Trip from Hungary to Greece: Day 3
18th of March, 2022.
I don’t remember how many hours I wait until somebody finally accept to drive me to Greece. Or to anywhere. I think it is around 11 or something.
The guy is a middle age man, with a nice pony tail. He reminds me of the hippie people. He is going to Greece to visit one of his daughters, so he can drop me somewhere after the border and before he take his turn. He is a nice man and we have a good chat.
At Greek border, trouble: a very annoying and grumpy police officer ask me for a Covid test when he sees my passport. I am sure he has no clue of what he is doing. How can someone be so stupid to not understand I am not coming from Brazil, crossing a land border from North Macedonia? The incompetence of the immigration police officers at the borders does never stops to surprise me.
Luckily there is a Covid test centre nearby. I have to say goodbye to my friend though, because he can keep his journey, being from Serbia. I get so mad! Not only because of the lift itself, but because now I am losing even more time than I had lost already!
The ladies at the Covid test centre are lovely and that cheer me up a little. They get all crazy about my travels. Laugh. Fifteen Euros poorer and 15 minutes later I get the result: negative. When I come back to the border, the police officers this time are very nice. Only if I had pass through their cabin before…
After the border, it does not take long until two man stop for me. They are going to Thessaloniki. One of them is an elderly man and he seems very excited and curious about my presence. The driver, a middle age man, speaks a bit of English and I try to explain to him about my traveller life. They drive quite a lot out of their route to drop me off outside Thessaloniki and in the way to Vourvourou. Nice men they are!
Not so much I can say about the rest of the people passing by. I am in a very busy road, not so good for hitchhiking but t least there are a lot of cars passing. But nobody is stopping.
After what seems like a long time, I see a young man walking in my direction. Further ahead I see an oil truck parked, and I kind of hope it is not his. But it is. He tells me he is going in the same direction of Vouvourou, so he can drop me off somewhere. I take it!
Even though he is a nice guy, I have the feeling that he had some deep second intentions. All because of his questions. But at least he does not say or ask anything unappropriated. He has to fill up a gas station on the way so we stop for about 30 minutes. Great! That is just because I have so much time…
He drops me in a shitty whole spot. I mean, it is a nice restaurant, with a great view in between some mountains, but it is also in the middle of nowhere, with only a few cars passing by. After asking inside the restaurant if anyone was going on my direction, I go outside and stand by the road.
Middle time, one of the guys to whom I asked for a lift in the parking lot start asking me questions about my travel. While we are talking, a few cars pass but nobody stops. Then a taxi drive come in to the restaurant. After some minutes, the driver tells me he can drop me off in the next town, Poligiros, where he is going. I tell him I cannot pay him, but he says it is OK because he is going there anyway. Yay!
Poligiros is the capital of this region of Greece. The taxi driver is a very nice man and he explains some facts about this area to me. He is going to pick up some clients, at the hospital, where he dropped them earlier. He drives me outside town, on the way to Nikiti, the next town before Vourvourou.
Damn it is getting fucking dark! There is a gas station here but is empty. Except perhaps for two workers. I have some hope that I will still make to Vourvourou tonight. Will I? It is less than one hour driving after all. If wasn’t for that stupid police officer at the border…
A guy in a tiny and old car stop at the gas station and I ask him for a lift. He is a young man and he tells me he can drive me to Kalyves, a small town before Nikiti. Hell what, I take it!
He drops me off at the entrance of the town because Nikiti is actually in the opposite way. There was an intersection back in there and we took right when Nikiti is actually to the left.
In a gas station I am thinking about what to do. It is dark already. Nobody is coming but I cannot risk to hitchhike on the road at this hour. So I decide, very reluctantly, that the best thing to do is to make camping for tonight and start again tomorrow morning.
I need water so I stop by a supermarket. The ladies working in there are very nice and ask me if I need any help. But because I think I will be alright by camping, I say I am fine.
Well, I could be if I had walked a bit more out of town. I remember had seen some olive fields when we were coming into town. I just had to get to them and camp there. But I don’t. Well, truth is, there is a group of men, chatting loudly, just by the road, so inevitably they will see me. Am I a fool for had let that stop me? I take right in a street and in what it seems to be an abandoned field, I decide to make my camping. Pfff. If at least there were more trees to hide me. While I am putting my tent up, a man pass at a distance, in the street, and I think he heard me because he stopped and I could see he was looking for what the noise could be. Damn it!
After he finally leaves, I decide to go back to the supermarket and ask the ladies for a little help.
The owner of the supermarket, Vimitra, decides to help me. But it takes quite some time until they finally make the decision. Her husband comes by and she tells me he will take me to a place where I can spend the night. It is dirty, she says, because for a long time nobody has been there, but at least I will have a place. I say it is not a problem.
It is dirty. Not terribly dirty, but it is full of dust. It is a small room, with a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom. It is located in the back of a huge house. An elderly man is leaving on it and he is the one to show us around. I am sure he is part of the family in some how. There are three bunk beds in the room. I open my sleeping bag in one of them, very carefully climb on it, trying not to touch anything and getting dirty, and I try to get some sleep.
Next morning I leave early. The elderly man is already awake, working on something in the garden. Now, with the daylight, I can see how big and nice the house is.
I pass by the supermarket to say thanks and good bye to Vimitra, but she is not there. I give my words to her employee, who was also here last night so she knows me.
My best chance is to walk until the intersection. Once I get in there, in a few minutes, Elton, in his working Fiat Uno stops for me. He speaks a good English and it is a very nice man. He is going to Nikiti and that is where he drops me off.
I start to walk towards outside of the town but I am holding my sign. A car honk its horn and stops by a coffee shop. I think it is not for me so I keep walking but soon the guy come out of the car and make a sign I should come.
A charming and handsome young man, working in a garden company called Garden for All is going to Vourvourou and offers to take me there. He just need to buy a sandwich first. I don’t get his name but he is very interested about my travels. I looked out later for his company, as he said I should so I could contact him, but I couldn’t find anything. Shame.
When we are almost in Vourvourou, he calls my host to ask where exactly is his place. We are just passing by the entrance when they are talking. Yay!