Zero to 9,750 Feet

"Babe, twelve Greek gods used to live here. Twelve, he emphasized." Fulfilling yet another one of Mark's childhood dreams, we chucked the kids into the car and went to hike around Mount Olympus. An easy drive just over an hour outside Thessaloniki, we missed breakfast and lunch but dared to creep up the road since the kids fell asleep, hoping the only hangry person Mark would have to deal was me. 

Mark all but fell out of the car when we arrived at the trailhead eager to get a closer look at the mountain. It was worth it alone to see the look on his face as he took Deets by the hand talking about  the Titan Wars and stories of Homer. Afterwards we took the obligatory dip in the sea, something eagerly anticipated for another check in my travel book.

I wonder which god took top bunk?

Ha ha! No gasping for air this time around.

View from the Aegean Sea.

83,000 sq. mi worth of sea.

Finding pre-historic carrots on the beach.

50 degrees of chill never bothered him.

Like a kid in some kind of store.

Taking in Thessaloniki

After departing Sofia en route to Thessaloniki, Bulgaria managed to get even more beautiful and I almost felt a little sad as we crossed the border into Greece. Almost. With two hours left of driving, we felt the kids could do the final push into town. Despite studying the maps and using GPS, the whirl of mopeds and cars flying down one way streets written in three different languages ended up being a bit more than we bargained for. Did I mention the cobbled streets were also at a 22% grade?

We were on Margo's last nerve. As tensions in the car heightened, the roommate of the house we rented sidled up to the car to direct us one street over. I guess we stuck out a bit. But we made it! Now to just reverse the car back up the cliffhanger of a street. Once we parked and moved into our home, it took us a few hours to un-wedge the underwear from our cracks.

The view from our roof top balcony helped. I blame the overcast sky on the lame photo, but it really was cool to see ships on the Aegean Sea to go with the sea of neighboring roof tops and stray cats.

Ahoy. Mount Olympus somewhere to the right.

Daily knee torture. Advil please.

We spent time mostly wandering along the waterfront, admiring cranes and ships. After tiring of boats, we moved onto The White Tower which once guarded the east end of Thessaloniki. It later acted as a garrison and prison during Ottoman rule and apparently was the hotspot of massacring thousands of people. Nowadays, it's a museum. Isn't that much nicer?

Ships and cranes = crack for Deets.

Why the shit-eating grin?
Daddy said no to playing in the arrow slit.
But when he left, Deets asked Mommy who unwittingly said yes. 

View from White Tower.

National Geographic Traveler places Thessaloniki in its "Top Tourist Destinations Worldwide" list. With its ridiculous amount of history, it is no surprise. If you don't see an ancient Roman wall, temple or forum on one street, just hit the next one. Like the stray cats, they were everywhere. It was basically Mark's dream come true. Only thing to top this? A visit to Mount Olympus...

Just another wall that's what? Several thousand years old?