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ur little family decided to travel to Greece, yet again, this November since we had 4 days off. What made us choose Greece again, you wonder? Well, if you haven't already figured, we love everything sweet, coffee and delicious dishes. I mean, apart from all the tourist attractions which we love.. Well, basically, everything that is yummy and travel-related. 🙂
This time, being so close to the holidays and all the festive atmosphere we decided to stay at my cousins place in the charming village of Vasiliki, in the suburbs of Thessaloniki. You don’t have to go trough this whole blog to figure out that we loved it. Her little family is composed as well of three “humans” (just like us) and their adorable son Dimitris, who even though being older than Doen, loved playing with her and sharing all his toys. We referred to their home as a “toy paradise” because that is exactly what it was for Doen.. Since our home is much smaller, we don’t have a lot of space for her to play around and we even hide some of Doen’s toy from time to time. Sneaky, huh?
So, let’s start from the beginning. We thought to depart very early so our trip would go smoothly and we would have the day ahead of us. We didn’t leave the house until after six in the morning, despite waking up at 4.30. Calculate here the time to put our luggage in the car (which as always turns out to be much more than we actually need). At 6:20 we left. YAY..
Our first stop was in Qafë Thanë where we enjoyed the panoramic view of Liqeni i Pogradecit and took a breath of fresh air. If you’re traveling with a kid and a dog, you have to be extra careful in this spot as it is just a small pocket on the side of the road. We didn’t leave Doen and Shadow out of our sight even for a second.
By midday we arrived at Olympus Plaza, which is the only resting point from the border between Albania and Greece up to Thessaloniki. So if you’re driving by this route take it into account that there are no gas stations, restrooms or shops anywhere in sight up to this point. on the other hand, if you have reached Olympus Plaza you have almost arrived in Thessaloniki. We love to stop for a coffee and donut in here while Doen loves to play with the games they have around and torment us until she gets a new toy from the toyshop.
This time around, it was a cooker with 2 frying pans, a pot, an egg and two turkey thighs. It was only 15 Euros so we decided to please her.
Trough the ring road we went, passed Thessaloniki and carried on towards Vasiliki where my cousin Erilda (also known as Christina by her Christian name), her husband Jannis and son Dimitris waited for us. We ate a homecooked meal and rested a little bit. The fun thing is that their home was so clean when we entered and in about 1 hour it looked like a battlefield as Doen had opened all of Dimitris games around the leaving room. It was impossible to walk around without stomping on a little toy that took your breath away. Fun times, fun times indeed.
In the afternoon, since it was a bit cold we decided to go to Mediterranean Cosmos which was rather close but to our “not so much of a surprise” is was full because of Black Friday sales. Again, Doen and Dimitris secured new toys and then we ate a #notsohealthy meal at Goody’s followed by an amazing ice cream at Fregio. While we waited for the dads to pick up our cars, Doen and Dimitris took it upon themselves to remove all the fur balls from Doen’s dress (picture on the left)
The next couple of days our trip got even better as we meet with our other cousins as well. We spent the day at a playground where Doen and her mini-cousins played around and the adults had coffee and enjoyed themselves. After that, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in Kalamaria where we tried different local dishes and as always they were fantastic. Greece never ceases to impress food wise. Lunch was followed by another coffee at the promenade of Kalamaria where obviously Doen got more toys and a ride with a truck which was controlled by remote from Jannis. Amazing time for Doen, I can assure you.
On our third day in Greece we spent around 3-4 hours at the center of Thessaloniki. Another thing I love about Thessaloniki is that you can park without a problem at the side of the road, as long as you find an empty spot. We parked close to Thessaloniki waterfront and took some pictures with the Umbrellas monument, strolled by the water towards Alexander The Great statue, carried on through The White Tower of Thessaloniki (which in my opinion should be called the yellow tower but don’t mind me) and then we arrived at Aristoteles Square. We bought a delicious ‘tsoureki’ at παραδοσιακό 1957. I don’t know how to spell this place in English but lookout for that name. They make amazing sweets and a tsoureki is a Greek version of a panettone. I’d recommend the one covered in white chocolate with chestnut flavor. You’ll love it, I’m sure.
In the afternoon we had planned a stop at a dreamy spot which we had long been waiting to try: The Pink Dot. As the name implies, everything there is absolutely pink. Even the deserts and coffees are instagrammable worthy. The dream place for our family. More pictures and another cappuccino later we decided to head out for dinner.
For the evening we had an amazing outing in another restaurant in Kalamaria called Prepon. What I loved about this place, apart from the amazing dishes we tasted, is that on the second floor where we were seated, they had an indoor playground for children which was surrounded by glass and you could watch the children play. It was perfect for us since we had 5 children with us and keeping them on the table would be mission impossible.
Food, wine and family close is the perfect recipe for this period and just the type of vacation that we needed.
The next morning, after enjoying a delicious hot cappuccino, we packed our things and headed back to Albania, again with another stop at Olympus Plaza where Doen cried again and got herself another small toy but this time she was fooled with a simple 3 Euro toy. As soon as we arrived at the border we noticed a long long line of cars waiting to cross the boarder which lasted around 1.5 hours. From that point forward traffic accompanied us until we reached Tirana, our phones died and Doen kept sleeping and crying until we finally opened the door to our home. One of the best feelings no matter how much fun you experience when you travel.
We hope you enjoyed this article about Thessaloniki. If you have any questions at all or need help planning a trip there yourself, we are always here to help make your experience even better.
Much love from Bica, the family
xoxo
BICA FAMILY
Hi, we are Bica family! We are Eneida, Dolsin, our 3-year-old Doen and our golden Shadow. As a blogger family we love to share our stories, experiences, and trips with the world! From fashion to parenthood, parenting to travel, we have a wide range of experiences that we love sharing with our online friends. We strive to bring our followers unique content that is both informative and entertaining.
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