Day 7: I’ve had enough!

When I woke up this morning, I had a very weird feeling. I didn’t want to go anywhere but straight to the airport and get out of Santorini as fast as I could. You see when I travel, I usually stay in one place for a short time. It’s always better to leave a place asking for more rather than to leave a place because you’re getting sick and tired of it. I don’t know what happened and I don’t know why it happened. I am in a very beautiful island of Greece and all I could think about was to get on the next flight out of that island. Just the thought of the long, uphill walks in Oia, the sun’s rays hitting my skin and the long, winding, cliffside roads that we have to take to whichever part of Santorini makes me want to wail and throw tantrums like a 2-year old kid. I hated myself for it.

We left Soulis Apartments at around 11am after our breakfast and went to Mezzo in Oia for coffee and hopefully to kill time until our 5:30 pm flight to Thessaloniki. Unfortunately, the wifi in Mezzo wasn’t working for my iPhone that day so I was extra pissed. I can tell that the boyfriend is trying hard to make me feel better and I feel really bad for it so I psyched myself up and went from naggy to silly, to lighten up my mood and for the boyfriend not to feel the need of worrying about me as he had been nothing but kind and very patient towards me throughout this whole trip. We went to another cafe where we stayed longer, not because there was wifi but because I was already feeling a bit better. Alas! 2:30pm came and we headed back to the airport and bid farewell to Santorini (finally!). I would suggest for anyone who is as sick as I am to just stay in Santorini for a maximum of 4 days and head off to another island.

At the airport, I suddenly had that nervous feeling which the boyfriend isn’t aware of. I was going to meet his parents in Thessaloniki, in fact his father is going to pick us up from the airport. I haven’t done that “meet-the-parents” thing yet and I don’t really know how it goes. I’m not asking the usual “will they like me?” questions, I was more concerned of making a fool out myself when I’m in front of them which I normally do. The scariest idea that was running in my mind at the time was: “what if I accidentally fart?”. Gross, I know.

We arrived at Thessaloniki airport at around 7pm and there he was, the boyfriend’s father. We exchanged the usual pleasantries (hello, how are you? nice to meet you!) and then I was silent – which was not at all unusual for me specially since I’m enjoying the sights and sceneries along the way. Not that there’s much to see but I have expected Thessaloniki (the boyfriend’s city) to be made out of a dirt road. I have no freaking clue why I imagined it that way but Thessaloniki was, like any other city, a city. I was just very thankful that it was a flat and even road, not like the ones in Santorini. We stopped by at their shoe shop where I met the boyfriend’s mother. The usual pleasantries were exchanged and his mother insisted for me to take at least one pair of shoes as a gift. Well to tell you honestly? The shoes and sandals were all very good and if it wasn’t for the fact that I know his mother wouldn’t let me pay for it, I would have taken at least 4 pairs because it was on sale! I know for sure that my aunt would love to have one of those and I’d probably get one for my mother as well.

Drop by at this shop if ever you go to Thessaloniki.

50 to 125 dirhams for sandals/shoes!!!!! Holy crap!

Anyway, I was politely saying no but the boyfriend’s mother kept insisting and seriously, who am I to decline that sweet offer? His mother was kind and very pretty, his father was the same although a little bit more shy than his mother. It’s a cliche I know but I’ll say it, now I know where the boyfriend got his good looks from. * chuckles *

And here’s my new slippers:

🙂

After the brief meet-the-parents thingy, we then started the 2-hour drive to the nearby beach area of Halkidiki. It was such a relief to travel on a flat road with all these greeneries as your view. I don’t know, the sight of trees just relaxes me.

Rolling hills on the way to Halkidiki.

It’s as fine as a fine tree. :p

We arrived in Halkidiki at around 9pm and had to find our hotel. The place was running full and we almost had to stay in a hotel’s attic which fits about 2 midgets. Luckily, we came across Hotel George owned by a wonderful and pleasant man (named George I suppose) and offered us this room for EUR60 per night.

Good for backpackers.

Hotel George

Photos were taken from the hotel’s website.

After a quick shower, we went to Armyra Taverna located in a remote coast of one of the hills in Halkidiki. It’s funny though that after a stretch of dark, unpaved roads – there’s a beachside taverna waiting for you. We ordered the following:

Tsipouro, the locally made Greek alcoholic drink. It’s like the Greek version of Philippines’ lambanog.

Anchovies.

Steamed mussels… YUM!!!!

Greek salad

The main event: grilled octopus for me! Yeeeeehaw!

The octopus was SUCCULENT, cooked to perfection! The boyfriend was right (as always), it was so much better than the one that I had in Santorini.

Another anchovies for the boyfriend’s tsipouro.

Of course, since it was a Greek Taverna – free desserts were offered to us after the meal.

Desserts!

Our total bill was EUR44 for all the above including one can of coke for me. I tried drinking tsipouro but it was just too strong for me. We headed back to where our hotel was located and went to a nearby bar and had some drinks. I liked the place already – Halkidiki, it was a little more laidback than Santorini.

I now leave you a photo of the paradise that we went to the next day:

One of the many beaches of Halkidiki.