Kempinski Hotel Nikopolis Thessaloniki

... is proof of our civilization."

Altogether, we spent two nights in Thessaloniki and I think that is the perfect amount. We got to see everything that sounded interesting to us and got to enjoy just wandering around the town. I am really excited to see more Greek-like towns (as we head south). But first, we are off to Istanbul, Turkey. We will spend 4 days or so there before returning to Greece for the rest of our trip.

Thessaloniki, Macedonia Region, Greece mdaa

Hallo zusammen

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!

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 ...

... t so we got on another train. This time we were told that the train was not going to Athens and then we'd have to get off and get on a different train. >_< Finally we were on the train we needed to be on having again checked if we needed to reserve and the conductor again informed us that we didn't have tickets so would have to get off. He then phoned the station and shouted at somebody in Greek and then everything seemed to be fine. Thus we arrived in Athens...

... to be extremely disgusting. And it was. I drank it the traditional way, which is with water and ice, but it did not help at all (my friends later told me that it is better when mixed with Sprite). I will never think of black licorice the same again.

After I was finished, I kept strolling around until I found some post cards, then headed back to my room. By this point I was so ready to be in Germany I could hardly stand it. I love traveling, but I just waned to be ...

I hitch hiked from Sofia, and had some interesting adventures along the way. The first guy picked me up just in the outskirts of Sofia, and after driving along for 10mins calmly pulled out a hand gun and put it in the glove box.... The last guy was cool, he picked me up just before Kulata on the border of Bulgaria and Greece, it was getting late and I was getting nervous. We went across the border and he took me to a ...

... about. The one we like the most is that the Romans used to take all of the local Greek wines until the Greeks started to store the wine in pine barrels. That storage gives the wine either a hint or a lot of pine flavor, depending on the brand. Our limited experience suggests that if we see the wine on tap (served right out of the barrel), it's nice. Retsina sold in a 0.5 liter bottle with a metal cap is not as pleasant. But as the deposit on ...

... bar yet. I changed and we walked with the group down to the White Tower where we were meeting up with some other people who were already out. When we all met up, some of them decided that they would rather go to a bar first and then to the hookah place, so we went along with it. We stopped at Baraza which was actually a really cool, fun place. It was packed downstairs, so we were led up to the second floor where we crossed a bridge inside that looked down onto the bar ...

... and a bite to eat. Supper was again amazing. We sat next to the pool under the shade of grape vines for an authentic bbq and watched the sunset from our table. I had the turkey souvlaki and Curtis had the meat spaghetti (no more salad). We were going to go in the pool afterwards, but it was closed. So back to the room for some sleep to get rejuvenated for the next day.




Day 9 - July 6th - Olympia


Woke up early to get ready for another eventful day of site ...

... an incomprehensible blessing counterpointed by deep chant from the male choir. Life is full of contrasts I think to myself. We arrive in Thessalonikki about 3 hours before the wedding. After a short stop at the hotel we go straight to the the Cathedral (Voulgari) by bus. At the church we are confused because there seems to be thousands of people but they are all leaving. After briefly ...