Prespes Lake

July 13, 2014

Today we drove through Kastoria to Prespes Lake which is a lake shared by Greece and Macedonia and Albania. It was a somewhat complicated route through some small villages and we plugged in our destination and our new friend "Athena" (the maps voice) took us right there ( we love Tmobile and their new worldwide data plan!) Hurray! Tomorrow we are really going to need her and we trust she will be just as reliable. We have really turned a corner with this navigational ability.

Our first destination was Agios Germanos. It is a quaint village with a small monastery. It was recommended as a destination for us by Hara. We took a few photos and explored the town a bit before we moved on to another destination that she recommended, Agios Achilleos. 

Agios Achilleos is an ancient village that can be reached by walking across a pontoon sort of floating bridge. The bridge is about 1/2 to 3/4 mile long and take you to a village where people still live by many of the old ways. It was a warm day and we cooled off with a cold coke before we went exploring.

After leaving the villages we were looking for our lunch spot for the day. We ended up at a now defunct Information Center. It was built with European Union funds to provide an information center for the Prespes Lakes area. The Greek government has shut down many places around the country as a cost saving measure and this appeared to be one of them. We have seen many such places on our trip and it is very sad to see millions of euros go to waste like this. It was a beautiful building and now weeds have overtaken it and everything surrounding it is in disrepair. We enjoyed the spot for lunch though. What's not to love about your own private gazebo with a view over a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains?

The only mar on our day was the encounter with the Greek police! On our way to the lake we were pulled over by two Greek police officers standing opposite each other on the road. They motioned us over and asked Carrie for her "diploma". She told them it was in the trunk and she had to get out to get it. As she opened the trunk Annelle asked me if she should take a picture. I said yes, if she could do it discreetly. She had her computer open on her lap so she used the camera on it to take the shot. Meanwhile the police were asking Carrie for everything that we didn't have. "Green card" Our car rental company wouldn't give us one (Allows you to go into another country). "Papers for the car". Um... They are back at our hotel... At this point Carrie gave them her Florida "diploma" in addition to her International Driving Permit. "Floor eee duh? You're from Floor eee duh? Nice. (Insert conversation in Greek here) You can go now." PHEW!! No money exchanged hands and no one ended up with an appearance on " Locked Up Abroad". It was a good day.