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In Koropi to an olive oil producer and then to Corinth


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Thursday 21 June, in Koropi to an olive oil producer and then to Corinth

Today we have another appointment, at an olive oil cooperative in Koropi, near the airport of Athens. Teije has emailed with them for a while because he may want to set up an import company for Greek products. All plans in the early stages, but this appointment is a good start. It is difficult to find the address, but when we drive around the industrial estate, a car comes to meet us. It is George with whom we have emailed. After a short tour of the factory hall and some business talk, we go with him and a niece to a restaurant in the neighborhood where we sit for a few hours, as the Greeks often do. We are usually ready to go after an hour.
Then we are taken to a friend of George who is a wine merchant and bottler. He has a complicated problem and asks if we can help. It has something to do with retsina with bubbles that can not be sold as retsina. The EU permits it but not the Greek ministry. But well, we do not understand all those rules and certainly nothing about wine. But all in all it has been a day with nice meetings and conversations and maybe Teije can make use of it later.
Thessaloniki, view from our balcony Thessaloniki, view from our balconyIt is late in the afternoon when we arrive in Corinth where we booked a hotel in the city for one night. It is a somewhat oldfashioned hotel at a busy intersection and from our small balcony we have a good view of everything that happens on the street. Especially the 'periptero' (a kiosk) opposite us is very nice to follow. It stays open all night and it is a coming and going of people. Sometimes hikers but mostly boys and girls on mopeds that come to get an ice cream or people who leave the car in the middle of the road and then pick up a newspaper or cigarettes.
The mountains opposite Thessaloniki Evening twilight in ThessalonikiWe walk through the city and to the harbor. The current Corinth has only existed since 1858 and was built here after the previous city was destroyed by a severe earthquake. The old city lay where the ancient Greeks lived in the city of Corinth, a place that also appears in the bible and where already in 50 a.d. a Christian community lived. The new Corinth was built 3 kilometers to the northeast.
At the port of Thessaloniki The port of ThessalonikiBut the inhabitants did not have much luck, because in 1928 the city was again destroyed by an earthquake and in 1933 there was a great fire that put a large part of the city in ashes. You can hardly imagine it when we sit along the quiet water. Because the city has been rebuilt over and over again, it is now a modern city. Although, with 30,000 inhabitants, it is more of a town but lively. The city has a lot of industry and a big port, but we see few tourists.
Ship in the port of ThessalonikiAfter a while on the terrace at the harbor we go back to our hotel where we watch the coming and going of people at the kiosk in front of us for a long time. Such kiosks are often a small square building where someone is sitting. There is a window on all four sides so you can pay or order something. And on the outside often more stuff is put down: freezers with ice cream, racks with newspapers and magazines, souvenirs, sometimes even fruit and vegetables. But most people seem to buy ice or cigarettes.
I like it, an evening in a busy city, but 1 night is enough for me. Tomorrow we will continue on the Peloponnese, the big peninsula south of the mainland of Greece. Although, the Peloponnese is only connected to the mainland by bridges. Can you then still call it a peninsula or is it actually an island? We have no idea.

 


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