Greece Diary

Page Contents - Patra Arrival - Olympia - Sparta & Mystras - Corinth - Athens - Meteora - Mt Olympus - Thessalonika

24-3-2012 Saturday
We arrived at Patra in Greece just after 1pm. This ferry is huge, carrying many semi-trailers that can do u-turns on the deck to go down the ramp. After we disembarked we drove about 80ks south to a town called Glifa and a camping park called Ionian Beach Camping for 2 nights - which is right on the Ionian sea. It is a beautiful big park with apartments to rent and many pitches for caravans and mhomes. We are parked right beside the beach - it is lovely.

25-3-2012 Sunday
We had a rest day today so did some washing and went for a walk along the beach in the beautiful warm sun. The beach has a mix of sand and lots of small stones. After our walk we sat outside in the sun with some drinks and nibblies - a nice day.

26-3-2012 Monday
We drove 60ks south and then east to a town called Olympia (Greece) and a camping park called Camping Diana for 2 nights. Olympia is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic games, believed to have commenced in 776BC until 393AD. The first modern Olympic games was organised in Athens in 1896 on the initiative of a Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin. The Olympic Torch today is ignited several months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic games (10th May 2012 we've been told) at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia. Then it is carried in relays throughout the world to its final destination, the opening ceremony at the stadium in the country where the games will take place. The tradition of the torch relays was introduced in 1936. After being lit, the flame continues to burn throughout the Olympics, and is extinguished on the day of the closing ceremony.

The camping park we're staying in is run by an elderly couple. The man speaks English and told us he's 89 years old and he certainly seems to have all his faculties, and still drives! Amazing! When we arrived I could smell this lovely cooking smell and told the lady so. A little while later she brought over to us, a small plate of what she had been cooking. It was like a vegetable casserole in plenty of oil and it was delicious! The oil must be the secret to longevity! She also gave us some lovely big lemons off their trees.

After setting up we walked about 100m to the main town which is well maintained, neat, clean and full of souvenir shops! The souvenirs however, are not tacky at all and one shop owner assured us his were made in Greece, not China! All the shop people said hello and spoke English which isn't surprising once you've seen what an obvious tourist destination this place is. We saw 3 big tourist buses driving around during our short time in the town and the owners would often ask if we're with a tour group. When we told them we're Australian they seemed to be particularly nice to us, maybe because they've all got relatives in Melbourne! Even the lady at the camping park has a sister living in Melbourne! We had a nice lunch at a restaurant owned by a Greek man who spoke very good English and was married to an Australian!

We're hoping it continues, that our dealings are with people who speak English because we've no hope of really understanding or recognising the language. We can really understand the basis of the saying "It's all Greek to me". A lot of their letters are not the same as we're used to, and some are symbols. Therefore it's not easy to recognise and learn a Greek word as you would for example, an Italian or French word. So our range of useable Greek words will be about 2-3 instead of our usual 10-12!

27-3-2012 Tuesday
We rode the bikes a short way to the archaeological site where we walked around and saw the Temple of Hera, in front of which the Olympic flame is ignited to start the world relay of torches to the Olympic games venue, symbolising the survival of the ancient spirit of competition. This year the flame will be ignited on the 10th May with the destination, London, in September. We also saw the remains of the Temple of Zeus, the most important building because the games were held in honour of Zeus. The Stadium is still a big open area of ground, 212.5m long and 28.5m wide, where the games were held. There were no seats, just embankments on either side which could hold 45,000 spectators. There was also The Gymnasium and a number of others including Nero's house (we guess it must have been his holiday home in Greece) which of course, are all mostly ruins, so you need to use your imagination or the graphic image might help.

The white, red and purple flowers/weeds growing around the ruins certainly gave a nice feel to the area, which otherwise was just a big mass of collapsed grey stone columns and blocks. In one place near a tree covered embankment I heard some rustling in the brown dried leaves behind me. When I turned and focused for a minute on where the sound was coming from I saw a browny coloured shell tortoise, making his way down through the leaves. We moved him to a clearer spot for a photo but as soon as we put him down he was off, faster than you'd expect. He climbed up into the dried leaves again and into a a bit of a hole and stopped - I think he thought he was hidden but his back half was sticking out. Our visit was actually cut short, even though we'd been there 2 hours, as we were told the place was shutting in 10 mins, at 3pm, but our watches said 1.50pm. We found out later that even though we'd put our watches forward an hour when we came into Greece by ferry 3 days ago, 1 day later daylight saving started in Greece and we didn't know about it - lucky we weren't catching a ferry today!

28-3-2012 Wednesday
We decided to stay a third night so we could go back and see the Archaeological Museum that we missed out on yesterday and we were glad we did. It is an excellent museum with all the statues and many terracotta, metal and glass artefacts recovered from the nearby archaeological site, and mostly from the Temple of Zeus and close surrounds. Among others there were the famous Parian marble statue of the god Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos, a large scale terracotta statue of Zeus and Ganymede, and 2 monumental pediments (the triangular sections above the columns at each end of the temple) from the Temple of Zeus depicting a) the contest between Pelops and Oinomaos and b) the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs - figures from Greek mythology. These 2 magnificent pediments took up the 2 long sides of a big room and they were something to see - a lot of the statues being intact.

After a couple hours in the museum, we rode just up the road a bit to the Memorial of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games. At his request his physical heart was laid to rest here with this memorial since his death in 1937. It was a pleasant sunny day and it was nice riding around this quiet area which doesn't have a lot of traffic.

29-3-2012 Thursday
Drove 168ks south and then east through Kalamata (Greece) but we didn't stop for any olives, and then on to Sparta and a camping park called Camping Paleologou Mystras for 2 nights. The drive here took 4-5 hours as it was on a very winding and up and down road, round and over mountainous terrain. However, it wasn't scary or dangerous and it was very picturesque so we enjoyed it, stopping a few times to take photos. I was clicking away constantly in the passenger seat and we noticed in some places there had been trees fallen down and evidence of rocks having fallen on the road - could've happened yesterday afternoon when we had a heavy downpour with lightning and good cracks of thunder, and Dave was up on top of the mhome washing it with a broom (back in Olympia). The trip was slow and the road was mostly ok but at least there wasn't a lot of traffic on it. We passed under 2 sets of low, rocky outcrops, cut out for the road, the lowest being a height of 3.8m and we are 3.1m so had heaps of room - no wonder we didn't see any big trucks on this road. The camping park we're in has orange trees marking out the pitches and surprisingly, the oranges are lovely and sweet, so Dave walked around and picked up a bagfull. We're the only ones here in the park so we had our pick of the pitches which is good because there's not too many that are big enough. There are also mountains nearby with a lot of snow on top of them still but the temperature here is quite nice and warm.

30-3-2012 Friday
We rode 2ks slightly uphill, to the small town of Mystras but our destination was the old fortified town, which was a bit further and more uphill so we had to walk and push the bikes the rest of the way. About 3 big tourist buses passed us on the way - just as well this narrow road isn't used to travel to anywhere else. Then when we got there and bought our tickets, a little worn out already, the young lady showed us on a map the best route to take and with each one she'd say '...then you climb up to ......, then you climb up to...., then you climb....'! We had to climb up lots of stoney steps and cobbled paths, on various levels to view the sites which are mostly all ruins now, except for the Palace Complex, the Monastery of Vrontochion and the Museum. A couple churches, St Sophia and Metropolis (St Demetrios), had wonderful fresco paintings inside - great to see that they'd survived as the town was built in about the early 13th century. The Palace complex was being restored and was not open for visitors.

History note - The Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium) was the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Mystras was once an important city in the Byzantine empire, but the ruins we see here are mostly from the later Byzantine period, characterised by Christianity rather than Roman Polytheism, and was predominantly Greek-speaking rather than Latin-speaking.

We rode back down the road a little way and stopped for an early dinner at a restaurant, that had a nice view overlooking the town of Sparta and surrounding land, mostly covered in olive trees. On the ride up the road we'd noticed these old olive trees and that some of them appeared very big and gnarled, and we thought they might've been 100-200 years old. After our meal we were talking to the owners who informed us that some of these trees would be 1,000 years old! It seems that these trees don't have a use by date - they just keep on producing. One good thing about the hill on the way up this morning, was that we didn't have to do much pedalling on the way back - just coasted all the way back to the park.

31-3-2012 Saturday
We drove 135ks north to Corinth (Greece) and to a camping park that was due to open tomorrow but they accepted us today, Blue Dolphin Camping for 3 nights. It was a good easy drive and we have noticed how Greece so far, is very mountainous, and has very rocky terrain. We're 1 out of 4 customers here and we have a pitch right beside the water again - beautiful, and the water is a gorgeous blue (like you see in the travel shows) and the view is worth $1m! After lunch we rode a short distance down to the shops for groceries.

Dave commented that Greece is very expensive, Argos, Korinthos, but the most expensive and common place throughout our trip, has been EFTPOS!

1-4-2012 Sunday
Rode the bikes to Ancient Corinth a few ks away. It was a bit uphill and we were worried it was going to be a lot uphill like Mystras, but it wasnt that bad - in fact there was a small village right beside the ruins, mostly restaurants and cafes, catering for the tourists. There were several tourist buses there when we arrived. The archaeological site is dominated by the Temple of Apollo, with 7 columns left standing - we wondered if they'd been stood back up for effect(?), as the columns certainly don't look much just lying on the ground. The museum had lots of statues, mosaics and artefacts from the surrounds, including a tomb complete with skeleton. The Peirine Fountain looked like it would've been an impressive structure in its day. It provided water for the city and you could hear running water coming from inside but couldn't see any. There was Gauke Fountain (no water now) cut into natural rock, and a building called Bema (tribunal) from which St Paul apparently spoke to the Corinthians in 52AD. The semi-circular Theatre was not recognisable as such, not like others we've seen.

We had an early dinner at a nearby restaurant and rode back, downhill most of the way, to the camping park. The wind had grown stronger during the afternoon and the water in front of our mhome was quite choppy, unlike the nice calm water of yesterday.

2-4-2012 Monday
We had a rest day today so caught up on some washing, and just enjoyed the lovely sun and beautiful ocean view. It's nice to just chill and enjoy doing not much.

3-4-2012 Tuesday
After doing some shopping and filling up with fuel, we drove 90ks to the Greek capital, Athens and a camping park called (of course) Athens Camping for at least 3 nights at this stage. We had beautiful views on the motorway approach into Athens, of the blue mediterranean, beautiful rocky coastline and some of the more than 1400 islands. We'd read that the roads in Athens were busy and chaotic and they were right. We came in about 2pm and once off the main motorway, we crawled along. Our park is 7ks west of the capital's centre and it's still busy out there - we'll be catching the bus and train and leaving the mhome at the park. When we left Corinth we took a little diversion on the way to the Corinth canal on the western end of the Corinth Isthmus, just to see what it looked like. There was a narrow bridge across which we thought we would go over, but not when we saw that it was for maximum 3 ton, and we're 5. So we just stopped on the side and took some photos before turning around and going a different way. Below is the official information on the canal.

The Corinth Canal (Greek: Διώρυγα της Κορίνθου) is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through the Isthmus at sea level; no locks are employed. It is 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) in length and only 21.3 metres (70 ft) wide at its base, making it unpassable for most modern ships. It now has little economic importance. An abortive effort was made to build the canal in the 1st century AD. Construction finally got underway in 1881 but was hampered by geological and financial problems that bankrupted the original builders. It was completed in 1893, but due to the canal's narrowness, navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslips from its steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic anticipated by its operators. It is now used mainly for tourist traffic.

4-4-2012 Wednesday
Caught the bus and train into the city centre. Across the road from the railway station was the Parliament Building, in front of which we saw the changing of the guard in traditional dress, with what appeared to be black pom poms on the toes of their shoes. The expressionless-faced 2 guards stood very still for a while and then in unison, they marched slowly, bending, lifting and then straightening one of their legs up high, past the horizontal, while lifting the opposing arm the same. Then they stop and stand still again for a while before doing another similar set of marching. This continues until the hour is up when there is the changing of the guard with 2 new guards, and a little bit extra marching to go with it. These guards are all over 6ft tall. They guard the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and it is guarded 24 hours a day, with a change every hour. While Dave was taking a photo a Greek man, obviously knowing we were tourists who spoke English, stopped and said pointing at the Parliament building, 'That's not a house, it's a house of thieves!' and walked off. We saw lots of police presence throughout the day, so we wondered if there might've been something happening or just trying to keep political protestors at bay.

We walked through the old city called the Plaka, the ruins of the Roman Agora a lovely old church called Kapnikareas. We walked through the market area with souvenir shops and old antique and second hand shops, similar to what we're used to back home. In the shops we saw old petrol bowsers, an old vespa, old gramophones, and a couple of phones that Dave was horrified at the prices they wanted - a skeleton phone for €1500 and a candlestick phone with no dial for €650 - and thats € not $! After a nice lunch we walked uphill and up many steps towards Lycabettus Hill, not the thing to do after a big lunch. We found the funicular (train), the Teleferika, which took us up the last steep bit to the top where we had a spectacular 360 degree view of the whole town! There was a cafe up there which would've been fabulous to sit and eat in, with such a great view. There was even a small old church up there. On the walk back to the train to go home, we walked through the National Garden, a big park which had lots of seats and shady areas for people to use.

5-4-2012 Thursday
Went into the city centre again and firstly saw the Panathinaiko Stadium, interesting for its marble seating (here's a description off the internet).
The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium (Greek: Παναθηναϊκό στάδιο), also known as the Kallimarmaro (Καλλιμάρμαρο, i.e. the "beautifully marbled"), is an athletic stadium in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of the ancient Greek stadium, the Panathinaiko is the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble (from Mount Penteli) and one of the oldest stadiums in the world. In ancient times, the stadium was used to host the athletic portion of the Panathenaic Games, in honour of the Goddess Athena. During classical times, it had wooden seating. It was remade in marble, by the archon Lycurgus, in 329 BC and was enlarged and renovated by Herodes Atticus, in 140 AD, to a seated capacity of 50,000. The remnants of the ancient structure were excavated and refurbished, with funds provided by Evangelis Zappas for the revival of the Olympic Games. Evangelis Zappas sponsored the Olympic Games that were held there in 1870 and 1875. The stadium was refurbished a second time in 1895 for the 1896 Olympics, with completion funding provided by the Greek benefactor George Averoff (whose marble statue now stands at the entrance).

We then walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Greece's largest temple, impressive for the sheer size of its 104 Corinthian columns, 17m high with a base diameter of 1.7m - only 16 now remain, 1 of which now lies on the ground, having fallen after a storm in 1852. It was begun in the 6th century BC and took more than 700 years to build, with Emperor Hadrian overseeing its completion in 131AD. After the construction of the temple, the Athenians honoured Hadrian by building an arched gateway - Hadrian's Arch. Onward then to the Acropolis Museum which houses all the original statues, Doric friezes and artefacts from the Acropolis - plaster cast copies replace the originals at the temples.

After lunch we walked to the Acropolis which means 'high city' in Greek, literally 'city on the extremity' and is usually translated into English as Citadel. Athen's most iconic symbol, the Acropolis is arguably the most important ancient monument in the Western world - something not lost on the multitudes of tourists who converge on it every day. The entrance is through the Beule Gate, a Roman arch added in the 3rd century AD. Beyond this is the Propylaia, the monumental gate that was the city's entrance in ancient times, and south of here is the small, graceful Temple of Athena Nike (which isn't accessible to visitors at this stage). The Parthenon, a temple built of Pentelic marble and dedicated to the goddess Athena, epitomises the glory of ancient Greece and was completed in 438BC. Above its columns are the remains of a Doric frieze - gods, goddesses, centaurs, animals, etc., carved into marble blocks and put together as a decorative story. The best surviving pieces are the controversial Elgin Marbles, carted off to Britain in 1801 by Lord Elgin. The Temple of Erechtheion was built about 420BC and houses the much-photographed Caryatids, the 6 maidens who support its southern portico. These are plaster casts - the originals (except for the one taken by Lord Elgin) are in the Acropolis Museum.

6-4-2012 Friday
Today we visited the rest of the sites we didn't do yesterday. A lot of these sites are really just ruins but there a few things that are still largely intact.

- The Ancient Agora ('agora' meaning gathering place/assembly) including the Temple of Hephaestus the most complete in Greece, even seemed to have a roof and the inner walled room intact which no others we've seen have, built in 460-415BC; the Stoa of Attalus Museum ('stoa' meaning covered walkway), fully restored from 1953-56, a two floor very large building 159-138BC is thought to have been a kind of ancient commercial centre with 21 shops on each floor. The collection of the museum displays everyday objects, which were unearthed in excavations in the ancient Agora; Odeion of Agrippa/Gymnasium 15BC with 3 statues of Giants and Tritons.
- Dionysos Theatre with still recognisable semi-circular marble seating
- Roman Agora (Forum) including the Gate of Archegetis a monumental gateway with 4 Doric columns and a pediment of Pentelic marble; and Kyrristus' Clock - Tower of the Winds - an octagonal Pentelic marble monument constructed in the 1st century BC, was an hydraulic water clock which was operated by water running down from the Acropolis, with bas-reliefs of the 8 winds, personifications of which are carved on each side.
- Hadrian's Library built by Roman emperor Hadrian in 132AD, now showing no discernible sign of building at all.
- Kerameikos Archaelogical Site and Museum - we only looked at this one through the fence and saw mostly ruins, and as we were a bit 'ruined' out, we decided not to go in.

We have been seeing a lot of beautiful flowers coming out in the warm Spring weather. In particular we've noticed trees with sprays of beautiful pink flowers and decided to look them up - Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as Judas Tree, is a small deciduous tree from Southern Europe and Western Asia which is noted for its prolific display of deep-pink flowers in spring. There is a longstanding myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species.

It felt quite warm today and we asked one of the locals about it. He said in July/August it can get to 45 degrees so we're glad we won't be here! It was about 24 degrees or so and most of the people are still wearing coats and sloppy joes as if it's cold. Most of the people in t-shirts and shorts are the tourists.

7-4-2012 Saturday
Drove 135ks north on the motorway (a good drive) and stopped at a seaside town called Arkitsa (Greece) and we're wild camping for the night beside the beach for 1 night. It's a lovely quiet spot, out of the heat and the hustle and bustle of Athens, and looking out at the ocean. It's an area that appears would be very popular in the summer. About 100m down the road is the ferry port where the big barges ferry vehicles across to the nearby island of Evvoia. Tied up further down are what looked like traditional European commercial fishing boats, some with old fashioned steering tillers.

8-4-2012 Sunday
Drove 200ks north-west to a town called Kastraki (Greece) and a camping park called Vrachos Kastraki Camping for 3 nights. On the drive here, we were struck by the beautiful scenery and lush, very flat country, surrounded by very big mountains, some still with snow on top. In the park we have a fantastic view of some of the tall pinnacles, with monasteries built on top, which we've come here to see. Meteora means 'suspended in air'. Hermit Byzantine monks in the 9th century first inhabited these mountains, living on fissures and caves along the rocks to spend time with God. In the 14th century, these hermit monks built 20 different monasteries to get away from Turkish occupation. The tall cliffs were the perfect escape for these monks. At first ladders and ropes were the only way to reach these monasteries. During the 1920s steps were carved out in the rock, making them more accessible. Today only 6 monasteries remain. We're going to visit them tomorrow.

9-4-2012 Monday
We drove to 3 of the 6 monasteries today. It was rainy and cold, with the constant rain increasing at times, and the rolling clouds sometimes obscuring the view. All we can say is WOW! and Fantastic! These monasteries were built back in the 1300-1500s, impossibly and precariously perched on top of the pinnacles, with a sheer drop off some of the sides of the buildings - hard to do by today's standards, incredible for more than 500 years ago! The first hermits scaled the rocks of Meteora by means of a sort of scaffolding lashed to a series of timbers wedged into crevices. These contraptions were later replaced by enormously long ladders. A visitor with no head for heights could be hauled up in a net - half an hour of giddy twirling while the creak of the rope slipping round the capstan threatened to plunge the sweating and terrified passenger hundreds of feet to his death below (cringe).

There were quite a few steps and steep ascending paths at times but it was worth it. The 6 monasteries are Great Meteoros (Metamorphosis) on the largest rock in the area with 4 churches at its summit; Barlaam (aka Varlaam); Agios(Saint) Nikolaos; Roussanou; Agios Stefanos; and Agios Triada. A member of the Meteora monastic community is a 'Meteorite'. We visited the first 3, running out of time for the others today. In the churches there were colourful frescos (paintings) all over the walls and ceilings, beautifully carved chairs, and very ornate metal chandeliers. In other rooms and museums there were chairs and cabinets with inlaid mother of pearl, small ornate crosses with even smaller religious carvings in them, chalices, religious robes, embroidered items and other church memorabilia, dating back 500 years. One room held a number of barrels for the wine the monks made and one particular barrel was so big it held 13,000 litres! Those monks know how to have a good time. There was an ossuary which is a place to hold a lot of bones and this small room did - real skulls lined up on shelves with the long bones on another shelf (we couldn't enter the room, only see through a square viewing hole made in the door). I presume they are those of deceased monks of this community. We saw small cable cars running from the monasteries to the public land to carry people, and there were nets or small cages on ropes, operated by motors, to haul up day to day necessities like groceries or building products. We noticed there was a bit of construction going on in a couple places - renovating or repairing.

We had seen the signs that to go into the monasteries, it was no shorts and shirts had to have sleeves for men and women, but women had to have skirts below the knee. Well I thought I'm wearing track pants that go down to my ankles so that should be ok - not so, women couldn't wear 'pantaloons', we had to wear a skirt below the knee and there were ready made wrap-around skirts in a box at the entry. So didn't I look a picture with this wrap-around skirt over my track pants - gorgeous! And of course 99% of the female visitors were wearing long pants so I had company in looking like a dork!

We had dinner at the camping park and it was reasonable and reasonably priced. We were the only ones here tonight for dinner although we'd seen a lot of people from the park going last night. After we'd eaten, we noticed a pizza delivery came to the restaurant for the people who'd made our dinner, so we were hoping that wasn't a bad sign for us!

10-4-2012 Tuesday
It was quite rainy today so we decided not to visit the remaining monasteries in wet weather again, so we stayed back at the park. Dave washed the mhome again with a broom, taking advantage of the rain. Last night was pretty cold (about 4 degrees) and we both wore our winter PJ's and had the heater on all night - it was a bit like a couple months ago in Italy. We wondered if maybe we're up a bit higher here than in Athens and that's made it a fair bit cooler(?) It was such a change to a few nights ago when it was like spring weather.

11-4-2012 Wednesday
Today was beautiful and sunny so we drove to see 2 monasteries we hadn't seen yet - the 3rd wasn't open today. It was a long steep walk on a good path down to the many steps that we then climbed up, at times with low rock overhead, that had been carved out, to finally reach Agios (Saint) Triada. For all that walking and climbing there wasn't a lot to this monastery but it did have a wonderful view, as do all of them. Then on to the next one, Agios (Saint) Stefanos which is actually a nunnery, with a very ornate church with carved wooden chairs and as with most of the churches, total wall and ceiling painted with religious pictures. In the middle of the church was a fancy metal chandelier but not the usual shape you'd expect - it was quite large and more in the shape of a cartwheel suspended from the ceiling, but with square metal frames with pictures in them. The religious paintings we've seen everywhere, not just in the monasteries, often depict violence, with people having heads chopped off, and others being tortured and being stabbed while tied up, and sometimes hung upside down. At first we felt the people in the religious profession back then must've been very violence minded and warlike, but then we wondered if these paintings were just a recording of history - monks and other religious people down through history have been persecuted for their beliefs and for hiding people being pursued by the enemy.

There are a few people at this campsite who aren't here to see the monasteries - they're here to do some rock climbing, up the impossible looking pinnacles, and most of them are German. In some tourist information I read, it said Greece's language is Greek but English and German are well understood, so it's not surprising that we've seen a few Germans here and in Italy.

12-4-2012 Thursday
Not far from our campsite is a hotel called Sydney Hotel with a big sign of the map of Australia and the Aussie flag flying. The map had towns on it with Sydney written in bigger, red letters and a picture of a kangaroo. I hopped out (ha ha!) to take some photos and a man inside the fence asked what I wanted the photos for. I thought I was in trouble but when I said we were from OZ he warmed and said he was the owner and has lived in OZ for 60 yrs but was here for a holiday. His father had built it and subsequently moved the family to OZ. There was one monastery that we hadn't seen, Roussanou, so when we left the park we drove there. It is a nunnery (the 2nd one) we found out. It seemed quite a large place with 2 levels but tourist access was restricted to quite a small part. The church was impressive, again with wall and ceiling paintings, and ornate lamps and metal chandelier.

After doing some shopping we drove 130ks east and then north to a town called Panteleimon (Greece) and a camping park Poseidon Beach Camping for 1 night. In the distance we can see Mt Olympus, Greece's highest mountain and ancient home of the gods. Its highest peak is popular with trekkers - the main route to the top apparently takes 2 days.

13-4-2012 Friday Greek Orthodox Holy Friday
We drove to a nearby castle Platamon Castle, mostly in ruins except for the defensive wall and one tower which wasn't open to tourists. The castle was one of the fortified Middle Byzantine cities (10-11th century) that were built on naturally fortified sites to control major roads. Ancient sources and modern excavational finds locate the ancient Herakleion here, a city which existed until the Early Christian period. There was evidence of 2 churches, 1 with some small remains of fresco paintings, housing and cannons. We got talking to the ticket man who, when he heard we were from Australia, said he had 2 sisters living in Melbourne. A lot of Greeks emigrated to OZ in the 50s because of the loss of lives and turmoil of their civil war that occurred just after WWII

After the castle visit we drove about 150ks north-west through Thessaloniki and then back down south to a town called Epanomi (Greece) and Akti Retzika Camping which is right on the beach, for 3 nights. We would've preferred to stay closer to Thessaloniki where we want to visit tomorrow but we had scant information on camping parks near there. We are obviously well into Eastern Europe now; on one side of us camper from Bulgaria and from Serbia on the other.

14-4-2012 Saturday
There's no public transport from the park so the lady owner gave us a life into the village where we caught a bus into the terminus right next to a big IKEA shop, and caught another bus into Thessaloniki. We wandered around the town and saw the 15th century White Tower, not actually white but so called because a prisoner bought his freedom by whitewashing it. There were information monitors spread over 6 floors, detailing Thessaloniki's and some general Greek history over the centuries, through wars, Turkish occupation, German occupation after WWII with the Greek Jews also being sent to concentration camps. The White Tower and a big Communications Tower are the city's most prominent landmarks. There are a smattering of Roman ruins over the city and quite a few Byzantine churches.

We noticed there were many coffee shops and bars with tables and chairs on the footpath but there didn't seem to be any food being consumed, only plenty of drinking coffee/alcohol and smoking. We walked through a very busy market area and were just surprised by one very busy butcher shop with a long line of people waiting to be served. It appears they were particularly interested in the lamb probably for Easter celebrations. Cleaned lamb carcasses, with the head still on, were hanging up just waiting to be carved up on the spot - I think our Health Inspectors would be having forty fits, seeing these carcasses hanging up inside and just outside the shop also, where the public is standing closeby. There were also pigs' heads sitting on top of a stainless steel cabinet, looking out at the customers, and what looked like a whole lot of whitish coloured intestines in a big plastic container, being bagged up for customers' orders - heaven only knows what they were going to be used for! Cleaned and skinned rabbits were also hanging up by the back legs, but surprisingly, the feet on the back legs were still on and still had the white fur on - maybe for a 'lucky rabbit's foot'?

15-4-2012 Orthodox Easter Sunday
Rest day today and after some rain yesterday, it was beautiful and sunny. So of course that's my cue to do so washing. I noticed a couple caravans down from us, people were putting a whole lamb (with head) on a spit so armed with camera, I wandered down and asked if I could take a photo of it. They were very obliging and the man asked where I was from and when I told him, he shook my hand and invited us to join them this afternoon! I was pleasantly surprised and not wanting to impose, said no but thank you. Later that day, about 3.30 the man, whom we now know to be Dimitrios, came over to our van and almost insisted we join them. So we did and we had a great time. There were 7 of them, 6 around our age and 1 the daughter of a couple there, Katerina (in her late 20's). Katerina is one of the young modern Greeks, university educated and who spoke English rather well. She translated both ways for the afternoon and I think we all wore her out.

All of the guests wanted to know about us, what we were doing and about Australia, and in return we were learning about their religion (and the graphic icons) and their culture. Dimitrios himself was obviously a very patriotic Greek and wouldn't hear of any negative statements from Katerina about history, religion, Alexander the Great etc etc. You could tell that there could be some fiery discussions at times with lots of waving of hands and Katerina throwing herself back in her chair with frustration. They were lovely, lovely, generous people. They wouldn't let us drink our beer, gave us theirs, gave us a delicious meal of lamb (the best we've had since we left home) and decadent Greek desserts, one which is a specialty of Thessaloniki. We were told that we had to eat the outer crispy lamb skin and there was no cholesterol in it on this special day - I like they way they think! The Easter Sunday meal of lamb is very traditional and explains to us why the market place butcher shops were just so busy yesterday (Saturday). The lady owner of the park, who drove us into the village yesterday, popped over later along with the maintenance man of the park. They're so very friendly with the park people because they have their caravan here all year, and often travel the 30ks or so from Thessaloniki to enjoy the lovely getaway.

They are so generous and gave us gifts to take away. One of the ladies makes mobiles/chimes out of the shells and driftwood from the beach and they gave us one and wrote their names on the shells. They also gave us a big jar of green olives, some home-made red wine and home-made grappa which Dimitrios makes himself. A small red basket of boiled eggs with red shells was on the table and we ended up with that too! They boil the eggs in water with some sort of red dye which the shell absorbs. It's a traditional game mostly for the kids where 2 people hold the eggs in a certain way and each tries to crack the shell of the other person ( a bit like "conkers") - the winner is the one whose egg doesn't get cracked. Then you eat them! Sounds like a good game to me. By the time we left it was just after 8pm and it was still light due to daylight saving. This was another experience that we will remember as one of the highlights of our trip, just like Christmas - spending a special holiday with lovely people.

16-4-2012 Monday
We drove 330ks mainly east to a town called Alexandroupoli (Greece) and a camping park, Camping Alexandroupoli for 1 night. It is a very large park (7 Hectares with no on-site rent caravans or bungalows, just touring pitches) with large pitches and wide roads inside - large mhome friendly. Not far from us is one of those big luxurious bus-size mhomes with the sides that open out and make it like a house inside. We actually feel a bit dwarfed by it (that doesn't happen too often). The park is right by the ocean again and it is wonderful, especially hearing the waves crashing on the shore.

17-4-2012 We arrived in Turkey - see the Turkey Diary