Athens -> Florina -> Logovardi (Makedonia)

Irina house

Already with my passport incident solved (quicker than expected), i got out early and cycled to the bus station...got a bus back to Florina and meet my "Internet coffee friends" again ;p... already late, started cycling to makedonia, crossed the border easily and camped after Bitola..

back to cycle :Dcrossing the border

Athens

Arrived in the suburbs of Athens around 4:30 and cycled around to the center trying to find a bench in a park to sleep...amazingly there are hundreds of people sleeping in the ground everywhere! In the end just cycled around in Athnes chaos till i find the embassy...

Arriving there i meet ricardo, we had instant connection and discovered we had some friends in common, he was a squatter last years in holland, living now in greece, and lost his ID so we talked a lot and he arranged me place to stay that night...

After around 5 hours waiting (and lossing 120 euros to the fucking portuguese government) i got my new passport (ricardo didn't have the same lucky) and we meet his friend, irina.
With her, we went to Exarchia, known to be the anarchist neighborhood, where Alexandros was killed last December and where all the reaction started. i didn't had enough time to visit the place, but lots of things were happening, a park was squatted and rebuilt and now is open 24h, lots of art and posters in every wall, and no police.

Marvelous, Ricardo, irina and a nice neighbor ;)

In the night we went to Irina house to get Marvelous, the dog, and go to the park where all the neighbors go with their dogs and had long talks and beer ;)

Messonissi -> Florina -> Athens

Waked up early next to the street to Florina, cycled there and start heading to Macedonia... in the way stopped for lunch and decided to look for my passport, DISASTER!! could not find it!!

Still don't know where i had lost it... passed almost all day in internet and phone trying to decide what to do... in the end decided to catch a bus (as by train is not allowed to carry bicycles in greece, but by bus is "fine") around 20:00 to Athens, in order to get an emergency passport in the embassy!!

Kalamia -> Messonissi

Cycled to kozani and went to an internet point, as this part of greece is quite flat decided to cycle to florina instead of taking the train...

stencils in greek

In the way, meet a really nice guy, stephanos, in a gas station who offered me a coffe and water and we talked for some time, while waiting for the sun to get less strong :)... people in this part of greece offered me some times coffee and are really willing to talk a lot about the trip :D...

Milea -> Kalamia

In the morning had three flat tires (one of those was repaired under rain!!!) because of thart, after passing Grevena and seeing an anarchist grafitti party, i decided to get on the road to Kozani and catch the train to get to the biketour faster...

Mazia -> Milea

i continued cycling north, always in really desert roads, in one of the small villages i stop to ask directions i meet vassilis, a really nice guy, we were talking for long and he warned me about wild camping, as i will go in a natural park where 400 bears live wildly :), listen to this you get a mixture of fear and excitement...eheh..

stop for lunch and siesta

As there were no shops his girlfriend still gave me some tomatoes and toasts for the trip :D...

collecting (and eating) small wild strawberries :D

in the rest of the beautiful trip, by the natural park, with almost no cars, i made an amazing discovery: WILD STRAWBERRIES!!...eheh... and passed in a lake, next to Metsovo, that was just the perfect vision you could have after climbing for a while and when it started raining: a rainbow over a beautiful lake :)(fast-paint-made) wide picture of the lake

rainnbow over the lake

I then found a place to camp on the top of a hill, following Vassilis advices: leave all my food away from the tent, and lit a small fire not to atract bears next to the tent :)...

Liberty Caps?

Voutsaras -> Mazia

I cycled to Ioaninna, and there i meet some people in a park that told me where was the public library, good to plan my way...
then i cycled up the hills, till it started to rain like crazy again (i can imagine is something usual around here), so i stopped in an old factory and end up sleeping there...

Somewhere in the Adriatic sea -> Igoumenitsa -> Voutsaras

new alphabet... i can imagine some problems coming :p

I arrived in Igoumenitsa, Greece, at 5 in the morning, then i cycled all day, stoping in some coffees where ewveryone was really nice, and passing some hills...

dead fox, only in this day, i also saw dogs, cats and even a turtle killed by fucking cars
hilly greece

In the afternoon, just after a small siesta, there was a huge rain that luckly i could find a bus station on time to protect myself...i meet a dog who was not so lucky and was completely wet...

weird tree, planted at the precise moment the first men touched the moon :p
raining a lot...

Then i slept in bench in a park dedicated to the village women :D, so i would protect myself from another rain, although the temperature was justr fine... tropical weather here...

country women monument, where i passed the night