All posts tagged: Greece

A Dream Guesthouse

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It has taken me a few days to get back to my blog as we had to travel down to Thessaloniki and then settle into our holiday apartment (I even manage to colour bleed all of Emma’s summer bedding, grrrr!). Anyway, here is a sneak peek of our local beach and the views we get of Thessaloniki, a city with which I have had a long love story, which started when I was 14. But this is another story, for another time… As promised, I return with a review of our wonderful bed and breakfast in the mountains. Just thinking of our stay in the Vogiatzopoulou Guesthouse in Agios Georgios on Mount Pilio and I get relaxed! ( I have added the Booking.com link because the reviews the place gets there are accurate and reflect the high standards and quality of the service offered. But please don’t hesitate to contact Vasia, the young owner, directly, she speaks English and will offer you an excellent deal!) What did we like about this place so much? First …

The Syrian humanitarian crisis and how you can help

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Image source and credit, USNews.com. This summer, we followed with increasing concern what I believe is going to go down in modern history as the biggest humanitarian crisis and consequently migration within Europe. The Syrian crisis is unprecedented in modern history on account of a number of factors. The sheer number of people who have been displaced by ISIS. The enormity of cultural and humanitarian destruction caused by an extremist group, in a proximity to “civilised” Europe that is just too close for comfort. The extreme violence used by a relatively small extremist group that has caused a whole nation to shift and the complete silence, on the other hand, and lack of political, economical and military measures from the European and worldwide “powers” in response to this crisis. Yes, “The Iron Frau” has opened the German borders from last night and has become overnight “mama Merkel” but the severity of the issue at grass-root level remains. There are still thousands of families travelling for weeks on foot, crossing precariously the sea in flimsy dinghies, …

Metsovo – a fairytale land

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I simply cannot believe our summer holidays are nearly over and that, most likely, my next blog post will be written from our cosy Norn Irish home. I still have so much to write and tell you about Greece!  I had promised you another post on the Thessaloniki cuisine, I had planned a series on the four of the biggest cities in Greece(which we all visited this summer: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra and Ioannina) and I am sorry I haven’t been able to find the time to write it all out.  I will keep some of the excitement and magic in safe keeping,  to be written at a later date. I need to thank you all, friends, colleagues and blogging community members who have followed our Greek odyssey this summer on Instagram, cheering us on, leaving the lovelist of comments and liking our pictures. The things I could not include on the blog are there, all graphically and esthetically pleasing, do stop by and have a wee look! The last post, and probably the best in …

A Gourmand’s Guide to Thessaloniki-Part 1

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My love affair with Thessaloniki started a long time ago, in my late teens. During my last summer holidays in secondary school I had the opportunity to spend a week in a youth camp near Thessaloniki. Funnily enough, the camp was close to Perea, the small town where Alex and I decided to set home years later! That first time, I wasn’t exposed to the Greek culture much. The camp we were in was an international Christian camp and English was spoken more than Greek. But at the end of the week, that Sunday, our small group was invited to a Greek Orthodox assembly and that is there I met for the first time what is described at typical Thessalonians, warm, genuine and very hospitable people who are still my friends, even after all these years! The draw was so strong that when I was doing my master’s degree in Romania and was offered an Erasmus scholarship, I immediately decided to go for Thessaloniki. I spent four and a half months then learning a bit …

Living la vita bella

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We have been living what for most people in cold countries is perceived as “the dream” for three years. Slightly by accident, as most things happen with us, three and a half years ago, after an unsuccessful  stint of trying to live in Greece, we decided to return back to Northern Ireland. But not before we made the decision that we liked Greece as a holiday location and we secured a place where we could return every year. How were we able to do that? We were “lucky”, as the financial crisis had already hit the country and the rental properties were hard to let out and, in consequence, much cheaper than they had been. We moved our furniture from the house from which we had tried to made a home into a much smaller and cosier apartment in the vicinity and locked it for the next 9 months. At 350 euro per month (approximately £250), we realised that it was quite the intelligent solution for making our dream of hot summers possible. According to …