Tag: Greece

Barcelona to Thessaloniki

This morning we set the alarm for 3:35. Our plane left Barcelona at 6:45. We left the hotel, drove to the airport, returned our car, said goodbye to Brian and Jo Ann and checked in. From Barcelona we flew to Zurich.

We had about $20 worth of Swiss Francs left over from our last trip to Switzerland. That almost covered our breakfast in Zurich.

Coffee and croissants

We arrived In Thessaloniki, Greece around 1:30. Thessaloniki is an hour ahead of Barcelona. We were in Thessaloniki in 2023. We have fond memories of the hotel we stayed at last time we were in Thessaloniki so we stayed at Hotel Daios again.

Dukes bag somehow didn’t make the connection in Zurich. We filed a lost bag report and have received an email that it will be delivered to our hotel tomorrow.

We caught a taxi to the hotel, checked in and took naps.

On the balcony of our hotel.

Later someone from the hotel rang the bell to our room and delivered sparkling wine to welcome us!

Greek Champagne
Life is good!

For dinner we went to a nearby Greek tapas restaurant, Deka Trapezia. We shared three small plates and a desert, and of course ouzo. The flavors were amazing. It was wonderful.

Roasted Sweet pumpkin, curry, cumin, spicy pepper, sheep yogurt and pistachios
Lamb meatballs, chickpeas cream, red peppers, and spicy paprika
Shrimp, puffed rice and peach emulsion.

Athens to Home

Last Tuesday we flew from Athens to Zurich and then from Zurich to San Francisco. It was a pleasant shock to see the green landscape of Switzerland after the brown hills of the last couple of weeks in Greece.

Landing in Zurich

The line for departure control in Zurich was really long but we made our plane with no problem.

Departure control in Zurich
On the plane headed home.

I love Global Entry. Once you have finished the application process you can enter the US by just having your face scanned. It is super fast.

In San Francisco we took BART to the East Bay where Allie and the grandkids met us. Than Duke drove home to Reno. There was fresh snow in the mountains and on the roads so it was a long drive but he made it!

I stayed in the Bay Area for a few days. I got to have lunch with Shannon and I helped with the Grandkids while Allie was on a business trip. I took Amtrak home on Thursday.

Hanging out with the grandkids.

It’s nice to be home.

The view from our back door this morning.

Paros to Athens

Monday morning we returned our rental car then went to find breakfast. We ended up at a restaurant overlooking the port and had a great breakfast.

Dukes breakfast
Our breakfast

Then we took an uneventful four and a half hour ferry ride to Athens and caught the metro to our hotel at Athens airport. Tuesday we start the long journey home. It’s been a great trip’

Paros Day 4

Almost every place we have stayed on this trip has included breakfast. The place we are staying for our second two nights on Paros does not. So this morning we drove down to a local fishing village and found a place for breakfast overlooking the harbor. It appeared to be full of locals. I had a crepe with cheeses and vegetables and Duke had pancakes with honey.

My crepe
Duke’s pancakes.

Afterwards we went for a walk along the coast.

Near where we had breakfast

Later in the day we drove out to find a beach to record a car review video. We ended up at Tripiti Beach where we stopped yesterday.

Our car positioned for Duke’s car review video.
Walking along Tripiti Beach

For dinner we went into the town of Paros and had a great dinner. We shared calamari with pesto and potatoes and sea bass baked with grapefruit, oranges and potatoes in paper.

Our dinner

The sunsets and moonsets in the Greek islands have been like nothing I have ever seen. I think it’s at least partly because there always seems to be a haze along the horizon.

Sunset tonight

It was only when we were questioning why sunset was at 5:20 instead of around 6:20 like it was last night that we realized that daylight savings time changed in Europe last night!!

The moon setting

Paros Day 3

Alexandros Apartments in Naoussa, on the north end of Paros, where we stayed the last two nights was great. What really made it special was Litsa, the owner. She gave us recommendations of things to do and recommended the fantastic Karina Restaurant. Litsa is why our stay on Paros will be so fondly remembered.

Alexandros Apartments
Litsa and us when we checked out this morning

After leaving Naoussa we drove up to the very top of Paros where there are a church and lots of antenna towers. It was very windy and the view was amazing. We could see other island to the east and west (Nexos and Antiparos).

The island of Antiparos from the top of Paros
Duke on top of Paros

From the top of the island we drove down to the east. We stopped in the village of Marmara where we had coffee and treats at a local bakery.

Choosing our treats
Baklava and Greek coffee

Our next stop was the beautiful Tserdakia Beach.

Duke at Tserdakia Beach

Our hotel overlooks the west side of Paros. We had a beautiful sunset from our balcony.

Sunset from our hotel

We went into the town of Paros for dinner. We had very good fish again and had a baked apple with yogurt for desert.

Baked apple and yogurt

We walked along the coast a bit before driving back to the hotel. As we walked the moon was setting.

Moonset