Paralia, Greece

The "hotel" beach area in Paralia.

 

We hit the road heading South to Greece for the long Orthodox Easter weekend. Roy and Janice drove down Friday night from Kosovo; we had dinner in Skopje and the up early for Paralia.

Paralia is located Southwest from Thessaloniki; just West of Katerini, directly on the Aegean Sea.

The church is on the beach!

 

It is a "typical" beach town; tourist oriented shops and restaurants; topless beach (remember this Europe); a beautiful Orthodox church dominating the small city plaza and a marina on the South end of town. There isn't much happening today; but wait until tonight; The Vigil of the Resurrection occurs tonight and my first floor room will be right above the worshipers and the priest with an amplified microphone.

 A small fishing fleet is moored along the seawall.

 

Janice will venture out tonight to participate in the ceremony; we even purchased her candles to light and carry in the procession to the front of the church from a street vendor. Roy and I will have a beer and retire to our respective rooms.

I'm thinking McDonald's forgot something when they left town!

 

Earlier in the day, Janice and I walked the town taking photographs and searching for a great restaurant for dinner. We do discover the "Fishermen's Café" looking out over the harbor; we enter the open air establishment and are met by the most gracious of hosts; who even takes us to the "fish" cooler to display what he has available for the day. We are "hooked" and make reservations for 7:30 PM that night; this is our first faux pas of the day.

I think this assembled netting and rings would be shrimp/crab traps.

 

The sun is starting to shift and seems a little lower in the sky than normal; we are moving around the marina towards the dry dock area to look at three large boats under repair and the apparent shell of a damage cabin cruiser.

Looking inside the cruiser you could see serious damage; must have sunk and been recovered.

 

Returning to our hotel; the Hotel Mistral (another story; the free parking advertised was anywhere you could find a space on the street; technically true, however, not truth in advertising!), Janice decides she needs to get "something" from a small art shop; it is at this point, standing outside the store, I look at the beach and I realize it is "topless"; no pictures here!

A really cool market with vegetables and fruit facing the sidewalk.

 

We agree to meet around 7:15 PM in the bar at the hotel; I am planning on reading;  Roy and Janice are going for a long beach walk. It is while I am working on my iPad that I see the time has moved ahead one hour; a little confused I ask the waiter what time he has and he quotes the time on my iPad; I ask if Greece is one hour ahead of Macedonia; the waiter, smiling says yes...I'm thinking we are going to be late for dinner tonight. Fortunately Roy spots me in the bar and I relate that we are one hour behind the "real" time; Roy is off to notify Janice.

Back to the marina for dinner.

 

The waiter gently waves off our tardiness and politely explains this happens with tourists from North of Greece; they either forget or do not know about the time change. We are seated in a corner table overlooking the harbor; Janice has her small lobsters from our earlier encounter; Roy has octopus and I eat chicken. In addition to our main courses, we have local favorites and the sweetest bread you can imagine; and "on the house" dessert that is a "secret", the little cakes were delightful.

Paralia on a Saturday night.

 

The city has come alive compared to the foot traffic earlier in the day. It is brightly lit and basically car free at this time of the night. All of the stores are open and the street side cafes are buzzing with chatter, laughter and kids (everywhere). Paralia is a destination for Bulgarians to visit the beach; easy for them to reach and preferable to the Black Sea.

The tape in the picture is for the church service tonight.

 

We make a short tour of the town and decide to head in for the night; we plan to meet before 8:00 AM for breakfast and then to the ancient city of Dion. One loop along the "main-drag" and we are back at the hotel; I am off to my room;  Janice and Roy go shopping!

The fountain is on the North side of the church.

 

Suffice it to say that I am not going to get to sleep very early tonight; after 11:00 PM the crowd begins to swell outside of the hotel and the street is packed with people holding unlit candles. I plop down in a chair on my balcony to watch the gathering; it will start with the peeling of the bells; candles are lit; an amplified (would have made Metallica proud) sermon is delivered; and in conclusion a large fireworks display is set off. A beautiful ceremony, attended by many (thousands?) people; when over, a peaceful walk home by those in attendance. My head hits the pillow around 12:30 AM (I think); fortunately for me I had requested a wake-up call.

 

Mt. Mytikas, the highest of "Mt. Olympus's peaks".

 

It is day two of our adventure in Greece; faux pas number two; it is Easter Sunday in Greece and to our chagrin, most everything is closed, including the museum and archaeological site for the ancient city of Dion(dedicated to Zeus). This calls for "Plan B"; a drive to the Mt. Olympus National Park for coffee and if possible a visit to the Monastery of St. Dionysios. This entails us getting lost on some forest service road; before retracing our route and following the road as directed by the service attendant; funny how that works; I mean map and directions, where's the spirit to explore?

A man, his dog and their sheep; getting rural really fast.

 

We are quickly climbing the mountain; the scrub is giving way to "long-needle" pine that appears to be severely infested with some pest; Roy notices that almost all of the pine trees have been "topped" by this infestation.

The view of the Aegean as we drive further up into the park.

 

Roy has commented several times how flat and calm the Aegean Sea appears to be when compared to his normal haunts of the Pacific Ocean (and the mouth of Nehalem Bay). We have high cloud cover today; coupled with the sea mist affect, photography is a challenge; I am looking forward to getting further into the park.

This tortoise was on the road; we stopped and he turned back into the woods; he had an "attitude" though; although he was as big as a dinner plate.

Back in the "hood" safe and no tourists to deal with.

 

 

The road twists and turns; the air is getting cooler and we have seen little or no traffic on the road. The forest has slowly changed to larger trees; still pine trees, although larger in girth; we can hear rushing water and are able to see many small tumbling waterfalls.

I am beginning to think of Oregon the further we climb.

 

 

We are searching for the café located at the end of this road; apparently the road does not extend beyond that point. The park is pleasantly clean; there is no trash on the side of the road and with strategically placed dumpsters, the park is basically litter free.

When you first glance at this formation, it appears to be a man made structure.

 

The rock formations that jut out of the forest suggest something they are not; man made (God made?); I can see where superstitious people thinking the "gods" resided on Mt. Olympus could imagine something on the slopes of the mountains that was not "nature made". The scenery is dramatic; the trees are struggling to survive on the slopes of the giant mountain.

This pine tree emerges from between the rocks on this outcropping.

 

We have run into traffic heading the opposite direction; we are close to the café, as parked cars come into view. There is a small river passing us; headed for the Aegean, it is crystal clear and I suspect cold from the runoff.

Destination, Aegean Sea.

 

We have "found" the café and it is busy; there are families and day packers with their sticks; and a couple of intrepid bicyclists who must be very tired after the climb. It is coffee and water time for us; the waiter stops to speak with us and upon determining we are from the USA, he invites us to the source of our drinking water. The café water is piped directly from the mountain spring; very cold and sparkling; and it is flowing freely from a large  spigot that is used only to fill pitchers of water for guests.

The café at the end of the road.

 

The plan is to return a short distance and take the turn to the Monastery of St. Dionysios, founded in the 16th century. The monastery has suffered under the impact of WWII and also through the toll of time.

The "new" monastery; and remnants of the old monastery.

 

We are reminded of dress and decorum upon entering the grounds of the monastery; a posted sign describes proper attire and requests all respect the dress code.

A mosaic of St. Dionysios.

 

The signs of the rebuilding of the monastery are everywhere; scaffolding; forms; new mortar and stone; although, when you look real close you can see square nails(four sided nails) and old frescos clinging to the walls of the monastery.

You can see the plaster and paint over the wall.

 

There is a priest in the far inner corner of the old church ; he is talking with a young couple; behind him is an icon/painting of St. Dionysios. The room  which has no outer wall on one side has a lot of exposed rafter/beam wood, which is not planed as wood would be today. It is so quiet here deep in the forest of Mt. Olympus; Dionysios fled here to escape the "outside" world; to seek solitude and closeness to God.

The monastery of St. Dionysios.

 

The newer monastery cupolas.

 

The day is till young and we have one more stop before we head back to Paralia for the night. Our next destination is the Castle of Platamon, situated overlooking the city of Platamon and the Aegean Sea. The current city of Platamon is located near the ancient city of Herakleion. The fortress was built on the main road between Thessaly and Macedonia by the Byzantines during the 12th century.

The Castle of Platamon.

 

Did I happen to mention that it was Easter Sunday; well, we had a nice perimeter walk around the castle. A beautiful view of the Aegean and surrounding countryside.

A view of the Aegean from the fortress.

 

There is an amazing amount of vegetation growing out of the walls of the old fortress; there are trees, flowers and weeds adoring the ancient walls.



Not a bad "arrangement" of poppies.

 



It appears that some restoration work has been done to maintain the integrity of the walls; obvious repairs display bright mortar and stone. The fortress is built upon a very steep hill; strategic in times of peace; and difficult to access in times of war.

The front gate to the fortress.

 

We discuss a plan to return in the morning, before leaving for Macedonia, as the fortress is only 20 minutes from Paralia on the very nice Greek highway.

Boats at anchor in  the moorage of Platamon.

 

These purple flowers/weeds covered the fields leading to the fortress.

The outer wall of the Castle of Platamon.

 

We are off to Paralia to find a restaurant; Janice is craving lamb; remembering all of the lamb on a spit last night, I don't think we will have any trouble finding a place to eat.

 

In the morning we are off to Macedonia; back to Skopje for me; and on to Pristina for Roy and Janice. TO BE CONTINUED.