Thessaloniki

September 17^th: Thessaloniki-arrival night:

We arrived about 9 at night and made our way to our hotel.  We were wishing we could have arrived during daylight but were just happy to be there.  The scenes outside in the dark were beautiful knowing we had the Aegean Sea on one side and a mountain on the other.  But we couldn’t see them. 

A late evening walk through town found crowds everywhere having their dinner, drinks and wine.  This is a college town with two major universities, one with over 30,000 students.  Dining is a late-night ritual that never starts before nine and last until midnight when everyone leaves the restaurants and makes their way to the bars to carry on.  We were not ready for this having just spent the last day in transit, so we went to bed early at 1 am. 

Midnight in Thessaloniki.  Still very busy.

September 18^th: Thessaloniki – day one (our only day here):

Thessaloniki is Greece’s second largest city with over a million people.  If you haven’t heard much about it you are not alone.  Aristotle was one of their most famous natives and he was born only 34 miles from Thessaloniki. The largest university is Aristotle University named after their native son. Our only day in Thessaloniki was a whirlwind of sightseeing.  The ancient walls and churches.  

The White Tower.  Not as white as it once was.  Taking a pirate’s boat along the waterfront.

Thessaloniki has a mixture of Greek and Ottoman influences and is known for its pastries.  Therefore, a breakfast of pastries was in order.  Breakfast of feta pie and spinach pie. Not your usual sweet pastries although we tried them later in the day.

A quick exploration of the entire town via a Hop-on/Hop-off bus, followed by a wonderful Greek salad for lunch at 4 pm.  The Thessallonians we encountered were very warm and welcoming.  We found that most people in food and entertainment services spoke English so we had no problems communicating.

Interesting story about the White Tower.  At one time, it was a prison.  One of the prisoners agreed to white-wash the entire town for his freedom.  And thus the tower, built between the 12^th and 15^th century, became white after Greece gained control of the City in 1912.

It all went too fast and we were still adjusting to the time change so sadly we were not as in the present and we would have liked.  But we’re still processing all the things we did see.

Next up: on our way to Athens...