Greek Goddesses, Beaches and Tolls

02 August, Sunday

It was amazing how things changed from leaving the old Eastern Bloc countries and into Greece. The vegetation changed almost immediately from scrubby trees and roads lined by hedge rows to cultivated plant life and olive trees.

We took it as a good sign when it started to rain once we crossed the border. We then took a wrong turn and headed west instead of east (a very similar named town was put into the GPS without it being checked). We came within 250km of Anzac Cove at the turn around point.

There seems to be less unoccupied buildings here, both unfinished and abandoned. We were wondering what circumstances led to so many abandoned buildings in the previous countries.

The roads. OMG THE ROADS!!!! They’re smooth to drive upon and you don’t have to worry if you and the oncoming vehicle will fit. There is still the horn honking and speeding by drivers but not in the way it seemed to be a national mental issue in other countries. The great roads also meant amazing tolls. In the drive from Mt Olympus to Stilida, we clocked up about 35 Euro ($52) worth of tolls on the new highways (today's drive cost us 39 euro...). It’s worse than driving on Sydney’s toll roads, just… I don’t mind it as its money going into Greece but I wasn’t expecting it.

Things seem cleaner and the people friendlier and more prone to speak English. Now, this could be just us looking forward to Greece but I don’t think so.

One of the best things about being in Greece and meeting Greek people is they don't tell you that they're Greek within 5 minutes of talking to them. Something that Australian 'Greeks' should think about.
:)

It does make you consider our lot in life. Even though the Bulgarian houses may have been made with 5 different type of brick as it was being constructed, they still have running water, sealed roads, electricity, satellite TV and internet. It’s not that they are badly off, it’s we are so much more affluent as a nation. I think people who complain about Australia have never left to see the difference.

Our first tourist stop was Thessaloniki to check out the awesome Archeology Museum. The skill taken to work the marble and gold is unbelievable.

Gene has been anxiously awaiting Greece only because of the Percy Jackson series of books. She’s been asking for an orange shirt for the last week (it indicates she’s in the Greek team and not the Romans). She’ll probably be asking for a Roman purple shirt soon.

As we drove to our first night’s stay, I asked Gene what she saw on the right hand side. She looked out the window and replied, ‘Clouds? Trees?’ I did ask as we were driving past a copse of trees that obscured the view. Then we went through a tunnel…. Eventually, she had a clear view and still couldn’t guess. She lost her shit when I told her she was looking at Mt Olympus.
J

Our stay was right on the beach and very beautiful.

The next day was our 16^th wedding anniversary. Luckily, Dee liked the brooch, earrings and ring set I bought her at Sighisoara, Romania.That was a great relief as I can never guess what things she likes at any one time.

We spent the morning driving up and around Mt Olympus and the visiting the Greek Orthodox Church of St Dionysius. 

We took some photos of Gene wrapped up in a fitted sheet looking like a Greek Goddess. It was only after she saw the photos she realised how much of a beautiful woman she’s becoming. Best I start teaching her self-defence again.

J

On our drive south towards Athens, we pulled over for a late lunch at a highways parking spot. There was a friendly homeless dog wandering around, looking for scraps but we cut open a large waterbottle to make a bowl and gave him a drink since it was over 30 degrees. In the end we gave him 4 bowls of water. We had to close the back door as Dee was getting all emotional about the dog. I’m sure he understood.

We had hoped to stay in a hotel room for our anniversary but we could only find a camping place that had bungalows. It wasn’t bad but the rooms only had single beds (very romantic), only the bedrooms had air con, no wifi, a water heater in the bathroom that seemed to be in competition  with the air con and no kitchen appliances in the kitchen. There was also a cat lady next door to Springy with at least 9 cats.

Dee and I had a romantic dinner at the camp's restaurant and locked Gene in the bungalow with books, a laptop and Greek TV.

Today, we drove to Marathon with plans to stay at the camping grounds there but a local told us it was closed. We had lunch, hid from the midday heat and finally drove on, quickly visiting the Marathon beach (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon) which had been turned into a massive party place.

We’re now in Athens and have just booked the ferry crossing to Italy in a few days. We don’t think the trip will be great from reading the reviews but it has to be done and we’ve lashed out and booked a 3 person cabin as the trip will take over 13 hours over a night.

A big day visiting Athens tomorrow. It should be about 36 degrees, so we’ll try and take it easy.