We were wrong! At about 01:00 it started and would have been quite pleasant if it hadn't have been for the volume and the time of the night! It being very warm, we had many windows open and at about 02:00 we decided to close them. Although this reduced the volume, the bass (and there was lots of it) goes straight through closed windows – Henrietta is not soundproofed! Eventually, we got back to sleep and we think that music stopped about 03:30. Shortly after dawn the thunderstorm started – we didn't get a lot of sleep last night!
Today is hot and humid again and soon after setting off, we stopped for fuel and heard a nearby thunderstorm rumbling. This was to be the pattern for the day, although we only ever had a few drops of rain and were normally bathed in sunshine.
We had decided to return to the Ouzouni Camping site for the two nights before we fly back to England. The route took us passed some tourist signs to the Springs and Baths of Eleftheron, so we turned off to take a look as they were only 1 km from the main road. As we drove down the road we noticed signs of flooding – part of the road had been washed away and large areas of the road looked more like a beach with silt and soil all over it. Entering the small hamlet where the baths were was like entering a ghost town – nothing moved. On the side of the road was the twisted remains of the bridge that used to span the river and furniture and mattresses were stacked outside a building. It appeared that the flood had been quite severe and recent.
We called in at the Amphipolis site that we had by-passed on the way. The museum came before the site and we restricted ourselves to 45 minutes there so that we had an hour for the site itself. The finds were interesting and very well displayed with information in Greek and English. However, when we moved up the hill to the site, we found only a small compound with a notice in Greek only that said that it was only open Monday to Friday! We could have spent more time in the museum! Still it was a good position for lunch with excellent views inland to the plains. The area around the site has many Macedonian tombs signposted off the road but they never indicate how far they are down the tracks and there is only ever one sign even if the track has many branches. I followed one sign but soon gave up when I realised that I could spend a long time trying to find the tomb.
Jane plotted a different route to the campsite in order to avoid retracing our route of a few days ago. We passed close to the large Volvi Lake and then took a road south towards the mountains. This area is a huge fertile plane with thousands of hectares of wheat and it must be a very important area for that crop. As we climbed the mountain we had superb views back north over the plane and the lake to the mountains beyond. As we went over the pass, we started to descend rapidly towards the coast with equally spectacular views of two of the Halkidiki prongs, Sithoni to the south east and Kassandra to the south west. Being so high up, the view looked like an aerial photograph and it was easy to see the very narrow strip of land that joins Kassandra to the mainland, once defended by the wall of ancient Potidea.
We arrived at Ouzouni Camping to find it much busier on this Bank Holiday weekend but there were still plenty of plots to choose from. We had dinner and were sat munching cherries when we said hello to one of the families walking passed. The husband spoke very good English and we invited him to join us for a drink. Tassos lives in Thessalonika but had learned his English at a college in Exeter and he then took a degree an Coventry University. He has an interesting job working for a company that provides drug rehabilitation programs. After the clients have finished the program, they are given a six-month placement in industry to learn a skill and prepare them to return to the outside world. Tassos works in a printing shop owned by the company where the clients spend their placement. This gives added interest to his job as he has to deal with some interesting characters. Travelling gives the opportunity for such interesting encounters.
After the lack of sleep last night, we opted for an early night and drifted off to the sound of two men, a few pitches away, playing folk songs on a guitar and bouzouki. So much more pleasant and less intrusive than the dance music of the early morning.
Photos: The wreckage of the bridge in Eleftheron; A view from the site of Amphipolis showing the river Strimonas that was navigable in ancient times and the sea beyond. Inland there was a clear view over many tens of kilometres of fertile plane.
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