It's all Greek to me!

In so many ways Thessaloniki, Greece was the perfect place to be right after Istanbul. It was much quieter and peaceful. Most of the people on the streets were locals, not tourists. The food was so fresh and crisp, not greasy and heavy. What a great place to "recover", both from food poisoning and from the hectic, touristy area of Istanbul. While the prices in Greece were on average slightly higher than those in Turkey, we agreed that the quality to price ratio in Greece was much better.

To save some money, we decided to stay in a Youth Hostel, which is like a hotel but you sleep in bunk beds or "pods" and share the room with many other travelers. There are lockers for your belongings and beds to sleep. It was $20 per person per night. While this worked out pretty well for us, we were happy it was only 3 nights so that we could share a bed together again in London.

Why work?

Adam made a lot of jokes about there being no office buildings in Thessaloniki because people don't work. We also joked about "Greek time" being super late. Our bus to the airport was behind by over half an hour from schedule. And, a guy who was meeting  us for the bike rentals kept saying he would be there in five minutes even though he did not arrive for an hour. But then Adam agreed that if life was this pleasant and you could just sit outside and drink semi-sweet white wine for cheap by the sea side, why would you want to work any more than just the bare minimum - and what urgency is there to do anything on time? Greece was more humid and hotter than Turkey, but it was really nice when the sun went down. That's probably why there's such active nightlife. Everyone in the city is outside in the evening. Kids are playing soccer, teenagers are sitting on walls (church walls, city walls) and hanging out, adults are drinking wine or beer. Most dinners are eaten on tables on the sidewalks because there's no reason to be inside.

The only thing Clare didn't like about being outdoors was the abundance of flies! We had never seen so many flies. There was no trash around, but for some reason, there were flies every single place!

One night, we were wandering by the seaside and found a huge book fair going on, complete with speeches by authors. Unlike Istanbul where everyone is a tourist, all books were in Greek. So, Adam was disappointed. Then we kept walking and found people playing chess and ping pong in the square. Clare thought to herself, "Is this Adam night?" There was also a small stage set up with a singer a musician. It seemed like a little talent show for some cause because there were painted signs everywhere. We sat and listened a while even though there were only around 20-40 spectators. When we took a closer look at the signs, we saw hammer and cycles. We looked up the acronym (KKE) painted everywhere and found out this was an event for the Communist Party of Greece! We couldn't stop laughing. They apparently have 15 out of 300 seats in parliament.

Something else we noticed was the fashion. If Istanbul was the place with the most covered up women we have seen, then Thessaloniki was the polar opposite. We don't know if it's wider European culture or just Greek, but even middle schoolers were the most scantily clad we've ever seen. Over 75% of young Greek girls were wearing belly shirts. Midriff, short shorts, and deep V-necks everywhere. Young women were also overwhelmingly very fit. Perhaps, as Adam would say, because they don't work at desk jobs. 

The Rotunda and The Church of St. Demetrios

It seems that there are many buildings whose purposes have been modified over time. The Rotunda, for example, was a pagan temple turned into a Christian church converted into a Mosque, later converted back to a Christian church and now is a museum. The history of these buildings and the various layers of artwork and architecture from the different periods is fascinating.

The most famous church in Thessaloniki is called the Church of St. Demetrios. There were so many different kinds of religious art pieces from different eras in that church. It was amazing. The church also holds the remains of St. Demetrios himself, and it seemed that people from all over Greece come to kiss the shrine. We saw many people walk around the church crossing themselves three times at each picture/painting/mosaic and then kissing the images - very devout people. 

Ruins as part of daily life

What really struck us is how integrated ruins are with daily life in Thessaloniki. Instead of being sectioned off as tourist attractions, people just on their way to the bus stop every day will walk past amazing ruins or old city walls from hundreds of years ago.

Exercise to view the city

We really enjoyed renting bikes for a day to ride along the seashore, and we enjoyed hiking to the top of the mountain/hill in Thessaloniki to see views of the city. The hills in that town are really intense and the only way up is by really windy roads or these concrete staircases that line the streets for pedestrians. 

Greek Food

Finally, we REALLY enjoyed Greek food. Adam was skeptical that he would like it because he just pictured greasy gyro stands on every corner. But in fact, Thessaloniki was filled with bakeries, fruit shops, and restaurants that served cheap wine and very fresh, light, clean, crisp food.

Greece turned Adam into a salad lover!! He sat down at a restaurant and ordered a salad for every meal. Some salads had grilled chicken, others had walnuts and pomegranates, others had dollops of fresh cheese. We also had stuffed peppers and zucchini sticks with tzatziki sauce. It was a nice change after heavy Turkish food.

We really enjoyed a breakfast pastry called Bougatsa, which is a custard filled pastry topped with powdered sugar, and Adam got himself a juicy plum from a fruit stand once a day. We ordered white wine with most dinners, and Clare really enjoyed the "cold espresso" drink that EVERYONE and their mother was drinking in Thessaloniki.

Airport Lounge

The trip ended on a really peaceful and luxurious note, just like the rest of the time in Greece. Adam's fancy lounge pass that he got from one of his credit cards got us access to an airport lounge in Thessaloniki on our way to London. We were the only ones in the whole lounge besides the staff. We got free snacks and drinks like most lounges...they even had small Bougatsa rolls! But they also had a made-to-order menu! Adam got a pesto cream, tomato and egg toast and Clare got a quinoa bowl. What a great, relaxing vacation before the intense cooking school starts in London!