Chris and I decided years ago to take each child on a solo trip anywhere they wanted to go when they turned 13 years old. We figured it was a good age – old enough to remember it, but still young enough to want to hang out with us! Caleb turned 13 at the end of January, but April was the first break we had to get away for his big trip with Mom and Dad. Destination . . . Greece!
Early Morning Flight – London to Thessaloniki
We had planned to do a bit of a driving tour of the main island of Greece, so landed in Thessaloniki and hit the ground running. We weren’t sure what there was to see in the city, but we found the City Centre and dove in!
White Tower
Funny enough, we actually left home without our travel guide books! We had been prepping for this trip for months, and we left them sitting on the bookshelf! Honestly, it was a “I thought YOU brought them” moment for all of us. So, we took a quick step into a bookstore and bought a good tour guide for Greece. We found that in our short walk from the car-park to the bookstore, we had seen most of the iconic parts of the city.
Closed Cathedral
However, we could not seem to find any of the sites open. After thumbing through our tour book, we were surprised to read that everything is open every day BUT Monday! Of course, Monday was the day that we were in town. So, we wandered around to see the outsides of buildings and marvel at the ruins that were standing in the middle of paths, roads, and other modern developments.
Pathway Ruin
Handstand-ing in Thessaloniki
In and Out the Ruins
The Rotunda
On our way back to the car-park, we discovered the Palace ruins, which were open to the public to walk around in. So, we wandered around and read about their continual excavating of the site, which sounded incredible.
Overlooking the Palace Ruins
At that point, Thessaloniki had still failed to impress, so we started on our way to our hotel, located in Litochoro, near Mount Olympus.
Caleb’s ‘Digs’
Hotel Room
View from Room
Enjoying the Perks
As the hotel was actually slated as a ‘resort,’ Caleb was excited to try out all the amenities. After we got settled, we checked out the indoor pool, which we pretty much had to ourselves.
Relaxing in the Pool
As the weight room was right off the pool, Caleb pulled us in to help him get in some conditioning.
You can take the gymnast out of the gym, but you can’t take the gym out of the gymnast.
Arm Conditioning
That evening we were able to wander down to the waterfront as we waited for dinner to open. With the sun going down, it was quite chilly, but still a beautiful scene.
On the Shore
It was in this moment that I realised for the first time in our lives with children, I was outnumbered by boys. It was not an unpleasant realisation and really was the beginning of a great week.
Traveling Trio
As Monday was truly our travel day, we were looking forward to our real adventure starting the next morning . . . . as we planed to hike Mount Olympus!
Post-dinner View
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