Greece, since 1981, is member of the European Union and, together with 18 other EU member states a monetary union, the euro zone. It is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, NATO, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. The Human Development Index ranks Greece among the highly developed countries.
The Greeks of modern times call themselves Hellenes, but they had many different names throughout history. However, Homer (8th century BC) did not use the term "Hellene" in his epics. In classical antiquity, the Greeks hardly lay a point to present ithemselfves as a unified nation. The own home instead, be it a polis or a kingdom, was up to a few exceptions far more important. The participants in the Olympic Games were summarized as Hellenes. Perhaps it was this name later, in the first centuries of Christianity, being used as synonymous with paganism. From late antiquity until the end of the Middle Ages (1453), the Greeks even called themselves Rhomaioi (ancient Greek for, Romans').
Christmas is celebrated very traditionally in Greece, this we had heard already, and because of that were very surprised by the action of the young girls in the street art project Free Hugs in Alexandroupolis.
Our tours in Thessalonica had not only brought us into contact with the Roman cultural heritage, because the Byzantine era has left many traces too, as we will show in the following article and the attached picture gallery.
Bom dia! - Thus, the first contact with Andrea & John started, who were directly parking their camper next to us as guests on the pitch of Zampetas Camper Accessories in Thessaloniki / Perea.
Of course we wanted to participate in the development of the various age groups during the FC Barcelona Escola Soccer Camp in Thessalonica and so we joined into the training for a second afternoon for photographing and watching.
Once again our stay at the camper stop Zampetas in Thessalonica / Perea designed extremely entertaining, because Toni Zampetas asked us to photograph during a co-organized football camp as part of the FC Barcelona Escola Soccer Camps.
The Roman emperor C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus was born about 250 BC as the son of a peasant family near Sofia (Serdica; Dacia Ripensis).
Once again, there was an interesting and surprising meeting, this time it was a bright red fire truck, which had been converted into a camper.
We learned Julia and Davide, a couple from Germany with some family relations to Italy and Spain which wanted to learn same spots in Thessalonica for shopping as well as for sight seeing.
Again there was an interesting meeting, this time with Suse and Axel from Munich and their motor home Frieda expanded on the basis of a VW T3 - and this once again showed that the camper stop Zampetas has developed to a real cornerstone for travelers on the Balkans.
In the morning we had left again to explore Thessalonica, when we first moved from Camper stop Zampetas to the ferry in Perea, then "sail" towards the White Tower.
Couple of times we already had the request of friends or relatives who wanted to visit us for a few days us by plane and lightweight luggage during our tour.
After several days of exploration on Halkidiki and the Mount Olympus we needed to work up the last days on the computer and actualize the website in our "Office-caravan" urgently, a time which always brings new contacts to travelers by itself.
What we first noticed as a unique journey of a young couple with at least indeterminate finish, now shows almost like a fad: the camper tour to Iran. We had met with 7 camper-encounters on their way to Iran just during the last month, which leads our idea of uniqueness ad absurdum.
Carnival and Lent - at first glance, one wonders how these two yet so fundamentally different events can actually fit together.
Within some talks together with the brothers Zampetas to promote local business the possibility of a company presentation at the Thessaloniki Hotelia 2015 has surrendered, an international trade fair, which is, next to the hotel business, also a possibility to increase the leisure and outdoor tourism.
One of the surviving buildings of Roman times in the ancient part of Thessalonica is the Rotunda of Galerius, which is probably the most impressive building in the town.
The most well-known landmark of the city of Thessalonica, as already repeatedly noted by us, indisputably is the White Tower, which dates back to the Venetian or the early Ottoman period and was probably built by Venetian architects.
Even you do not even think of the next Christmas because of the blue sky and the moderate outdoor temperatures here in Greece, it approaches with great strides.
Traveling from Athens towards Peloponnesus / Corinth by car, you can easily miss the imposing view into the Canal of Corinth, which construction plans are going back so far into history.
After crossing the Rio Andirrio bridge at Patras, we had reached Peloponnesus and wanted to go cross country using the road towards Gythio, a route of about 280 kilometers, which is not really easy to cope.