Greece Part 2: From Thessaloniki to the Turkish Border

Dario has been driving with a provisionally repaired rear tire since the island of Mljet in Croatia as you can find out in our blog Nr. 9. We carried an emergency tire with us designed for mountain bikes, so not an ideal solution for tarmac, but it was the only spare tire we could find in the right size. Before continuing our trip further east we would need a better solution, although we were surprised that the tire Dario sewed together lasted more than 1500 km so far. Getting the right tire to us in Greece could have been easy, but ended with an odyssey. The simplest way would have been to order the tire directly from the manufacturer Schwalbe, but they didn’t have a distributor in Greece and also our go-to bike shop in Switzerland couldn’t help. Then we ordered the tire online from a German website and the plan was, that the new tire would wait for us in Thessaloniki as soon as we returned from our Rhodes trip. You can see where this is going, we were there, but the tire wasn’t. DHL told us, that we would have to wait for another week, maybe even more, as there was a mistake with the shipping address. We didn’t want to stay in Thessaloniki that long and decided to cycle further east, because it was time for us to be on the road again. As soon as the parcel arrived we would take the bus back to Thessaloniki. We spent another day in Thessaloniki and had a great dinner at restaurant, something we wouldn’t be having the next few days.

From Thessaloniki to Kavala

Cycling out of a big city is never fun and Thessaloniki was no exception, especially since there was a hill involved. Fortunately, soon afterwards we could drive on smaller roads through a wide valley with two lakes. We set up camp on the second lake at a wonderful spot, quite far from the main road. The view was superb and we were really thrilled to sleep in our tent again after our Rhodes trip and the days in Thessaloniki. We cooked our dinner and cleaned everything up and as soon as it got dark people started to arrive at the lakeshore. First it was a couple in a car that didn’t get out and kept coming back. Then later on another car stopped for a long time, probably fishermen. Well, we didn’t expect that. But they didn’t disturb us and it was fine. Still, we didn’t feel comfortable.

The next morning was surprisingly chilly and the road led us through a wonderful autumn forest. Before starting this journey we thought that we would miss our friends, families and certain things such as good bread and cheese. But we never guessed that we would particularly miss forests unless we would be driving through the desert. But we did. We haven’t seen a deciduous forest for a long time and we enjoyed cycling through here. We were suddenly overwhelmed by the calm of the forest and realized only now, how important it is for us.

Shortly afterwards we were back at the ocean and just had to compare the temperature to Rhodes and the water up here was definitely colder. Luckily, we were treated with a warm day with about 25° degrees, not too bad for the end of October and so we went swimming. The weather was just perfect for cycling and in retrospect those cycling days in Greece had the perfect temperature for us, before it was too hot and we were sweating with every move and in Turkey it got cold and rainy. We were also surprised by the beauty of this unknown coast with many sandy beaches and great vistas. This evening we found an ideal camping spot on the beach and could watch the sunset while eating.

The next day we followed the road to Ofrinyo Beach and stopped for a quick breakfast. A traffic-free road continued along the ocean for the next kilometers and it was a bliss driving here. There wasn’t hardly any development and no tourism, just nature and beaches. We stopped for a swim break at a beach, when a couple came by with two plastic cups filled with champagne. They just wanted to shared it with us, so nice. We enjoyed our champagne on the beach and then continued cycling towards the next city Kavala.

Spontaneous Island Escape

 As soon as we arrived in Kavala, we had to decide if we would cycle further east towards Alexandroupouli and wait there for the delivery of the tire or wait around Kavala instead. From Alexandroupouli it would have been difficult to make it to Thessaloniki and back in one day and from Kavala it was only 160 km or 2.5 hours on the bus. We immediately liked Kavala with its charming old town and the student vibe in the bars, but we didn’t want to stay here for a full week.

We took a quick look at the map and our decision was clear – we spontaneously decided to visit Thassos Island. It is also called the emerald island due to its lush vegetation, not a common feature of the Greece islands. We quickly booked an apartment and hopped on the ferry the next day and reached the northernmost Greek island accompanied by seagulls looking for sesame bagels. Thassos greeted us with lush greenery, gorgeous beaches and the tranquility that islands have. It just felt relaxed as soon as we set our feet ashore. We drove for 30 minutes along the coast and shortly after the small village of Skala Kallirachi we reached our apartment Maison de la Lune.

Our host Valeskia welcomed us enthusiastically and was completely surprised that we arrived with our bicycles. We told her in advance that we would take the bicycles with us, as we usually do when making a reservation online, but she probably thought that we would arrive with our car and have the bicycles in the car. She couldn’t believe it, that people would actually cycle all the way from Switzerland down to Thassos. She mentioned to us, that this has never happened before and she wanted to take some pictures of us. We asked her if we could stay longer if needed, because we didn’t know when the parcel would arrive in Thessaloniki. She said that it wouldn’t be a problem as the tourist season was over and we were the last guests and she even told us, that we could extend our stay for another two nights free of charge. What a welcome. Big thanks again, Valeskia! We took her up on the offer and stayed 6 nights on the island.

Thassos is one of the lesser known islands in Greece and at the end of October we didn’t see any tourists around at all. Apart from the many beaches, Thassos offers a hilly countryside with mountain villages living from honey and olive-oil production. We discovered the beautiful island with our bicycles, finally wrote our blogs about Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria and celebrated Dario’s birthday. We had some cats that came by and we bought food for them and of course then they kept coming by every day afterwards. Valeskia’s grandparents lived right next to us and her grandmother sometimes brought us Greek coffee and regional specialties. It was very kind of her, but unfortunately we couldn’t really communicate much. So we just gave her some of our sweets in return. Almost daily we drove the 4 km to the small village Skala Kallirachi to buy our groceries and sesame bagels from the bakery. The owner of the bakery recognized us pretty fast, especially after Lisa bought a birthday cake there.

Dario’s birthday on October 28th coincides with the Ochi-Day (“saying-no-day”), a public holiday in Greece. On this day in 1940, an ultimatum from Benito Mussolini was handed to former Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas, that required the free passage of the Italian army through the Greek-Albanian border, signaling the Italian occupation of some strategic areas of Greece. After reading the letter, Metaxas turned to the Italian Ambassador and famously responded "Ochi!" - "No!" in Greek. That "No!" brought Greece into the second world war on the side of the Allies. Today it’s a national holiday and all stores are closed except that one bakery in Skala Kallirachi that even had a chocolate cake with candles. Lisa managed to hide the cake the whole day from Dario and surprised him in the evening.

We had some wonderful days on the serene island of Thassos, but we just saw the western coast and we’re sure there’s much more to explore. If we’d known that we’d have to wait more than 1.5 months to go swimming again, we would have enjoyed the unspoiled beaches even more. We even found a beach we had all to ourselves. On Wednesday morning we finally received the long-awaited information, that the parcel with the tire made it to Thessaloniki, yeah. But there were some problems with the delivery car and therefore it would only be transported to the hotel on Saturday. When we tracked the parcel online we also saw, that the parcel already arrived on Monday in Thessaloniki and took a full week to get from Thessaloniki to Thessaloniki, very efficient. But we can’t complain, it was definitely worth having some time to visit Thassos while waiting.

The odyssey is coming to an end

After a week, we said goodbye to Valeskia and «our» cats and left the apartment at 6 o’clock in the morning and cycled to the ferry port. On our way we could see the moon setting on the ocean, what a beautiful last impression of Thassos. Back in Kavala we left our luggage in the accommodation and then Dario took the bus back to Thessaloniki to finally get his tire. Meanwhile, Lisa stayed in Kavala and visited the fruit and vegetable market and enjoyed the amenities at the stylish hotel Anthemion House.

Thessaloniki has changed in the last days – all the restaurants and cafés were closed and only offered take away. All the squares that used to be full of life were empty now. Thessaloniki had become a COVID-19 hotspot in Greece and was affected by restrictions earlier than other parts of the country. At the hotel they said Dario was lucky that he arrived on Saturday, because two days later, it wouldn’t have been possible anymore to travel to Thessaloniki. We were very lucky indeed. After months of organizing and waiting, Dario finally received his new Schwalbe tire and our journey could continue towards Turkey.

Our last days in Greece

After spending a full day apart, we went out for some nice pasta in the harbor of Kavala in the evening. This bustling harbor city is very captivating and somehow often overlooked by tourists. The old town, known as Panagia, has some well-preserved houses and narrow lanes under the commanding castle and also offers some fantastic views over the port and the Thracian Sea. It is very romantic to stroll along the promenade in the evening and looking at the illuminated old town perched on a hill. In the middle is a big aqueduct towering over the traffic lanes. This ancient structure appears Roman, but was constructed during the 16^th century and utilized until the 20^th century. Even though Kavala was charming, we wanted to continue and were ready to leave and discover a new country soon.

Shortly after Kavala the landscape got quite dull with industrial parks and commercial areas. We followed a sign off the main road on a whim and arrived at the old village Akontisma. A man welcomed us and told us, that this village goes back to 2700 BC and has been inhabited most of the time, even though it got destroyed by wars or natural disasters, it was always rebuilt. He has now restored the village houses and turned them into a hotel including a small theater and a Roman Forum on the hill. This place definitely has got character and its own appeal, if it would be located in a more inviting region.

The road now continued inland through an agricultural area around the Nestos river delta. There were countless fields everywhere and we checked our app Komoot and decided to pitch our tent close to the Lake Vistonida. We were a little bit tired and when we passed through a village we saw a sign indicating a thermal bath. Thinking about this appealing option we decided to follow the sign. Unfortunately, this spa was definitely closed a long time ago and there were just ruins left behind the gate.  Two men on a motorbike appeared, carrying guns and we didn’t feel comfortable anymore and quickly left. Maybe this former spa is now used as an informal shooting range? It was weird.

In the evening we arrived at Lake Vistonida, an important winter stop for migrating birds. The Lake is separated from the sea by a narrow strait and is connected to it through canals. The result of the above connections is a phenomenon occurring nowhere else in the country: the north part of the lake contains fresh water as a result of the rivers flowing in, whereas the south part contains saline or brackish water depending on the volume of seawater entering the lake. We put up our tent in an olive grove with view over the lake. The fauna is very rich and the lake is the house for over 230 types of birds and fish. We could even spot pelicans, flamingos and herons from our campsite.

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast stop in Porto Lagos and visited the chapel of Agiou Nikolaou, that is located on two small islands in the middle of the Vistonida Lagoon and connected by a wooden bridge. There were seagulls everywhere trying to catch a fish in the shallow water, mostly without success. One of the islands was also a temporary home for some cats that were sleeping in the most bizarre locations.

A rainy day and a coffee invitation

We continued our trip along some gravel paths in the countryside and the scenery got more impressive with the hours. In the evening we were cycling through a beautiful mountain range and decided to stay here. The ocean was very close, but we didn’t know if we would easily find a place to camp on the beach and the setting here in the mountains was just too inviting. Winter was definitely approaching fast as the days got shorter and shorter and we didn’t have many daylight hours left to cycle. The days always seemed to be too short for us and the nights too long. Usually we would go inside our tent when it got dark. Sometimes we would read books in our E-reader or check our smartphone, but usually we fell asleep early and got used to the long winter nights. That night we found out that there were new COVID-19 restrictions imposed in Greece and that there would be a nightly curfew and restaurants closed in the northeast. Guess, it was about time we left the country towards Turkey. And it also meant that we would need to book an accommodation for the next night, as there was no information available concerning stealth camping during a nationwide curfew.

It started raining during the night and everything was wet the next day. We drove down to the ocean to a small holiday site, that probably has been closed for a very long time. The beach was still there, but not much infrastructure. There was a small hut though and the owner Nico made us stop and put up a table and two chairs for us and asked us to take a coffee break. It consisted of Nescafé in a plastic cup filled up with cold water from the fountain. Well, it’s the thought that counts. We communicated with hand and feet and the help of google translate and were able to answer the most basic questions: where we came from, where we were going, what our occupations were. We stayed longer than anticipated, because there probably weren’t many more people passing by today and we wanted to entertain Nico a little. We are always surprised by the kindness of strangers.

We followed a small gravel road along the ocean to the next bay. It was exhausting, as there were some steep parts now and then and even though it was only 35 km to the city of Alexandroupouli, it felt much longer. We rented an apartment for the night, washed all our clothes and went grocery shopping one last time in Greece.