2010! Greece & Bulgaria

15/07/10

Here it is!!!
The first update of this blog for 2010 from Bulgaria! It's been about a year since I was last on this site.
So what's happened?
I worked all summer in NZ, & I got a year older in the process :D
It was a good summer, lots & lots of work which is a bonus considering we are in the middle of a credit crisis & many are tightening their belts.

After all that work I flew into Athens, the plan was to head north up the west coast of Greece & into Albania, a place I've heard many good things about.
Unfortunately as most of you who know me well enough might have guessed, my Albanian plan didn't quite materialize...
Well to tell the truth, I escaped the heat of summer & a load of jet lag by means of a ferry ride back down to the Cyclades (Greek islands)

The heat in Greece seriously drives you to water, as on the mainland temperatures soar into the high 30's to mid 40's on a regular basis, so I walked into a ticket office in Athens & told the lady behind the counter to send me to a nice quiet island, been keen to avoid the party scene you find on some of the more popular islands.
And she did just that! A five hour ferry ride left me standing on a rock stretching my imagination as to just how any life form could survive on, never mind humans!

I guess that is what you get when you let a total stranger at the blunt end of the Austerity moves of her Government (& has probably just been given a pay cut) plan your dream destination, note taken!

So for 2 nights & 3 days it was me on this island & seemingly just one other guy with a truck load of bonsai trees & a loudhailer, driving the few streets of this almost deserted oasis.

Incessant he was with that wretched megaphone, sounding like some sort of propaganda machine, driving up & down the streets, refusing to leave us alone until we, or I maybe, bought his stunted ornamentals!

So on to something more habitable, The island of Pharos, nice but too expensive for my likings, then knowing of cheap accommodation on the island next door, Naxos where I spent some time last year, I hopped on another ferry .
So the guys there were happy to see me again, & it was great to just relax & not worry too much about the cost of living.
Some great conversations were had with other backpackers there. I haven't laughed so much in years! Also stimulating debate & even some great cooking was done amongst us. Great fun & nice to unwind.

10 Days later I decided to try & island hop my way up to Thessaloniki, with limited success.
There's something about those ferries that I just love!
Almost more then the destination, sometimes actually much more then the destination as I have shared.!
Especially the old slower boats, I mean the food is horrible & expensive, the service leaves room for infinite improvement & often it's not very comfy, especially on a windy day where the salt spray is all over everything out on deck, but it's just so enchanting sitting out the back watching the landscape slowly morph from island to island with the i pod playing something fitting & the light fading. I can just sit there for hours!
I think my fascination with ships comes from my childhood, as a toddler I had weeks of cruising experience, (none of which I can remember) as we did a complete circuit around the world. It must have ingrained into my mind & soul the deep rumble of the ships engines which I just love! That sound says to we are on a voyage somewhere & the Aegean sea is the perfect setting for voyages!

So as I was saying, the voyage had limited success, after a few islands & nights I found that these ferries are seemingly stuck on rails & those rails all lead back to Athens!
You'd think that Greece after all these years of tourism would have a more flexible ferry system, but no! those ferries will only go up & down, North & South to the Cyclades & back to the mainland. To get to Thessaloniki I had to take a train from Athens, no ferries travel North, it seems from anywhere off the mainland!

So a train ride later I arrived in Thessaloniki, making more friends, amongst others was a Maori guy called Shamus!
Shamus had a rental car, something akin to a matchbox on wheels which he was keen to fill with backpackers, me been one of them & 4 others all crushed inside the tiny thing, five of us full of enthusiasm on a road trip across part of Northern Greece heading to what we call "The Fingers" Three prongs of land pointing South East into the Northern Aegean.
A great days swimming at a couple of traditional Greek beaches, & dining in a fabulous Greek restaurant, on the menu was; Octopus, squid, shrimps, several variety's of fish & deep fried courgette chips with rice & other veggies, complementary dessert was given, all for less then NZD $40.00 so there are some well priced places to eat at in Greece, even thou Bulgaria is much cheaper!

From there, it was Bulgaria for my next stop. Nice to be back & soon I will update as there is more important news I know some of you will be interested to hear.
Chow!

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