Greece – Ελλάδα

Our new home, Greece – Ελλάδα. For the last month life has been εξαιρετικά καλή.

Our first weekend getaway was to Pentalofos (πεντάλοφος) to visit our Greek teacher, Achilles, who was staying in his village for 2 months. We traveled in a rental car. It’s about a 6-hour drive from Athens. Unfortunately, there’s more than one Pentalofos and we didn’t make it to the correct one on the first try. So we tacked on an extra 2 hours. We were by the one near Thessaloniki. We finally arrived to the one by Albania. This place is gorgeous. We hiked both days, ate a lot of food straight from the garden, met Achilles’ family and friends, and really felt a sense of Greek village life.

On our drive back we drove through Meteora where on top of rock formations are built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries. We’ll bring visitors there for sure. 

A monastery near Kakia Thalassa (Κακια Θαλασσα).We’ve headed to the beach frequently especially since school didn’t start until after Labor Day. Here you can see Kakia Thalassa (Κακια Θαλασσα) cliffs and a blond, curly girl jumping off. We also went to Marathonas and Vouliagmeni. The water temperature is ideal. A few things to note: blow up paddle boards are the way to go, Greeks love to smoke and drink coffee, and fresh calamari tastes amazing by the seashore.

A church on the way our of Athens toward Glyfada.We have our first visitors coming in a few days so I’m off to get the guest room ready.