Begin with the fact (entering Greece)

Begin with the fact that Greece is known, on the Turkish side of the frontier, as “Yunanistan” instead of “Greece” or “Hellas” or “the birthplace of western civilization” and you have some idea that this is not a friendly border.  Not scary, exactly, but somewhat uneasy and not quick to navigate, although our experience could have been much more difficult—as evidenced by the poor Turkish fellow who had to empty his car and all the luggage as well as submit to an intensive search of his vehicle, all while being berated loudly by a border official (for what? Mostly for being Turkish, we suspected).  Our United States passports, plus 180 euros for auto insurance, had us on our way after just 90 minutes of cheerful Greek efficiency.

The long, hot drive to Kavala—broken for lunch near Komotini, was worth the effort.  Upon arriving, we filled Dora’s fuel tank and got directions to the center from a friendly petrol seller; we found parking and the excellent tourist information center, where two young women helped us book a hotel and gave us all sorts of ideas for fun and interesting activities in and around Kavala.  In fact, the place is so inviting that we’ve decided to slow our pace a bit and spend two nights here.  Both Jim and Dora deserve a rest, and we’d like more than a few hours to explore our first stop in Greece and our first beach on the Aegean Sea.

Fortunately, we had a lovely evening wandering the old city—we watched the sun set from the castle at the top of the town, had a delicious dinner at a picturesque taverna (32 euros for so much food we’ll eat the rest for lunch tomorrow), and then walked to a little old lighthouse before returning to our hotel.  Unfortunately, I left the camera’s memory card in my laptop, so all the photos I took today remain only in our non-virtual memories and cannot be shared.  Maybe we’ll do it all again tomorrow night.