Athens
From the lukewarm response I heard about Athens - it's clear not many people really get to know the city. It's an amazing place of contrasts and offers so much to be discovered with relative ease. Had a great time touring sites and galleries, shopping [EU!] and my favourite part, the wholesale districts, central and flea markets. Had nice sunny weather and with a map, set of in a different direction daily.
Stayed at Hotel Attalo - close to everything including the metro, had breakfast room and rooftop bar, very reasonable and helpful, friendly staff.
In addition to eating street food (corn, chestnuts, pretzels) and snacking through the markets, had a great meal at Filema where the waiter treated (and joined for) me to Mastiha, and Bliss, where the organic Greek beer flowed :-)
More on Filema is here http://dineoutathens.blogspot.com
Bought a baglama (small bouzouki) at John Samuelian's shop which was full of local musician and met an Iranian musician who promises to try and visit Montreal on his future Cdn tour...i'll post more info when I hunt down his moo card (which I loved seeing so far away from NA, they remind me of a present day calling card)
Thessaloniki
Greece's second largest city - like Athens very diverse and beautiful in a 'gritty' way (thanks H&J), despite light rain all three days, quickly got the lay of the land and walked it easily.
Stayed at Hotel Egnatia - similar to hotel in Athens, and good location. Thess has a central market and a lovely waterfront to wander along. A university accounts for a large student population, out in force while I was there protesting against the government's and country's financial affairs (which are beyond dire in case you haven't heard - interesting article here from Vanity Fair that I had read on the way over...)
Ate at Mylovos where I had my first (and probably last) glass of Greek wine - just brutal but food and atmosphere was worth it. Thess also has a lot of well known sweet shops (every two feet it seems), so sampled cookies and cream-filled pastries, worked off (I hope) with all those walks.
Agios Germanos, Prespa
Once off the train in Florina, was picked up and driven about 1 hour north to visit friends in the village of Agios Germanos. As a country mouse the days were filled with walks, talks, eating, drinking and singing [70 songs?] with a day trip to Albania and massage by Spanish hands thrown in for good measure. Hopefully the pictures will do it some justice (given "micro-climate" it was foggy most days) and you can read more here
all trip pics here - let me know if you have any questions.
