Greece is just around a corner from our home. Lovely place, nice people, great food, beautiful nature. All the components that you need!
Bulgaria (on the way to Greece)
April, 2023
Bulgaria is like Afula, you pass through it on the way to somewhere. But unlike Afula (quick break and continue) Bulgaria looks different every time. This time on the way to Greece when it’s cold outside and the trees are bare, the poverty jumps out, and the dirt and neglect rule. However that’s not what we wanted to talk about, but about the concept of breakfast. You know the one with the coffee and the croissant, or the one with the finely chopped salad and an egg and even the one with the bacon and sausage. This concept is not known in Bulgaria, you jump straight to lunch with meals from the menu for 5 euros which includes 3 courses and alcohol of one kind or another. Ready to continue the trip.
Náfpaktos, Greece
April, 2023
I don’t like Greek salad! How can you call a tomato cut into four and a cucumber cut into six with a little white cheese on top a salad? Well… all this is true until you get to Greece. Here, a Greek salad is a craving for the palate, maybe because of the taste of the white on top or the oil on the bottom or it’s just in my head (in Rome be a Roman). After we closed the Greek salad corner… yesterday after walking in the mountains along a stream with colors out of this world we arrived at a tavern on the edge of the stream in pastoral green and all the landlord could say in English was Greek salad, so we ordered a Greek salad. And I promise I won’t complain about Greek salad anymore.
Nafplio Old Town, Greece
April, 2023
Today is Easter. Seems like a normal holiday day, if you don’t count the many fireworks that surprised us in the small village where we slept last night. Except that on the way you see a stall with lamb rotating on the grill… many lambs… and then another stall, and another, and more… until it feels like the Ramadan Festival in Morocco 😊.
It turns out that after 40 days of abstaining from meat (the great lent), today is the first day that it’s allowed! So if you are a Christian and not a vegetarian, today is the day 😊. And why lamb? Because Jesus sacrificed himself as a lamb to God..🤔, and as a result in restaurants only lambs are served for the main course.
Apart from that we are in a cute town with a cool old city.
Evia, Greece
June, 2023
We were in Paris and Rome, in New Zealand and south, we traveled in Chile and Peru. But there is no place like Greece (maybe Thailand). It doesn’t matter how many times we visit here, really nice. This time we traveled on the island of Evia winding roads, amazing beaches, green mountains and turquoise blue beaches… The place is not heavily touristic (although everyone knows how to say ‘thank you’ in Hebrew), the people are really nice and the food is simple and delicious. 7 minutes from Athens. Much recommended!
Meteora
July, 2023
Tzoumerka, Greece
July, 2023
– ‘The distance to the destination is 37 minutes’ – the device told us. ‘Ok, now try avoiding main roads.’ So the device answers – ‘the distance to the destination is five hours and a bit’. Since the issue is fundamental to us, we chose the long way (which is sometimes the shorter one), while ignoring the repeated suggestions of the device to save precious time. And that’s how we got to an amazing road in the mountains (for those who like winding uphills and steep descents). Tzoumerka Park in Greece.
Metsovo, Ioannina, Vikos, Papingo, Konitsa, Kastoria, Prespes…, Greece
July, 2023
How do you travel when it’s close to 40 degrees outside… We are in Greece, in a long heat wave (already a week and will probably last at least another week), so we have adapted some rules:
>> Travel mainly by car (with the air conditioner on maximum in the front and back),
>> Prefer mountains above 1000 meters, the climate is improving wonderfully (actually, this is also true for standard days),
>> We are looking for places with water that we can take a dip in (usually the water in the mountains will be at a temperature close to zero, so only some of us will take a dip in it – this is also true for normal days :)),
>> Helping the turtles cross the road towards the water.
>> And most importantly, a necessary condition for booking a room is the air conditioning.
Beyond all this, northern Greece stands out in beautiful mountain views, winding roads, picturesque stone villages and cozy corners with taverns and cafes which, by the way, do not excel in air conditioning.
Tomorrow we plan to cross to Albania.
Albania, Macedonia, Serbia
July, 2023
We arrived in Albania. We planned two weeks in the country, but two hours later, for reasons beyond our control, we decided to return to Israel (not just for the protests). So we were in Albania for less than 24 hours and it is not certain that our brief impression does reflect reality. 70% Muslims live in Albania and this is not noticeable at all. European dress and appearance, no mosques or muezzin at all. The vibe is really great even though no one speaks English. And even though it’s a poor country, everyone drives Mercedes. From there we moved to North Macedonia and added it to the list of countries that there is no need or point to visit (like Bulgaria and Petah Tikva). Interesting anecdote, most of the flags we saw are of Albania (and we are in Macedonia) – I wonder what they are protesting against. Another 24 hours have passed and we are in Serbia, which we pretty much crossed in a low-altitude flight (the freeways here are great). Warm recommendation – Novi Sad. A lively city with lots of bars, restaurants, street shows, and a rather cute old town. We stayed another day in the city because it is worth it and tomorrow we move to Romania, park the car and head back home to Kaplan.
HE 
