DAY 52

Thursday 1 September 2011

Even though we had hoped a city as big as Thessaloniki would have the camper specialists and mechanics we needed, Charles had found only one listing and so we headed for a VW dealership to try to address some of our car issues. We were taken under the wing of Alexandra, who told us of a camp we had to go to, "Heaven on earth" and marked it on our map. She brought in her top mechanic to check our fan belt, and he pronounced our engine "not good." We left there and passed an electric auto shop, but they couldn't address the fridge/sink/etc. wiring issues either. It's a pretty specialized area, it seems. So we decided to set out for Istanbul.

There were two camps we knew of before the Turkish border so we headed for the first, Camp Natura, wondering if that was code for nudist camp. It wasn't. But it was way off the beaten path, with almost no signage. When we finally found it we liked it right away. Nicole said she felt comfortable, and it even reminded her of Texas. It was, again, lucky us, right on the beach, a small camp run by a Greek man named Costas who spoke little English. But being close to Bulgaria, there was a Bulgarian employee named Lina who spoke good English, and helped explain a lot. No Wi-Fi but Costas said we could use his computer any time, even midnight, and we did. Hot showers, laundry and a kitchen to use, and a beach where you could walk out a football field length and still be only up to your knees in water, really warm, clear water. We parked in the back, with ocean view to the front and a rear view that looked like the Serengeti.

After dinner, Nicole and Dian had a good time playing music from her iPod, far enough away from others to not disturb. Mosquitoes were terrible and Dian woke up at 3 to take a nice hot shower, but still missed her baths. Charles went off earlier for a shower and returned an hour later to say he had run into Lina and three of her Greek friends at their camper and had been invited to come back, so he did and wound up having a terrific time eating, drinking wine and talking music, politics and many other things til 4 AM, with Lina, George, Vasilis and Elaine. He was again delightfully surprised at how Europeans in remote corners are so knowledgeable about music. Vasilis works for the national railroad (when he's forced to, torn away from his beloved beach), and Elaine is quite an artist, with many of her pieces on the Deviant Art website. George was the quiet philosopher of the group, and Lina the smiling proof that not all the beautiful Eastern European women came from Czech Republic. Charles declared it one of his best late nights of the trip.