Monday, 27 May 2024

Monday 20th May 2024 – Thessalonika, Greece

 

We usually try to avoid the motorways but we wanted to get round Kavala and the motorways here are very quiet. We stayed on the motorway until we approached Lake Volvi where we took the old National Road south of the lake. This part of the journey was memorable not just for the views but also for the snakes – we saw at least seven dead snakes on the road, some very recently squashed. We then came off the National Road, heading SW , through Panorama to the southern outskirts of Thessaloniki. The Zambetas motorhome dealership was on the main road, close to the airport. I took the converter lead in and explained the problem. They did not have any 2-pin converter leads but did have the necessary plug and socket, so I knew that I could make one up if needed. They said that they could make one up for me and took the faulty lead with them. They came back and showed me the inside of the CEE socket – one pin had completely burned away but, intriguingly, there had been no smell of burning when I checked the lead earlier. They had made a new cable for me using the original 2-pin plug and cable, simply fitting a new CEE socket and only charged me for the new socket – very impressive! Jane found some toilet fluid and I couldn’t resist a USB rechargeable plasma gas lighter, so we felt slightly less guilty about how little they had charged us.
We checked with them about staying the night and they gave us a printed sheet showing us where to find the toilet, shower (!!) and black water (toilet cassette) disposal. He also explained about the pedestrian entrance that we could use after the site had been locked up for the night and gave us the details of the free WiFi. And all of that for no charge!
We went back to the van, plugged into the 2-pin electric point with our new cable and set about cooking a meal using the new plasma gas lighter that was very efficient. We were entertained by a small flying boat that was doing ‘circuits and bumps’ (practicing take-offs and landings) from the airport and there were a couple of prop planes but no jet activity.
Photos: The church of Agia Marina external and internal. The church is built on the site of a temple to Artemis in Ancient Arethousa and is on the National Road just south of the eastern end of Lake Volvi. We stopped here for lunch with a distant view of the lake.



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