​June 23rd. It’s afternoon and we are coming to the border of Bulgaria. We are amazed of how many trucks are standing on the roadside and are waiting to get across the border. Fortunately, the car line is not that bad. We have about 6 cars in front of us and we are making rapid progress. Passport, ID, and vehicle ID are controlled, a little look into the car, greeting the children and we are through. On the streets of Bulgaria, we come across a sign that show us how and who pays for the use of the streets, but we have a hard time to understand it. So, we stop at a gas station, go to the kiosk and there is a machine where I can have the vignette printed out, yes!
On the way to our accommodation, we rush into a decathlon, T. and I need new sandals.
At 19:30 we drive up to our apartment where we sleep tonight. It is a area with a couples buildings with a total of 600 apartments in the middle of a corn field (surrounded with a fence and car barrier). In short, we move into a one-bedroom apartment with everything we need (including washing machine). We cook something simple and go to bed soon.

​June 24th. We get up at 8:30 and eat breakfast. At 11:29 we take the train to Sofia. The journey takes 49 minutes. In Sofia we take the tram to get to our hosts, which takes us another 45 minutes. When we arrived, we greet each other, and T. & C. give the gifts we bought to the little ones. We put down the luggage for the overnight stay and go explore Sofia a bit.

​June 25th. After a Bulgarian breakfast called Principessa, we get our pack packs and go towards the city centre. We take part in a free city tour. The young man tells the history of the city in a funny and comprehensive way.
At 14:29 we take the train back to Pobit Kamak, where our car is parked. The man at the gate doesn't want to let us in. Unfortunately, he doesn't speak English and I don't speak Bulgarian. So, I show him a note with the phone number of our host. After a short conversation on the phone, the matter is settled. The weather is somewhat better than the day before and the kids go for a swim in the pool.

​June 26th. Today we continue our journey. On the way we visit Plovdiv and the monument of freedom, Stoletov peak, before we arrive at our next couch surfers in the late afternoon. They have a charming house with a big garden. The son gives us his room and he stays on the couch.

​On June 27, the host take us around to their neighbouring town, where we have our breakfast. Veliko Tavorno has about 70,000 inhabitants and seems like Biel to us. An old town with a lot of great pubs and coffee shops (it just feels good).

​June 28th. It is Sunday and we all sleep in, eat breakfast together, lie, sit, run around in the garden and just enjoy the day.

​Monday June 29th, the day of our onward journey. In the short term we have booked an apartment in Varna on the Black Sea. On the way we stop at the Ovech Fortress and the Stone Forest.
The apartment is great has everything we need, and we can do our laundry.

​June 30th. In the afternoon we take the bus to go into town, look at Varna and find a barber for Pablo. The children go for a swim in the sea, but somehow, they find that the water smells (not as clear and beautiful as in Crete 😉).

​July 1. We enjoy the chilled apartment doing what everybody feels like and just enjoy the day.
 
July 2nd. Today, we pack everything again and drive on. We visit the Black Sea in Shabla again before we cross the border into Romania. See you!

​April 27 - May 3. We are looking forward to the last week. The joy of lifting the spears is great, finally you can move around again without papers (so shopping is fun again 😊). Spring and the blooms in the garden are a blessing.

​On May 6th we go on a trip again after a long time. The lockdown saved us a ton of diesel 😊. We drive to the south (Chora Sfakion) in our region. A short hike of 12km on the famous E4 hiking trail. After so long we are a bit out of breath and the heat doesn't help. The goal was to visit the village of Loutro. This can only be reached on foot or by ship. Because of Covid, people were rather unfriendly towards us tourists. In the end, we could fill up our water bottles on outside faucet (thank you!) On the way back, we enjoyed the sweet water beach.

​The car needs cleaning.

​May 10, 4 little cats were born today. Unfortunately, the last kitten did not survive the birth.

​A little journey of discovery through our shopping village and eating ice cream.

​May 11-17. A wind from Africa is coming and it brings us sand and a heat wave up to 40 ° C. With these temperatures we go to all the beaches worth seeing (Balos, Elafonisi) and have the unique chance to enjoy them alone. There are usually 1000s of tourists in these places.

Travel will be possible again from the end of May, so we booked our onward journey today. The ferry will go to Santorini on June 4th (a surprise for the kids), stay on the island for 5 days and then take the ferry across to the mainland. We are very excited!
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May 18-24. The heat wave is still going on. We enjoy the sea every day. From today, we go to a small beach (Kalami) which is 5 minutes away by car and which we visit and enjoy every day after work. It has a dock, from where the children can jump into the water.

May 30th. Today we drive to the east of Crete. On the way we visit Knossos. The oldest traces of the eight-meter-thick settlement layers date from the 7th millennium BC (6900-6600 BC). Immigrants, perhaps from Asia Minor, brought farm animals and plants to the southern Aegean for the first time. Their settlement probably only existed for a few centuries (200-400 years). This is followed by a find that dates to around 5700–5500 BC. The following new settlers show the typical cultural characteristics of the early Neolithic.  At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, smaller kingdoms developed on the island, as can be seen from the larger palace complexes in Phaistos, Malia, Knossos and Kato Zakros. The Palace of Knossos was built between 2100 and 1800 BC. Knossos was particularly tall, rich and magnificent.
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​31. May. Today we explore the small town of Limenas where we have our accommodation.

​June 1st. Today we asked the ferry company if they could reserve us a place for June 15th, and the answer: Unfortunately, no strangers are allowed to travel to the Greek islands until July 1st and the company does not offer trips until July 11th from Heraklion. Well, our dream of exploring Santorini without tourists falls into the water. We cannot and do not want to wait until July 11th.
 
June 2nd. In the morning we drive south and visit Ierapetra and Agios Nikolaos. We liked Agios Nikolaos a lot, it really gave us a holiday feeling, but also reminded us of the party resorts. We visited the bar “The Zep”, which a Swiss couple opened a few years ago.

​On the way back on June 4th we visit Heraklion. We like the city vibe and the great markets. A stop at the fish spa for the kids made their day. At 8 pm., we arrive in Aptera.

​On Sunday June 7th we drive to a green oasis, certainly something special for Crete when it is 35° to 40° C in summer and the landscape in Crete is brown. After a visit to the oasis and the small typical Crete village, we drive to Lake Kournas. To our surprise, there are only small beaches there, but a lot of pedal boat. We rent one and pedal around the lake and enjoy the fresh sweet water.

June 8-14. This week we want to finish all the little jobs. We decided to go to Souda this Thursday and buy a ferry ticket directly from Chania to Athens.
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June 9th. A free day at work and we visit another breath-taking beach (Stefanou).

​Today on June 11th we are in Souda and buy a ticket directly from the Anek office. The ticket is for June 17th, so we can be sure that the EU countries have their borders in Europe open again and that our onward journey does not get stuck somewhere.
We go to the Kalami beach every day for a short time and the children made a gift for our friend Chrisoula to put in her canteen.

​On June 14th we have a bite to eat with our host and exchange memories, gratitude and tears.
 
June 15-21. The day of departure is getting closer and somehow it feels strange. Crete became our second home after 4 months. The toys are packed back into the box, clothes, stuffed animals and bed linen are freshly washed and packaged. Our donkey gets to work again 😊.
Today, June 17th, our ferry will leave the port at 10pm. We have all day to pack and go swimming again. The weather is nice and hot, but we have gusts up to 70km / h, hope the ferry leaves tonight. At 7pm, we have another meal with our host and than make our way to the port. The easiest check-in we ever experienced. Wearing masks is a must. After 10 minutes we are set in in our cabin. Good night!

​Good Morning! Today is June 18th and we have arrived quietly on the mainland. T. has a sore throat and is very tired. The air-conditioning in the cabin didn't do much good. Fortunately, we can check in for our overnight stay at 8:30am. T. lies in bed with a sore throat and temperature. She sleeps all day.

​June 19, T. is feeling better. We make our way towards Kalabaka, where our next overnight stay will be. On the way we stop at the monument in Marathon and the monument in Thermopylae.
The famous Metéora monasteries are in Kalabaka. These are an UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The entire complex consists of 24 individual monasteries and hermitage build on strange rock formation, of which only six are still inhabited today. The remaining eighteen monasteries are either too difficult to reach or have been abandoned due to the risk of collapse.

​On June 20th we will continue towards Thessaloniki. We will spend the night outside, more precisely in Kallikrateia. It is a smaller city and right by the sea. We go swimming for the last time at temperatures of 30 ° C. The apartment is not ideal, it has 2 bedrooms, but otherwise it is too small. The kitchen does not invite you to cook.

​June 21st. Today, we visit Thessaloniki. The 2nd largest city in Greece. Small and charming. The sea shore is pleasant and reminds us a bit of Biel.

​June 23rd. Today we leave Kallikrateia and thus Greece. Our way today leads us across the border to Bulgaria towards Sofia, where we are invited to spend the next 3 nights with couchsurfers. On the way, we visit one last archaeological park, named Pella. Pella is the birthplace of Alexander the Great. With this visit, we conclude the Greek history class.
A new era begins tomorrow!