Arriving back yesterday from my 10 day mid-term break was a little bittersweet, mostly bitter, but the best part about being back means A) internet access! yeeeee and B) being able to post all my photos I took. [I think in total I took about 900.. errr.. yeaaah. Go big or go home?]

I went on the trip with two of my roommates, Abby and Melissa, and our first stop out of three was to Thessaloniki, Greece. It's the second largest city in Greece and it's located in the northern part on the coast and it's the capital of the Central Macedonia area in Greece. It's quite an interesting city.. I quite liked it because it was one of those places where Byzantine ruins are just mixed right in with urban landscape and where houses are built seemingly right on top of one another. The only downside was it was a bit colder than anticipated, which kind of sucked because I really only packed tank tops and dresses (just wait until Venice.. hah. hah. hah..) but thankfully the smarter side of me brought one pair of jeans and my jean jacket so.. good job self on pre-planning for the weather. Anyways..

We got in at night and it was drizzling, but we got the first bus from the airport alright, but trying to find the second bus to take to the hostel.. let's just say I probably should have tried to learn at least one or two Greek phrases, possibly one related to "bus." But after traipsing through the rain and crowds in the square and getting umbrellas hung on my arm and consequently flung off said arm by aggressive street "vendors" (I use the term loosely), we found our stop, found our hostel and were greeted by a hot cup of coffee and really good coconut dessert. After awkwardly (on my behalf, of course) meeting our roommate, a guy named David (dubbed D.N-J.) from Cork, Ireland, we got some much needed sleep before exploring.

We basically just walked around the main parts and made a beeline down to the water and the White Tower (which I just realized I didn't put a picture of in this post.. maybe I'll add one later, hahah. Oops.) Unfortunately all the museum/historical landmark staff were on strike so we couldn't go into any of the buildings but we did see them all from the outside, if that counts. It's odd because most of them are just in the middle of the street just below the street level, but they're all quite unattended and just seem to be hanging out, misplaced in a urban Greek landscape. There was also a lot of abandoned and dilapidated homes/villas next to extremely nice and vibrant ones. There's churches everywhere as well as these small huts for worship right outside the churches and just on the street for people to place candles in.

My favorite thing was that there were cats and dogs EVERYWHERE. Honestly. In the ruins, on the street, on the sidewalks.. it was fantastic. They were also quite in good spirits because the trash people were also on strike, so there were huge mountains of garbage piled on the sidewalks and in the streets, so it was probably like an awesome feast for them. Men with fauxhawks were also everywhere, also possibly related to the trash strike.. (free grease from garbage to style hair?) I also enjoyed how inexpensive food was, especially pastries and cookies.. heheh.

Our second day we walked around the upper part of the city and went along the old Byzantine wall and saw some fantastic views. We went to a monastery, which was very pretty and also contained a huge cage of peacocks for some reason, and we just wandered around. We came across a roped off path of which we asked what was going on and each of us interpreted it differently; I understood that there was going to be a donkey race, Abby and Melissa thought there was going to be a doggie race and in fact David found out that it was a bicycle race downhill.. So. Yeah. We didn't really stay around for that, we obviously have a one-track mind when it comes to animals.

One night we went to a traditional Greek 'taverna' where a few musicians were playing Greek music and they served a drink called raki (see this article to read about it) but it was hot due to it being winter there.. Haha. Quite interesting to say the least.. my favorite part is that their version of "bar snacks" is different kinds of almonds and nuts and Bugles. Well, I don't know if they were actually the American 'Bugles' but they definitely tasted like Bugles.. aka like tiny crispy cornucopias from the gods.

The last night in Thessaloniki we went down to Aristotelous Square which is quite beautiful and lively at night. Down by the water they have all of these bars that line the square with covered outdoor patio areas along the sidewalk which also have heat lamps, which was a wonderful escape from the freezing air at night, especially along the water. They're actually quite neat, it feels like you're in your own little heated alcove. Another traditional Greek drink, of which I will never ever touch to my lips, is ouzo. It legit smells like black licorice which is gross because 1) I hate black licorice with a passion. It's my mother's favorite food, but I can't bring myself to even be in the same room as a box of Good N Plenty's.. and 2) when you put an ice cube in it, the ouzo melts the ice cube and turns the clear liquid a milky white. Barf..

Thessaloniki was a lot of fun and I would definitely suggest it to anyone going to Greece, although it might be a little more lively in the summer than in the "winter." All the Greeks were super nice even though there was a huge language barrier between us.

On a different note, other things I discovered in Thessaloniki: Abby moans/talks in her sleep and that you aren't allowed to flush your toilet paper down the toilet. Awkkkkward..

Stay tuned.. I'm going to try and get my Sicily post up later tonight and upload my Greece pictures up on Facebook for all you stalkers/admirers out there. ;)

xx