Jetting Through Greece

6fartsinacart
May 23, 2017
3 min read

19 May 2017, Friday: After a very late evening last night, we struggle to get out of bed. The sunshine is back and prayer is answered when Mum discovers that she can use her camera on manual focus (this means that the photo taking process will now take slightly longer, oh my hat!). While busy working on the preparation for the blog, the octopus gets chopped by Dad and Genève, and then fried by our in-house chef. (Didn’t know it would taste that good…we would like more octopus, please!). After an intense time of choosing photos for the blog, we leave at 2pm without having a proper lunch (the octopus was only a taster). We stop at Marathon Lake for a quick photo and soon after go through the town of Marathónas. We find out that the name ‘marathon’ comes from the legend of Philippides, the Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battle field of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. We continue and soon after park next to the beach at Schiniás in between the pine trees. We get treated to braai-broodjies (toasted cheese, tomato and onion sandwiches) and chicken on the gas barbeque.

20 May 2017, Saturday: It’s a peaceful and beautiful morning and we have morning devotions outside on the tree stump next to Merzy. After washing my hair, with Dad assisting me, we leave this lovely place. Today we do a long trek as we started off late yesterday, therefore only doing a short distance. After stopping for a ‘Lidl’ shop, we have a late lunch. 11 km before Delfi we stop at a mountain fountain and we fill up with water. Late afternoon we arrive at the Archaeological Site of Delfi and walk down to explore the Athena Pronaia Sanctuary. Since it’s late, the two younger siblings (having young legs) explore the rest of the archaeological complex, up the mountain. We have a late evening meal against the slopes of Delfi, then move on to the port in Itéa, an 18km downward spiral journey. Before going to bed, we go for a stroll along the promenade. We complete our walk coming back via the street of “Akti Poseidonos” and get in bed late. 21 May 2017, Sunday: This morning we are rudely awakened at 6am as a massive ship announces its arrival in the port by blowing its horn. Mum, Dad and Emile decide it’s time to get fit and start their day off with a jog. Before setting off again Emile wets his line in hope of catching a fish, but we leave without a catch. Just before lunch we arrive at the Thermopiles Springs. Water coming from the eye is a lovely 38 degrees Celsius. Our little brother says that the smell reminds him of our Dad’s best (I would say more like rotten eggs). We continue our journey without getting wet. After stopping at a small port near Karavómilos, we decide to move on a little bit further, away from the busy road to a beach parking which Emile found while cycling. This evening we are entertained by one of the most spectacular thunder and lightning storms that I have ever experienced. The display starts across the sea on the west side and moves right over us to the east side. With every strike of lightning, Genève and Emile start the count in anticipation of the roar of thunder. The time delay starts off at 18 seconds and comes right down to 1 before picking up again. WOW!!