Our decision to go to Greece was really random. We got one extra free day thanks to professor's visit to Sofia. We tried to rent a car or search for bus times but at the end we still didn't have any proper plans. We started our journey with Heleri and Italian guys. Professor gave us a lift to Razgrad. Then we hitchhiked to Shumen and at the end of Thursday we found ourselves in Plovdid, in front of our rented appartment. Really cheap, oldfashioned but cosy place with cockroaches 😂 We really had an intention to visit city center but it was dark anyway and we were exhausted, so, this plan didn't work out.
In the morning we drove to Kavala, a city in North Greece coastline. The ride took about 8 hours, this is insane. Bus stopped about every hour in different gas stations. On one stop I saw an interesting small church and few meters away a chicken and a cock in the barrel. Creepy thing, I thought they are dead, but nope, they were pretty alive. I also got experience to use toilet with lizard. Crossing the border was smooth, we passed our document control twice but at least it was quick. And using Estonian ID card was a convenient act. In the evening when we arrived it was super-hot. We just went to the first beach to cool ourselves, actually kind of pointless because even water was warm and bottom of the sea was covered by sharp rocks. After beach experience we walked around the city to find a place to eat and sleep. Quirino talked with one printing office guy, he helped us a lot, reccomended place where to eat local food and showed us a hotel street on the map. He also gave us advice what to do in Thassos. We had a plentiful dinner in the local restaurant and finally found a hotel where to spend a night. On the next day we started our trip to Thassos island. First thing after leaving our hotel was finding a coffee bar. It is Italians habit to start a day with coffee. We ordered ice cream with Heleri. In my opinion, more reasonable choice on a sunny day. Ferry took us to the island, it took about 1,5 hours. A bit oldfashioned but functioning vehicle. The view to Kavala was amazing, this light blue water and mountains, breathtaking. It was weird that people gave food to seagulls from their hands. It is insane to feed wild animals that way. Our first shopping on the island included a lot of snacks and new flip-flops for Giuseppe. Then we spent some time in the beach, pretty close to the harbour. Water was warm, blue and sand wasn't full of sharp rocks. We wanted to travel other part of the island but bus system was uncertain. So, we rented scooters. I was against of it at first place. It was the worst moment during my EVS. I literally had a mental break down there. I was scared, far from home with strangers and without a plan what we even do there. It took me approximately 10 minutes to find former Eleri again. Finally we started our way to Golden Beach, unfortunately it was a really touristic place and we continued our trip. We visited a random shop and they also sold Estonian coctails as well as Billa shop in Bulgaria. Fantastic is to find piece of home in random shop in Greece. Thassos is a wonderful island with varied nature. Mountains, sea, forest and animals. Suddenly Quirino saw a small island and was interested in to explore this place. We found a wild road down the hill and decided to try our luck. It was curvy and desolated road. When we thought that we are close to the sea we noticed a car standing on our way. The blue car was covered in dust. The car had a lot of stuff inside and it was even working. What an insane situation, we had so many theories whos car it is and why it is here. The path ended with a car and it was almost impossible to reach sea. After walking uphill it was a great feeling to be back in the civilization. After our expedition in rural area we drove to Paradise beach. It was a nice place (it actually means it is a place that you can't find in Estonia), there was a sandy part and a rocky one. We went to the rocky one because there were a few people. Actually reason was pretty laconic, it was really close to the Nude Beach. We took many photos and had a good time in the water swimming with Heleri and seeing small fishes around us. It was getting dark and we decided to make a small picnic on the front of the cliff. Rocks were warm in the darkening evening. Everything wasn't so fantastic though. There were many mosquitos, and Quirino fighted with them in really interesting way. He put a lot of plastic bags on his legs. We couldn't stop our round trip around an island. In the dark we drove further and finally reached our first city. We were aware of our situation that we need to sleep on the beach. In the daytime we just didn't find a moment to search for an accommodation. At least it was warmer than sleeping in the Bulgarian park. Early in the morning we started our trip back to Kavala. We walked around the oldtown part of the city and started hitchhiking from the city centre. It seemed kind of impossible thing to do but it worked, after 5 minutes we got a car. A man who was heading to fishing picked us up. He was kind in every way 😝 Then we got another car also pretty easily, this man has a friend who has a business in Estonia by the way. Our journey back to Bulgaria had gone pretty smoothly at this time, but then we got stuck on the random highway. It didn't help that we divided ourselves into 2 pairs. It was sunny and hot day and we walked in the middle of nowhere. Many cars passed by but nobody wanted to pick up 4 backpackers before a border. So, we walked for a while until we reached the gas station. We bought a lot of munch there. And ice cream has never tasted so good than there. Our situation was pretty horrible, so we needed a plan. Suddenly, I have got an idea to ask help from drivers who got there. We waited for a lonely driver to arrive and asked a favour with Heleri. I don't remember much from this moment but he agreed. I excelled myself, I really discovered new side of myself and got a lot of confidence. The driver was an old Cyprus businessman and with his BMW X5 we hurtled really fast. We passed every car that was ahead of us. Insane but it was so exciting. I really loved that ride, it was full of adrenaline. Everyone in that car tried to sleep for a while, except me and a driver. In my opinion, it is impossible to sleep on curvy and bumpy roads. We passed a border with businessman and actually a huge part of Bulgaria too. We left the car in Ruse, near to Romania because the man's destination was Romania. Then we struggeled again but at the end boys found a Bulgarian driver who gave us a lift to our Sveshtari hostel. It is a thing that I admire about Bulgarians, they are always willing to help you every way as possible. For example, the driver didn't speak English nor Russian but somehow we still communicated and found our language. We arrived late at night but Anna still wasn't back from Istanbul. It was scary but at some point we got information that she is kind of stuck in Turkey with Mustafa. But it is already another story. Oh, and it is possible to hitchhike with four people, it took us only 4 cars to pass more than 500 km.
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AuthorJust another confused youth. Archives
November 2017
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