Thessaloniki

Hello from Thessaloniki (Not Thessaly as I kept saying by accident for about a week...). When I told Greek people and other tourists I was spending two days in Thessaloniki most people asked why, apparently it's not so much the tourist hub, but actually I've really enjoyed it! It's a nice city and reasonably easy to find your way around.

Let's see... Saturday night I took myself out for dinner, nothing expensive but it was a nice meal. I asked for them to recommend a good local dish so I got Alanazik Kebab, some kind of spicy meat in a yoghurt and something sauce, very yummy. And the bread they serve is really crazy, it's bigger than a rugby ball (really) and completely empty! It's sort of like a bread shaped cracker but not that crunchy... tasted good anyway. I like ordering local dishes when I can, and laughed when the American behind me ordered chicken schnitzel and chips. Why bother eating at a Turkish restaurant?

Actually I had one scary experience that afternoon (before dinner) which I had been told is really common but which I still didn't expect. I had walked somewhere to see something (I forget what now) and on my way back I realised I was being followed. Seriously. He wasn't exactly subtle, stopping when I stopped, crossing when I crossed. At one point I went into a shop and he waited at the corner which I would have to pass. But I kept my cool, I went into a travel agent with three burly guys working there and asked if I could wait five minutes. I sat for a bit and then one of the guys wanted me to point out the stalker, possibly so he could say something, but the guy must have moved on within a couple minutes of me stopping. Ha... I wouldn't have minded seeing him get told off by the big travel guy!

Anyway, after dinner that I head for the bus station to get my ticket and settle in etc. My bus wasn't until 10 but I didn't want to be travelling on public transport too late so I headed out around 7.30. And discovered that Karma is still cheering for my team... I had carefully put aside the 35 euros that it cost to get from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, then I got to the bus terminal and was told that inexplicably the student fare from Istanbul to Thessaloniki is 38 euros. I had 2.7 euros in coins... they don't take coins. So I pulled out the 5YTL which I had saved to buy myself a bus station snack - problem: 5YTL is not quite 3 euro, but they took it anyway! So then I found myself sitting in the bus station with 2.70 euros and 40 YTL cents in my purse hoping for no sudden tax! But it was all good, I went snack free but I had made myself a sandwich for the but so I didn't really need any extras. Bus was fine, customs was even worse than the first time around! an hour and a half! I really don't know why it's that complicated. It was kinda funny, I'd gone back onto the bus to lie back down, thankfully hadn't taken off my shoes again, when I got called back out. A policewoman was pointing at my bag and asked "Do you have anything to declare?" I said no, she asked "No alcohol or cigarettes?" I said no again, she said ok, I got back on the bus. Maybe I didn't look suspicious :)

So I arrive bright and early in Thessaloniki (7.30am) with no money whatsoever and a dead cellphone so first mission is to find an ATM and then phone credit - both easily achieved. I had to catch a bus and meet the guy who runs the hostel to get a key, hence the necessity of the phone. Turns out I could have caught bus 2, but I didn't know that so instead I walked for fifteen minutes to find a stop for bus 31, the one I'd written down to catch. It went to the same place, no problem, it just would have been more convenient to catch #2. The hostel I'm in is cool, it only opened on Friday! Basically it's a brother and sister running it, he's a dedicated backpacker who realised there was nothing appropriate in Thessaloniki and decided to open one! I think they must have already had an apartment or something because of the way he phrased it so they converted the apartment into one four bed dorm and one twin room! It has a kitchen and a TV so it's great! When I arrived the three other people were still asleep so I "quietly" (nothing is quiet if you have stuff in plastic bags in your luggage, even if you don't need to open those bags, they just make noise all the time) got ready to go out and see the sites!

I looked at the map and figured out my route and then took a wrong turn right at the start so it was an adventure day instead of a plan day, but that's all good! Instead of the museums I found about a million Byzantine churches. Ok, maybe 8? It is a lot of churches. The Rotunda was cool, besides being big and old and round it had kittens! Yeah... Yesterday I took more pictures of kittens than of old stuff. Well, there were a few pictures of kittens playing in old stuff! There are so many cats around that usually I admire but I don't take pictures because I figure when I'm looking through my holiday snaps I'll think "Oh great, another cat, why?" but I indulged just this once. You'll understand when you see the pictures!

I did find the Museum of Archaeology, which happened to be free! Cool. It was a good museum, saw some really amazing gold things from 300BC or so, really complex designs and beautiful workmanship, I was hugely impressed. And I think if the world economy collapses then Thessaloniki's going to be well looted!

I was pretty exhausted so I headed back and bought some bread for lunch (I have a wee collection of spreads so I just stock up on brown bread when I need it) and then wandered around the block a bit before deciding that there was no one to tell on me for watching TV. Yeah, it turns out if you go so long without TV (I did watch a bit in Stone Town, but I've been pretty much TV-less for 10 weeks) then it's seriously hypnotic. I don't really know what I watched, some Friends, some Oprah, which was half dubbed and half subtitled so I only know some of the story, and a Michael Douglas movie where he and Eva Longoria have to save the president. I also got some Goody's. It's this Greek McDonalds rip off and I decided in Athens that I would have to try it sometime, it was pretty good. I have a rule about no McD's, Starbucks etc. Basically anywhere I could eat or shop at home is off limits because what's the point? I think this place was better than McDonalds but I haven't got a recent comparison. Anyway... fast food and TV. That was my night :)

So today I went on the museum tour and failed! Turns out they're all closed on Mondays! Whoops. Oh well, I had fun anyway. I headed towards the 1euro hot dog stand I'd seen (story to some) and passed a place with 3euro trousers! One of my pairs of trousers are pretty much destroyed. They're kinda gross and ripping, I shouldn't still be wearing them but replacing them seems dumb and they do still work as clothing. So when I found pants in a light material but which seemed pretty good I got them. That's $NZ6! Pretty cool.

The hot dog place... When I passed through here on my way to Istanbul I had a mission of a time to find the bus station and a girl from the hot dog place and her friend (Russian girl, Nikki, who I mentioned before) helped me big time. So I brought them a box of Turkish Delight as a thank you (when Karma is yours you don't mess with it, plus I really wanted to thank them!) I gave it to her and she was quite pleased. I ordered my hot dog and water, and she wouldn't let me pay! So how's that for a good day, free lunch! It was awesome!

Then I went and bought groceries. There's one major change I've made on my trip, spotting a grocery store brings so much more excitement than a shoe store! No really, I'm mostly self-catering (bread, fruit, water... that's my diet) so a grocery store is big news! And then I went on an internet hunt - major effort required, hope you appreciate it! I ended up in a gaming place so there are people shooting stuff around me and dance music playing. It's interesting.

So Greek people they love their cigarettes and sex shops, hate street signs. My lungs are working overtime to process oxygen and I've doubled all my asthma meds, smoking sucks. Apparently Greece has double the average European cigarette consumption! And there are sex shops everywhere. Not subtley or anything all with big neon signs, erotic cinemas on main roads with big movie posters. Because if you didn't live walking distance to a sex shop then what would you do? But knowing which street you're on... that's unnecessary.

Yeah. Tonight to Santorini via Athens, 6 hour bus, 8 hour ferry. I'll talk to you all in a couple days!