This is our second day in Thassos since we started our trip back to Bahrain. Earlier this morning Taha and I had breakfast at a restaurant called Cheers, owned by an English couple who visited the island a while back and got caught in its charm and decided to stay and call it home.

While the island is known for its spectacular beaches, it's also a popular spot for hiking. After breakfast, all of us went off-roading, trying to reach the highest peak of the island. We were very close but unfortunately the end of the road was completely out of reach and we couldn't continue. 

The LR3 did an admirable job cutting through the forest and unpaved roads, not a complete surprise but an excitement nonetheless. We took plenty of photos like we always do.

When we came down we visited our friend Costis. Ali had arranged to meet up with him at his pottery workshop a few kilometres from the centre where his shop is. He gave us a tour of the place and revealed that the family business  goes back to 1905. He also demonstrated the process of taking a piece of clay and turning it into a bowl (which he did in mere seconds, barely enough to take good photos) and then mixing his glaze with formulas that he invented and some passed along from previous generations. 

Costis is the only one who does pottery in Thassos and while people used to buy his products exclusively for home use, lately tourists became his main customers.

After a long day under the sun, going back to the beach sounded like a great idea. Ali suggested Paradise Beach which Taha and I visited earlier on our motorbike venture. The water, the sand and the surroundings were just perfect; little wonder why it's called Paradise Beach.

We were close to the Iris Gold jewellery factory and shop and we thought of dropping in to say hello to old friends we met on our last expedition back in 2008.

We returned to our hotel and went through the usual routine of downloading and sorting the photos we took, charged our electronics, checked our email and then decided where to go to have dinner. Tonight's dinner was special since it's Taha's last night with us. We had some very tasty dishes at Taverna Zorba and had some good laughs about our day. We headed back to our hotel and called it a night while looking forward to another day in Thassos.

Ammar Hammad