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April 2024
A short but fine adventure by Mary Kieran Gap Year Read more
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  • TravelerGreece
    Day 1

    Day 105: Thessaloniki Beauty Stop

    April 24 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and its economic port. We intended to visit several sites however Mary needed a haircut badly. She made the mistake of thinking now is the time to re-add highlights. A 60 minute appointment turned into 3 hours as the Grecian hairdressers fussed over her hair, color, cutting, and styling. They continued taking pictures and pulled out the influencer natural beautify light for post haircut pictures. Must have been a real before and after case for them 🫣 the haircut was fabulous in the end.

    We were told that Greeks love their small dishes so we found a meze lunch spot and had an assortment of meats, cheeses, and greens. Kieran fell in love with the baked feta cheese.

    Around 4 we hopped on a two hour bus to Ioannina and drove through steep mountains with storm clouds overhead. We’ve decided that Northern Greece is a hidden gem because you just don’t see these images on the internet or social media.

    Hostel: Backpackers and Travellers Hostel

    Restaurants:
    Mezen
    In hot coals

    Food:
    House Smoked Spicy Feta Cheese
    Cracked fried potatoes with a Graveria cheese
    House Smoked Grilled Pork Belly
    Grilled meatballs with Florina Pepper
    Baklava with Pistachios
    Pork Souvlaki

    Spots:
    Metropol Hair Salon
    Ioannina    Read more

  • TravelerGreece
    22
    Day 2

    Day 106: Ioannina Downtown

    April 25 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Going to admit that we initially wrote off Greece; we struggle with major tourist destinations and kept our expectations reserved. Furthermore, Greece was originally off the Gap Year list. Ioannina and the Epirus province has blown us away, where traditional Greek villages meet castles, European street architecture, and nature.

    At the south-eastern edge of the town and next to Lake Pamvotis, the Ioannina castle was the administrative heart of the Epirus region. The castle was in use until the late Ottoman period and now traditional Greek houses are hidden behind its walls. We walked along the lake and enjoyed little baby waterfowl climb onto their mothers back.

    We met Germans Ralph and Martin at the hostel, who are currently biking around Greece and also writing hiking blogs for the local area. We invited them to coffee and soaked up the late afternoon sun at an outdoor cafe.

    We also met Mikayala from Germany who agreed to join us on a 5:30am hike through the Vikos Gorge. We grabbed dinner, packed up, and prepared for the hike.

    Restaurant:
    Metsovitiki Folia
    Fysa Roufa

    Food:
    Baked Feta
    Tomato Cucumber Salad
    Village Sausage
    Souvlaki Pork
    Grilled Octopus
    Sautéed Pork

    Spots:
    Castle of Ioannina
    Museum "Arslan Pasha" Μουσείο Ασλάν Πασά
    Katsari park    Read more

  • TravelerGreece
    21
    Day 3

    Day 107: Vikos Gorge

    April 26 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    45 minutes north of Ioannina is Vikos Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. Accessing the gorge is complicated as the bus only comes every two weeks, you can hitch hike, pay too much for a cab, or bring two cars. We perfectly timed our arrival to Ioannina to catch the 5:30am bus that only comes every two weeks. Mikayla, Kieran, and I successfully wake up at 4:30 am and make the 5:30 am bus.

    You have three options to hike the gorge: north to south, south to north, and hike a scenic overlook. We wanted to hike south to north, but got lost in conversation and missed the stop. Scenic overlook it is!

    We had a wonderful time climbing old monastery steps and viewing the moon/sunrise across the valley. We ran into a starving stray dog in a little village and it was so sweet we gave him ham. Thus, Ham Dog became our tour guide and walked us to the scenic viewpoint. We were the only three at the gorge, which turned into Mikayla meditating for an hour and Kieran/Mary throwing rocks over the gorge and playing with Ham Dog. We make our way back to the village, grabbed a coffee, and said goodbye to Ham Dog.

    After hiking for 4 hours, we took a bus and ferry to get to Corfu. Long and amazing day with Mikayla, who was super cool. She speaks German, English, Dutch, French, Russian, and is learning Arabic for her Moroccan partner. We absolutely loved our day and wish her all the best!

    Restaurants: Μέθεξις Ιδεών της Τασίας

    Food:
    Greek Salad
    Feta Stuffed Peppers
    Pork Kebab

    Spots:
    Vikos Gorge
    Vradeto Steps
    Koukouli    Read more

  • TravelerGreece
    Day 4

    Day 108: Corfu Rest Day

    April 27 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    Traveling 24/7 is both mentally and physically exhausting; we constantly research our next stay, how to get there, what to eat, what’s a good price, is this within budget, where do we put our bags, etc etc. Plus it’s just Us and only Us when we aren’t meeting new people. We decided that 1) Kieran needed an old fashioned Baltimore down day where he plays video games and watches YouTube all day and 2) we needed friendship time with our peeps back home.

    We woke up around 11am in our wonderful little Corfu Island Bungalow and ventured two blocks to eat lunch. We noticed that Corfu was a bit more touristy and had our first Grecian meal that wasn’t 10/10. The weather, Corfu beer, and aperol spritz was great however!

    Kieran went back home to play video games and Mary explored downtown to grab beer, wine, and food for our video game night. Stopped by the Old Fortress of Corfu and clear blue water to call her mom to wish her a happy 72nd birthday!

    At 6pm we logged onto Discord and got to play Among Us and Gartic Phone games with James, John, Julia, Isabel, Michael, and Becca which refilled the soul. We look forward to seeing everyone in July for a Baltimore pitstop 🥺🥺🥺

    Ended the night by watching the Fallout Amazon series and trying to remember the difference between the Enclave and Brotherhood of Steel.

    Restaurants:
    Tratamento

    Food:
    Aperol Spritz
    Greek Salad
    Fried Calamari
    Moussaka

    Spots:
    Spianada Square
    Savorgnan Bastion    Read more

  • TravelerGreece
    Day 5

    Day 109: Dassia Beach

    April 28 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Corfu is known for its clear blue Mediterranean water and long sandy beaches. Today would be a beach day, but the weather was around 70-75 degrees. We made the mistake of not packing swimsuits.

    Walked around downtown and grabbed some delicious Italian sandwhiches from Di Santo Premium Sandwiches. The fresh baked foccasia, prosciutto, salami, and cheese were to die for. We took a 40 minute bus ride up north to Dassia beach and hit the grocery store for beer and cocktail mixes.

    The water was so clear that you could see fish swimming and the colorful rocks below; it was cold and the Europeans around us didn’t mind the temperature at all. They were jumping off docks and soaking in the water while we sat on the beach fully clothed drinking beer. The family next to us lost a floaty device and we watched as the kid tried to swim out to catch it. He went pretty far and the life guards in us both stood up and watched as he tried to swim back. He did just fine, but the floaty was lost to the Mediterranean sea.

    We walked to a local restaurant and enjoyed more baked feta (Kieran is obsessed), octopus, and beef cooked in red wine sauce. We caught the bus home and stopped for ice cream before calling it

    Restaurants:
    Di Santo Premium Sandwiches
    Akos Farm

    Food:
    Baked Feta Cheese
    Pastisada Beef
    Grilled Octopus

    Spots:
    Dassia Beach    Read more

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