Yasas to all!

We made it, feeling very jet lagged and having only 4hours sleep in 2 days we still feel in the land of nod, but excited nevertheless. As we stepped onto Greek soil a rush of freedom overwhelmed us, as did the Greek writing and the busy streets. We made it a few miles on the bus problem free, and then made the mistake of getting off far to soon, so we stopped off at a cafe to ask for directions where all the staff were happy to help. Getting to the main central street was easy, but as for finding Ano Poli (the old part of the city) was another matter, nobody seemed to know where/or what it was (i think because it was spelled in English). 3 hours of dragging our tired feet and aching backs up and down the roads we decided to give in to the easy ride of a Taxi (just this once!), we got a very impatient Taxi driver who got frustrated any time he stopped ... not that its different in England I suppose! It turned out where we needed to be was just a little north of where we were but I suppose practice makes perfect!

We are staying with a couchsurfing host called Maria. She has really welcomed us here, when we first arrived she offered us some 'Trahanas' (rolled flour and water baked in the sun and then boiled to a porridge consistency), which is handmade by the local women. And this morning we had our first taste of traditional Greek tea. She makes organic handmade jewellery out of brass, copper, silver around pretty stones. Jak brought me one as a keepsake for our first part of our journey.

As this is a city, there is not really much to do without shopping or spending money so we have decided to move on to the next place sooner than we thought. Tomorrow (26th) we will head to Mount Paiko to a small traditional Greek village which is just a couple of miles north-west of here. There we are staying with a family who will take us into there home and fed us in exchange for us helping them build a base camp by the mountain.

We look forward to eating all the good food and listening to the traditional music!