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Our Second Big Trip Three Months Travelling No Return Ticket And Experimenting With Bus Travel And Booking Hotels
As We Travel The East Coast Of Greece And All The Coastlines Of Turkey And More 2017 August through November

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St. Catherines Byzantine Church Athens Marmari Evia Island Greece Karystos Castle Evia Island Greece Chalkidas Evia Island Greece
Chalkidas Evia Island Greece Greek Orthodox Church Delphi Theatre Temple of Apollo Delphi Jason & The Argonauts Ship (Reproduction)
Litochoro Greece Dion Ancient Site Near Litochoro Ancient Theatre Thessonaliki Ancient City Gate Thessonaliki

Monastery Mount Athos  Monastery Mount Athos  14th Century Tower Ouranopoli Tour Boat Ouranopoli to Mount Athos

East Coast of Greece 2017
  • 2017 August through November.  Fly to Athens Greece travelling the east coast and then onto Turkey.  Athens is a great part of Western History but very much a big city.  First day no crowds and Penny got her small camera stolen with all that days photos and videos on it.  Watch out for pick pockets they are mainly after ID:  passports, credit cards, licences anything they can sell and steal your identity.  We must stress it's not the Athenians who are the crooks it's the migrants.  Only two nights here and a good look around the historic sites including a byzantine church, Hadrian's Gate and some other historic ruins.  Missed out on the Akropolis we'll see it the next time.  
  • Travelling by bus to the East Coast now to Rafina.  Then by ferry to Evia island and the little tourist town of Marmari.  Managed to get a direct booking with the best hotel here Marmari Beach Hotel.  This is a lovely place to stop and have a break with great views and side trips to beaches and the larger town of Karystos and the Fortress of Karystos or Castello Rosso.   There was more to see here but we had limited time and had to move on.  
  • Early start to get across the top of the island by taxi and then bus through to Chalkidas.  We stayed a few klms. outside of the main city travelling by public bus.  Delightful coastal holiday village restaurants and shops etc.  The main city and waterfront is worth a visit and to see the Nazi headquarters building on the end of the waterfront. 
  • Onto another bus and to Thebes.   Very historic place but not a lot to see.  You walk past a number of remains of ruins around the streets.  One of the best small museums we've seen on our travels well worth a visit.  
  • Onto another bus and to beautiful Delphi.  This is such a beautiful place with views to die for from the hills the city sits on.  Main attraction is the Temple of Apollo and all the included ancient city around it.  Plus of course the attached museum complex which you really need to include in your tour.  There is a water tap down the hill from Delphi with some of the best cool clean mountain water we have ever tasted.  Eat at one of the great restaurants overlooking the coast and you'll see below one of the biggest olive groves in the world over one million trees owned by some families for numerous generations. A great tourist destination and well worth staying for a few nights and just wandering the streets and historic sites.  
  • Onto another bus and to Lamia.  Not  a lot to say only stayed there one night in transit.  Some historic interest like all Greek cities.  
  • Next bus to  Volos.  We stayed a little out of town in a great little holiday spot close to the beach.  Interesting city the supposed home of Jason and the Argonauts with a sculpture and also a reproduction of the ship itself. 
  • Next bus and a taxi to Litochoro.  Beautiful village very picturesque area near Mount Olympus part of Greek Mythology.  If you feel energetic you can climb it but we didn't.  Instead  we took a taxi out to the historic site of  Dion.  Built around the fourth century it is now an Archeological Park.  Well worth a look but a little sad and neglected.  
  • Onto the next place the big city of Thessonaliki (Salonika).  The birthplace of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk.  Unfortunately the museum was closed when we were there, Monday we think.  A great city to wander around lots of ancient ruins and a lot of buildings still standing so much to see.  Some major parts of the old city wall are still standing and in fairly good condition.  Lots of old churches to see.  We hope to visit here again as we really didn't spend enough time in this city.  
  • On the bus again to Ouranopoli.   This is a lovely holiday resort considered to be a little expensive but we found it to be very good lots of nice restaurants, bars and shops.  We could happily come here again as it's a great place just to have a break.  On the beach is a 14th century tower.  Unfortunately we think it was closed for renovations but it appears to be a museum as well.  One of the major attractions is to take a tour boat along the peninsula of Mount Athos.  This is populated by monasteries built by most christian nations of the world.  It is also the home of different sects of monks.  The peninsula is open to men only do a search for details.  The tour boat was very informative and multi-lingual explaining origins and history of all the monasteries.  A great day out.  
  • Next bus back to Thessonaliki and then onto Alexandroupoli.  Only spent one night here looked like a nice coastal city.  We now move onto Turkey and the Dardanelles.