Thessaloniki was kind of a bust mainly because I was tired of big cities. In another time who knows, maybe I would have found it fun or interesting. It had some good points, but all the things that I don’t like about big cities were too much for me. So I’m glad to be out.

I’m in Neos Marmabas right now sitting on the balcony of my room as I write. The hotel is on a quiet side street not more than 150 meters from the one main road. It’s sunny and warm, just about the perfect temperature, and I’m feeling pretty good in the shade of the balcony. The first thing after I got here was to find my hotel, the city is pretty small so I found it relatively quickly. The next thing was to rent a scooter. For some reason I just feel like I have to do it. So now I’m a proud rider of a rented scooter. With the power of about 30ccs between my legs, I headed back to hotel to change and then on to the beach. Since the whole city is on the beach I followed the main street until I found a big enough beach. Yeah, I got to admit it was pretty nice. I hung out there swimming and laying in the sun for about two hours, though to be honest I don’t know how long I was actually there. I know that I was there long enough to get sunburned though. When I first took off my shirt on the beach I looked like the typical farmer. I had dark face and dark arms, but super white stomach and back. It actually took some courage to take off the shirt, but I figured that I’d never see the people on the beach again, so what the heck.  By the time I got back to the hotel, I had dark arms and face, and lobster red stomach and back. :) The water was great, the sun even better… It was what I needed.

After driving around the city a little I headed back to the hotel. Having the scooter is so much fun. The muffler is really loud so as I’m going up hills I’m sure there are people in their houses that can’t hear their tv as I pass by. ☺

Tonight I headed out sporting a red glow, but feeling pretty good. I almost had that, “let’s party” feeling, so I kind of dressed up and headed for the main part of the city. The city is pretty small, it’s not tiny, but it’s small enough that if you set your mind to it you could probably walk all the streets in about an hour. There are two main streets, one that goes through the middle of the city, and one that heads out of the city. The street that goes through the city is where the tourists are, and that is where the fun is. I don’t know, sometimes it’s just fun to be a tourist, you walk around with no purpose, maybe stop to look in shops, maybe stop to have a beer, take a picture or two, it’s just fun. That’s what I did tonight and I had a great time.

I’m in Thessaloniki, and have been since yesterday. I really don’t have anything to write about it since I haven’t spent the time to actually explore. One thing though, I managed to sleep through my whole bus ride here. It was kind of cool, twenty minutes into the ride I fell asleep, the next thing I realized we’re pulling into the bus station. At the time I was completely disorientated, I didn’t even know what city we were in, but after everyone in the bus got out, I figured that I was where I needed to be. I did go walking last night but everything was closed. Seriously. Everything was closed. I went out this morning as well and went to what could be best described as the most touristy things listed on the map that I have. The thing is, is that I wasn’t really impressed. I walked about 3 hours and took about 10 photos and the photos that I did take I took just because. I think I’m a little bit tired of big cities.

Tomorrow I leave for a resort area of Greece known as Neos Marmabas. The hotel I’ve booked appears to be a dive, but it was cheap and is right next to the water. I’m looking forward to some beach time. The reception at the hotel here suggested the area and also told me that I should rent a scooter to do some sightseeing… sounds like a perfect idea, I’m looking forward to it. Swimming in the morning, riding a scooter in the afternoon, and beer at night watching the sun go down.

I’m sitting at the bus station in Trilinka and I’m just tired. It’s the kind of tired that makes you want to stretch out and get some sleep, which I may do in a few minutes. My bus leaves in about two hours so I could probably sleep for about an hour. For some reason I’ve been having a hard time falling asleep the last week or two. I don’t know why, but it’s become pretty standard for me to only get about 6 hours of sleep each night and I think it’s catching up with me.

The morning consisted of the normal routine, get up, take a shower and then pack the backpack, and then get something to drink or eat if it’s free, and finally check out of the hotel/hostel and find the bus/train station. That’s the usual order of a regular morning for a backpacker, sometimes the order changes a little, but it’s pretty standard, not that glamorous, but you do get used to it. I’m in the mood for a latte this morning, where’s a Starbucks when you need one?

My summer trip is winding down with only five days before I leave Athens for Dubai. I don’t think I’m going to like going home, but I’m working at coming to grips with it. It’s not that I don’t want to get back to a normal life, it’s just that since I’ve hit Greece I have started to enjoy myself the kind of way that I should have the whole trip. Don’t get me wrong, the vacation has been fun, but when I got to Greece I got away from the big cities and started to relax much more. My last five days are sketched out as two days in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. Then one day in a location next to water, still to be determined, and finally make my way back to Athens for two days. If I find a place next to water and I’m enjoying myself, I’ll stay there an extra day and leave one day for Athens.

Today was a very good day.

It started with me moving to a different hotel. The one I was at was somewhere between bad and pathetic and I didn’t feel like staying there another night. So for ten euros more I upgraded to a great place under the rocks of Meteora. Check-in at the new place was something like 1400, but I figured if I wanted to get an early start on the rocks then I’d go as early as I could and hope that they’d store my bags. The owner here was perfect, he first was confused why I was there since I made the reservation late last night he didn’t even know, then he offered me coffee and juice in the little café that they have here. The best thing he did was to give me a map and tell me how to get up to Meteora and what to do while I was there. See, I have been picking my spots that I’m going to in Greece based on the itinerary that I found in a tour that I saw. So I know the spots, but not the logistics of how to make it happen.

Probably the best way to describe where I am at is to straighten out some things that I’ve written incorrectly in the last entry. First, Meteora is an UNESCO World Heritage location. It is a collection of monasteries on the top of some very big rocks, maybe they’re not rocks, but hills…no they’re rocks. Anyway, there are two cities that sit below Meteora and the one that I’m staying at is Kalambaka. It’s a tourist town that is really charming in the way that Delfi was. It seems that everyone knows everyone and all the people that I’ve had contact with have been very nice. So the city itself is great but I’m here for Meteora.

From the hotel about 50 meters away a trail starts and leads up to one of the monasteries. The trail is a mix of concrete, gravel, and plain old dirt, there is one common denominator and that is no matter the type of trail, they all went up. It took me about 40 minutes to get to the first monastery, but it was a good warm up for what was ahead. From the first monastery all the other monasteries were on a paved road spread out over, I think the map said 7km. I did take a detour up a hill to see a river that was marked on the map, another 7km if I’d made it. The road just kept going up, and I mean it when I say, it just kept going up. After about 3km I finally realized that I would be way too tired if I walk the whole way so I turned around and went back. Defeat….

Most of the rest of afternoon was just going to monastery to monastery, that is until I hit last one. On the map there was a trail marked that lead to a statue about a few kilometers from the last monastery, I still had the energy so I decided to do it. This part is what made the day so good.

The trail isn’t marked on the road and the only indication there was that there was a trail, was you could see bent over grass heading up the hill, so that’s where I went. I walked for only about a half hour, until I turned a corner and this beautiful vista came into view. I could try to explain it, but images would do better. The one thing to be aware of is that the images don’t capture the awe that I had when I was sitting there. I can’t stress enough how awestruck I actually was. I was sitting on this huge rock staring out into this vista when a wave of, “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this!” would come over me. The next thought was I’m so lucky. I sat there for about at least thirty minutes just staring out into the distance.

Once I got back to walking it didn’t take me long to actually see the statue in the distance. Which I should say was a relief because the trail I’m walking on is a real trail, nothing is marked except for some pile of stones that others have left to remind them the direction they came from. As I walked up to the statue I noticed another monastery built into the rocks. What a nice surprise. I think that at the time I was stunned, like I had stumbled onto something that no one else knew was there. The view was pretty good there too. I must have taken about fifty photographs of the statue, monastery, and the view. One of the best things was except for the wind and an occasional bug it was completely quiet, there was no cars, no screaming kids, nothing but nature. After at least twenty minutes of feeling lucky, I decided it was time to head back. I started my hike at about 9, and although I didn’t know what time it was, I figured that I had been out for about 6 hours.

The hike down was fun, it was very steep and poorly marked. I never really knew if I was going in the right direction. Eventually I hit a dirt road and followed it until I could see the main road, then it was back to society. The walk from the statue to the main road took at least an hour, maybe longer, but still I hadn’t seen one person. The crunch of the gravel under my feet was like music. From the main road to my hotel took about an hour and a half and by the time I got there I was so tired that I was wired… if you know what I mean. I got back to the hotel at 4:30, and I have no clue how far I walked but it had to be close to 20 miles. I drank three and half liters of water, and had sweated so much the salt in the sweat had left rings all over my shirt and backpack. I took about 200 photographs in total, more than I think I have at any one location this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

After doing some laundry I headed down to the main street of the city to get something to eat and have a couple of beers. I back now and it’s almost time for me to go to bed.

So today was a very good day.

Okay, so I’m not really complaining, more like looking for some sympathy from anyone reading this post. The place that I was at was a real dive, not the kind of dive that’s okay, it’s the kind that you feel kind of dirty, or maybe you feel like you were ripped off by renting it. There was a lot of things that weren’t okay, but the one thing that I didn’t know how to react to was the view outside the only window I had. Tell me what you think. :)

0915:

The bus I’m on is inching its way up the side of the mountain, it’s going slowly so I thought that this would be a good chance to summarize my thoughts about Delfi. I really liked the town a lot. It had all the charm of a small town, the kind that if it was on the beach I would love to have stayed for a week or two. My ultimate destination this morning is Meteora but since it’s Friday I can’t go directly there, I have to do a series of transfers until I make my way to the place where supposedly monasteries appear to be floating.

Last night I felt like having a beer and watching the sun go down, so I headed out of the hotel about 8. The problem with traveling by yourself, one of the problems of traveling by yourself, is that it’s hard to go out for a beer without drinking too much. At least for me it’s hard. I tend to drink way too fast when I’m not talking, and that’s what happened last night. I didn’t over-drink, but within an hour I felt that I needed to get back to the hotel. Nevertheless the view of the valley below as the sun went down was spectacular.

1036:

I’m at the train station in Livadela and it is absolutely perfect. The station is a small, two-track station that looks like it was built in the 30’s or 40’s. From what I can tell there are about 5 or 6 buildings, but only two are being used, the rest seem to have been abandoned, the sun is beating down, there are only a couple of people here, and the sound of cicadas is almost deafening. So why is that so great? I guess in my mind I feel like I was transported back fifty years or so to simpler time. There aren’t any vending machines, there are no queues for anything, no one is pushing or rushing, it just seems like if you were to visualize a train station out of an old movie, this would be it, with some exceptions of course. My train leaves in about an hour for Larisa, and from there I need to take a bus or maybe a train to Meteora. The guy in charge couldn’t tell me which would be the better option, so I’ll have to wait until I get there to see. On a side note, I’m really enjoying this part of Greece much like I liked Turkey. There is a sense of maturity here, though I’m not sure that’s the best way to describe it, it’s relaxed in a way that feels comfortable but not boring… though no doubt there are a lot of people that would say it was boring.

Damn. The station is filling up with people completely wrecking my groove. I hate when that happens. ☺

3:30

I’m in Larisa waiting for my bus to Trikala It turns out that I have to go there, to catch a bus to Meteora. On my way from the train station to the bus station I wasn’t very confident that I could find the station on my own, so I ended up asking just about everyone that I saw where it was. There was this one guy that I asked that told me that I was going in the wrong direction, so he started walking… I followed. He was older than me, smaller than me, but walked faster than me. Mind you I had both of my backpacks on so I was slower than usual, and I did keep up with him. After about 15 minutes we walk into the station, he orders the tickets, and then leaves. I tried to buy him a drink, coffee or water or something, but all he would accept is a handshake. Nice guy. When I took off my backpack I can’t believe how sweaty I’d become. It was so humiliating that I went and changed my shirt.

17:22

I’m leaving the station of Trikala heading for Kalambaka.

1800

Made it. It’s a nice town so far. I didn’t have a reservation anywhere so I just kind of walked around until I found someplace. I make it sound like I made an effort to find a place when in reality I looked at some hotels, found one to try, which isn’t a hotel at all, but a place that had a sign, “Rooms” outside. I rented a room there… big mistake.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the journey today. I went to what, four cities, rode on a train and three buses (or was it four?) and saw more of Greece than I think I would of if I had gone any other way. In the end it was a journey of domino type of events and to my surprise everything worked as it should have. It was a good day. ☺