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=== North to [[Thessaloniki]], [[Macedonia]] (E75) ===
Take the metro from the center north to Nea Ionia station. From the exit of the metro station, turn right, go down a few dozen meters, and go under the tunnel. This is the start of Odos Elevtheriou Venizelou. Walk up this street to Odos Tatoiou and turn right. Walk straight for a few kilometers until the road rises to become a bridge over a large motorway. Don't go up the bridge, but rather take the road that stays below the bridge and runs to the right side. This is signposted ''Lamia'', one of the first major cities north of Athens. The best time to get a lift is the early morning when local people are driving to work in more distant communities. Eventually someone will stop who can take you far enough north that you can escape the Athens metropolitan area and get long distance rides. For Macedonia, turn left about a kilometer after the enormous toll booth plaza before Thessaloniki.
Anywhere you hitch from, try to get a lift going at least to the town/village called Oinofyta. 10km before that there is a huge gas station called Autogrill where you can get long lifts if you are lucky. In Greece it is also no problem to hitch on the actual highway as long as you are far enough from the city suburbs.
For a place to sleep before Thessaloniki, there is a great 24 hour rest area/gas station called Olympus plaza(olympusplaza.gr). It is 10km east of Katerini and has free wifi, showers and comfortable couches you can sleep on. Workers were really nice when Sma asked if she could sleep there, they said "of course!".
=== Southwest to [[Patras]] and the [[Peloponnesos]] (E94) ===