Paradise = Greece

So we finally arrived in Greece where I had promised G that there is always +30 degrees and suuunshiiine. Well.. it started off like this, with 2 days rain. Then we had +40 and too much heat! 🙂 So I was right in the end  🙂

So it’s been too long since I visited my beautiful paradise, all my relatives and had the chance to eat all the great food! And in my family we love food. I mean who doesn’t? And in Greece we have loads of it, I mean good food. Really good food. And a lot of food!
I also had to introduce G to all this food. Then I introduced him to my relatives, while eating more amazing food! Now I don’t know how many food orgasms I had but I mean just have a look at these pics and you’ll know what am on about!

Kilkis
Gyros EUR 2,50! Only in Greece!! The price is the same everywhere 😀

Thessaloniki
Aristoteles square and for the first time an inside visit of The White Tower!

Kamara, the Galerius Arch; once opun a time the Great Ceaser, yes that one, walked under this arc. It was originally built for the victory of the Persian War so we are around the 4th century. An everyday meeting point for the Greeks.

Cousin dinner!! All the cousins are not there but we still had a great time and a bunch of food!

Brekky in Greece is also good! Yes you can have sweet or salty choises of bougatsa, μπουγάτσα

Continuing the introduction of the Greek culture and food we have frappé. The dark one is plain = you end up in the bathroom 5-10min later. Mine is the other one. To order repeat after me: Metrio me gala. Half sweet with milk. Tada!

Visited my lovely uncle in his summer house. Part from a swim or two, can you guess what we did? We ATE! Yes yes yes.
First pic is from a seafood restaurant where we had this and that as you can see. Yes, be jealous! It was yummie!
Second pic is from the house. Home cooked kills too! Good thing with home cooked, you can lay down and have a rest whenever you feel like it or when your lunch coma hits you 🙂

Back to Thessaloniki and the markets that are on every day. Here is one thing that I miss: To be able to buy feta cheese in a block. Not 200gr packages. Also the multiple choises of black olives! Mmm

We went to the hills and walked around a bit to see the fortress but here is a pic of me instead in the heat in front of a house.

Chalkidiki
Went to the sea again for a few days. You have to take the opportunity to eat seafood when you are in a country where you are close to fresh seafood daily.

I’m telling you that these days passed quickly though we had time to become heavier! Be sure of that!
We decided to take the ferry back. So here we are in Igoumenitsa. Babe is watching as the ferry arrives and reverses so we can drive in.

And thanks cousin Theo for the good tip! Saved EUR200 for the cabin we didn’t take by sleeping in the hallway with the rest of the travelling people. Yes as you can see, some people even brought tents. We had our mattress but some people where happy with a towel (?) on the floor to sleep on. We also saved a lot of energy not to drive all the way back.

15h 30 min later we arrived in Ancona. It was time to drive through Italy and reach France again.

Thank you Greece, relatives (!!) and everyone we met along the way for a great vaca! Miss everyone already. 

2 months ago..we took off on vaca :)

We started driving to arrive to the queue of Mont Blanc. We had time to behold a glacier and enjoy a good game of UNO.

1½h later we took off to our first destination. Venice. Pasta, pizza and palamari! Of course ice creams for desert – yoghurt ice cream…sooo gooooood! Food here I come!
We stayed two nights in Marghera, 3 bus stops away from Venice. This is a place we’ve all heard of, seen photos from, documentaries etc. I didn’t know what to expect exactly though I thought it would be a much smaller place…like a bigger neighborhood. No no no. Entire Venice is the same style. Calm is a word that comes directly in my head. No cars, no bicycles…every now and then a small motorboat might pass you. Most of the people are tourists..but the loudest ones are still the Italians, so hey there is a great atmosphere. Hearing this beautiful language, walking up and down bridges and taking your way through this labyrinth of narrow roads from the past is just so fascinating.
There is no such place similar as Venice to be found anywhere else on Earth.

Piazza San Marco by night

Piazza San Marco by day, clocktower

Next stop Plitvička Jezera, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.
Not too far from Venice, 5h drive, we arrived to the camping site. Korana Campsite was really beautiful. And you can choose between all sorts of accommodation. Camping, camping car, bungalow, rooms well yeah everything.

For those of you who don’t know, what did we come here for? There are about 16-17 lakes in the mountains that are situated very close, one after the other, on top of each other or under, as you like. And there are waterfalls formed between each and every one of them. Some are small and some are much bigger.

We stayed in a bungalow and we had a breakfast buffet included. When you get all sorts of things to choose from you can make your own mix and this is loves brekky sandwich 🙂

Then we took off and drove all the way to Belgrade where we didn’t have too much time other than eat a Ćevapi, grab a beer and go to sleep. Because the closer you are to your destination the more anxious you get to arrive now and it feels too far away when you are simply getting closer and closer. So we went to bed earlyish to be well rested to drive the last 8-9h (with stops and the 1h it took to leave the capital).