That's my view, by the way, when I wake up in the morning 🥰

By the way, this is my view from my bed in Frankie when I open my eyes in the morning...

"Life is the sea, you are the lighthouse!

Be strong brother and enjoy the sunrise every day! 😊"

This is an exemplary message from someone, in this caseStoyan, which of course hit me emotionally full force 🥰😢❤️ and for which I am toootaaally grateful 🙏

The universe always drops a bomb at just the right moment 😂

Why? Because I'm currently being confronted with "accusations" from "friends/acquaintances" that are so "off the mark" that I briefly wondered whether it wouldn't be more sensible to simply cut off all contacts (except for 2-3)...

But I'm sticking with it, not giving up and writing something about it on "frankieundich.de" and maybe on insta too......and because yesterday was marked by my attempt to reach Keramoti on a "shorter" route than the official one...

Just the one side...I skipped taking the photo of the other one 🤪

Flowers in the salt desert ❤️

...and there's also a place for a ceremony...it's about something that happened there in 1942...

I couldn't help myself, so I ended up driving to Keramoti the regular way after all to get a new tyre
..

So this morning, naturally after my training on the beach, though I skipped the swimming, I set off to the next larger town, which is 18km away as the crow flies, with the "wobbly" rear wheel, using Google Maps, only to realize after 26km that I need a mount for my phone on the handlebars. Phone in the leg pocket causes Maps to "insert" a few new waypoints 🤣 Anyway, I found a bike shop and Dimitris was awesome 🥰 He only charged me EUR24,- for the new tyre, a new inner tube, puncture repair kit and use of his tools. And we had, between all his customers he was still serving and his repair work, a great exchange about our current times and the people around us. Fascinating that I keep meeting people who have a pretty identical set of values that I also stand for. We settled on peace, love, truthfulness and honesty in the end, with him and me each placing our right palm on our heart as we complemented each other in farewell! ❤️

Speaking of meeting people! On the way back, with a detour to Keramoti to see Hristo and his family again, as they're traveling back to Bulgaria tomorrow and I wanted to check out the other butcher in town again (YES, meat is cheaper than bread 😂) I had a craving for something sweet at kilometer 18 (it's 36° in the shade here, I had headwind the whole time and the blazing sun full force on my body 🙄😅😜) and stopped at the bakery on the main road...he was just about to close but looked at me and thought, he'll collapse if I don't sell him anything! So he sold me a typical flat pancake here with nougat cream filling and a coffee and then went off to supply the hotels in the area! Outside sat an older guy who he kept chatting with the whole time, who, as it turned out later, was the owner of the shop and father of the young man. Should have been obvious to me....he was wearing the same shirt with the bakery's name on it 🙄 ...Anyhow...Dimitris (yes, I smiled too, though we only introduced ourselves at the farewell 🤣) and I had exactly the same conversation content-wise as Dimitris from the bike shop and I had earlier! You couldn't make this up! There are moreover further parallels beyond our values...he has 2 sons and a daughter whom he loves, but wonders what he did wrong ...no desire anymore for all the shit that's developed here over the last 20 years, is 2 years younger and is giving up his 3 businesses (2 bakeries and a tavern) in 2 years, though he doesn't know if his children want them...However, he showed me his dream with shining eyes (video of the property, of the game enclosure with a magnificent stag, 3 hinds and 2 kids, as well as his kiwi plantation), which he then intends to dedicate himself to completely, as this will take up a maximum of 4 hours of his day. He hopes to finally be able to sleep in peace! I wished him that ❤️

oh yes..."by the way"...the Nestos Delta is probably the largest growing area for kiwis outside of New Zealand (though I don't know if they even still "grow" kiwi ...LAUGH...)! I rode 2 different routes today and covered 42 km. For about 30km there were kiwi plantations on both left and right with fields that I estimated to extend longer than 3 km...whenever I had to cycle uphill again, I could roughly estimate it...LAUGH...Dimitris explained to me that this form of "agriculture" developed here over the last 20 years because everyone absolutely wants to eat the things. And unlike melons, tomatoes, corn, grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears and apples, ...they cause no work!!! Just need an unbelievable amount of water, which the plantation owners draw from the surrounding rivers and lakes (Nestos Delta!!!) mostly with the pumping power of old, decommissioned tractors that I also saw standing in the reeds "puttering away" every 3 km. Same like Ebros Delta, but different, as they grow rice there 🫣🙄😂👍

Of course I visited Hristo and his family at the beach...it was beautiful and funny and moving at the same time....no, more one after another...beautiful, because his oldest son, who also acted as "interpreter", explained to me what this renewed meeting meant to his father (and also to the boys), funny, because Hristo burned the right side of his upper body yesterday while playing cards on the beach and flinched every time we clinked our beer glasses (7 EUROS per glass and I took the bill, since I was treated by Hristo the day before yesterday 😳, don't worry, I was able to thank a dear person today who pressed the "buy me a coffee" button 🙏) 😂! Manolo, may I name you here, because actually you took the bill!? 😜 (yes, I can edit all this afterwards 😎) And it was moving when the youngest came to our table, was sad and angry, told his story, it got LOUD briefly, he started to cry (he really sobbed and the tears and snot ran) and he accepted my offered hug! I held him for a good 3 minutes, he calmed down and released himself from me smiling and grateful....❤️....what a MOMENT...THANK YOU dear UNIVERSE 🙏🙏🙏

And while I'm sitting here in Frankie

3 hours later 😍😂👍

I LOVE it ...❤️

Picture puzzle 😂 Curious what comes from you...😁