, "oh no shit").


The window seats were nice this leg of the flight, as it was daytime the whole way and flying over Iceland and the frozen sea was quite a site. Especially with the sun setting and the moon rising over the snowy capped earth.


Not too sure what time it is anymore as we seem to be full of energy and ready to go....to our Yotel *wink, wink*

Our lil' car

. Sorry no mile high this leg, not only was the cabin lit to the nines, but also the older woman sitting beside us probably wouldn't have liked Curtis' ass on her crossword puzzle.


London in 10, 9, 8....no, more like another hour to go. We seem to be slowly descending. Looking forward to the next leg...will update later. As we just figured out the next plane is yet another 8 hour flight!



Day 2 - June 29th - Flying London to Thessoloniki


The start of a very long day...we arrived at Gatwick around 6:30 this morning and soon figured out that our next flight doesn't leave till 10:30pm. Oops. A few smokes later we found a piece of heaven at the airport...our little room at the Yotel! The most brilliant idea we have seen in awhile, located downstairs from the information booth at Gatwick, beside the airline VIP lounges. Super clean, quiet and cozy...a much needed snooze for four hours

Metorea

. That's killed about 8 hours of our 16 hour layover. Again we're still not sure what time it is anymore, but we're looking forward to getting on our last leg to Greece.


Gatwick is a fairly busy airport, but has died down since the morning. Not much to do, but eat and shop....oh and smoke.


Good news, we looked at our tickets to Thessaloniki and instead of the 8 hour flight we thought we were heading into, it's actually only 4 hours....but we thought we were leaving earlier. (Note to self: Pay attention when booking stuff!)


3pm...only 7.5 hours till we're onward to Greece. Updates to come.




Day 3 - June 30th - Arriving in Thessaloniki, on route to Kalampaka


Touch down

Monastary

! We have finally made it to our destination, and seen our first bit of dark night sky since the evening before we left. One more wait and we're off on our adventure. It's now 4:45am in Greece and we're just waiting on Avis to open. I think the random 4 hour sleeps have already converted us over...always an up side to the long flights/waiting.


Our first purchase is two tiny cups of Espresso...holy crap are we going to be wide awake driving to Kalampaka. Talk about some strong Greek coffee.


We're guessing the weather here to be about 26 degrees right now. The humidity is great here! Thessaloniki airport is quite small, but very clean and quiet right now. Olympic airline was a really roomy ride here as well. Smoking is permitted in the airport which is a nice change...looks like we won't have any problems with not being able to smoke anywhere here.


Just trying to learn a few words (they are never going to stick, this language is a hard one to remember)...so far got white wine, good morning and thank you somewhat remembered

Sheep herders

. We're also trying to figure out how to get out of Thessaloniki and on to the main highway towards our destination. Curtis' thought: Let's just head west, we'll get there. (Could be our first adventure on the horizon) Two hours and counting and we're on our way!


Time to rock and roll...picked up our little red Citroen and we're off!
The drive to Kalampaka was so wonderful. The roads are pristine here, like a newly paved road all the way. The tunnels through the mountains were very interesting; we must have gone through 40 or so of them.


Had a little detour along the way. They tend to take red tape and cross out locations on signs throughout the country so it makes it somewhat difficult to figure out where to turn next. Curtis enjoyed the windy 90 degree turns along the route here, especially in the little box of a car we have. We had our first adventure of the trip...trying to find our hotel. We asked several people and started to think they were lying to us, turned out they were pointing us directly to our hotel. The Hotel Odysseon is nice and clean and a much needed shower was the first thing we accomplished in this mountainous town

Ancient Greek

. We headed out to the monasteries for a quick boo, then headed to Trikala to find the bridges. I couldn't stay awake...shortly after Curtis almost fell asleep at the wheel. Back to the hotel for a nap to catch up on our jetlag.


Just headed down for a couple Mythos beer and some pictures of the mountains. Met the history buff hotel employee and got some really good tips on where to go and where to take some great pictures. A few too many beer on jetlag later and we're back in the hotel, ready for some snoozing, 11:45pm and ready to rest and start another adventure tomorrow.




Day 4 - July 1st - Kalampaka & Trikala (Happy Canada Day)


Started the day off with some breakfast at the hotel (all hotels include breakfast here). A huge spread of cereal, bread, fruit, eggs...you name it. They definitely take continental breakfast to a whole nother level here

Olympia

. We had some coffee with our meal and asked the bar for some baileys. I brought a coffee cup up to the bar and asked for a cup of Bailey's...you should have seen his face, plus the repeated question of a cup of what? After finally understanding what it was I was asking for he started to pour the Bailey's...a teaspoon...no, no the whole cup! I'm sure he thinks Canadian's are a bunch of drunks now.


After breakfast we headed out to the monasteries for some pictures in the morning light. We needed to come back to grab some pants and long sleeve shirts to go into the monasteries. The rooms in the monastery are painted with stories of Christ and are unbelievably remarkable. Our best guess is the stories are to do with the religious people being attacked & tortured; it was very violent for such a holy place.


We also headed out to Trikala & Pyli to find the arched bridge. Somewhat of a disappointment as the river is now all dried up. Must be this heat! It was 37 degrees in Pyli that day. Needless to say Curtis and I are still trying to adjust. Our little shitbox has gained more respect from us as the a/c is much needed.

these critters are everywhere!

Another nap in the immense heat, must not be turned over yet. Woke up in just enough time to make it up to the monasteries for some "no heat haze" pictures at sunset. We ended up at a beautiful restaurant "taverna" afterwards for an amazing supper. Curtis had the tomato & cucumber salad (not being picky, just too hot to eat) and I had the spaghetti la forna...mmm, best meal so far. All the Greeks try to get you to try their homemade, best in Greece, Greek salad.


Back to bed, need to get up early to head towards the coast tomorrow. Corfu next...




Day 5 - July 2nd - Onwards to Corfu, stopping in Ioannina


Checked out and ready to roll. What a drive, we started out on some windy mountain road thinking it couldn't last forever...were we ever wrong

Sparta!

! The road all the way to Ioannina was complete uphill or downhill 90 degree switchbacks. Curtis and I almost had to stop to hurl a few times. The locals are completely crazy (imagine taking a BC mountain drive and going around those corners at 100km/hr). The views were amazing, tons of valleys and never ending mountains. We even got to see a few sheep herders along the tops of the mountains.


After arriving in Ioannina we were on the lookout for the Perma caves. Perma is a strictly one way road and we must have travelled it three times looking for the blatantly obvious sign that said STOP - CAVE. The cave was a refreshing break from the blazing sun (a nice constant 17 degrees inside). The cave was big and open and beautiful inside.


Afterwards we continued our journey to Igumenitsa to catch the ferry to Corfu. We qued up in one line and shortly after realized it was the ferry to Italy. Not much longer did we find the ferry line to Corfu. Once we got there we noticed that all the ticket booths were closed. We asked a café near by and they told us that the ferries were on strike for the day till midnight. So we headed for some eats, a quaint little pizzeria near the water

Chlemensti Catle

. We also noticed on the way to eat the temperature was reading 43 degrees, not much longer did we start to overheat. After eating we headed back to the ferry line and qued up with the car (around 3pm and waited). Not much to say here other than we fried in the car, waited hours upon hours and slowly fell asleep somewhere around 10pm. Around midnight one man woke us up to let us know the ticket booth (one of about twelve) opened to sell tickets on the next ferry (2:30am). Curtis "lined" up in the maddening crowd...slowly made his way through pushing and shoving and once at the front the ticket agent said, "no more cars, next ticket selling at 3:30am. This was a whole nother line and had already grown larger than the first line in a matter of seconds. We contemplated our options and shortly came up with leaving Corfu in the dust.


Onwards to Patra. We drove all night to get to our third destination. The drive through the night was quite eventful; we saw tons of things we would never have seen if this little detour never happened. The first was the little jumping gremlins, not too sure what they are but I want one! We were coming around a mountain corner (surprise) and I saw something huge on the road and yelled to Curtis to stop. It was a massive wild boar (bigger than Zandar) licking the road. Shortly after we saw a few more boars and even some little piglets along the highway

Romantic Evening in Greece

. Bats were everywhere flying overhead our car throughout the drive. We ran out of gas a little after halfway there and ended up sleeping a few hours at some gas station on the side of the highway. Around 6:30am we got gas, air in the tires, some chips and away we were to Patra again.




Day 6 - July 3rd - Patra


We arrived in Patra, red eyed and tired and looking for our hotel to shower. It took us about 2 hours to find our hotel and only by chance. Patra is a large city with many one way roads. We finally arrived at our hotel, two days early. They were kind enough to switch our days and get us into a room asap. Ahhhh, a shower and snooze later and we're feeling much better. We're on the hunt for another hotel for two days somewhere down the road and along the coast towards Olympia now. Not much of an eventful day, but a relaxing one to say the least. The Airotel we're at in Patra is very nice and highly recommended by us. It's on the beach and overlooks the mountains, sea and bridge. On to some wine & beer and sleep

Coast

.



Day 7 - July 4th - Onwards and outwards, destination unknown


Destination known, thank God! We booked in to the Aldemar Olympian Village for one night. A ritzy joint on the sea in a place called Skafidia. We headed out early morning towards Chlemensti castle before the hotel. The heat was close to unbearable near the castle hovering around 40 degrees. The castle was amazing, set up on a hill overlooking some small farm towns and the Mediterranean. Some water, tunes and a short drive later we arrived at our hotel. Ahhh, time for some relax and pamper. A nice break from the somewhat tiring last few days. The hotel was definitely a 5 star hotel with all the amenities you could expect from an all-inclusive. We dropped off our luggage and quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed right for the water to cool off. Our first time in the Mediterranean!


After our dip in the sea and a quick shower we headed out to the Marina Club for some dinner. One of the most romantic places I've ever seen. A sea view restaurant on the beach with the correct recipe for love. A white piano with a Greek man singing tunes throughout the meal, roses and great wine. The meal was to die for; I had the lobster with risotto (100 dollars) and Curtis has the salad (10 dollars). We had the best view of the sunset with no one in our way to watch the color of the sun turn from yellow to orange to red and disappear into the horizon of the sea

Ruins

.


After our filling meal we headed back for some relaxing in our hotel room and sleep. Ready to head to Ancient Olympia tomorrow, one day early.




Day 8 - July 5th - On route to Ancient Olympia


Arrived at Best Western today, another fabulous hotel and the first hotel that didn't take us a long time to find (thank you for the signs).


Checked in and settled in for three whole days. We headed down to the bar for some beer and banking. A few beer later (0.5L beer by the way) and we decided to head out to the ruins.


The archaeological site is something else! I can't even guess as to how big it is, it took us about 5 hours total to walk through the site and museum. I almost overheated through our walk as the temperature was around 37 degrees with very little shade to be had. We must have taken a few hundred pictures of the ruins. The museum held all the finds of the ruins and was breathtaking. The pictures really do speak for themselves

Mistras

.


Headed back to our hotel for some much needed refreshments and a bite to eat. Supper was again amazing. We sat next to the pool under the shade of grape vines for an authentic bbq and watched the sunset from our table. I had the turkey souvlaki and Curtis had the meat spaghetti (no more salad). We were going to go in the pool afterwards, but it was closed. So back to the room for some sleep to get rejuvenated for the next day.




Day 9 - July 6th - Olympia


Woke up early to get ready for another eventful day of site seeing. On to the Temple of Apollo and some shopping downtown!


Another wonderful breakfast and we're away. The trip to the Temple of Apollo was yet another windy road

Tyrins

. I don't think there is anything but slightly sickening mountain roads anymore. We got to drive through the valley the 2007 fires ran through and see the massive amounts of dead trees. It was quite something to think that all the small farm towns through the valley had to endure these fires as there is really nowhere to escape from them. The hotel we first stayed at told us that the temperatures that year were around 47 degrees. I can just imagine that heat with the roaring fires!


The road climbed and climbed right to the top at 1300 metres where the Temple stood blanketed in a large white canopy for protection from the elements. The Temple is said to be the most beautiful temple in all of Greece; for its geometry and material. This is so far the most intact ruin we have seen and was something else. We learnt that it is part of UNESCO and they are taking huge measures to preserve it. They are slowly dismantling the entire temple, storing all the pieces, rebuilding a more stable foundation for it to sit on, and then putting all the pieces back together exactly the way they were! (even the little pieces that fell off years ago) Just imagine what it will look like in another 100 years.


After our tour of the temple we headed back to Olympia to do a little shopping in the town. The trinkets for tourists are pretty neat here, anything from silver and gold jewellery to bronze Spartan heads. Curtis picked up a t-shirt and I got a ring with the Greece symbol for eternal life (from the Spartans). We sat down for some lunch at a café called Top's for some pizza and coronas. After eating we headed to the supermarket for some Bailey's (cause we've spent about 35Can

Agamendmon's tomb

. already in 4 days as well as confused some Greek's all to hell). We also picked up some chips and batteries. Back to the hotel for some...give me an A....give me a C.....ahhhhh! Next on to the pool then some dinner and finally some sleep.


Laundry Day tomorrow, Yippee!




Day 10 - July 7th - Olympia


What a great day! Took a break from the touristy thing and decided to laze around all day long. I stored the bottle of Bailey's in my purse and away we went to breakfast. I think I feel more out of place whipping out the 700ml bottle of Bailey's from my purse and filling up our coffee cups now then I did asking them from a full coffee cup before! Haha Oh well, that's the "drunkard" Canadians again. Back to the hotel to tally up our laundry and drop it off for some cleaning. Thank God for laundry day, I'm down to one pair of white pants and a white shirt. We headed out to the pool next for some lazing around and a few refreshing dips. After the weather started to heat up we headed back to the room for some complete couch potato time...for most of the day. Just waiting on some fresh clothes and might head down to the city for dinner tonight. Last night here in Olympia and then we're off down the coast towards our next destination; Kalamata.



Day 11 - July 8th - Onwards toward Kalamata, stopping in Methoni


Headed out early on our way to our next hotel further down the coast

Mecanea (spelling?)

. Drove through a beautiful little coast town called Pilos (place to buy a property if you wanted to live in Greece). Stopped by the fortress in Pilos called Niokastro; a fairly large fortress sitting atop a cliff on the waters edge. The views were beautiful from the fortress wall and the breeze was so refreshing in the scorching sun. Afterwards we headed further down the coast towards Methoni to view the castle there. Methoni castle was even more majestic than the fortress! We spent quite a bit of time walking around this castle and taking in the beauty it held. I think a bit too much time was spent in the sun as I quickly realized my shoulders were lobster red and Curtis' shoulders were a nice ruby as well.


Back on the road to find our next hotel, Sunrise Village Beach in Petalidi near Kalamata. We started to drive through some pretty sketchy towns and wondered just were we were staying. Once arriving at our hotel we toke a sigh of relief as the hotel was quite nice inside. Shortly after we settled into our room, not exactly what we expected after seeing the reception. We were invited in by a few flies and some green moths?! Oh well, it's way better than the car, haha. We headed down for some supper and were shocked when we got the bill for 40 euros, it was a small buffet with two ice tea....little scam artists in this town

Corinth

! Needless to say, we would recommend staying in Pilos if you were to head down to the southwest side of Greece. On to some sleep to get ready for a ton of things to see tomorrow. Heading off through Mistra, Sparti and Tripoli on our way to Nauplio for two days.



Day 12 - July 9th - Onwards toward Nauplio. Stopping in Mistras, Sparti & Tripoli


Checked out of our hotel early, Curtis lost his hat somewhere (probably supper) so on to the cowboy hat now. We started driving towards Mistras, but needed some gas...so we stopped at the good ol' BP and grabbed some gas, water and beer and away we went. Mistras was a beautiful old Byzantine town set on a mountain with some amazing views of the valley. Today was one of the hottest of the year and walking up and down the ruins was quite tiring.


Back to the car for some A/C! We headed towards Sparti, not far down the road from Mistras. Not much in Sparti, other than to say you were there. Straight through on towards Tripoli. We were starving so we stopped off in the middle of nowhere (a cute restaurant in the mountains) for a bite to eat. The food was great and the staff was super friendly. After our meal, I took the wheel so Curtis could get a view of the drive along the coast. We headed to Tripoli to see the temple of Athena; it was something not worth driving to as the ruins were in the middle of a small town and more like a few rocks on the ground

Corinth

.


The new navigator, Curtis, took us on an interesting little road to get to Nauplio. He wasn't about to use the map, haha. Nauplio is a nice coastal city buzzing with tourists heading towards the beach there. Our hotel was shortly down the road in a place called Iria. We arrived at our hotel and got the news that they were overbooked and had no room for us! They kindly called a hotel they recommended down the road and we drove to check it out. It was right out of those horror movies where in the middle of the night everyone dies, haha. It wasn't all that bad, but definitely more hostel than hotel. We were going to stay there, but we paid for the four star hotel and we not impressed that they put us in the hostel. We waited around for a bit and finally they put us in a room; a four person room. Wasn't much, but it was better than the hostel. After settling in we headed to the pool for a nightly swim and some beer. Back to the room for some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us! We're checking into our Athens hotel one day early, so lots to see on the way.




Day 13 - July 10th - Onwards to Athens. Stopping in Tiryns, Mycenae & Corinth


Up and at em' to see some sites. We had a quick breakfast, checked out and made sure our reservation for Athens was okay. We stopped in Nauplio to take a few quick pictures of the isle of Bourtzi there and headed down the road to the Tiryns

Athens

. The Tiryns were said to be where the Giants lived. Not much to see there, so we quickly hopped back in the car for some refreshingly colder air again. The next stop didn't take long to get to either, Mycenae. The place was packed with tourists!


Mycenae was a huge ruins site, with quite a few beehive tombs. We walked around exploring every inch, again I got a little heat dizzy and we headed to a restaurant to rejuve. We missed seeing the tomb of Agamemnon, so we headed back to the ruins after lunch. This was definitely something on Curtis' to see list and was quite the tomb, called the Treasury of Atreus. We stopped at a shop before heading out to grab some trinkets, and the funny thing is that the owner was from Manitoba. Her shop was amazing, with tons of stuff. I had my first Greece coffee called a Frapa, a cold whipped coffee.


On towards Corinth so see Ancient Corinth. Another stop at the gas station for a few beer and a fill. I think we're getting a little too used to stopping for two beer and gas now! Could be a hard habit to break, haha. We're pretty sure it's illegal to drink and drive here, but then why do they have coolers full of beer at all the gas stations? As well the beer is about a dollar.


The site of Ancient Corinth was a must see, one of my favourites so far. It was the largest collections of finds we have seen so far. The entire site was made mostly out of marble and the majority was fairly intact still

Glass man in Athens

. The temple of Apollo there was gorgeous and the first ruin we've seen without any scaffolding around it to hold it together. It was quite something to think that Julius Caesar and many other notables once walked down the marble paths we were now walking! The site was noted as the largest Roman township in all of Greece.


We continued our journey to Athens, now on the main highway which is a nice change from the windy mountain roads we'd been on for a week now. We stopped just outside of Athens to grab the map (which rendered useless) and to gain our sanity before heading into the madness! We were told that the city was 4.5 million people and it's not really that big in area....here we go.....
We heading into the madness and I tried desperately to find any street signs to point us in the right direction, however nothing is signed in Athens. I started to think we'd never find our way and decided to just start looking at building names. Looked way up to see what the places were called and there it was, the Golden City hotel! Haha Fluke is all I have to say. It took us a bit of circling around to get parked at our hotel, but we made it in no time at all. Checked in and settled in for three nights. On to some munchies and sleep and ready to explore tomorrow

Curtis looking over Athens

.




Day 14 - July 11th - Athens


Slept in finally and ready to go explore. We decided to make today a relaxing site seeing day and head out to Lykavittos hill for a panoramic of Athens. We weren't exactly sure how to get there so we asked the front desk about what to expect to pay for a taxi. He said it was a bad idea and that it would cost a fortune in the traffic of midday, he suggested we take the Metro. So, off to the adventure of public transportation in a foreign country! Haha The Metro was actually very pleasant, much like the London tube (however much smaller in lines). The underground stations were super clean and fairly uncrowded. The best part is that it only costs six dollars to ride all day!


We arrived at the station we needed in no time at all. The map of Athens is really easy to follow once you find that the roads are in fact signed (small little blue signs on corner pillars)

Ahhhh AC

. The hike up to the Funicular (the tram that takes you to the top) was quite a jaunt uphill and we had to stop a few times to catch our breath. We rode the tram to the top which was a cute little ride and stepped out to the observatory platform to see just how big Athens is. What a view! You can see every touristy site and a full panoramic of Athens, along with the coastline. We sat and enjoyed the views for awhile and then decided to head into the café for a few beers. We spent a ton of time and had quite a few drinks in us when we decided to head down and find a place to eat dinner. We found an ad for Hard Rock in our map book and headed out. Back on the Metro and a few streets later and we arrived at the good ol' American restaurant! We were in complete heaven when we got our meal; I got the quesadilla and Curtis got the burger and fries. It was so close to the food at home and I think we gobbled it up in less than ten minutes! I think our waiter had a good time with us too, because we kept raving about the food and he just kept laughing at us. After supper we decided to journey back to our hotel before it got really dark. The trip home was a bit eventful as we got off on the wrong station thinking it was the one we got on at...wrong. Oh well, the walk was good and we even learnt that they have undercover cops walking the streets in Athens stopping people randomly to ask for identification and look at the money in their wallet. (Not too sure what the money in the wallet has to do with anything, but he mentioned he was on the lookout for drug dealers.) I haven't seen any problems with walking the streets of Athens (as per all the people that have warned me of all the dangers here)...as long as you are smart, then there is no reason to be afraid here

mmmm...Hard Rock!

. Back to the hotel to crash.




Day 15 - July 12th - Athens


Tried to get up nice and early to get to the Acropolis as it was opening (8am) but we slept in till 9am. We had some breakfast and got ready to head out again. Back on the Metro (really the only way to get around Athens), got to the Acropolis...what a zoo! Definitely something else when you are standing beside these unbelievably huge monuments. Most of the site is under major reconstruction and the pollution damage is so sad. There is a theatre there that would be amazing to watch a show in too. We ate some lunch at the restaurant there which was tasty and then headed towards the Temple of Zeus. This temple was by far the largest structure we have seen so far, Curtis got a picture of me beside it to show just how big it really is. We decided to by pass some of the other stuff in Athens (museums and such as they weren't all that appealing to us) and head back to the hotel for some wind down time. It's nice to get out of the madness here as there is constant chatter and such

Athens

. If you think Las Vegas is crazy or even London you really should see this place, it doesn't sleep and is much louder than both those cities combined. Looking forward to grabbing our little Citroen from the elevator parkade tomorrow and heading to some quieter places. Tomorrow we head to Delphi; the "naval" of the world.



Day 16 - July 13th - Onwards to Delphi


Ahhh out of the big city. Took us a little while to find our way out, but hey that's to be expected seeing we had no problem getting into Athens. I navigated us in the completely wrong direction and we ended up near the Athens airport...a few tolls later and we were on the right path towards our next hotel. We passed a McDonald's sign and Curtis wanted a burger and I needed to use the washroom so we stopped. Tasted pretty much the same as at home with a few exceptions; you can smoke in mcd's anywhere, get a beer with your meal here and they have a meal called McToot. Back on the main highway clipping along at 150km/hr, gotta love the "what speed limit?" attitude here. Took us a few hours to get to Delphi and a few interesting windy roads, but we arrived

Hercules' bath

. We decided to leave the site seeing till tomorrow and head to our hotel down the mountain in another town called Galaxidi. We arrived at the Europa Beach hotel about a half hour after Delphi and checked in. Would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone wanting to see Delphi...best hotel so far. Nothing super spectacular, but it is pretty new, super quiet and the staff is really nice. You can't beat the view either; another seaside resort. I was running out of stuff to wear again and asked if they do laundry here, they said no, but they would do it anyways (see - super nice).


We headed out to get some beer at the local gas station and came back to our room, opened the doors and enjoyed a cold one while lying on the bed watching the sea. Shortly afterwards we headed down to the pool for a quick dip in the later afternoon sun. Curtis and I started to get really hungry so we got changed and headed towards the restaurant. The front desk let us know that our laundry was done and free. Pretty good deal! We sat down for a nice dinner and Curtis and I started talking about what we were going to order (the menu was at the front desk when we checked in with all of today's specials) we both agreed on the spaghetti as the remaining 15 items were rather weird. Just as we were talking about our upcoming meals, the waiter handed us some strange appetizer

Delphi

. We were both a little confused and just thought okay, maybe they give you a sampler? So we tasted the (what we later learnt) Spinach pie...not bad. Thinking he was coming back to take our order or at least hand us a menu we waited. Then he came out with a greek salad some plates with fries and something that resembled a lasagne. Curtis asked what the lasagne was and he said Mousaka, a very authentic Greek dish that combined some sort of puree mashed something or other, eggplant, vegetables and meat. Curtis wasn't too sure what the hell "meat" meant, but we tried it anyway. Now thoroughly confused as to what this was all about we broke out in laughter, mainly because we started to think they were going to bring us all 16 items on "Today's Special Menu". Haha We started to look around and the table next to us kept getting each and every plate of what was on the list! We joked that once the spaghetti came out we'd just say, "ok, that's enough stop"! haha Thank God, it stopped after the meaty surprise though and out came the ice cream and bill for the drinks. What was nice about this was that not only is breakfast included in our hotel, but the dinner is too. We left the restaurant completely confused as to what just happened and unsure as to what tomorrow's dinner held.


We headed out to the beach to listen to the tide roll in and watch the moon reflecting on the sea

Leonidas

. Back to the hotel room for some sleep, maybe even some sleep in tomorrow before heading back up to Delphi to see the sites.



Day 17 - July 14th - Galaxidi & Delphi


Slept in till noon today! What a treat! We headed up to Delphi to check out the sites and grab some lunch. Lunch was great and yet again the view from the restaurant was amazing...not sure if there is a bad view here anywhere you sit. After a bite to eat we walked up the ruins of Ancient Delphi. It is said that this is the "naval of the world" and there is nothing to make me think otherwise. Each and every stone is inscribed with some sort of script from ancient times. There must be at least a million stories here! The entire ruins are set on the side of a mountain with a view to the sea and the gorge below. Fairly hot outside today, but nothing compared to what we've been through elsewhere...maybe we're just getting used to abundant sunshine and 30's weather (man, gonna be an adjustment when we get home). After spending a few hours at the ruins we headed back to the hotel for some beer and a/c.


Starting to run low on the beer supply and looks like another BP Gas B double E double R-U-N is on the agenda! Oh and some much needed H2O...a definite staple here in Greece. Not too hungry after our big lunch and not sure if we're up for another confusing supper again, but we'll see. Probably head down to watch the tide roll in again, then for some snoozing on the comfy bed we have here. Off towards our second last hotel (the super ritzy spa hotel) near the pass of Thermoplae tomorrow. Not long now till we wrap up our trip and we're starting to get a little home sick. More to come...



Day 18 - July 15th - Onwards to Kamena Vourla


Checked out and on the road again. Looking forward to a super nice hotel and the possibility of a comfy bed! The drive was rather uneventful as there isn't much to see between Delphi and Kamena. Wasn't long and we arrived and checked in. The hotel was pretty nice, but nothing to write home about. For the cost it's not a great deal. The hotel room's a/c hardly worked so it was nice and warm in the room the whole time. We headed out to get some lunch along the water. Kamena is definitely a Greek vacation spot and all the cafés are along the water...super cute. They run across the street to grab your drinks and food. We sat at the little café for quite some time, enjoying the view and my new favourite Amstel beer. Afterwards we headed out as the new Enrique and his crew showed up and crashed the peace and quiet, haha. We went back to the room for some R&R and then headed down to dinner a few hours later. The dinner was included which was nice as the buffet was really good. We sat outside near the pool watching the sunset before heading to bed for the night. Starting to really wind down in our last few days here! One more site to see and we can safely say we have SEEN Greece.



Day 19 - July 16th - Onwards to Thessoloniki


We slept in again and headed out around noon towards our last destination as well as our first, Thessoloniki. We planned to stop off at Thermopylae to see the statue of Leonidas and the pass as well as Hercules' bathtub. Curtis was elated to stop at the pass of Thermopylae; it was the one spot he really, really wanted to see. It was interesting to read the story of the battle aside from the movie and see the actual place it all went down! Plus the movie got a few things wrong...there were way more Persians then we both thought...over a million! Afterwards we headed just down the road to the "hot gates" or otherwise known as where Hercules' bathed and got all his strength from. We were going to take a dip, but the smell was so strong and the water was fairly slimy. So we dipped our toes in, took some pictures and headed off to Thessoloniki.


Along the drive we got to see Mount Olympus, which is not just one mountain but the whole range of mountains. This whole country is full of mountains and nothing but spectacular. We arrived in the big city (not as big as Athens) and found our hotel with very little hardship. The weather is much cooler here, around 31 deg. Curtis is even talking about wearing jeans tomorrow! We checked in and headed to our room to drop off our bags before finding parking. The bed is heaven!!! Our first bed that is almost like home...well ok, not really....but much, much closer than the last ones. We dropped off our stuff and went to park the car...not much for parking in this city, but we found a spot a few blocks away.


We were starting to get hungry so we decided to walk down to the pier and find some food. Ahh, another fine American joint; TGIF. Some burgers and fries and a few beers later and another satisfied set of customers. We had some great talks about home and all the "chores" we are going to start on our house. Can you tell we are getting ready to come home? Haha Back to the hotel for some sleep and off to London tomorrow!



Day 20 - July 17th - Flying Thessoloniki to London


Got up and took our time packing and getting ready for the day. We have some time before the flight to check out a little of Thessoloniki today before we drop off our little C1. Our flight is at 6:40pm, so off to see the city we go. We went to pick up our little car and it took us about half an hour to get parked only three blocks away, so we decided to for go the city tour and head towards the good old ring road and find a place to eat instead. We ended up in another town outside of Thessoloniki and saw the BP sign so we headed in there. The restaurant was called Roma Pizza, not Boston Pizza, but tasted the same and was just what we needed before the flight. We ended up dropping the car off quite a bit early and had to burn a few hours at the airport again. We've started to become regulars in airport waiting now. We finally got on our flight to London and closer to home. The flight was pretty good, but a lot longer than the way to Greece (not sleeping this time). After arriving in London we quickly got our luggage and headed to the taxis to get to the Ramada. Curtis had his first taste of a very local English accent in the taxi driver and almost cracked up laughing when he heard the guy say "fag" for cigarette. We checked in and the lady was telling us about the hotel and again Curtis' face was priceless...not sure if he's going to get a handle for the British language or not yet. Haha We dropped off the luggage and headed right for the lounge for some normal food and a few Fosters. After a tasty, much needed regular meal we headed outside to smoke (that's right, back to normality has its up and downs) and then back to the room for some sleep. It's almost 1am Greece time and we're ready to get some sleep, maybe some TV in and start off our day of touring and seeing family tomorrow. Found out its Susie's birthday tomorrow to, so we might just get to see everyone! More tomorrow.




Day 21 - July 18th - London


One more sleep in before going home, thought it best to sleep in because it's Friday and the tube will be packed before 9am. We went down for some breakfast before heading downtown London, and then jumped on the train towards Victoria station. Once we got off at Victoria, I got us all turned around and had no idea which way to go. I completely forgot how crowded London is and Curtis saw the Big Bus Company and we decided to hop on the double decker tour bus to see the sights.


Every time Curtis saw a McDonald's and Starbucks side by side he mentioned that we should get off the bus, haha. We got off at Big Ben and toured around looking at the Parliament buildings and Westminster Abbey. Afterwards we headed back on the tube and towards the Tower of London. We walked along the Thames and saw the Belfast, the bridge and the tower before heading back on the tube towards East Croyden to see the family. A quick fly by night tour of downtown for Curtis and off we went. We grabbed a taxi and quickly arrived at the SandRock to call the family. Joe, Pauline, Susie, Chris, Joe & Mary shortly arrived at the pub for a drink. It was Susie's birthday (which thankfully I saw on Facebook before they arrived) so we had a good birthday toast. Joe and Chris were already drunk when they arrived as they had been drinking shots and beer since noon, so the conversations were quite entertaining. We had a great time talking and Curtis had a good time meeting the "other Rowe's". Afterwards we headed up to Joe & Pauline's for some more drinks (of course) and supper. Teresa and Gerry showed up shortly after for supper. The menu for supper was fish and chips, Curtis had chips! :o)


The visit with the family was great and we all had a blast. Susie had to take Chris home right after supper as he was starting to bob, haha. We had a few too many glasses of wine and beer and they started to get Curtis into the sambuka...a great start to a hell of a hangover for the nine hour plane ride tomorrow! Joe and Pauline insisted on driving us to our hotel and we headed out around midnight. A few turns and twists and wrong ways and we arrived. We had about three hours of sleep before our wake up call to get ready for the airport. Homeward bound!




Day 22 - July 19th - Flying London to Calgary


Woke up with a killer headache from the wine and thought to myself...Oh, great here's another "Cuba flight" all over again! Grabbed the shuttle to the airport and away we were home. The flight was late getting off the ground and after several visits to the washroom we boarded. Takeoff was enjoyable and the airplane barf bag came in handy again. I was praying the first few hours that my hangover would subside as I didn't want to feel like hell for nine hours of flying. I fell asleep as soon as we got in the air to try to sleep it off. Four hours of sleep and I was finally feeling like a normal person...thank God! The trip with Thomas Cook back was much better than going; the service was ten times better which made it all worth while. The seating on this airline is very enjoyable as they give you tons more room then usual airlines. The trip didn't seem as long either as we slept through most of it. Touch down...we're home! Ahhh, the finale of a great vacation! Got home, picked up Zandar and enjoyed the remainder of the day before jumping into our oh so missed bed for some shut eye! Home and happy :o)

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