Litohoro
Greece
July 6, 2001

I took the bus south. It took one hour to cross the border out of Bulgaria and another hour to cross into Greece. After all the passport checking and rechecking - standing around in the hot sun for two hours - the driver drove about thirty seconds, pulled off the road and we stopped for a coffee! As Manuela might say, “Welcome to Greece.”

I arrived in Thessaloniki on July 4 and celebrated with a drink at a bar overlooking the Bay of Thessaloniki. I finally made it to the Sea. The bar was noisy and crowded with young people on cell phones, and the orange juice I ordered cost about as much as a full dinner in Sofia. I guess I am now in the West.

Yesterday I rented a car for my trip here in North and Central Greece.

You think Bostonians are crazy? Parisians? New Yorkers? Floridians? Forgetaboutit. Greek drivers are …!!! It’s a Greek Tragedy and The Furies are everywhere!