Our last week in Greece

By seven o´clock my human was on her way to climb the highest peak of the Olympus massive, Mytikas, 2918m.

For the first couple of hours she didn`t meet a single soul. Just after she had stopped for breakfast, she met the first people descending the mountain. 
They had stayed at the hut just ahead but decided not to try for the summit, due to unsuitable equipment for the snowy conditions higher up - jeans and sneakers!

Soon enough, she had to cross some old, slippery snow fields. The views and visibility kept changing constantly, at times clear and sunny, then misty and foggy.

As she came around a bend in the path, the view opened up and she had a great panorama of some of the lower summits, still all above 2500m.
Skala and Mytikas were shrouded in the clouds, though.

Slushy

Mytikas 600m that way

The last 300 height meters up to Skala were covered by a soapy snow field, two steps up, one down. As she arrived at the top, the fog was almost thick enough to cut.

From here you can keep going for approximately 600m and you reach Mytikas. Considering the more technical nature of this last stretch, the missing helmet and, above all, the missing prospect of a view, she decided to leave the Gods be and circled back down in a wide arch, taking in another couple of summits on the way.

Carmelo on the summit of Skala, 2882m

Cold, icy and windy

All melted snow from the mountain, there was no water here in the morning

1800 height meters, 20km and 7,5h later, she was happy to take off her soggy boots and considered herself lucky to have had at least some views sometimes.

We spent the following day shopping at the local market, moving 10km down to the coast to a camp ground, doing some laundry and cleaning, chatting to neighbors, relaxing.

A good 100km down the road is the second largest city in Greece, Thessaloniki, with some 340.000 inhabitants.

The city was founded 315 BC by King Kassandros and named Thessalonike, after his wife, a half-sister of Alexander the Great.
Around 300 AD, emperor Galerius made the city his residence and many monuments built during that time bear his name.

Galerius Arch

Rotunda of Galerius

Palace of Galerius

Some more of Galerius` ruins

For almost a thousand years, many armies did their best to take the city. Yet none of them succeeded. Until, in 904, the Saracens took and then destroyed the city after only three days of siege.

In the coming centuries, the city changed hands like people their underwear (not people of those days, current day people!). It had come a long way by the time it was crowned Culture Capital of Europe in 1997.

The White Tower marks one end of the 5km long waterfront

As you can see, the weather had turned on us a bit and we had quite a some rain and rather chilly temperatures for a few days.

Those days we spent in Chalkidiki, an area a little south-west of Thessaloniki.

Chalkidiki is a little bit like the Peloponnese. Both are peninsulas resembling hands, stretching their fingers out into the ocean.

Kassandra is the western-most finger and the most developed of the three when it comes to tourism.

This is where we hung out for a couple of days, my human going for hikes and me getting more and more dirty by the minute.

Nea Potidea

A few hours of half decent weather

Just another terrific spot to spend the night

Now she knows what lead boots must feel like

An 18km round trip to a turtle pond

Just to see exactly one turtle

You would think that a decent amount of rain would give me a nice wash, right? Well, not so if the rain carries with it a lot of Sahara dust and instead of getting whiter by the drop, I got more and more red and dirty. 

Afytos is one of the prettiest villages in this area, a picturesque and colorful place, even with driving rain and strong winds.

Nothing a glass of wine and a good book can`t fix

It is advised not to cross the border to Turkey on weekends, since it always very busy. So if you don`t want to spend a few hours in line to cross, go during the week.

That`s why, after leaving Afytos behind, we stopped in Alexandropolis for a couple of days, which is less than 50km from the border, so we could cross easily on Monday.
Unfortunately, we had to learn that this Monday is a public holiday in Turkey.
The day of youth, sport and -the big one- remembrance of Atatürk.  

Oh well, we will take our chances. 

Our last overnight spot in Greece

And our last Greek "protector" slash "sock-thief"

By the time we leave here, we will have spent almost 8 weeks in Greece, the longest we have spent in any country so far (closely followed by Spain).

This, of course, is due to the beauty of the country, the hospitality of it`s people, the endless coastline, stunning scenery and amazing overnight stops!

We are still no great fans of the Greek cuisine, though, but the house wine is always good and very cheap!

At the beginning of the year, a new law came into effect which prohibits "wild camping", even just "wild standing". If the police finds you out, it can cost you up to 300€. Since the beginning of May, it apparently gets enforced. We heard of a couple of people who had to pay the full fine.

We were lucky, or clever, or stealth, enough to be left alone for the entire time we spent in Greece.

I might think differently about the country otherwise. Although, of course, the country itself has nothing to do with that.

And so, with a happy heart, I can say: Efharisto, Hellas!