Saturday 20th July and Sunday 21st July, 2019
Another sunny beach day today! We had planned to meet George and Athena at 10.30 on the hotel beach front – actually George told us yesterday evening that as he would be walking the dog early in the morning, he would pass by and “reserve” our sun beds and parasols – second row from the shore line as the first row is always occupied by families with little kids…..
When we had finished breakfast, we got changed for the beach and went down and did find our “reserved” seats……. had to laugh about this as I remember the days when my children were small and when holidaying in Tenerife, I would send them down to reserve our seats as otherwise all the German tourists would have taken all the best seats and only appear later in the morning…….
Both George and Athena are sportive swimmers and while we were paddling around enjoying the sea, they took it in turns to swim breast stroke long stretches for about an hour!
We were invited for lunch again at the same restaurant we went last night so round about 2 pm , we left the beach and walked to the restaurant – our table was laid under the green foliage of olive trees and it was really refreshing.
George went back to their home to pick up their dog, Vivi, a mongrel white Labrador and ever so cute. She is like a child to them and actually they do treat her that way!
Again we enjoyed a lovely meal of Greek salad, tzatziki, taramsalata, eggplant salad, grilled octopus and then grilled fish which was translated into English as Godfish……… we couldn’t recognize it but it was ever so tasty!
After lunch we went back to the beach to have our siesta there while George, Athena and Vivi went back to their own summer home – we would be meeting them again this evening at their home for snacks and drinks.
We fell asleep on the beach and was only woken up by little kids who decided to have a quarrel about their sand castle which they built right next to my sun bed. Anyway it was time to have another swim…… by 7pm we went up to our room to shower and get ready to visit with the Samoutis.
The evening was delightful and Athena had prepared quite a few Greek snacks which we enjoyed outdoors. Their son Theo spent some time with us before leaving with his friends. Gerry’s friendship with these people goes a long way and I could see their genuine care for him and extending their hospitality to me too.
By midnight we had to say our goodbyes, as tomorrow we have to have an early start – driving through Northern Macedonia and into Serbia where we would be staying overnight in Nis – a town south of Belgrade.
Sunday morning we were up on time – it’s going to be a long travel day… after breakfast we were ready and packed and no to do was to pick up the olive oil which we had ordered at the restaurant yesterday afternoon.
By 9.30 am we were on our way – first to pick up the olive oil and then started driving. Our program for today was to reach Nis in Serbia – that was estimated by TomTom at 460km taking some 4.40 hrs. We had been warned that the border crossing would take quite some time however being a Sunday, we would not have the lorries and so have a smooth border crossing.
At 11.15 we stopped at the last fuel station in Greece and filled up the car with diesel and had a coffee and till then we had had a very smooth drive ….. till we were 2 km from the border to North Macedonia and we got into a traffic jam!!
It took us 2 hrs and 10 minutes till we finally crossed into Northern Macedonia and just over the border, there were many casinos which apparently lots of Greeks are visiting – you must be quite addicted to gambling if you would want to forfeit 2 hours of waiting at the border……
Back on the road which was good but again very empty but also the countryside we went through was empty if villages….. hardly any houses or farms till we crossed to Serbia at 15.15 . However here at the border we waited some 45 minutes to get through and all the while there were Roma gypsy beggars coming along the cars begging for money. A very sad sight…….
My thoughts went back to the days some 5 years ago when there was a big influx of refugees along these borders as they made their way to Northern Europe. It must have been terrible – we only saw those scenes on TV!
The motorway in Serbia is excellent and very new – some parts out TomTom navigation system could not recognize the road and kept telling us to turn left (into a ravine) or right (into a mountainside).
Well we reached Nis by 18.15 and although I had read a bit about this third largest city of Serbia, I missed reading that it is the birthplace of Constantine the Great!
Via Booking.com I had booked us into the Best Western, however we were upgraded at no cost to us to the Ambassador which is more luxurious and our room on the 7th floor gave us a picturesque view of the square.
Besides all the luxury amenities in this hotel, I had the best Wi-Fi connection ever – hence we remained in the lobby and treated ourselves to a cocktail while I updated my blogs of the last few days. When we finally went up to our room, it was only to take in the view and leave our overnight luggage and then we were outdoors again.
The city is lively with loads of people strolling around on a Sunday evening. We made our way to the fortress and took a look around but I was dismayed that such a historical site is covered in graffiti and kids clamber over Byzantine ruins as though they were climbing in a playground construction……. we took in the sites and then strolled down to “Tinkers” Street where late 18th century houses and shops were constructed to house smiths, cobblers and other manual labour shops. Now it’s all bars, cafes and restaurants and we ended up at the far end and had a simple Serbian meal of Cevaps and salad.
By the time we returned to the hotel we were both dead tired and we appreciated a good bed and pillow…….
