Northern Greece, Albania & Macedonia: Ancient Lands of Alexander the Great Day 2

Day 02 - Wednesday, October 11, 2017 - Arrive in Thessaloniki; Transfer to Hotel

During the night we traversed the central United States, Canada, then crossed the Labrador Sea and the tip of Greenland. We flew over the North Atlantic, traveled over the United Kingdom, and on to the continent of Europe. Our flight landed in Munich at 1:10 pm with more apologies for the long delay from the flight crew.

Our arrival gate was very close to our departure gate at K18, so we located the nearest Lufthansa Lounge and found a cozy corner where we could log on to the Internet and publish the Journal from Day 1.

Even though we had six hours in Munich, we stayed at the airport, no beer gardens or Hofbräuhaus München for us – been there, done that! The lounge was quiet, many business travelers coming and going and taking advantage of a light lunch and one of those huge Bavarian soft pretzels.

Vic took time to go to an ATM but discovered those in this area to be out of order. He took a brief train ride to the G Concourse and was able to access a working machine so we have Euros (€) for the Greece portion of our trip. The currency in Albania will be the Lek (ALL) with 112 to the US ($) dollar. In Macedonia we will use Denar (MDK) or 52 to our dollar.

As we watched the monitors for any changes in our flight, we did a lot of people watching in the Lufthansa Lounge. Intense business men and women, exhausted families, and eager travelers drifted in and out of this busy oasis.

At 7:00 we made our way to Gate 18 and boarded our Aegean Airlines flight A3503 to Thessaloniki, Greece. It was a short flight compared to our overseas leg, and we landed early at 10:25.

After landing and collecting our bags, our OAT representative, Alex took us to the hotel. Our tour director, Anna Zika had left a few instructions in the room for our itinerary tomorrow. We were sorry we did not get to meet her personally.

As it was after midnight, we had time to organize our belongings, take a quick shower, and fall into bed.

The photos from Day 2, a long 26-travel day, were some of our favorite portraits taken on previous trips. The video is of the “neighbors” we enjoyed watching this summer.

“Experience, travel – these are as education in themselves” – Euripides

Accommodations: MEDITERRANEAN PALACE HOTEL - - - Meal: Flight