​Today (Monday) I leave for the island of Chios.  Today is also Lustleigh Village Show at home – BH Monday and the first show I’ve missed in a long time.    I think they actually have summery weather forecast.  I spend some time at the hostel packing up, drawing a portrait of Joseph (he volunteered) which brings me completely up to date with the daily draws.  I’ve had such a lovely lazy time here I feel quite sad saying goodbye, but set off in good time to meander down to the port.  I’ve no idea where I’m going except it’s down and to the West of the Hostel.    That it’s on the seafront is a given (duh).  I meander down through the cobbled streets of Old Town.  Turns out it was helpfully signposted as I got closer. 
 
I should have left time to buy some food for the boat as I’m sure it’ll be expensive (it is) but I only have time to grab a cheeseburger to take on board with me.  It’s a big boat – Hellenic Seaways – with two car decks.  After securing Rowenna to a railing on the car deck and wishing her a good trip, I grab a too short sofa under the canopy at the stern of the boat – and try to ignore the smokers around me. It’s very exciting as the boat blasts its horn as we leave Thessaloniki.  I can see the Trigono Tower up on the hill, under which the Crossroads Hostel nestles.  Bye bye Thessaloniki! 
 

​I decide to stay at Crossroads Hostel for 6 nights and have a list of ‘things to do’, including:  washing of laundry; getting blog and daily draws up to date; fetching the knitting bag Sonja from Slovenia is posting to me ‘poste restante’ to the post office some miles away; getting some basic maintenance and TLC for Rowenna; buying ferry ticket for an island (any island!?); replacement of the lightweight travel towel; catching up on sleep; reading a book or three.  
Life is onerous ay?
 
Tiz Friday and I have achieved all of the above. 

1. Laundry washed (but busy making more dirty – such is life).
2. Poste Restante worked!  I still can’t believe this!  I had picked a Post Office that was 5+km from the Hostel – but never mind.  The PO was open, and the parcel was there – though I had a heart stopping moment when it wasn’t on the shelf with the other parcels behind her, and she had to disappear out back to find it. 
3. Happened by a lovely place called “Why Not?” cycle where the guy not only did the work there and then, but only charged €10.  He tightened the chain (cleaned and oiled it) and rerouted the brakes, making them work better – the cables had been bending when I attached bar bag and this stopped them working effectively.  They now work perfectly – and they’ve been tightened up.  He also put some air in the tyres, oiled and generally checked Rowenna over and she’s good to go.  Could probably do with a clean and maybe I’ll get around to that at some point over the weekend.
4. Found a travel agent who not only planned my ferry hopping route to Turkey (I’d looked – it’s confusing!) but bought and printed out my first ticket to Chios.  She also recommended a few places to visit in Thessaloniki – including a veggie restaurant as the falafel place I was looking forward to visiting was closed for annual leave.  Well worth the €5 she charged me for her service.
5. While I was waiting for my bicycle to be serviced, found a shop that sold the towels within 5mins stroll – and they had been reduced from €19+ to €12.  It’s an odd pink colour but I can live with that.
6. Definitely caught up on sleep!!!!!
7. Read a John Grisham novel that was hanging around the Hostel and then another crime detective book by ‘Robert Galbraith’ (a pseudonym for JK Rowling) called ‘Cuckoo Calling’.

 
I’ve also found a pub that serves a pint of Ionian ale that is (if it was room temperature and not cold) as good as an English pint.   I’ve strolled past Castle walls and towers, Churches, Triumphal Arches and Roman remains (all lit up) right in the middle of the city with modern shops all around.
Met a very good dog with a well trained owner.
 
There have been superb views up and down Thessaloniki – from the hostel you can see right out to sea – over buildings spread out below, sparkling in the sun.  Then, when you walk the promenade alongside the sea, you can see the buildings spreading above, up and up to join the sky. 
 
I’m fairly sure I’ve put on weight, eating the delicious food available universally in Greece.  Without doubt, Greek cooks put together fabulous meals – I don’t think I’ve had a disappointing foody experience yet.   I found a little restaurant down the hill where I ate two courses (tzatsiki and a perfect risotto) for less than €10 – and where they included a small bruschetta while I was looking at the menu, and a glass of ouzo,  and grapes for dessert, gratis. 
 
I’m just about up to date with daily draws - and I’ve not blogged much.   
 

​Hang out in the hotel avoiding the heat – saying hello to the hotel dogs who are very friendly but in need of a good brush.  Get some blogging done – and melt into a puddle.    It’s a straightforward cycle ride – to the outskirts of the city anyway.   Not long after arriving in the suburbs the thunderstorm that had been chasing me up the road landed on my head.  Fabulous pyrotechnics!  I was drowned with what seemed to be gallons of water chucked down in the space of about half an hour with continuous thunder and lightening.  The drains couldn’t cope with the deluge and rivers foamed and swirled around the pavement as I splashed through.  I was the proverbial drowned rat in my Trago raincoat that wasn’t at all waterproof.  My underwear was soaked.   Although it was still warm when the rain finally eased, I was cold in my wet clothing.  I discovered cold beer doesn’t help.
 
 I had decided on the Crossroads Hostel – not just because it’s reminiscent of the Crossroads Motel, but also because it’s got good reviews on t’internet.  However I can’t find it in this enormous city.  I know I’m nearby when I find the Tregono Tower but stumble around the Old Town cobbled streets looking for the way to the front door.  By this time it’s gone midnight and I know I won’t want to disturb anyone so I stay out all night – thank goodness for all night coffee bars!  It starts to rain again around 3am – and I shelter and doze in a doorway (reminiscent of that time squashing Squibby’s fuzzy plant).   By the time I finally discover the right street (literally underneath the Tower on the hill) it’s nearly 5am and I put my feet up and settle into the chairs outside and doze again until there is life at the hostel around 7am.  The woman who emerges to empty the bins tells me “you should have rung the bell”!  (does that sound familiar, Squibby?)

Woke up at 5am (I think ‘that’s really 4’ to myself) still feeling cross at being ripped off by the hotel – so I go out to find some breakfast.   Stuff myself on a nutella filled pancake at a 24hour creperie (there are indeed such places).  Then I went back to the hotel and vent my frustrations on the lady who manages the hotel about paying over the odds when she innocently asks “Did you sleep well?”.  My argument is a bit wasted on her, as she still doesn’t speak much English, but I feel much better.  I went back to bed and slept from 7.30am ‘till 10!    Mavi and I went for a (second, in my case) breakfast in the Old Town – wondering into another church on the way.  The restorations look a little more sensitive in here than what I recall of Heraclea: no walls bonded with cement of picture finished off – the wall paintings are left as they were found and are all the more gorgeous and mysterious because of it.  I love the dark and muted colours and the sun filtering in through high windows. 
 
Greece is far more prosperous than any of the Balkan countries I have passed through – even though it’s broke and having to undergo ‘austerity’ it’s not apparent.   The country feels very much like being back in Western Europe – including the prices!
 
Mavi and I had breakfast (cheese ‘tost’ and coffee) on a balcony that overlooked that great flat plain that leads to Thessaloniki.  I shall depart a little later this afternoon, after going to see the famous waterfalls – where the river Edessaios throws itself from the cliff onto the plain below.  Maybe I’ll take another day to reach Thessaloniki as it’s 28˚C hot and I’m in no rush.  Mavi reminds me of Leah (Edwards) – did similar course at Uni, similar age, similar temperament, similar grace.  Mavi is wavy though – as she talks, she snakes her hands and her body to illustrate what she’s saying, in a mesmerizing, dancing fashion.  Mavi says she is inspired to take a bicycle with her on her next travel adventure – yippee!  I have made a convert to cycle-touring!   We say goodbye.  Maybe we’ll meet again in Thessaloniki – though that really would be something of a miracle. 
After packing up, I go find the waterfalls – they have been channeled by man (to create energy, amongst other things) but are still quite impressive. Tourists can walk behind the falls and get damp too.  I get given a peach, sliced open, washed and ready to eat, by the man selling them in the carpark beside the falls. 
 
Edessa exerted its magnetic force - or maybe I’d melted and stuck to the chair – whatever the reason,  I didn’t get moving until gone 6.30pm.   The ride down hill to the plains was fabulous – the warm air and movement combining to create a pleasant breeze.  I’m a bit concerned that place names are beginning to sound like James Bond enemies: ‘Skydra’ is off to the right.  I’m only aiming for Giannitsa this evening – the largest city in the Pella region by all accounts.    Every now and then, a large lorry stuffed with boxes of peaches will pass me, wafting peachy aroma all around which has my mouth watering. 
 
I arrive at Giannitsa at around half past 9 and find the centre of town quickly enough.  I had a much welcomed and rather tasty berry smoothie in the nearest café/bar.  The barwoman was really helpful once I’d established there were very few places to stay around here – no campsites or hostels.  She told me that the Hotel Istron was probably the cheapest place around – although it was unfortunately situated 5km outside of town.  This meant that I wouldn’t be returning to explore the city before moving on (being too lazy), which was a shame.  The Hotel was €30, but included breakfast, double bed and air conditioning (ie not quite such a rip off as the hotel in Edessa).  Greece is not cheap. 

​Woke at dawn – which is now 7am and not 6.  It was stunningly beautiful: what a picturesque spot this is.  The hundreds of cormorants make weird noises to each other.  As a solitary fishing boat glides past them, a cloud of them take to the air - black silhouettes in the sky, reflecting in the gentle waves.  Spider gossamer caught in the weeds sparkles in the light.  Tiny little turquoise damsel-flies flit about and one alights on my leg.  I am sat here soaking this all up as I wait for the sun to climb high enough to dry my tent out completely before moving on. 
 
It was 10am (or ‘really’ 9, to me), when finally got everything packed away and had eaten my fill of figs again.   I then stopped in Arnissa for a prolonged brunch.  It was very, very good – the Greeks make superior fast food, I’ve decided.    I was blogging happily but got kicked out at Siesta time – around 2pm.  Some places shut until 5pm – then stay open until 1am.
 
It was a really lovely ride to Edessa – down hill mostly.  Then, as I’m pushing my bicycle around town, orientating myself- I see someone waving – at me!  It’s Mavi – the Dutch woman from my dorm in Bitola!  Excuse all these exclamation marks but how amazing is that?!  We decide to share a hotel room on the grounds that it should be cheaper, but it’s decidedly not.  Maybe we should have shopped around some more or haggled (difficult when they don’t speak English!).    €30 each seems very expensive – and the most expensive room I’ve had on this trip – and the room ain’t great apart from air conditioning.  It doesn’t include breakfast either.    I think I’m a bit cross about it and can’t let it go. 
 
I skype Steve – which makes me feel better: we chat for an entire 15+minutes which surprises Steve as he didn’t think he could do that on the phone!  He’s bought a hibiscus shrub for Syd’s grave in the garden – and a new rug for the sitting room.  Otherwise he’s been really busy at work. 
 
Mavi and I go out for supper – and she goes out again, after I’ve gone to bed (youth!).