Weekend in Greece, as you do

So the UN here is Kosova occasionally (or maybe frequently, I don't know, I'm still kind of new here) organizes bus trips to places. And this month they had two weekend trips to Paralia, Greece. Having been in school for a lengthy two weeks (and not even full weeks), I clearly needed a break. So last Friday after school we boarded a bus filled with various international types and were on our way.

You may or may not have heard in the news, there have been some issues between Kosova and Macedonia about border crossing. So our journey to Greece involved first driving into Serbia, then into Montenegro, and finally into Greece, with all sorts of border stops. (Usually I love getting stamps in my passport, but sadly these stamps were all so faint that the only part you can actually read is the date) So we didn't roll into Paralia until about midnight. Basically we checked in and passed out, all pretty happy to be horizontal instead of wedged uncomfortably in a bus seat.

When the sun came up we suited up and headed down to breakfast. First of all, our hotel and its restaurant were right on the beach, and on top of that the breakfast was a huge smorgasbord of eggs, cereals, baked things, beans, feta, tomatoes and cukes, fruit, and of course fabulous Greek yogurt and honey.


We spent all day at the beach. Both days were actually beautiful - not a cloud in the sky, in the 80s - it was heaven. The water was a little bit cool, but not bad once you got in and the beach was walled off from the open sea, so it was pretty calm. The hotel had lounge chairs, little tables, and umbrellas all set up. The only catch was that you had to order stuff from the hotel bar/restaurant. So we had drinks served to us all day and also occasionally they would bring us little bowls of potato chips or nuts.


We didn't really realize that this snack service was kind of a thing until after dinner.

There were about 10 of us on the trip who knew each other, so we all went out looking for somewhere nice to eat and to try a little local food. I ordered some sort of spicy meatball thing which was delicious. We had some amazing little salads beforehand - beet salad, carrot salad, coleslaw - and some tzatziki with bread. The owner (?) of the restaurant had sort of lured us in with the promise of a free glass of wine. There was also a free shot of ouzo.

After dinner, some of us went to get another drink or two and we found this cute little bar with comfortable outdoor seating and twinkle lights. When our drinks came, so did a little tray of cucumber and tomato slices. Then there were some chips. And some little ham and cheese toasty sandwiches. and a small pizza. and a little shot of liqueur in an edible chocolate glass. We probably could have done without dinner, that's how much food they were bringing us at this bar.


Like I said, day two was just as beautiful and it started out exactly the same way. We spent the morning on the beach, then wandered around the shops a little bit. I bought lentils from the grocery store and some kalamata olives (you know, as a souvenir). On the way to get our bus back to Kosova we stopped to pick up a little chicken gyro which was delicious.

Luckily, border issues were solved over the weekend (?? Seems impossible, work getting done on the weekend) and we had a much shorter trip back to Pristina. Though I knew going into the trip that we might get back late on Sunday night and that I would have to be up early for school the next morning, I decided it would be worth it. And it was. AND we got back into Pristina by 8pm, so I even had time to pull myself together and have a relaxing evening before jumping back into school.

I can't wait to see what other weekend trips are being planned. This weekend home and doing nothing has been great so far, it's really giving me a chance to feel like I'm catching up on some grading and even planning ahead for my classes.