BV, IV, AV

No, those aren't my attempt at writing to you in Greek.  Today was a bummer day, I mean, I am in Greece, so it was still awesome, but it had a couple low moments.  Let's just say I got tour bus sick...

I haven't chucked my cookies in years because of motion sickness, but today was my lucky day.  So, I am dividing this day mentally up into three segments...Before Vomit, Imminent Vomit and After Vomit.  Okay, it wasn't like I threw up all day but I had just had an awesome cup of espresso after our first pit stop about  two hours out of Athens and that's when we hit the mountain range.

Much of our route today, couldn't fit in Thessaloniki

Greece is 80% mountainous.  I think we hit a majority of it today and they don't mess around with slow curves around here, nor do they think twice about throwing in several memorial markers noting someone who either died or was in a terrible accident (I would have taken a picture of the hundreds we saw but frankly, I couldn't stomach it.)  A tour bus has two things against it:  first because you are up so high when you take a hairpin curve, you sway back and forth like the Sears tower in a windstorm; secondly, it has awesome shock absorbers which contributes to a bouncing motion when hitting potholes.  Yum.

We drove from Athens to Thessaloniki today.  We mostly drove with only a couple of stops and we started at 8:30 am this morning and arrived around 7:30pm.  It is funny sitting for two days in a row is killer.  I would way rather hike and walk and move, way less tiring.

This place is amazing because, well, it is the birthplace of Western Civilization.  Pretty much everything we do and say and think has been influenced in some way by someone from Ancient Greece.  The Greeks are crazy proud of this, and it is warranted.  Our tour guide, Maria, is a gem, and she filled us in on battles, unique natural phenomenon, philosophers, rulers and it was enough to make your head spin. (My stomach was spinning).  She is a font of knowledge.

In tribute to Boston, we drove by Marathon, site of the battle from which Phedipedes ran 42km or 26.2 miles to tell of the victory there and then dropped dead.   A warning to us all.   It was nestled just outside of Athens and surrounded of course, by mountains.  It was a hard marathon to run, I assume.

We learned some Greek phrases, but at that point, I was in cold sweats and sitting in the jump seat at the front of the bus while the bus driver was looking nervously over at me every 3 minutes.  I will have to follow up on those phrases later.

A view of Meteroa, which means suspended between space and land, like a meteor floating.
You can see one of the monasteries on the right, but there were many.  

The best places we visited today were Meteora, where many monasteries are perched atop jutting rock. It is beautiful, and heavenly.

We also visited Veria (or Berea) where Paul met with the Bereans as chronicled in Acts 17 and they evaluated carefully everything he said.  We went to see the three steps that they feel is the exact spot (more or less) that Paul stood and shared his Good News.

Thessaloniki in Greek road signs

Now, for the night we are in Thessaloniki, as I said.  We got here in time for dinner and a couple of us walked around the city for a bit after dinner even though we are gratefully ready for bed.  It is a very European city and I, of course, forced my companions into a little bakery where we all sampled some variations of baklava, it was the best, and also it was fun to walk around.

The little bakery we visited.  

My walking partners

I hope to see more of the city tomorrow, it is beautiful and cosmopolitan.  We have another full day tomorrow so I am heading off to bed now.

PS.  Sorry food didn't make much of an appearance in this post.  So far, it has been fair, mostly tourist stop foods.  I also wasn't hungry.