We Had to Get Away from the Heat!

Since we have arrived in Greece, the country has been in a heatwave. There hasn't been a day in Thessaloniki that has been below 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the days, the temperature easily reaches 95-98 degrees. We don't live by the beaches here, and because we don't have a car, it is hard to get to the water. We also learned that pools are strictly used here to teach people how to swim and for lap swimming (even the YMCA's pool). So, finally, last week we cracked. We had to get away from the heat and get to the sea. 

We decided to take a four day vacation to Halkidiki. Halkidiki is a region in Northern Greece that is most of the peninsula. It takes between and hour to two hours to get most places in Halkidiki. We chose to go to the little island near Mount Athos called Ammouliani Island. See the photo below: 

Ammouliani Island is a quieter part of Halkidiki. The island and its beautiful beaches are not visited nearly as much as those in Kassandra or Sithonia. The island has a tiny permanent population of about 600, has four gorgeous beaches, and a few tiny resorts. This made it the perfect place for us to get away from the bustle of the city and cool down in the sea.

We didn't do anything too noteworthy the whole four days, that was what made it perfect. We just explored beaches in the morning and sat by the resort's pool in the afternoon. I taught Miller how to search the beach for sea glass and special shells. It quickly became his favorite pastime. Below are some photos from the trip:

To get to our resort, we rented a car for the week. We also had to take a ferry to get to the island. Since it is so hot, we brought Momo along so we knew she wouldn't get too hot while we were gone. 

This is Ammouliani Island.

Our hotel.

These photos are of a few cool trees and plants we saw on the hotel property.

Momo had a very exciting visit to Ammouliani Island even though she never left the hotel room! Momo free eats, so she never cries about getting food. However, one morning she was meowing a ton at 6:30am. We couldn't figure out why, and she wouldn't listen when we called her or told her to be quiet. All of a sudden, we heard a scratching sound. We got up to look, and there was Momo dragging her travel water bowl across the ground. We found ants crawling all over her food bowl and realized that she was trying to save her water bowl from the ant invasion. Later that same day, a bee got into our hotel room. Momo immediately went to get the bee. She tried to eat it and it stung her. The photo above is of her fat chin from the bee sting. She wasn't even deterred by the sting. She tried to eat it a second time until we yelled no at her and go the bee out of the room!

We spent a lot of time by the sea reading and looking for shells and sea glass!

The sunsets on the island were beautiful.

I went on a few, very hot, sunny, and sweaty runs while on vacation. It was an excellent way to see the whole island. The views were pretty great too.

Now that we are refreshed and slightly cooler (although, this week's forecast has the temperatures in Thessaloniki over 100, so we won't be cooled off for long), we are ready to settle into our more "normal" life here in Greece. I will be going into my school to start to set up for the new school year and beginning my professional development meetings before school starts. Miller is getting pretty excited for the new school year. He has made a new friend (the boy who lives across the hall). Miller is bummed this boy doesn't go to Pinewood, but at least they can hangout anytime after school! We have loved all of our exploring and free-time here, but we are also ready to settle into the routine of the new school year.