Bird on Bike » Greece

Nov 11 Chios, Greece to Illica, Turkey

birdonbike — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:17:07 +0000

We crossed the Aegean Sea to Turkey, bright and early. We stepped foot into Turkey and felt instant relief. We had made it.

The port manager invited us into his office and gave us directions to his friend’s Thermal Pool. We found a great cafe and sunk into Turkish cuisine!!

Nov 9_10 Ferry Boat to Chios

birdonbike — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:12:24 +0000

We happily boarded the boat for the 20 hour ferry ride to Island Chios. We claimed nice corner spot for our sleeping bags and settled in for a queezy night at sea.

Breakfast on the deck of the ship to Chios

This was the biggest boat either of us have been on

Nov 7 Lake Arnissa to Thessaloniki

birdonbike — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:01:27 +0000

122km

One hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, One hundred twenty-two. Our last shower was one week ago. It was raining when we woke. We wanted to get to Turkey.

One hundred twenty two kilometers to Thessalonikki. It started as a joke around noon, still 80km away, “hey, wouldn’t it be wild if we could get to thessaloniki today?” The wind was in our favor and we got excited when our pace began to hold at 25km/h. The joke started to look appear less and less like a joke. Then we crossed some arbitrary line where we were too close not to make it, too close to pay for accommodation anywhere else than Thessaloniki. Then our pace slowed to 20km/h then dipped under 20km/h and the sun began to set and the dogs seemed to get more vicious and the rode that was supposed to get smaller with less traffic got bigger and bigger and the shoulder got smaller and smaller, and we all the more miserable.

We crossed the city line and everything began to get a little bit better. We got to the center to find a hostel to find the city, a large city mind you, has none. Then we ate a gryo; happy again, then we saw an elderlycouple get hit by a speeding car in a crosswalk; not happy; then we found a cheap hotel; reserved, but happy again. We went for late night gyros and beer; stomach really unhappy.

At this point, we were looking forward to boarding the ferry to Island Chios and then another to Cesme, Turkey, as quickly as possible!

Nov 6 Past Bitola, Macedonia to Lake Arnissa, Greece

birdonbike — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:58:40 +0000

53km

The morning found us drier than we had expected and, as we packed up our home, we were granted our first face to face encounter with police at any of our campsites. Yes, we were breaking the law, supposedly, and the farmer we could hear chopping willow saplings across the railroad tracks suspected we were illegal immigrants with knives headed for the EU and a better life, supposedly. We made merry with the border patrol and continued to pack our home with more excitement than contempt, for now we add another story to our collection, if only we could have snapped a photo.

We crossed the border smoothly only to have to fight hard against strong winds. Wind makes us want to cry, and this wind was close to being the worst yet. The dry and, nearly, treeless landscape hurled the strong winds from, seemingly, every direction. Add this to an incline and you get a frustrated and tired couple. Eventually, the beauty of the landscape tipped the scale and we were back at peace with mother nature. In the end it was a really beautiful ride and led us to a beautiful campsite next to some unidentified ruins with a view of the lake in the distance.

The little amount of Greece we saw was dotted with little shrines like this one

damn wind

Speaking Russian to a Greek man with water

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