Thursday night we decided we would go out for dinner. Everyone
ordered what they wanted, and I told the lady I wanted carbonara under the
spaghetti. So far no problem. We arrived at the restaurant at a regular
American dinner time although it was not dinner time for the Greeks so we knew
it would take even longer than usual. They of course like to take their time,
so I was very hungry by the time we got our food. They first brought souvlaki
for Tony and Graham then Zach's steak. I continued to wait until I got my
food, which when I did finally get it looked much like a burger and a large
plate of fries. Knowing this was not my order, I tried to flag a waiter down to
no prevail. And after picking at some of the fries and looking at my "not
carbonara" I got up and sought out the woman who took my order. I told her
exactly what she gave me and what I ordered. She replied with, "yes, you
say hamburger, I give you hamburger." I then had to say no carbonara three
times to get her to understand. I did finally get a huge plate of pasta after
being incredibly hungry for so long, which I destroyed. After I finished, a
manager came over to us and asked where we were from and everything then said
he would have a little drink sent out for us. Of the few times we've gone out
for dinner, it seems somewhat customary to offer something to us for being
Americans or tourists or something. I'm not sure why they do it but its very
nice none guy brought us a shot of Rokomolo I think it's called. It tasted like
spiked hot cider with honey, hot and delicious.
Sunday morning came and we began our journey to Thessaloniki on a Flying Dolphin which was quite fascinating yet also freaky. It is a long capsule shaped transport that rises up as it gains speed allowing for a quick yet bumpy ride. As we got into the seating area, my first thought was of an aircraft because the interior looked just like inside an airplane. The joke was that they just chunked an unflyable airplane into the Mediterranean, popped propellers on it, and said "go". The idea of the Flying Dolphin is that it's fast, and it sure was. It started by backing out of the port which was an odd feeling. Then as we reached open water, the dolphin rose up and switched hyperdrive on. Water is something I would much rather avoid, so I was already a little offset by its presence, but the intense rocking freaked me out even more. Many of the things we do are new experiences for me of course and of these experiences many make this tender suburb boy a little nervous, but in the long run it is good that I am facing the little fears a city boy might have.
From the Flying Dolphin we walked to a bus which was already waiting for us. Surprisingly we enjoyed a Mercedes-Benz charter bus all the way to Thessaloniki. Athens was as expected crazy and full of traffic but as we got our out town everything opened up with solid hills and mountains. Driving through valleys we could see numerous wind mills and solar farms. Beyond Athens, Greece seems to have the "green" approach.
Something I noticed and do really appreciate is how the main highway to Thessaloniki travels through valleys. Unlike the US, Greece seems to have transferred their relaxed lifestyle to how they build their roads. In America, the mentality is to get you places the fastest way possible which is fine until they feel the need to build roads that go on, through, and below mountains. I dislike driving through mountains and especially on a bus, so I greatly enjoyed driving through the valleys. We made to our first rest stop where we found a bunch of rocks and proceeded to skip rocks and throw out our shoulders. After leaving our first rest stop, the road followed the coast which provided a view of the ocean to the right and mountains on the left. It was like this the rest of the way Thessaloniki.
Sunday morning came and we began our journey to Thessaloniki on a Flying Dolphin which was quite fascinating yet also freaky. It is a long capsule shaped transport that rises up as it gains speed allowing for a quick yet bumpy ride. As we got into the seating area, my first thought was of an aircraft because the interior looked just like inside an airplane. The joke was that they just chunked an unflyable airplane into the Mediterranean, popped propellers on it, and said "go". The idea of the Flying Dolphin is that it's fast, and it sure was. It started by backing out of the port which was an odd feeling. Then as we reached open water, the dolphin rose up and switched hyperdrive on. Water is something I would much rather avoid, so I was already a little offset by its presence, but the intense rocking freaked me out even more. Many of the things we do are new experiences for me of course and of these experiences many make this tender suburb boy a little nervous, but in the long run it is good that I am facing the little fears a city boy might have.
From the Flying Dolphin we walked to a bus which was already waiting for us. Surprisingly we enjoyed a Mercedes-Benz charter bus all the way to Thessaloniki. Athens was as expected crazy and full of traffic but as we got our out town everything opened up with solid hills and mountains. Driving through valleys we could see numerous wind mills and solar farms. Beyond Athens, Greece seems to have the "green" approach.
Something I noticed and do really appreciate is how the main highway to Thessaloniki travels through valleys. Unlike the US, Greece seems to have transferred their relaxed lifestyle to how they build their roads. In America, the mentality is to get you places the fastest way possible which is fine until they feel the need to build roads that go on, through, and below mountains. I dislike driving through mountains and especially on a bus, so I greatly enjoyed driving through the valleys. We made to our first rest stop where we found a bunch of rocks and proceeded to skip rocks and throw out our shoulders. After leaving our first rest stop, the road followed the coast which provided a view of the ocean to the right and mountains on the left. It was like this the rest of the way Thessaloniki.
After lunch we headed to the Meteora, which is what used to be
24 monasteries on top of super tall mountains/rocks. I was
under the impression we would just walk to the top and not be bussed to the
top. So it was time once again for my nerves to act up. Some of the
cliffs were astonishing, they were just sooo high and my every fear was
being imagined. We did end up making it to the top where it was very cold
and rainy but we still took a billion pictures of the amazing monasteries and sights.
Again coming down was an issue for me but not nearly as bad as going up.
At this point we seemed well out of the way for how long it took to
finally get to Thessaloniki because we had to go through even more mountains
for at least another hour to get to the highway. It was on these
mountains that dense fog rolled in and we could not see anything. Me and
I am sure many others were feeling a little freaked out by the fog and the fact
that the bus driver was still trucking through with only two feet of viability
But thankfully we made it out of that and found ourselves driving through
mountains. Some of the tunnels went on for over a mile, which was quite
fascinating. We did finally make it to Thessaloniki over twelve hours
after we left Aegina. I am excited for the week of adventures here and
even more excited to get to go to Berlin Friday!
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| Meteora |
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