Thessaloniki

J The bus Leaving Delphi was late, but after the last few days of experience we had gained with the buses coming and going from Delphi, we expected no less. We were however a little irked when unexpectedly we were asked to depart from the bus in the small town of Lamia. Luckily we only waited 20 minutes and were on our way again.

At the bus terminal in Thessaloniki we lucked out and found a city bus that was going to the area beside our hostel. Being a big city there were dozens of signs for hotels and shops galore. We walked through the busy streets (even at 10pm) and down a side street, through an alley, past some stray cats, and finally found our hotel. It was out of the way, but looked inviting. No elevator that we could see, but two sets of glass doors to walk through from outside, it was obvious they knew where to spend the money on upgrades.

Unlike some of the other big cities we have visited (population 1.1 million), Thessaloniki didn't seem to have a big-city feel, and we felt safe while there, even at night. The owner of hotel Augustus (recommended by our guide book) happily sent us up to our room, where we found two single beds, this was strange as I had just told him less then two minutes ago we wanted a double bed. At the counter where he was still waiting I asked for a double bed and handed him the keys, he told me 40 euro for double beds, as they all had ensuites. I started to open the guide book and immediately he offered the room for 35. So the bartering game had started!

At this point I pointed to the book and said "that's funny, because the guide book says I can get a double bed without an ensuite for 25". He simply looked up from what he was doing with a grin. I smiled back, amused, but not about to give in. I countered the offer and got the room for 30, more then what we thought we were going to pay, but less then what he would have liked to get out of us, plus we now had an ensuite which Mich was thrilled about. It was close to midnight and after spending half an hour hunting for an English channel on the T.V. we hit the sack. Save and sound in a new city.

The next morning we slowly crawled out of bed. We felt as though we had almost completly recovered from the head colds, but our ears were still bothering us, my right ear was still plugged and both Michelle's ears were causing her pain. We didnt' have a long itinerary planned for the day, and after all the other ruins we had seen we weren't sure there was much to get excited about.

M We saw some more ruins, another Roman Agora, a few churches, one of which was built in the 4th century, and the Galerius arch, which the locals simply call arch. The most impressive structure was the Rotunda which was big, and round, and pretty empty except for some scaffolding. We headed toward the sea and found the famed white tower, also known as the bloody tower because of a massacare of the prisoners kept there when the Ottoman's had taken over the city.

Thessaloniki being home to some of the first Christians was very neat, although their churches were mostly converted to mosques by the Ottomens and little remains of them after a few wars oh and some earthquakes. Still the designs were unique and the churches we visited still had remnants of Christian mosaics, many of which had simply been covered in plaster centuries ago which kept them preserved all this time. After some sights we enjoyed a nice walk along the waterfront, then headed back to the hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed a few of the dinners we had in Greece, and our early dinner in a small Osteria we stumbeld upon in Thessaloniki was one of them. We sampled a few of the appetizers as they were pretty affordable and of course being in Greece the tip was included in the bill, which is nice as I always feel guilty either for leaving too much or too little. The best part was when the waiter offered us free "sweets" which ended up being three very different deserts, enough for both of us to have a few bites.

J We decided back in Delphi that we would do a day trip while in Thessaloniki, the ancient city of Aigai, once the capital of the Macedonian empire is believed to be beneath the site of present day Vergina, a small city an hour out of town. About three decades ago two Tumulus or tombs were discovered nearby, and the most exciting thing about these graves were that they were intact, they had not been robbed even once over the centeries! If that wasn't exciting enough.. the graves are believed to be those of Philip II and Alexander the IV, the father and son of Alexander the great!!!

Luckily I had seen the movie Alexander just recently, thus my exitement and limited knowledge of the history surrounding the Macedonian empire, and of course the famous man who conquered the whole known world in his lifetime. One of the videos we had watched in Romania on the movie series 'Drive Through History' talked about the fact that Alexander's conquest had brought a common language to the world (Greek), which was about the time that a man from Nazareth (Jesus), came on scene.

We had another exciting day with the bus system getting ourselves to Vergina (I won't go into details) but needless to say a friendly Taxi cab drive later we got to the archelogical site/musem with plenty of time to explore, and we once again ventured out on a Sunday, which meant no entrance fee, yay. The site was truley amazing. It felt as though we were in the middle of an Indian Jones movie, however no photography (even in the dim lights) was permitted. The treasures that were discovered included armor and weapons, mostly made of Gold. Silverware (we're talking stuff your rich aunt doesn't have in her buffet and hutch), and of course crowns. Reading up about the rituals and cermonies that were performed for the dead king was also quite interesting.

After we returned to the city we decided we would investigate our options for getting to Turkey at the train station. The bus (which left from the train station, strange) was almost the same price as the train, also strange. Unfortunately either option meant leaving late at night and arriving the next morning in Turkey. After getting lost trying to get home, giving up, hailing a taxi, getting back to the hostel, we went out again for a quick bite to eat (Gyros) and a trip to the internet cafe. Our hostel in Istanbul graciously cancelled our first night, and we decided upon taking the train which meant more mobility, and multiple toilets! We were however a little reserved as our last overnight train resulted in little sleep gained.

M On our last day in the city we again took our time leaving the hotel, we had stayed up late at the internet cafe, again. We made some phone calls on Skype, and I tried to contain my coughing as the Greeks chain smoked around me. Later in the day I took a nap while Jesse walked around finding us a laundromat. It ended up being a good deal once the place had finally opened. We did some much needed laundry and it cost 6.50 euros, which was fairly average, but a deal as we had almost every piece of clothing washed. The nice lady even folded it all up for us. As we waited for the laundry we walked toward the seafront again, hitting a pharmacy on the way. We bought some antibiotics that were slightly more powerful then the ones we had brought, the pharmacist gave us some that would definately have been prescription back home.

We walked around town, a little lost as we had left the map at the hotel, and just as we started talking about where we might find a post office we found one! We sent home a few postcards we had written days before, like back in Athens. As well as a card for a close friend's birthday. Afterward's we took another look at the waterfront, walked along it for awhile. Finally stopping at a cafe that had heaters ouside, and couches to sit on! We sipped some expensive caffeine laden drinks, and people watched for nearly two hours. As our laundry was probably done we headed back to the other side of town to grab it, stopping along the way to get some groceries. Although we were without a kitchen in the hotel we had brought metal utensils and cups, which were all we needed for cereal. lol

After getting very lost going from the train station to our hotel the other day we decided to take a taxi to the train station. We felt a little dumb, as it was actually VERY easy and not far at all from our hostel. We settled down as we were early for our night train. After a few minutes of planning the last portion of our time in Europe a couple from the US came by looking at our luggage tags and asked if we could swap them guide books. Little did we know that it was the start of a friendship that would last the next few days.