Thessaloniki, Greece to Tirana, Albania

Tim:  A five hour drive from Athens and we reached Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. We passed Mount Olympus on the way up the coast. Thessaloniki has a large population of University students which helps give the city an energetic vibe. Our first evening was the final day of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. We watched a foreign film in subtitles... interesting.
Thessaloniki is located on the coast, and the main stretch of walkway along the coast was full of bars and cafes that were the most crowded we had seen anywhere in Europe. It was refreshing to see so many people out. We had a delicious seafood dinner with wine. Thessaloniki's most famous landmark is called the White Tower. There were also Roman ruins from the time of Galerius (Roman Emperor) His mausoleum is still standing and was converted to a Mosque at a later time. 

Originally Emperor Galerius' mausoleum later converted into a mosque 

                                                  The White Tower

After three nights in Thessaloniki we departed for Tirana the capital of Albania. The GPS said it would take about five hours, but it ended up taking more like seven hours. We had to drive through Macedonia on the way. At the boarder we had to buy a supplemental car insurance police for $75 to drive through the country for two hours.  Besides this minor hick-up we had not issues reaching Tirana. We had heard bad things about Albania including the roads, the garbage, the people, etc.... We found it to be quite pleasant. The roads were not bad, a little narrow, but manageable. The people were very friendly and accommodating. And the garbage was no worse than any other developing country that we have visited. The city itself was not that exciting, but the beer and food was the cheapest we had seen in any of our Europe travels.  

Delphi, Greece

Amber:  After viewing the Athens Archaeological Museum (it was awesome, artifacts from as early as 2,000 BC), it was time to pack up Heather, her very nice Osprey carry-on sized suitcase, and a bag made out of tarp material. It was hideous, bulky and heavy.  We filled it with three beer steins we had take  from Oktoberfest, our two sleeping bags, lots of cloths we didn't want, a pair of shoes, two guide books about Italy, and anything else we could cram into it. The zipper broke when I zipped it up, but it appears that these cheep bags know this is going to happen, as it came with a back up.  We bought packing tape, and wrapped it twice around the width and for good measure, length wise as well.  So, off went Heather, basically an REI model, wearing her stylish travel Patagonia, her Osprey suite case, and... Tim's and my bag.  She went from cute to "Bag Lady", with just one article of luggage.
When Heather came over to visit us, she had an itinerary for her nineteen day stay that would take Tim and I our entire five and a half month trip to complete.  So, we unfortunately had to simplify what she wanted to do so that we could actually enjoy the places we were visiting.  That meant Heather had done a bunch of research that benefited Tim and I, even after she went home.  Delphi was one of those sights.  And it was awesome. Thanks Sissy!!

Our on drive from Athens we came around the corner of the windy road to see the ruins of Delphi. Before finding our hotel we went for a visit. We checked out the museum first and saw many of the better preserved sculptures and artifacts. The Delphi site is in a beautiful setting in the opening of a gorge that leads into the valley below with views of the gulf just 10 kilometers away.

Ancient Delphi was a place of great importance for the better part of 1000 years from 600 BC to 400 AD.  The site was the location of the Oracle who apparently sat on a tripod over a crevasse inside the temple of Apollo and inhaled ether fumes going into trance. At this point she mad some mumblings that could only be understood by priests who translated the Oracles language into words that could predict the future. 

On our second day in Delphi we opted for an 11.3 mile hike into the Peloponnese Mountains behind Delphi. This was on the ancient trail used by worshipers to visit the cave used for the worship of Pan and for Dionysian orgies. This is said to be one of the oldest still used trails in human history. The hike was beautiful and we had nice views of Mount Parnasos. After four hours and a 700 meter ascent we reached the cave.

Our third morning on our way out of town, we stopped at the temple complex that included the temple of Athena just 500 meters below that of the Temple of Apollo. There were four different temples here built over hundreds of years.

Onward to Greece - Ioanniana and Meteora

Amber:  We headed towards Greece via ferry from Brindisi, Italy and landed in Igoumenitsa.  Our Italian is horrible, our Greek, nonexistent.  The first part of our trip had us going to Ioannina for two days to explore the deepest gorge in the world, per the Guinness Book of World Records.  Vikos Gorge was beautiful, and a very nice break from the hustle and bustle of all the historical sights we have been viewing.  We weren't sure if the part we hiked in was actually as deep as the Grand Canyon, but it was pretty just the same.  The gorge was terrifying as we followed a very narrow trail that had been chiseled out of the mountain face, very, very high up, by monks.  Tim was very confident about how safe we were, Heather and I were less so.  In fact, I felt like we were going to fall to our death at every step. I especially felt this way when Tim got a little shaky about the trail, and actually held on as opposed to skipping along, trying to convince us we were as safe as could be, thousands of feet above the gorge floor.

After our hike, we found a great little restaurant in Ioanniana, serving gyros.  Spirros, one of the cooks, could actually speak English, and helped us order, then sent us upstairs to drink really, really nasty Greek wine (we were encouraged to dilute the flavor with a coke) while he cooked our food.  Finally, our meal arrived, and it was wonderful.  We all had admitted to ourselves that we were sick of eating pizza upon leaving Italy, so the soft pita bread, feta cheese, Tadzhik  red onions, tomatoes  and grilled chicken were a great change.  Spirros taught us our first Greek word, "Afaresto" - thank you.

Tim:  Meteora was only an hour and half drive from Ioannina. As we arrived by car, the sight was beautiful. Tall domed rock deposits jutting out of the flat surrounding area with monasteries and nunneries built precariously on top. After getting settled we took t he trail that lead up to several of the monasteries. There first one we visited was the one used in the James Bond film "Four your eyes only." Monks built the monasteries in the 12th century to keep themselves safe from invading Ottoman Turks. Originally, the only access to the monasteries was by baskets that would be lifted from the ground or rope ladders that would be let out the side of the buildings. Of the dozen or so that were originally occupied on six are still in operation today. Nowadays there are roads and stairs cut into the rock to each of the operating monasteries. It was still a really cool experience an the place is beautiful. Apparently the band, Linkin Park name their album, "Meteora" after they saw this place.  Meteora is the name of the largest monastery and it means, suspended in air.

See more photos at our facebook album.

Our first afternoon of hiking was beautiful and we visited two of the sights. The next day it rained and rained and rained with thunder and lighting two. We needed the exercise so we went for it anyway and hiked in the pouring rain.

See more photos at our facebook album.