We dodged a bullet

We knew that doing this northern drive around from Greece into Turkey was a bit risky from a weather perspective. But we dodged a bit of a bullet the last couple of days as both Istanbul and Athens got walloped by a blast of winter and we managed to somehow avoid that!

Have a look at these photos from both cities...  

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2022/jan/25/heavy-snow-blankets-athens-and-istanbul-in-pictures

Visit to the ancient city of Troy

We suggested to friends Katja and Yves that we make a quick stop at the ancient city of Troy, and they agreed that was a good idea. It was only about 5 kms (3 miles) off our route. We set off at about 10:00am and arrived there at lunchtime. We had to take the ferry across the Dardanelles Straight, which meant that we would be crossing from the continent of Europe to the continent of Asia. 

We have now RV'd in five different continents!

"We have a problem".

It was below freezing again when we woke up Saturday morning, so we headed for the border as soon as we got up. Didn't even have a coffee or breakfast. We were on a mission to find out if we could get into Turkiye!

If you missed the post the other day, I'll give you some background. Canadians need a visa to get into Turkiye, but you can apply online in advance. I had done that, and mine was approved but Ruth's wasn't. I cancelled the process, so we arrived at the border without visas, which is okay because Canadians are eligible for visa on arrival.

Ready for the Turkiye border!

Kind of a grey day on Friday, and they were calling for afternoon rain. Sure enough, we got dumped on for about two hours. It kind of made the clean up I did on Max a little bit of a waste of time! Oh well, I needed the exercise!

Got Max ready to go, and Glen and I went to pay our bill at the campground. Nice enough lady, and the property itself was okay, but it's not maintained at all during the off season, and we both thought it was a bit overpriced to begin with at €22 a night even though that was already the off season discounted price. 

A good visit with friends, and a possible glitch in our travel plans

First off, Ruth is getting better very quickly. Still not 100%, but boy that Cipro stuff sure kicks in right away. So, that's good.

Yesterday was a bit of a chores day, so really there's not that much to talk about. Max was in dire need of a bath, so I gave him an exterior wash. Again, it was nice and sunny, but chilly. Ruth went for a walk with Glen and Steve while I did some computer work in the morning.

Fastest doctor visit ever!

Ruth had been complaining of some back pain the last couple of days, and Tuesday night she had a fever and didn't sleep well. So, obviously something was not right, and it was getting worse instead of better.

We aren't the type to go running to the doctor with every ache or pain, however she has experienced these types of symptoms before, so we were pretty confident it was time to see a professional.

A couple of odd things we saw

Heading east once again, this time to get around Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Apparently it's worth a visit to the central part of the city, but as with Athens we have no ambition to do that at this time. In fact, the only reason we are this far north is to get around to Turkiye so that we can get to the southern coast of Turkiye as soon as reasonably possible.

But that's doesn't mean there aren't some things to see along the way.

Amazing history lesson at the Museum of the Royal Tombs

The small town of Vergina, Macedonia, Greece is not very old. Maybe 100 years or so. However, it was built in an area that has been inhabited for many centuries. In the center of town was a known archeological site that contained ancient tombs, but the tombs that were visible had been looted in antiquity. 

In 1977, a Greek archeologist working at the tombs discovered two more tombs, but these ones had been left undisturbed since 336 BC... almost 2,400 years!

Acrocorinth Fortress, and another shipwreck

We slept fine at the Acrocorinth parking area high above everything else. Only one other van spent the night as well. A police car came up to check on things just as we were getting ready to go explore the fortress. He gave us a friendly wave.

The fortress opens at 8:30am, and surprisingly is free of charge. We were the first ones in, and had the place to ourselves until we saw a single man on the grounds as well. Wouldn't have mattered if there were a hundred other people... the place is huge. 

Climbing 1,000 steps to Nafplio Castle

We find it a constant problem that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get done the things we want to get done!

We've been getting up at 6:30am and it doesn't even get light until 7:30 or so. Yesterday morning, we wanted to climb the many steps up to Nafplio Castle for the view. It didn't seem like it would take a lot of time, but it was still after 11:30am by the time we got on the road and left town.