Athena, the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law, justice, warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts and skill. Quite a complete girl, I would say, and all inhabitants of one of the main cities in the ancient world were crazy about her. Nowadays people tend to worship more banal features like big breasts and long legs... are development and evolution a lie?
Arriving in Athens unveiled a nice surprise that I had not seen in my previous visit to the city, a few years back. The main highway that enters town goes straight downhill into the Acropolis and, for a few driving minutes, I could admire the huge rock around which the capital of Greece is built. Under the last rays of sunlight, the Parthenon was a splendid view to comfort my aching body.

I found the hostel whose address I had previously written down and discovered that they actually have no parking space for my motorbike. After a not-very-constructive discussion with a local old lady, who was threatening to call the police because I was parking my bike in a space that another old lady suggested, I finally left it on the sidewalk chained to a metal rail. I did not really like that idea but had no choice and the neighborhood looked pretty calm and safe. The hostel was really OK and I met some nice Canadians from Quebec, although there were some weird characters as well... including an American ex-marine who had served five years in prison for homicide and had somehow lost his identity (the American embassy apparently refused to issue a new passport, which he had previously lost) and a Greek guy who spoke with Manchester accent and entered our dorm in the middle of the night, completely drunk, looking for a girl that was leaving town without giving him her Facebook contact... how dare she!

In any case, I spent two nights but just one day in the capital, which I used to walk to the highest hill in the area, Mount Lykavittos. The highlight is obviously having a panoramic view of Athens from its summit, which the Canadians and I enjoyed despite the slightly foggy weather.

The next day I wanted to drive all the way to Thessaloniki, in the north of the country. The most straight route goes by the coast but I had heard that I should not miss Meteora... and since the detour was not that significant, I planned my day to have lunch over there. The place was actually better than I expected, some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen and definitely the best sight so far in this trip. Meteora consists of a series of monasteries perched on top of massive rocks, where monks used to retreat for prayer and hide during the Ottoman invasions. The word is etymologically related to 'meteorite' and means 'suspended in the air', for obvious reasons.

At the end of that day, I finally arrived in Thessaloniki. The capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, not to be confused with the ex-Yugoslav republic, is a very dynamic city with a big student population, a profusion of bars and cafeterias and a lively arts scene. Add good weather and great people to that cocktail and you will understand why I stayed one whole week when I had originally planned to stay just a couple of days... I spent the two first nights at a hostel in the old town, owned and managed by extremely nice Greek lads. After that landing in the city, I managed to find CouchSurfing hosts for the rest of my stay. I spent one night at Lia's place, a teacher of Greek language that was all smiles and good vibes, and a few more nights at the shared flat of a bunch of EVS volunteers. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun in town with them, especially with Maria. She is a Bulgarian girl who is volunteering with EVS in the media sector and knows a lot about films and music.

Apart from watching movies, drinking beer in town and going to concerts at 3am, we also rented a helmet for her and drove to one of the beaches in Sithonia, Chalkidiki, and hiked part of Mount Olympus national park. This is a picture of her on our way up the mountain.

Mount Olympus was the most sacred site in ancient Greek mythology since people believed this is the place where Gods reside. We did not have the pleasure to meet any deities but definitely understood why all the fuss about these hills... they look simply out of this world and most of the time are hidden by clouds. The summit was first climbed in 1913, a mere hundred years ago.

The truth is that I was a bit sad to leave Thessaloniki but my trip had to go on and I was getting very close to Asia. Istanbul, the city with one foot in each continent, was going to be my next stop.
In the following chapter, Europe will end and Asia will start...