Thessaloniki, GREECE

My departure from Hong Kong was eventful, to say the least! For one, my intended 7kg "little backpack" ended up weighing 27kg -- which almost convinced me to cancel my entire trip. I have very few clothing items in my bag...but my little gadgets and their chargers and embellishments...and my camera equipment all added up to a whopping 27kg. Off I went, not really happy that I'll have to carry this load with me around the world. Well, so be it....I'll be happy when I'm back in 6 months with loads of great looking pictures....and along the way I may just hand some stuff to the needy.

First stop was Munich, Germany. After an aborted landing just 100 meters from the ground, our Lufthansa Captain apologised that something was on the landing strip. Our 2nd landing was successful but we were almost blown away by two huge water streams from fire trucks on both our left and right sides. This was no accident -- it was a welcome gesture...but not for me, but for our Captain who made his final landing after 35 years with Lufthansa Airlines. Ok, I pretended it was a "Welcome Peter Steyn on your first safe landing of many more to come". From there I moved on to Vienna via Austrian Airways and then on to Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. A fair city indeed. So far I'm quite impressed with this little town so well documented in the Biblical scriptures. Certainly no shortcoming of ancient ruins and churches and walls and some unknown structures which date back to 200 AD (or some probably older). Nice boardwalk along the Gulf of Thessaloniki.

Well, I don't want my reports to drag on too long, so I'll end it here. I also have to go now to again indulge in the tasty Greek food. With so many nice eateries and cafes along the old streets, it is hard to decide where to eat. Tonight at 23:58 I'm off to Sofia, Bulgaria on the Balkan Express Train. Should arrive in the early morning in the Bulgarian capital from where I'll slowly work my way east towards the Black Sea and up along the coast. More of this once I get there.

Till later. Peter