So after a whistlestop tour of Bulgaria, we hit Greece on schedule more or less and immediately headed for the nearest beach This involved another ringroad (Thessaloniki) this time, which just wasn't funny after only a couple of hours sleep the night before, especially as half the signs are only in Greek script so M had to have a crash course in translating it. After a couple of wrong turns, we made it onto the Halkadiki peninsula and bedded down at Epanomi. Nice spot close to the beach and a very nice lady who ran the campsite who enjoyed the sight of me in my cowboy hat ! (Note : stopped by ladies twice that day because of the hat and asked where I was from, what my name was and so on and so on...M was getting quite jealous so I'm wearing it all the time now !)( Yes, the middle aged lady at the campsite even pinched his cheek - on his face - and not sure he quite knew what to make of that!)

After a reviving swim, a Greek salad and some sleep we then headed off inland to visit a couple of well known archeological sites (was it Snowdonius and Tayloronia). No Miranda corrects me it, was Pella (birthplace of Alexander the Great and Vergina (where his Dad is buried). Pella was first and was a good laugh because we hadn't been there 5 minutes before Miranda was told off for touching stuff and taking pictures (immediate bad mood !) and Vergina was interesting and a bit cooler because it's tombs and they're underground. Incredible treasures found there, gold, jewellery etc, on par with the Ancient Egyptian tombs I would say.

In between these two places we stayed over in Edessa (city of waterfalls), it's set high above the plain and the views were great and we had a lovely meal looking off the escarpment and listening to the waterfalls. It's a nice town- really a ski resort but nice in summer too, full of Greeks (as you'd expect) and not that touristy so had a nice lived in feel to it.

After a couple of days inland, the sea beckoned again and we headed South to the edge of Mount Olympus. We were staying on the coast at "Poseidon Beach" and didn't really know what to expect in this bit of Greece. We'd expected Northern Greece to be quite quiet but in fact it seems to be where all the Greeks go on holiday, as well as quite a lot of French for some reason! The campsite was full of Greek families who'd obviously pitched up for the summer with barbeques galore. On the Saturday night there were so many going you couldn't see the stars for all the smoke. They also don't bother about the 3m between pitches in Greece and it was so full of tents by the weekend we felt like we were in a refugee camp, albeit one with satellite dishes! We thought it was a bit like moving into the Bronx, all jammed up close to your neighbours and loads of noise well into the night. That's one of the things in Greece, they do seem to operate on different timescales to other places we've visited in the Mediteranean. Typically the day starts fairly late ~ 10am, then it seems to be barbeque from 1 til 3 or 4pm, then a wee sleep and then swimming. The beach was busiest at about 6 or 7 in the evening and folk were still going in as the sun was setting around 9pm ! and if that wasn't enough, it's back to the barbeque with food going on until past midnight ! We felt like old fogey's going to bed before 1am.

Still we did what most of the Greeks didn't, which was to set off early on the scooter and head for Mount Olympus. We spent a whole day up there and walked a fair distance from the town of Litochoro (known as the City of the Gods - guess we were staying at the beach resort of the mortals!) up into the foothills of the mountain. Lovely clear air and the scenery was spectacular throughout. Unfortunately we couldn't summon the energy to carry on to the summit (5-6 hour trek in total, just going up!) but we really enjoyed the bits we did see. Much cooler further up the mountain, on the scooter we went up to more or less to the tree line and the temperature dropped from 33C at the bottom to 20C (we nearly needed a fleece !)

So a good start to a Grecian Odyssey, with more coast to come as we head further South to the Pelion peninsula ! No sign of rain and no complaints from M about the temperature so far ! (albeit air conditioning is coming in handy at night)