The Merry Month of May

We visited the site where we do the baptisms. Spencer and Brooke had thoughts of going for a swim, but the water wasn't too clean looking and they met up with a jellyfish, so they just did a little wading.

Back in Thessaloniki, Brooke and Spencer did a run along the seafront and some shopping at the open market.

This is an old gate into the fortified portion of the old city of Ioannina. It looked like something out of the movies made about King Arthur's day.

There was a monastery on the island built in 1206. We walked timidly through the gate into the yard and a very old little lady motioned for us to come in, but told us not to take pictures. She pointed to a sign that told us when the monastery was built and that the frescoes were painted two or three-hundred years later.

Just a tiny little cottage on the island. I don't know if you can tell, but I took the picture because the house was leaning to the right and the door and window were definitely NOT squared up any longer.

There was a tiny old Orthodox Church with a lovely garden. Spencer, Brooke and Dennis in the church courtyard.

Just a pretty little street on the island. Lots of flowers growing and no city planning here. Just random houses, lanes and buildings.

Unlike almost everywhere else we have been in Greece, the houses on the little island didn't have red ceramic roof tiles. They had thick gray slate tiles that looked very heavy. This one had plants growing all over it.

This huge old tree was growing beside a restaurant. Judging from some other plane trees we have seen, this had to have been four or five-hundred years old. It seemed a shame that they had nailed their signs to it and the little restaurant had built their roof around it. They had even caulked around the top next to the trunk, so the roof wouldn't leak.

Out in the lake there is a little populated island. We took the 15-minute boat ride and walked around the island. The first site to greet us was this fish tank full of eels and other unappetizing-looking sea creatures. The proprietor invited us in for lunch, but we told him it was too early!!

The sunset over the lake was lovely. It is only about another hour to the east coast of Greece, the Adriatic Sea and the island of Corfu.

The city of Ioannina is located in a mountainous region of Greece called Epirus. Ioannina has a big lake and we ate dinner at a restaurant on the shore. We walked along the seafront after dinner and Spencer and Brooke posed for a picture. While we were having dinner, fish in the lake were jumping out of the water--having their dinner, too, I guess. It was pretty entertaining. The city was once ruled by a Turk called Ali Pasha and on top of the hill in the background, you can see the tower by his castle or mosque.

The drive from Kalambaka to Ioannina was beautiful. It was very lush and green and there were little villages clinging to the sides of the mountains. Most of the houses are white and have red ceramic roof tiles. On our drive returning from Ioannina to Thessaloniki, we counted the tunnels we went through--44 of them in about a 2-hour stretch! Greece is a mountainous country!

We got Mary, our dear friend and lovely hostess at the Dellas Hotel, to let us take a picture of her and her daughter, JoAnna, who recently passed away.

We met Spencer and Brooke at the train station in Larisa and had dinner outdoors at Panellino's Restaurant in Kalambaka. This setting will look familiar to those of you who have been to Meteora.

As we are sure you are aware, Greece has been having lots of strikes. This corner in our neighborhood tipped us off that the garbage collectors were on strike. Fortunately, it didn't last too many days.

Walking home from graduation, we saw this tree just loaded with "cotton." We don't know what kind of tree it was, but it made the stuff that blows off our cottonwood trees back home look pretty wimpy.

Virginia and Liana on their graduation day. These two young Armenian woman have become very dear to us.

The graduation was held in the Thessaloniki Concert Hall right on the seafront.

Liana invited us to attend her graduation. She received her Master's Degree from the International Hellenic University in Business Management. It was a happy day for her and we were so glad to get to share it.