SAME THING WITH THE PHOTOS HERE...
1st September
Another long drive ahead of us today. The road south was good though; passing the amazing Pirin mountains and following a beautiful white water river. We used up the last of our Levs in the supermarket and headed to the border. The crossing was easy and suddenly we were in sunny Greece! I'd read about a wild camp in a car park on the beach in a town called Stavros - directly east from Thessaloniki where mum and dad are coming in a few days. We put it into the sat nav, which works again in Greece, and followed it there. Like before it took us the 'direct' route there which was lovely and scenic and hilly but also worrying as we had almost no petrol and it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We saw cotton growing on the sides of the road though, which we've never seen before, and finally we came over a hill and could see the coast. Stavros is quite small with a few tourist bars and quite a busy beach. We drove past all this, following the coast along, passing 'no camping' signs to a big sandy car park right at beach level with cars parked and several other campers. We parked at the end and had lunch in the glorious Greek sunshine. After lunch we had a stroll along to see the beach and see if there were any loos. A bit further up were a few caravans properly set up with awnings out and all there stuff everywhere and there was even a toilet block. Basically it was a free campsite. We decided to move up a bit nearer to the toilets and found a great shady spot under the trees with Bulgarian holiday makers camping either side of us. Spent the afternoon swimming in the sea and chilling out. We went to a beach bar in the evening and the barman gave us two free beers. We didn't know why but we accepted them and they didn't have drugs in! We had dinner back at camp and sat up playing cards.
2nd September
During the night we were joined by a fat greedy mosquito that we couldn't catch a kill so we just had to accept being eaten alive whilst we were sleeping. We woke up for the tenth time when it buzzed in our ears and I saw that the sun was rising. Having had enough of the mozzie anyway I got the van and sat on the beach. Pete came out too and sat in his hammock and we watched a beautifully colourful sunrise over the Aegean. Sadly it was all we saw of the sun for the rest of the day. We've come all the way to Greece and it was a completely over cast day! Cold even! We put on jeans and jumpers and, as we were up so early, we walked into Stavros town to see it waking up. There were people out having coffee and a few shop keepers opening and we had a wander round. It seems like a nice town; we're out of season now, it was Monday and it was raining so it was very quiet. We did a bit of shopping and then got a coffee on what seemed like the main street. For breakfast we went to a bakery and got some pastries and sat in a park of plain trees. On the way back we picked a bunch of grapes from the side of the road - cool! We read for a while and had lunch sat in the van, hiding from the rain. We got restless and walked the other way along the beach in the drizzle. Hid out back at camp again and after the rain stopped we decided to have a swim in the sea even though it was a bit grey and Pete snorkelled and collected whelks to use as bait for fishing. At about four o'clock the sun finally powered through and a few tourists came out of their hotels and the beach was lively again. We took our chairs down to the waters edge and Pete did some fishing. As the sun was setting I went back to the van to make some dinner and bought it out to where we were sitting and we ate dinner next to the sea. Pete didn't catch any fish but it was fun anyway. We had a beer whilst watching the sparkling water and then retreated back to the van when the mozzies got too much to handle.
Woke up to sunshine and had a lazy morning on the beach. At about eleven we walked into Stavros in search for a fish market so we could have a nice lunch. The town was much livlier today as the sun was out but we couldn't find a fish market anywhere. We finally gave up and went to the butchers and got a chicken. Then he actually told us the fish monger was just around the corner, but oh well. Before heading back we went for a coffee in a little old man cafe in a back street. The coffee was Greek style and the lady just boiled the water and coffee together over a little camping stove! The coffee wasn't great and it had all the grains the bottom but we liked the cafe and we stayed and played cards. As we were playing the lady bought us over a plate with two pastries - one cheese and one sweet - and said we could have it. It was delicious. And as we got up to leave she asked 'are you still hungry?' The Greeks are so friendly and hospitable! We strolled back along the coast to our camp and had a lovely lunch on the beach with a bottle of wine - as you do! Spent the afternoon in and out of the sea and giving the van a good clean out ready to see mum and dad tomorrow. Didn't do much for the rest of the day. In the night we woke up because the wind was rocking the van and blowing anything that wasn't tied down away - including our table!
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