July 1, 1963
At last we are well and truly out of Asia. When we packed up
and pushed off we found right over the hill was Greece. We went across the
causeway over a marsh and to the border. At the Greek border offices we were
given a little folder with a map and for Wash and Dry coupons. Daddy
commandeered the folder for his passports.
The countryside looked so pretty and so different. The roads
were very good and very picturesque
with little icons here and there and tall
trees making shady avenues. The towns were so different with lots of nice
things in the shops and the women going unveiled. We were glad to see churches
at last with crosses. Here is where we stopped for lunch at a bathing beach
with a real clubhouse with a jukebox and Coke machines (out of order I
believe). We ate and a grove of young pines right by the club and then went
swimming to get away from the huge voracious mosquitoes.
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| Amphipolis |
Most of the afternoon we drove beside of the Mediterranean
sea along the coast. It was very hot and we decided against taking the detour
to see Philippi from Kabbalah but did stop above the city in a pretty pine grove
to take pictures of the harbor, ancient Neapolis where Paul first came to
Europe. We bought some ice cream from a vendor going along the road. Had a long
long wait one place where there was a narrow bridge and a convoy of Greek
soldiers was crossing. It was fun watching them.
We stopped at our first real camp out of the Europa camping
near Amphipolis. It will go down in history as Mosquito Camp. The facilities
were not too hot but it had bathrooms and we went down to a fabulous beach and
swam for a long time. We found all kinds of shells, jellyfish and starfish, and
watched a fishing family put out a net and bring it in.
We had supper at a little greasy Greek restaurant that was
sort of a cafeteria, nothing looked very good. We all had a bad night. It was
hot and humid and the mosquitoes were terrible.
July 2, 1963
Bobby woke up covered with bites from head to toe. Patty’s
face was all swollen with bites too. We kids went swimming again with an army
man and his family in a very beat up VW Microbus red like ours. He was from
Germany and had been here every year for two or three years. They had a swanky European tent that made us
want one too.
We limped along all morning with the oil light flashing a
warning and we were burning as much oil as gas. One place we had to stop by the
road while Daddy hiked back to get us some oil. We just barely made it into
Thessaloniki and headed straight for the VW garage. Our friend from mosquito Camp,
McKenzie, had listened to the engine and thought it was something that needed
fixing. We stood around while the Greek man in charge of the garage diagnosed
our troubles, then he sent us to a very nice hotel. We stocked up on groceries
and had six eggs someone broke so we left them behind a pillar in the garage.
We got two nice big double rooms in the hotel. Had our
picnic lunch there and then asked where we could go swimming. They sent us by
bus, quite a long hot ride of about an hour but it was nice to get wet. There
was a peer and places to change and we decided to go back on a ferry service
that kept coming and going. The water was not as clean and nice as at Mosquito
Camp but refreshing anyway. We enjoyed the ferry ride back into town.
We had dinner right on the quai and a very nice restaurant
with English-speaking waiters and menus. I had shrimp which came all complete
with legs. We wandered around the city while looking at the nice stores and the
beautiful people. They all looks like Greek gods. All the girls were stacked
and we decided anyone who sold falsies in Greece would go bankrupt. We got some
ice cream from a little corner store and went back to bed, hot but no
mosquitoes!
July 3, 1963
The city noises and habit woke us early mother and daddy
sallied forth and bought us buns, cold milk, and strawberries and we feasted in
our room. We got dressed and went out to shop. We already knew our block very
well and loved the big roaring city. We bought two nice plaid suitcases as the
VW man said our load was too heavy. Oh, we left our surahi he back in Talas
with the Forsythes. They thought it was so quaint and we were sick of nursing
it along. We looked longingly at hats but they were pretty expensive. I bought
my wicker purse and Patty got a pretty blue hat with a chartreuse ribbon. We
bought a pail and shovel for Bob.
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| Beach at Thessaloniki |
We left mother home to rest and spent the afternoon at the
beach again. The crowd was very rude getting on the ferry. The beach was dirty
but the water cleared and we had a marvelous time. We hired a little sort of
flat boat you row with an oar at the end.
It was tons of fun. We left reluctantly, satisfied and sunburned. Mother
had enjoyed washing, writing letters and resting
We went back to the Olympus restaurant and had another good
meal. I tried a pork chop in wine sauce. We had gotten our car. It was $80
worth of repairs, nearly a whole new engine with new rings, pistons and
cylinders. The mechanic said “oh those German technicians! I’ll fix it good.”
And he did. That was the end of our car trouble
We drove a bit after supper looking at the city that was so
pretty and had been so friendly to us. We had thought of starting off that
night but it was threatening so we stayed and it rained a bit and Thessaloniki
too.
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