I didn’t have much time to really plan this trip, so on our plane to Amsterdam, I cracked open the Rough Guide to Greece book. About a half hour in, I was completely overwhelmed. Sure looks like it would take months to see all the amazing places in Greece. Truth be told, we were planning on flying into Greece and then driving to Croatia, but unbeknownst to us at the time, there are simply no one way car rentals allowed coming out of Greece. Who knew? So with our flights already booked, now it’s on to plan B….uh rent the car in Greece and drop the car off in Greece. Good thing there is a lot to do in Greece☺
We landed in Amsterdam and prepared for our last leg to Athens...are we there yet??
The internet connection here stinks and I can't upload photos right now, so hopefully over the next few days, I'll find a better connection.
We then took off for the Acropolis. Sailing high above the city atop a limestone hilltop, the Parthenon is visible from almost every spot in the city. We wound our way up the stairs to the Entrance. What struck me, is not only how little actually remains of the structures at the Acropolis, but the thousands of years of history that mark this particular spot of land. We could see the whole city surrounding us, which was beautiful. As we wove through the ruins, a familiar smell kept introducing itself. I'm pretty sure it was the scent of wild onions - those tiny little ones.
It was a gorgeous day, fit for a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans, however, we were surrounded by people in heavy coats and down parkas...I spent a good deal of time wandering why people were dressed so warmly...and I live in San Diego, not Moscow!
We headed back down the Acropolis and grabbed a bite to eat in Thissio, which was relaxing and had a good view of the Acropolis.
After a rest at the hotel, we took the metro to Emou street for some window shopping and stopped at an outdoor cafe for dinner in Plaka, at the base of the Acropolis. The food there wasn't much to write home about, and the wine unfortunately tasted like motor oil. Should have consulted a book or concierge for a better place to eat I guess!
Originally, we had planned to visit Delphi on the way up to Thessaloniki. But after seeing many different ruins within Athens and after hitting a traffic jam on the way out of Athens, we decided to skip it, and check out Mt. Olympus which was more along our path to Thessaloniki anyways.
As we sped north up the coastal highway, well out of the city limits, we began noticing a few things: 1) the road conditions were impeccable - new, smooth pavement, not a single pothole, 2) holy mother of toll booths every 5 minutes - we must have spent AT LEAST 40 Euros on tolls to get up to Thessaloniki 3) hardly any cars on the road the whole way - which helps to explain #1 and is most likely a result of #2, 4) every other house/structure was either unfinished or abandoned.
Ok let's talk more about #4. Literally at least 25-30% of the houses and structures we passed were either unfinished or abandoned. Many times a 3 story frame was built, but no windows and no interior put in, or the first two floors were finished and the third was just a frame. Other times, there were structures that looked like they may have been used but then abandoned and never leveled or re-purposed. As unsightly as it all was against the striking natural beauty of the coastline, it honestly became somewhat funny. I Googled this phenomenon when we got to our hotel in Thessaloniki, and there were some plausible explanations, the best of which was: Greek's don't have to pay property tax on unfinished structures. Seems like the Greek government may want to look into changing their tax laws? Hey, only a suggestion:)
We eventually made it to the town of Litochoro, which is a small town at the base of Mt. Olympus. The mountain was quite impressive along the drive up, with the clouds billowing over it like poly-fill and the snow dusting the top peaks, like too much powdered sugar on a Bundt cake. We wound up the switch-backs to an overlook about 10 km up the mountain to admire the ocean and the town below, and Mt. Olympus above. We took a few photos, and as the sun was setting, we hopped back into the car and made our way to the hotel, which was past Thessaloniki by the airport.
As we got out of the car, we realized we were missing something...our Camelbak packpack, which contained Kris' scarf, hat, camera pouch...and a few hours later we realized, Kris' passport. Oooopsies!! We left it at the overlook on the mountain, which was over an hour's drive away. We looked at each other in disbelief...and hunger. It was already dark, and hopefully no one would be coming up the mountain in the dark so we relaxed for a few minutes in our hotel room, which smelled faintly of smoke (even though the sign said it was a non-smoking room), and got something to eat. Around 10pm, we headed BACK to the mountain in hopes that the bag was still in the same spot. When we arrived back to the overlook in the pitch black, we found it still there - reflecting off of our VW's headlights as we approached. Whew, crisis averted!!
By the time we got back to the hotel (and almost ran out of gas on the way back - literally put putted up to the gas station) it was 2am.
I was ready for a good night's rest!
Today was a rest day. After going to bed at 2am, we slept in and ate a 'brunch'. We researched our plan of action over the next couple of days, hit the gym and face timed with our kids:) We drove in to Thessaloniki for dinner at a place called Paparouna, which got great reviews by a few bloggers. The food was awesome and the place was eclectic. The only unfortunate part was that that half the restaurant was designated as smoking. Ugh! We had a great meal there regardless, but I feel like I'm turning into an ashtray! Our rental car has only 9,000km on it, but it already reeks of smoke as well. I can't escape anywhere!!
Maps
People
Photos
My Stuff
trip feed
trip kml