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Left the hamlet of Delofo after a good walk around the place. Delofo is about 160 years old and many buildings are in ruin. Apparently in the winter there are about 6 people living there (very cold & snow very thick) and about 80 in the summer. When we were there, we only saw about 15 people.
We drove off looking for the place to hire bikes but ended up at Vikos Gorge which is in the Guinness book of records for the deepest gorge in the world. We walked down to the viewing section and once again there was a small monastery there, which we briefly viewed.
We set of again for the bike hire and located the place in a small village. The flags were fluttering and the Internet page is still up but the place was abandoned and one of the locals just shrugged his shoulders and said, 'not here' - so that was that - in true Greek style. We decided to travel to another village not far away where they also hired bikes together with doing white water rafting and a few other things. Once there, we were told that the perfectly good looking bikes needed repair and couldn't be used..... We then asked about rafting but were told that would be tomorrow morning, when we knew we would be far away in Thessaloniki. Giving up on the bike ride idea we went into the town and had a coffee under the village tree.
Setting of, we travelled up high on a winding, twisting road to a small village very remote but further along the Vikos Gorge. The beautiful river way below was very enticing with a small monastery building perched on the edge and as it was only a 45 minute hike down, we decided to go. But not before coming across a delightful back yard in which an elderly gentleman had a small shop. It was beautiful and we spent a while with him as he spoke good English being a retired teacher, and as his wife was in Athens visiting their daughter he showed us into his beautiful home - been in his family for at least 5 generations. We purchased a few lovely items from his shop and stashed them in the hire car.
The walk down the gorge was treacherous and slow going but well worth it. Met an older couple from Melbourne on our way down (I said to them that I recognised that Aussie accent!) with whom we had a good chat about Greece and what our general thoughts were.
Arriving at the bottom we checked out the water which comes from nearby springs, it was huge and the quantity of water passing by is amazing. The elderly gentleman told us it was the cleanest in Europe and I believed him, but it is also 8 degrees - very cold!!!
We sat on the bank, broke out our cheese, olives, crackers and red wine and enjoyed a dreamlike mid afternoon snack (didn't have any lunch) the hike back was strenuous and we returned to the car very tired and hot
So it was time to head for Thessolaniki for the night accommodation, a 3 1/2 hour drive. This was a very long drive as we had to weave out of the mountains along some very nerve racking roads but eventually we were on the freeway, only 150km from Thessaloniki and able to sit on 130km per hour!
Arriving in the city we tracked down our hotel - Philippion Hotel , sitting high on a hill next to a national park and looking down on the city and the ocean. It was a lovely hotel and the room was excellent - but there were two weddings in place, people everywhere and music pumping!
We went into town, had some food at a restaurant overlooking the city and then headed in to bed. Even the music didn't keep us awake! We were very tired from the hiking and the long drive. Looking forward to seeing Thessolaniki tomorrow, God willing
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