Author: Dalia Kropf

Wednesday June 10

Yesterday we woke up early, got a cab to the train station, and took a long bus ride from Thessaloniki to Sofia. We got another cab to our apartment called “Heart of Sofia,” settled in, and I took a little nap while Caleb and Aba did a small grocery shop. When I woke up Caleb wanted to go to a record store and then we walked around the town and saw lots of beautiful buildings, churches, and sculptures. We found a street market vendor selling real silver Yads, pointers for reading Torah, from the time of Russian occupation! There were a lot of vendors selling Nazi and USSR memorabilia, which Caleb thought was interesting but I thought it was icky. We also saw the president’s building and the dressed up guards that switch posts every hour, and we got to see them do the switch! Inside the courtyard of the president’s building, we saw the oldest intact building in Sofia, Saint Georgi Rotunda church, which is from the time of the Roman empire! We also saw a lot of ancient ruins in and around the Serdica subway station, which was really cool. We walked around for a long time and then went back to our apartment and rested a bit. Then we went back out looking for dinner around 9 or 9:30, but everything was closing, which was really different from the schedule we got used to in Greece, where people start going out around 9 or 10! The attitude here is really different too, the restaraunts and bars don’t seem very eager to welcome us in like they were in Greece. We were looking for a traditional Bulgarian restaraunt, but all the places we asked in were closing, so we just settled on the first place we found where the kitchen was still open, an Italian food place called La Bottega. Mom got salad, Aba got 4 cheese pizza, Caleb and I got fish called sea bream, and Sophie got spaghetti. When we finished our meal, Caleb told our server that he likes the musician Ivo Paposov, and the server broke out in a smile and said his name is Ivo too! It was nice to connect and see his personality come out a bit, and it gave me a little more hope that we can break down people’s walls here with music and dancing!

This morning we woke up, had some yogurt and granola and coffees for breakfast, and then Caleb and I took our bags to the Serdica station to check out the baggage lockers which I spotted yesterday. We figured out how to use them and pay for them, locked up our bags, and then we went back to the apartment to help with the rest of the bags. We made a second trip to the subway station and out the rest of the bags in the lockers, and then we walked around in the city some more. We showed Mom and Aba the president’s building and the St. Georgi Rotunda. We showed my mom the market vendor selling the Yads, but they were very expensive because they are made of real silver. Me and Caleb also showed my mom the ancient complex under the Serdica subway station, and we met a homeless guy who had a really beautiful voice and he was singing and we sang with him and he was really happy. We figured out the subway with some difficulty and help from a German lady, and took the yellow subway all the way to the airport in Sofia. We met up with Donka and Nikolai and Marin and all the campers and we drove in three cars for about two hours to Rose Valley camp in Karavelovo. It is very quiet and beautiful here, in between the Stara Planina mountains and the Sredna Gora mountains. and we had dinner and first night dance party! After the dance party I borrowed a beautiful tambura for classes this week, and Caleb helped me tune it up and one badly repaired tuning peg fell off so Belle gave us a plier for tuning it. Caleb and I stayed up till midnight practicing chords and singing together!

Xoth-O-Glentismata

Picasso copycat street art

Bakxai fest

churches

Jewish museum of Thessaloniki (before I learned that photos are not allowed! shhhh)

beach in Halkidiki

Heptapiryion

Trigonion Tower

Pasha’s Gardens

Galerius Palace

Arch of Galerius

Rotunda

Sunday June 7

The Xoth-O Glentismata was awesome! It was at a big stadium, and it was super crowded with young and old people! The dance floor was crazy crowded and if you got too close to the edge you would fall off the little raised up dance floor, so we ended up mostly dancing on the grass and the track in smaller circles which was nice. There was a Thracian style band and then a Pontic lyra guy. Caleb and I got a bunch of chicken souvlaki and some beef soutzoukakia, and also a little cucumber tomato salad. We danced a lot and my mon led a Paidusko! Yesterday we had a nice breakfast at our hotel and then Caleb and I walked around looking for thrift stores. I wanted to find a flowy white dress and Caleb wanted to find Greek sports jerseys, and we went to a couple places but we didn’t find what we were looking for so we will look again on Monday. Then in the evening we all went to Bakxai fest, a super amazing music and dance festival with five different bands from different Greek regional music and dance- Ipirus, Macedonia, islands, Crete, and Pontos! The Macedonian brass and Pontic were my favorites, they were high energy and so fun to dance! It was a lot less crowded than last night’s concert and there was much more room to dance comfortably, and there was a big flat stone floor with no edges to fall off. There were young people and old people, but more 20s-40s-ish and a lot less teens taking up the dance floor than at the Xoth-O-Glentismata! Caleb and I got souvlaki and soutzoukakia from a food truck across the street from the venue and it was yummy, and we got some beers and I got a tequila mojito (strong!) from the vendors at the venue. The guy at the drink stand was very impressed with my Greek speaking yay 🙂

Today we went to the Jewish museum of Thessaloniki and it was very beautiful to see the art, pictures, gravestones, and religious items like tallit, tefillin, megillah scrolls, ketubah, traditional clothing, and a beautiful velvet ark cover. We couldn’t take pictures but it was all very beautiful and powerful. We learned that at one time Jews made up half the population of Thessaloniki. They contributed to a lot of social welfare organizations like children’s orphanages, Bikkur Cholim (hospitality for the sick), and Matanot L’Evyonim (giving food gifts to people in need). It made me very emotional to go through the holocaust section after learning there was such a vibrant Jewish community that had so many social contributions here. I’m glad we went even though it made me sad, because it was important to learn about the rich Jewish history here. After the museum we went to Halkidiki to hit the beach! It was so beautiful and relaxing. The water was cold but once you get used to it, it is super refreshing and perfect for the hot day! We got beers at the beach and then we went to a gyro place at got yummy chicken gyro and brought it back to our chairs. We ate and then I took a nice little nap on the beach chair which felt so good. Caleb and I went back in the water for a while and then we packed up to go back to the hotel. 

We went out to Rouga restaurant for dinner and there was nice rebetika and laika music with two guys, a guitar and a bouzouki. Their vocal mics were too quiet but when we asked them to turn it up, they told us it was at the limit allowed by the restaraunt :(. For appetizers we got a salad, delicious garlicky oyster mushrooms, and dolmadakia. I got an ouzo mojito which was super delicious and we got beers and wine too. I got lamb kontosouvli, Aba got octopus, Caleb got lamb leg, Mom got vegan mousaka, and Sophie got chicken souvlaki. Everything was good and we sang along with a bunch of songs and the musicians were smiling at us and asked if we were Greek! Yay! After we left the restaraunt, Caleb and I walked around a little looking for more live music but it was all DJ boom bap rap music and oontsa oontsa techno music and “mediocre house on CDJs” (according to Caleb) so we just went to sleep. 

Monday June 8

Today Aba returned the rental car while the rest of us had breakfast in the Caravan hotel. Then me Caleb and Aba figured out how to take the bus to Ana Poli, the old town, to see Heptapiryion, Trigonion tower, and Pasha’s Gardens! We learned that Heptapiryion was used as a prison from 1890s to 1980s, and one of the prisoners did fund raising and built a little church inside to raise people’s spirits and help them hang on to hope and faith. Trigonion tower was a fortress with a big portcullis and artillery storage rooms and we climbed lots of dim little staircases into little rooms with small windows. There were amazing views of Thessaloniki and the Thermaic gulf from the top of the tower. Then we went to see the Pasha’s Gardens, which has all these wierdly shaped Gaudi-esque stone structures and is very mysterious. No one really knows who made it or what it was used for or how it got its name, which is very unusual for a place with so much ancient history. I thought it would be much grander like the Bahaii Gardens in Haifa, but it was basically just a park with a couple of strange eroded stone sculptures. A little underwhelming, but the mystery makes it cool and a little bit eerie. 

After Ano Poli we went back near the hotel, Aba went back and Caleb and I stopped by a junk shop to try a little crappy drum and tamborune and check out some random jewlery and stuff, but it was super smokey inside and we felt sick so we left. We got big pita wrap sandwiches with chicken from the Baghdad market store for lunch, which were decent but not amazing. We walked around some more looking for thrift stores, but we still couldn’t find the right place. I ended up getting a white flowy dress from H&M for a good price, but Caleb couldn’t find a good Greek sports team jersey that was good quality and good price this time. I guess we’ll have to come back :)! Then we came back to the hotel, showered, packed up, and went out for dinner and live music at Dihti, at the recommendation of the nice hotel desk guy Giorgios. We sang and danced, and there was a huge group of older Turkish people dancing and clapping and singing along and it was really fun. We shared a salad, I got salmon, Caleb got dogfish which is apparently a shark (!), Mom got pasta with salmon, Aba got mussel risotto, and Sophie got chicken shnitzel. Everything was great and we had a good time singing and dancing with the music. Caleb and I also got some ouzo and Mom and Aba got tsipouro, and they gave us free watermelon for dessert! When the watermelon was all gone I poured the juice from the plate into my ouzo and it was sooooo delicious! It was a great last night in Thessaloniki 🙂 Thank you Greece for being so amazing and fun and beautiful, I hope I will see you again soon!

Views of sea and Mt Olymous from Ruth and Christos’ house

Dinner and music with Ruth, Christos and Yiayia Eleni 🙂

sunrise

Church and bell tower across from cafe

Instrument workshop

waterfall hike

Mount Olympus

View of Naousa from the park

Artifacts from the Royal Tombs

Reproduction of a painting inside the Tombs, Hades and Persephone on the right, Hermes on the left

Golden wreaths

King Phillip II armor and shield

Outside of King Phillip II tomb

Museum of Aigai, partial restoration of the outer stoa of the Palace, and diagram of the precise measurements and use of Platonic perfect ratio

Artifacts from Kingdom of Aigai

Thursday June 4

Yesterday we said goodbyes to Yianni and Ira and we left Laimos and drove to Naousa to stay for one night. We accidentally put our bags down at the wrong house and an old lady came out and had some not too happy words at us, and then we figured out where our actual house was. We arrived at our guesthouse and met our host Panayiotis. He was very kind and sweet, which was so nice after the old lady special treatment! We settled in and Caleb Mom and me did a quick grocery run. I was super hangry so we made a quick pita sandwich with hummus with tomato cucumber and feta with lemon juice and oil and it was perfect. Then I fell asleep and took a big long nap! When I woke up me and Caleb and Aba walked to the park, which had a great view of the town and the sea, and some cool historical statues and sculptures dedicated to heroes and liberation and freedom. Caleb and I stayed in the park while Aba went to go get the girlies in the car and we all went to Paradosiako Taverna for dinner, which was recommended by Panayiotis. We sat outside and it was a pretty casual spot but it had very nice food and special Naousa traditional dishes and wine. We shared a delicious salad with lemony mustard dressing, grilled mushrooms with mustard sauce, grilled local cheese, and Mantza, which is a local stew type dish with eggplant tomato and pepper. Caleb and Aba and I shared lamb chops and Sophie got chicken. Everything was super yummy and we walked through the park after dinner and saw the city lights twinkling at night.

In the morning we packed up and went to meet my Greek teacher Antigoni in Vergina to see the Tomb of King Phillip II, the father of Alexander the Great. We walked through a very dark tunnel and there were minimal lights on the exhibits to preserve them. We saw the outside of the tomb and some of the special items buried with him and some other important people who also had special tombs. We saw some of Phillip’s body armor, weapons, and shield that was found in the tomb to show that he was a great warrior and people believed the belongings he was buried with would go with him in the afterlife. One shield had very intricate designs, and we heard a tour group guide saying it took the archeologists 5 years to put the pieces of the shield together! After we saw the tomb we went out for coffee and lunch. Caleb and I got chicken pita sandwiches, Antigoni got a panini sandwich, Sophie got chicken fillet, and Aba got some tzatziki. Then we went to the Aigai museum which was stuff from the Greek Macedonia kingdom of Phillip II and Alexander the Great. We got to see some preserved pillars and outside of the palace, and read about how it was all designed with Platonic perfect ratios and very precise measurements. It was a political meeting hall for the people and the king was on the same level as the people to show that he wasn’t a tyrant king, but an equal with the rest of the people. There were lots of very beautiful statues and sculptures, pots and pans, weapons, jewelry, and building materials like nails and tools. Even with all the stuff we saw, the tour guide lady from the tombs and the plaques at the museum said that only 10% of the kingdom of Aigai has been discovered by the archeologists, so there is still so much more to be uncovered! One of the plaques at the museum also explained about the Mimallones, which was the name of Yianni and Ira’s hotel in Laimos. Apparently the Mimallones were a group of women, but an invader saw them from afar and thought they were men warriors, and so the invader got scared and retreated! It was great to meet Antigoni in real life and go see the cool museums together. After we said goodbyes we went to our very nice apartment in Litochoro, settled in, showered, and went to the Govetas’ house for dinner! It was so nice to see Ruth and Christo and meet Christo’s badass mother Eleni who sang with us, told us lots of stories about her life and gave us lots of blessings and kind words. Ruth made delicious greek salad, yemista (stuffed peppers and tomatos), tsatsiki, beets, and chicken. We drank local tsipouro with anise and it was so delicious! For dessert we ate watermelon and we brought the stuffed dates and figs that we got in Ioannina. After dinner we talked for a long time, and then we sang and jammed and it was so amazing! Eleni loves the old songs and she remembers all the words, even the songs she hasn’t heard in a long time are still locked in her mind somewhere! She was so happy to spend time together and share stories and music and laughs, and she kept saying she will remember us for the rest of her life! We will remember her too! 🙂

Friday June 5

Today Caleb and I woke up at 6am to watch the beautiful sunrise over the sea, then went back to sleep. Around 9 we packed up our stuff and went out for coffee and breakfast with Ruth and Christo. I got a spanikopita and a chocolate croissant, and Caleb ordered us freddo cappuccinos with medium sugar, but I think the coffee lady made us espressos with no sugar because it was super bitter so I added two sugar packets. After coffee and breakfast we took a short walk to a waterfall which provides water for the town of Litochoro, and then we drove about 40 minutes up Mount Olympus!  We stopped at a cafe for lunch and I got greek salad and extra olives and feta cheese, Sophie got chicken, Mom got bean soup and Caleb and Aba got goat soup. Then we got back in the car and drove to Caravan hotel in Thessaloniki! We settled in and rested for a bit, and now we are on our way to Xoth-O Glentismata, a big music and dance festival party at Apollona Stadium in Kalamaria!

landscapes of the mountains

dancing at the Panayiria in Agia Triada in the afternoon and Akritas at night

hike at Agios Achilleios

Prespa dwarf cattle at Agios Achilleios

cool art pieces in the cafe at Agios Achilleios

Boat trip with Captain Lazaros from Akrolimni Lazaros Taverna in Psarades

Monday June 1

We followed our GPS to Antartika for the panayiri, but didn’t see any party, so we asked the people outside a cafe where the panayiri was and they gave us directions. Aba also called a dance friend Yianni who is our hotel host, and he gave us directions too. We found our way to Agia Triada monastery where we met Yianni and had a great time dancing outside in the sunshine. They had started the music at 11am and were still going strong when we got there around 1pm. We knew a couple of the songs and it was fun to sing along. We danced a lot of syrto, a beratis, and toward we requested a leventikos and the band was happy to oblige! There were a couple older men leading the dance line who kept switching with each other and the band would start a new song or dance, maybe the band knew each guy’s favorite song or dance and would play it when he was leading the line. It was really nice and we stayed until around 4:30 when people started clearing out and the caterers started taking down tables and tents, but the band was still going when we left. We met some really nice people who told us about another panayiri tonight in Akritas with Macedonian music! We went to Yianni’s hotel Mimallones and settled in and took a big nap. Then we made pita sandwiches with hummus, tomato, cucumber, feta, olive oil and lemon juice and it was super yummy. Then we followed Yianni to the panayiri in Akritas, which is the new name, but the old name is Buf which is where the dance Bufcansko is from, and we danced Bufcansko in Buf! Horray! We knew a lot of the songs like Stamena, Dafino Vino Crveno, Pusti Mene Sar Planino, Makedonsko Devoijce. We danced so many good dances like Raikos, Bufcansko, lots of Berance, and we learned a new Paidusko that Yianni’s son Simo called Paiduskino. We had a great time and we left close to midnight, even though Yianni said the party might go until 3 or 4, but we were getting tired and we were all ready to go to sleep! 

Wednesday June 3

Yesterday we had a nice simple breakfast at Hotel Mimallones and Yianni’s wife Ira recommended some local things to do. We followed her suggestions and went to an island on Little Lake Prespa called Agios Achilleios for a hike. We saw ruins of basilicas, churches, and monasteries, and we walked up to the top of the mountain to see a giant cross and a beautiful 360 view of the lake and the mountains. We also saw some beautiful Prespa dwarf cattle, a special indigenous cow that is protected by the Society for Protection of Prespa. There is also a very small protected population of water buffalos whose presence in Prespa dates back to the time of King Xerxes! We looked it up and there are only about 100 individual water buffalos here, so there are a lot of local efforts to protect and preserve their population. Caleb really wanted to see a water buffalo but we only saw the cows, but it was still very cool to learn about the rare protected species here. A local guy who participates in the environmental protection efforts told us that there is also the biggest pelican population in the whole world, with 3000 pelicans! He explained that there is no swimming or boating allowed in Lake Little Prespa in order to protect the wildlife, but he has a special permission from the Society for Protection to take his boat out for preservation efforts. We looked it up and learned that there are two species of pelican here- the Dalmation pelican is the special kind with the biggest breeding colony in the world here, and the Great White pelican is the other kind with a smaller population here. After our hike we stopped at the small cafe on the island for a snack with Florina and feta cheese, freddo cappucinos, and sour cherry juice! After Agios Achilleios island, we went to Psarades to check out Akrolimni Lazaros taverna. Dimitri, the bartender from Yiali Kafene in Ioannina, had told us about the tavern and said his cousin works there, and told us that we could go out on a boat ride on Big Lake Prespa from there. Ira also recommended the same taverna and the boat ride! We found the taverna and met Dimitri’s aunt Vikki, and went on an amazing speed boat with Lazaros as our captain. He showed us paintings of Panayia Maria (Mother Mary) on the rock walls, and small churches built in the rock walls around the lake, and he told us they were from Byzantine times. He spoke mostly Greek and I translated what I could understand. He went really fast and the waves were a little bumpy but it was really fun and exhilarating. He kept showing us which mountains around us belonged to Macedonia, Albania, and Greece, because Lake Prespa is shared by all three. Every so often, he would stop the boat to show us something, and he would point with his arm and say to us in Greek, “From here to there, Macedonia. From here to there, Albania. And all of this, Greece.” He kept taking the boat really close to big groups of pelicans so that they would all take off fly around close to us, and it was really fun! We were out on the water for about an hour and we had a great time. After the boat ride we went back to our hotel to shower and rest for a bit, and then we went back to the Akrolimni taverna for dinner. We shared salad, more grilled Florina cheese, grilled sweet red peppers, and yummy bread with olive oil and pepper flakes. I got steak, Sophie got chicken, Caleb got fried battered carp from the lake, Mom got trout from the lake, and Aba got bifteki (small burgers). Vikki brought us delicious yogurt with jam for dessert on the house! Everything was very yummy and there was only one other family there so it was nice and quiet, and we could hear the cows mooing and the dogs barking and the roosters crowing. It was a really great day and Vikki said we are good people! yay 🙂

Giant statue lady

Hike at Vikos Gorge

Monday June 1

Yesterday we left Ioannina and drove to Vitsa, a small beautiful town in the mountains of Epirus. Almost everything is made of stones, the houses and the roofs and the streets and the walls! We drove down a narrow stone road to our quaint little lodge Troas Guesthouse and met our lovely host Vasilli. He spoke a little Italian, so Aba could talk with him, and I filled in the gaps with Greek. We settled in and then went on a hike adventure from Monodendri to the basin of Vikos Gorge, which holds a Guiness Record for deepest point in the world. Aba me and Caleb went all the way down, Mom started with us but turned back pretty soon when the path got rough. It was very rocky and steep, but so beautiful and grand to be in the deep gorge between these towering mountains around us. We hung out at the bottom for a while looking for nice rocks as souveniers. Caleb found a jaw bone from some deer type animal and he wiggled out a tooth! We took our time coming back up and then we met mom at a cafe for some refreshing drinks. We went back to our house to shower and then we went out for dinner to a place that Vassili recommended, Oi Pites tis Frouses. I got Kontosouvli (souvlaki chicken), Sophie got chicken fillet, Caleb got braised veal, and Aba and Mom got spanikopita. Everything was very tasty and the spanikopita was the best flavored one we have had so far (but still not quite as good as our homemade one)! It is a really special feeling to be up here in the mountains surrounded by the beautiful nature, it feels so meditative and calm. I had the best sleep in the comfiest bed with the mattress on a wooden platform in the floor and I woke up to the birds chirping. We had a very nice breakfast at our hotel, with fresh orange juice, cheese pie, tomatoes, cheese, olives, bread, and nectarine. Caleb and Aba shared some slices of prosciutto, salami, and capricola. We packed up our stuff and hit the road for the Panayiri in Antartika!