Astoria Thessaloniki

... Byzantine museum to visit, and an archeological museum to gander. My favorite site was the White Tower. It’s a big cylinder-shaped tower made out of stone that used to be the end tower where the sea met the city walls. The White Tower used to be called the Bloody Tower because it held prisoners once upon a time and many were executed there. It is white-colored nowadays because a prisoner white-washed it in exchange for his freedom ...

Hallo zusammen<br><br>und viele Gruesse aus Thessaloniki in Griechenland. Billigflieger fliegen selten in die ehemaligen Ostblockstaaten, daher sind meine zwei Fluege hier nach Thessaloniki in Griechenland und zurueck von Dubrovnik in Kroatien (an der Adriakueste, die sieht recht viele ...

We got back to Thessaloniki and we were going to have to spend the day there as the train out to Istanbul did not leave until the evening. Our expectations for the day were low based on our previous experience but we actually ended up having quite a good day!<br><br>We walked along the water front and saw a massive blue jelly fish which was quite exciting before heading to a pier that contained a few interesting museums and ...

... we were allowed on trains or not. We asked if we needed to make a booking at the station and they told us no but we then got thrown off the train in some backwater town because we didn't have reservations. A helpful Greek guy had come to translate between the conductor and ourselves and when we asked him why the conductor wanted us to get off he just shrugged and said "because he is an *******". We asked the woman in this station if we needxed reservations and she said we ...

... dangerously) zipped down the hill, taking back streets, and parked right in front of the bus so it couldn&#8217;t leave. I was very appreciative that the owner helped Matt, and relieved that we were both on our way to our next destinations.<br><br>The bus was a long ride, several hours, and when we got to the city that Matt was going to, the bus stopped on the side of the highway, let Matt off, and pulled away. I will never forget the look on his face as he stood there ...

2 national holidays combined with a weekend break this year formed a 6 days vacation for the whole country in the beginning of May. A dream come true for the travel industry which had sold out on packages months before. Our plans were to go to Greece with Meteora as more specific destination and hopefully a day or two at the beach, if the weather allowed. We've been in Thessaloniki for a couple of times before, so we ...

... habits in their proper historical context. Candy was not only thrilled to read about the symposium, she was also comically chased and scolded by an elderly musuem docent. We also learned at the museum that our hotel was located on a road originally built by the Romans over 2000 years ago to connect the Adriatic Sea to the Dardanelles (aka Hellespont). It seemed like any major construction project unearths significant ancient ruins right ...

... and went straight for the counter. We stood at the counter next to the teller while we tried to fit the massive stamps onto the small space provided on the postcard. It was like a magic act trying to get them where both stamps could be seen, but also the address. On our way back from the post office, I stopped at a shop on the main strip and purchased a scarf, which are ridiculously popular here. Since it has been chilly here, I figured it was probably a good time to ...

... and pamper. A nice break from the somewhat tiring last few days. The hotel was definitely a 5 star hotel with all the amenities you could expect from an all-inclusive. We dropped off our luggage and quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed right for the water to cool off. Our first time in the Mediterranean! <br><br><br>After our dip in the sea and a quick shower we headed out to the Marina Club for some dinner. One of the most romantic places I've ever seen. A sea view ...

... was brief, but it got me headed in the right direction. I would have to go south to a town called Litohoro, which sits at the base of the tallest mountain in Greece. There, I would find out more. So that night, I relaxed, walking downtown, catching up on some emails and blogs, and even met an Australian couple that I sat and talked to for a few hours before heading off to bed. And the next morning, I was off to Litohoro to meet Zeus atop Mt. Olympus.