Shared wine...

It has been a while...I openly admit that I've been distracted into not abusing this particular medium.  Greetings from Thessaloniki!

(It's in Macedonian Greece, waaaaaay up at the top.)

How did I get here?
By way of Kalambaka, Delphi, Athens, Ireklio, Hania, Ireklio again, Santorini, Athens and some transit in between.

On the morning I last left you, I was headed by way of a 2k walk to the town of Kalambaka for a bus and a cheese pie.  About halfway through my groggy journey I was set upon by a very nasty dog.  We had a one sided conversation in which I yelled 'no' in Arabic, Turkish, French, English, and then yelled "yes!" in Greek before remembering the proper word for 'no.'  The dog held his bare-toothed distance growling for a few blocks and then decided his job was done - trotting away quite happily.

Thoroughly awake, I made my way to the main square of Kalambaka.  It sounded a bit too much like a disco for a Sunday morning...hmmmmm...and all of those bikes...double hmmmmm...

I remembered what my Kostraki friends had said about a huge bike race for all of the local children, just as a 5-7 year old girl nearly ran me down on the sidewalk.  It was marvelous fun.  There were the little boys, pudgy from too many chocolate cookies being nudged by their mothers, the scrappy girls daring to prove themselves faster than the boys, and the younger kids with jam and chocolate smeared faces denied bikes by their age, but lusty for their first bike race...someday.

I ate my cheese pie and watched - under dressed as I was, not having come straight from church as the rest of town had done.

A few hours later I boarded a bus and began my insane multi-connection route to Delphi (pronounced Delphee by the locals, who will stare blankly if you pronounce the name any other way).  I arrived at the gate of a sweltering mountain campground 2k from modern Delphi.  2k Straight uphill...haha...not happening more than once!  So, I walked it, pack on back, straight to a hotel that charged me 20 euros for a single room. 

Hours later, as the gulf of Corinth gleamed and storm clouds decided to gather overhead, I made my way to ancient Delphi.  There I learned that the museum was open but the site was only partially so due to falling rocks.  Soooooo, I made my way through the museum (quite a good one) and toward the archaeological site.  I hiked straight up the sacred way, contemplated the rope that "closed" the other portion and with the inspiration of a new friend (of whom I'll tell you in a moment), jumped rope! 

Down the road, as raindrops began to splatted my nose and my hair, me and my two new friends (I promise, I'll get to them in a moment!) sat admiring the sanctuary of Athena and the Sacred Thelos.  The tin of goat bells echoed from the rocks, the clouds scowled, and most tourists disappeared - nymph like.  We sat, they drew, I wrote, we chatted.  Finally, we parted.  I made my way through the gymnasium, and had a blissfully solitary walk back to town.

That evening I walked the stairs of town in search of delicious food.  I found a tiny restaurant called Skala - literally, Stairs.  They had two specials, a salad and some wine.  I chose the veal stew with onions.  Wow!  I know, I know, veal.  but WOW.

While I ate my friends from Ancient Delphi, Ian and Natalia, came in, sat down, and asked me to share their wine.  3L later I had been introduced to the owner (who makes the wine himself) and his wife.  Dessert was free, wine was flowing freely, as was magnificent conversation.  Natalia is a sculptor, and Catalan.  Ian is a musician, and English.  They were both learning to draw, so my portrait ended up decorating the paper table cover and got more interestingly abstract with each glass of wine. 

I tripped down the stairs to my hotel much later than I intended and slept to the song of wind, lightning, rain and thunder, whipping through the mountain streets.

Ian, Natalia, and myself traveled together to Athens, sharing fruit, music, conversation, and finally contact information.  I even got an invite to Catalonia...but that is for another day, I suppose.

Darling friends, I'm going to leave you there until tomorrow...It's time to wander the night-time streets of Thessaloniki.  My time spent with Nick, on the islands, is it's own adventure, deserving of a different email...

Many beautiful dreams,
Lindy





--
Lindy Cameron Schroeder