Alexandroupoli

We're in the 'frozen north' - except that it's still hot. There were plains, and mountains, and some tunnels... sea water, wetlands, some lakes, lots of farmland. We entered kiwifruit country (F recognizes the vines). There has been a lot more cotton fields and lorry loads of it going down the roads. For a long while there were no olives, but olives have returned and pine forests put in an appearance on the mountains.

We stopped for lunch in a seaside town and have arrived at the conclusion that unless they are port towns, sea side towns aren't towns in the normal sense - they are big holiday resorts, and with no one on holiday everything is closed.

Lunch in the shade

So we went along the road until we found a copse of pine trees on the beach and had a picnic and watched a couple of surfers. Along with the sun, it was a blowy old day and the surf was definitely up.

By the way, grass has also made an appearance - parks and private gardens have this strange green stuff we'd almost forgotten existed.

on Pelion...

We have left the lush forests, steep slopes and slate quarries of Pelion (we forgot to mention those, many old houses on Pelion have roofs made of slices of stone and there are lots of quarries making slices of stone up the top of the mountains).....

....and arrived in an environment that feels bleached by sun and salt and so bright it makes you squint.

More on this place tomorrow.