9th May - Greece Larissa -> Thessaloniki

On Wednesday morning, we left the train station adjacent hotel and sped to Thessaloniki, further north and on the coast. We arrived and, after getting our bearings, headed for the seafront in hope of a beach. Unfortunately there was a harbour very close by, so there was only a concrete strip between the road and the sea, but it was great to see the water none the less. In the mid afternoon sun, it looked like thousands of flash cameras going off as the light from the sun reflected off waves. Similarly to Larissa, there was a thriving cafe/bar area, this time lining the water front. What was interesting was that these all seemed to be fairly packed throughout the day by people whose age range was 20 - 50. How there were so many people not at work we cant understand.

Welcome to Greece Thessaloniki.

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Arrived in Thessaloniki.

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Just off the waterfront, punctuating the row of cafes, is the main square of Thessaloniki. It has a wide open space, surrounded by benches and then more cafe/bar/restaurants. Again, these were all attracting a lot of custom - does anybody actually work more than a few hours a day here?

We were served by a guy whose name badge read 'Ninja' although we expect this was not his real name. He could speak some English so chatted to us for a while about Thessaloniki, England and his love of Iron Maiden! There was a brass band in the square who treated listeners to a lovely rendition of the ... YMCA! Unusual, but it made an impression!

As we walked inland from the square, there was a section of surface removed revealing some ruins which seemed to have been found accidentally. Surrounding this is many high rise flats, seemingly built before the discovery. It makes a strange juxtaposition that two thousand year old remains of a civilisation are to be found literally metres from something now regarded generally as an eye sore and a poor solution to housing difficulties. Zeus must be turning in his grave.

Following this, we made our way up the mountain side - assisted by an English speaker who helped us with the buses - to find what we understood to be an old ampitheatre. However, when we reached the mountain top area, it was deserted. As we walked toward the theatre, we left civilisation behind to wander through the Greek outback, dusty and dry. We did find the theatre but it really didnt seem particularly old as it was built from newer looking materials than other ruins and it was in peak condition.

Thessaloniki train station.

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Thessaloniki train to Skojpe.

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It was now approaching the time for our train to Skopje, Macedonia. We arrived early by 20 minutes and duly waited at our platform. Waiting for us was a decrepit old train which should have been scrap metal years ago. However, time ticked on and nothing was happening. We asked one station official who waved toward the old train and another who barked 'information' at us. We went inside to the information kiosk only to learn that the train had been converted into a bus journey and had left promptly, ie before now. I explained that we had read the platform information to read '5' and hence we outside. He countered to say that the change had been announced, but only in Greek. Apparently our situation was 'unique' but there was nothing he could do until the next train/bus - at 8.20 the next morning!

Thessaloniki missed trainbus annoying.

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There were many agencies outside the station touting for bus rides to Albania. None of these people could speak any English, but luckily one man offered to speak German so i was able to correspond very simply. It turned to be only 28 euros for this 10 hour ride but we ultimately declined as it would mean missing out on Macedonia for the sake of the overall journey.

Instead, we made our way to a cheap hotel and crashed for the night, hoping that the bus/train would appear the next day.

Thessaloniki checkin plan for tomorrow.

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