The team enjoyed a leisurely day today beginning with a nice 10km run through the City of Thessaloniki. We started out from the centre square, through some busy streets, and were then escorted up some steep inclines through narrow streets. Having defeated the uphill part we enjoyed a nice downhill stretch with an old Roman castle. This castle gave refuge to one of the apostles, Paulos, when he first arrived in the city over 2000 years ago. This sleepy city was only waking after a national holiday the day before. Groups of people at pedestrian crossings and along the sidewalks looked on in wonder as we waved and yelled good morning.

Sometimes the cities are a little smoky and noisy but once you see people smiling and waving it gives us tremendous enthusiasm. We ran down along the bay with large ships anchored out at sea. Further on we passed the White Tower, which is a famous symbol of liberation. We ended our run along the bay where a reporter met us and interviewed us.

Our next local event was a short run into a small town called Perea. As we ran the sun beamed down through a cloudless sky. The Mayor and also cheerful group of people greeted us with applause as we arrived. The Mayor received the torch and he got into the spirit of the occasion and ran with it up a steep hill!

From this point it was only one kilometre to a nearby children’s summer camp. The children gave us a very warm welcome and were very inquisitive as to our quest.

Their ages ranged from 6 – 12 but they were looked after by a friendly group of teenagers who had excellent English and could express any of their curious questions. We sat and talked with them and shared cultures under the shade of overhanging tree.

After a much-appreciated lunch of salad and potatoes we bid farewell to the children.

It was about 4 o’clock and all the children were going for an afternoon siesta. The evening was now free for us to enjoy, and what better way than to find a beach and go swimming! It would be the last time the European Harmony Run would be along the coast for quite some time. We got an early night back at hotel in order to be refreshed for a busy day of running the following day.

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