Ouranoupolis

Well, we left Thessaloniki for a side trip to a little town called Ouranoupolis. It is a coastal town on a peninsula in the Aegean sea. It is a place where lots of people from the city go for the weekend to get away. On the way, we stopped at a small town called Parthenon which was way up in the mountains. We had coffee at Paul's taverna (restaurant) which had some really nice views of the towns down below and the general area.

At lunch we had some baked eggplant and baked cheese for a starter. We also had the usual Greek salad which is mostly tomatoes, cucumbers and olive oil. Then as a surprise, we had grilled octopus. It was much tastier than I imagined. It had a great smoky flavor and was not rubbery at all. It did still have the suckers on the tentacles which was kind of weird but it tasted wonderful. Our main course that day was fresh swordfish.

Our hotel in Ouranoupolis was really nice. I had a small suite with a balcony and great views of the water. (See picture).
We went to the beach and finally got to swim in the Aegean. The beaches here are a bit rocky but I had my Keen sandals so that did not bother me. I was really glad I had them when a couple of our group stepped on sea urchins and had several thorns in their feet. Ouch! I was really glad that I had my shoes then!

Then today, we took a boat around Mt. Athos. This mountain has 20 monastaries on it that have been here for years. The oldest has been there since 960 (AD). You cannot actually visit the monastaries without special permission as they are an Theocratic Republic and you must have special permits to visit. Women cannot visit at all.
The monks there live a fairly primitive lifestyle in monastaries that were built as fortresses to prevent pirate and other attacks. They were very impressive even from the water.

We are back in Thessaloniki for a couple of days and tomorrow we visit Mt. Olympus. There is so much to see and we are just scratching the surface.