Da, ami Ne, ami Ohee

This last weekend was Labor Day in the US, but here in Bulgaria, it was a different holiday we celebrated - the day Southern Bulgaria was re-unified with Bulgaria..(..it was originally separated after the Treaty of Berlin). To celebrate the long weekend, my favorite hiking group, Trapezitsa, and I visited for a few days the small remote island of Samothraki in the Northern Aegean Sea. In Samothraki there are few hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and touristy places selling souvenirs..which is exactly why I liked it so much..that and swimming and snorkeling in the Aegean Sea, with sparkling clear water (I saw 2 small octopuses, and lots of colorful fish); and visited the Sanctuary of the Gods (ancient Hellenistic ruins uncovered) the statue of the goddess of Victory (also known as Nike) was originally found here, but is now shown in the Louvre museum in Paris; and hiked Mt. Fengari (said to be ‘where Poseidon sat up to watch the Trojan war…”). You can see around the entire island from the its peak. The hike up Fengari was difficult..really..we started out at 6:30 am and it was pretty much four hours of going straight up the mountain..which wasn’t bad while we were in the trees and shrubs..but once we got through that, we were scrambling over boulders and trying to keep our balance on large and small sliding rocks. Actually, the wife of the hiking clubs President, Netka (who is a really good hiker) had a bad tumble when we were having lunch at the summit..she ended up needing stitches. It did however, answer one of my questions – Is there a designated First-aid kit brought on our hikes..the answer is No..and I felt double bad; when I went to look for mine, I realized that the one time I actually needed it, I forgot to pack it. Fortunately there were two hikers that had brought band-aids. We saw so many other interesting sites as well, that you can see with descriptions in my pictures. Samothraki is high on my list for returning to one day..as fun and adventurous as our days were..there’s still so much more I want to see and do there. They have snorkeling, scuba diving, boat trips (to access other parts of the island), hiking, waterfalls, natural hot mineral springs. And, to make things a little more confusing for me while there: Da = yes in Bulgarian Ne = no in Bulgarian Ne = yes in Greece Ohee = No in Greece