Hotel Anatolia Thessaloniki

... thing that happened here was being able to meet up with a familiar face. I have a friend from SPU who happened to be traveling through at the same time so we met up and the three of us went exploring a little together. It was fun to see a familiar face. (Her name is Ann and she was my P.A. on my dorm floor freshman year.) <br><br>Something I didn&#8217;t know about Greece before arriving was that they don&#8217;t flush toilet paper down ...

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 ...

... Then a long pause before being instructed to follow a guard off the train. Stepping off, I realized we were in the middle of nowhere... Crossed a set of tracks and climbed up onto a little platform. The small building before me was dark. Down the way was an even smaller building with a small sign in Turkish hanging outside and light glowing from an open door. Inside was a guy at a desk. I went ...

... plans there, getting myself familiar with the map. Tomorrow, I take my last plane flight until heading home in August. I'm glad for that. After tomorrow, all our inter-city travel is on the ground-either trains or cars.<br><br>Tomorrow entails just a short cab ride, a short plane flight, a short train ride, and another cab to get to the apartment we've rented near the Trevi fountain in Rome. I'm really ready to be in Italy and praying for smooth travel.<br>

... it was going to a small get together of Greek actors and what not, kind of like the ones we have in Tally. Wrong! Turns out that Thessaloniki actually has a BIG Film Festival and tons of people turn out for it. We had Oliver Stone (director), Diablo Cody (screenwriter), Willem Dafoe (actor), Guillermo Navarro(cinematographer) and so many more people but I don't know who they are lol. But the ...

... trappings. Within the old town is the house of Mehmet Ali, the founder of the dynasty of Egyptian monarchs which lasted until King Farouk, along with the imaret, an amazing mosque style alms house, built by said Mehmet Ali for 300 poor men, run by dervishes. Ther castle is one heck of a climb up the steep cobbled streets, but well worth it. There is ...

... What a drag. At the end of the museum is a very interesting display on the history of museums. It would appear they really got started with the Medici family in Florence, who discovered they could cement their standing in the community by letting the public view their treasures. This trend was continued by European rulers who used national museums to give identity to the countries they were trying to create. Good idea! The Americans started creating museums for profit (yay ...

... rooms aren't as common in this part of the world so I have a room to myself, which also reduces the number of travelers I meet. <br><br>The train ride up from Athens was also nice. Got a good view of Mt. Olympus (and also got a bit of sleep). <br><br>In any case, I was only here briefly and leave on the 6:15AM train tomorrow morning to Sofia, the capitol of Bulgaria. <br><br>Nothing was truly pic-worthy here...just a quick entry to mark my few nights in T'niki.

We wake and have orthros at 8am after which follows a discussion about spiritual things. Fr. Methodios then tells us some of the miracles he has experienced living out in the country. We finally eat breakfast around 11am and Fr. Methodios shows us around his villa/hesychastarion. We then go to Thassaloniki to see Fr. Gerasimos¡¦ monastery, Vlatadon, which is under the Eucumenical Patriarch and not the Church of Greece ...