Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Christmas in Greece

Merry Christmas morning!

Last year on this day, we were getting ready for Christmas Day eye surgery in Turkey. Of course Turkey is a Muslim country, so they don't celebrate Christmas, and Christmas Day is just another day.. But here in Greece, the day before Christmas is when children sing carols in the streets, families gather together to play games, go to midnight mass, and end their advent fast.

Yesterday was also the day that our 10 days of unlimited cellular internet came to an end. We needed to do something to fix that, so we drove to the small city of Pyrgos (pop 30,000), parked on the outskirts, and walked into the central area to the Vodafone store. 

Everyone was in the Christmas spirit. We saw several children with their triangles, and a couple came into the Vodafone store and sang a Christmas carol while we were there. They give them candies and treats... almost like Halloween. The store workers taught us how to say Merry Christmas in Greek... Kalá Christoúgenna!

And, they set us up with another 10 days of unlimited internet. Because the last SIM card was in my name, they were able to give us another one in Ruth's name. And this time, the price was down to €12 ($17.50 CAD, $13.50 USD) instead of the €15 we paid last time. 

We picked up some more supplies, and then drove Max to the beach for a couple of days. I also stopped at a gas station and picked up a 10 liter jug of AdBlue (DEF) for Max. Cost was €14 ($20.25 CAD, $15.75 USD).

They need to trim back the bamboo soon!

This road leads to the beach. At least it's paved!


Peppers.

Cotton.

Scenery along the way.

There were three other vans here when we arrived. There's loads of space, but it's not easy to get space that actually has a view of the sea. We did manage to find one fairly solid spot where I didn't think Max was at risk of getting stuck in the sand, and we can still see the sea from the front windshield.

Max, parked at GPS37.576301, 21.52079

Three other motorhomes in the distance.

View in front of us.

Scenery around us.

We left Max and went for a walk on the beach.

There are a whole bunch of abandoned houses.
Wonder what the story is.

Lots of pretty shells.

Beach walk.

Scenery along the way.

Christmas Eve at the beach.

Nice picture.

Not so nice picture.

It's not really the prettiest beach we've ever been to, but it's isolated and very quiet. 

Ruth, enjoying a beautiful sunset.




We are having a bit of an overcast start to the day, with some showers. Then it's supposed to rain on and off for the next four days before the sun reappears on Thursday. We'll hang out here another day, then head further south and find somewhere to wait out the rain again.

Hope you all have a great Christmas Day! We are looking forward to doing a Zoom call with our families later on. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And in Canada...


12 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas from the ranch in Texas, where we are "enjoying" an 88 degree Christmas Day. We are looking forward to getting back home to Bijou and getting back on the road. As much as we love being with our family, there's no place like home, even if our home has wheels. :) Stay safe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merry Christmas to both of you as well! It is nice that you are having such warm temperatures, it bets the cold and snow any day! We know what you mean about being home and visiting family but wanting also to get back home. It is really nice though that you were able to get back and see your family for Christmas.

      Safe travels back to Bijou and hitting the road once more.

      Delete
  2. Merry Christmas from BC!
    Woke up to a white one.
    Thanks for being my morning coffee read for years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merry Christmas to you too!

      There is something to be said about having a nice white Christmas, especially with fresh snow, just as long as it disappears the next day, lol.

      Thank you for following along on our crazy escapades all these years. :-)

      Delete
  3. Beautiful sunset! Love touring abandoned houses and buildings. You always find something. Great header pic of Max!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really was a beautiful sunset!

      We love poking around in old abandoned houses/buildings too but you really have to be careful and judge how safe they are before actually going in them.

      Max looks like he is in a desert rather than by the sea in that picture.

      Delete
  4. Sunset is gorgeous. I wonder why they abandon homes? In google pictures, I see a lot of graffiti on buildings, parks and sidewalks. We see trash in the states also...no dumping signs have popped up in odd places. Merry Christmas and a good year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you too!

      We can't find any information on the internet about why those houses were abandoned. You could tell that there was going to be a lot of them because there were lots of concrete bases in place for all the houses. We think that they were perhaps being built illegally and the building was halted. We have read about that happening but of course we can't be sure that we are correct with that information.

      Yes, there is a LOT of graffiti just about everywhere we go, some places it is worse than others. I am sure that they keep the real touristy places nice and clean and graffiti free but it seems to be a free for all everywhere else. It really is sad to see.

      Delete
  5. Merry Christmas Kevin and Ruth! What a beautiful sunset you got to enjoy. We had a pretty sunrise this Christmas morning in North Carolina, and our high temp of 70F today is most unusual but welcome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merry Christmas you both as well, Emily!

      It was a pretty sunset, we don't often see really pretty ones like that. Glad that you had a nice sunrise on Christmas day, along with nice warm temperatures too. It wasn't quite so warm for us and it was a fairly overcast day with some rain but definitely not as bad as what they had forecast.

      Delete
  6. I really enjoy being an "armchair traveler" with the both of you. How wonderful to see Greece. Love the beach area where you parked. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
    [email protected]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are happy to bring our travels to you virtually and that you are enjoying them. We still have a lot of Greece to show you, and not the touristy beach spots either. We really enjoyed our stay at this beach area, it was so nice and quiet, we felt like we had the place to ourselves.

      Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!

      Delete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.