When my favorite 'honorary niece' Gabby, told me she was going to do her master's in bio- engineering at a university in Thessaloniki, Greece, I wasn't at all surprised.
For she is the Jamaican Marco Polo, who has always found the most beautiful, exotic and exciting places to work and study.
In fact, I would never have traveled to interesting places like Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia and got to interact with tigers and elephants, if it weren't for her😊.
So when she told me how beautiful her new country was and that she had space for me, I never hesitated.
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| Rambling rose outside the door |
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| Narrow cobblestone streets. |
Naturally, she lives in a Bohemian-type area in the older part of town, in the hills of
Thessaloniki.
Here, clean, narrow, cobble-stoned, undulating streets are the order of the day. but drivers are very polite to pedestrians and the area is really safe.
We had been revelling in Athens with great sunny weather for four days, but guess what, as we were leaving for Thessaloniki, it started raining and the temperature dropped to 50's.
Well timed, wouldn't you say😊?
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| Section of our lovely accomodations. |
Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece with a population of just over a million and a half. It's named after the sister of Alexander the Great and according to Greek mythology, she was a mermaid.
They boast fully tell you that they are the only people in Greece who still maintain the true Byzantine culture.
As it too has an exotic history, the tourism industry is booming.
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Two cruise ships in port so many tourists around.
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There were two cruise ships in port when we arrived. In fact, tourism is doing so well there now, that it is reported that the Greek economy which was on the verge of collapse a few years ago, has totally rebounded now, thanks to that industry.
That's not surprising though, for there is so much to see in their historic cities.
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| Slingshots as souvenirs? I used to make my own😊 |
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Section of the wall around the city which they thought would keep them safe from the Ottoman Turks.
Some sections look up to 4 feet thick! |
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| The promenade has some of the best relics and statues you will see anywhere. |
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| 'White Tower' was once a fortress then a prison, now a memorial. |
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| They are still finding important ruins in the city. |
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| Rotunda, once a church and after the conquest by the Turks, it became a mosque, now it's a museum. |
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| Omg. Greek food is delicious and available at every turn. |
The Greek seem to be big church goers, for even on, Monday, people were pouring into this cathedral and lining up to take what looks like communion.
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| Easter lights already up on some streets |
They boast that they are the only people in Greece who still maintain the Byzantine culture. Their Easter starts on May 5 th and lasts a week.
My friend Sonja who is an ardent church goer, tells me that in the New Testament, there is a book called Thessalonians, which she swears was inspired by this fair city.
Of course the artwork is amazing, from ancient styles at every turn to modern pieces.
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| Statue of statesman Eleftherios Venizelos |
fondly remembered as "
Maker of Modern Greece."
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| His statue is at the top of this Square |
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| Modern art created from iron. |
And some graffiti artists have direct and relevant messages.
There is a tall, slowly-revolving needle near to the Archeological Museum, and from the top you not only get a comprehensive view from every angle of Thessaloniki, but also you can see the snow-capped capped Mt. Olympus clearly.
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You can see all the way to the city wall from the skyline cafe.
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| Mount Olympus in the background |
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The needle from which you can see the entire city.
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Thessaloniki also has an Archeological Museum, but it is not as large and comprehensive as the one in Athens.
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| Gold jewelry found in graves even up to the 1960's. |
They however have huge statues made from stone which are displayed in a section called 'Memory in Stone'. I could wander here for hours. Especially when you see the detailed carvings on the coffins. Many of them had carvings of the entire family on the outside.
Really fascinating.
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In Athens, most of the statues of men were nude, as they say, ancient Greeks considered the male body more attractive than that of women! However those we saw in Thessaloniki were clad. |
I was very impressed with how they feed and tend to stray cats in Athens, and discovered that they not only do they treat the cats that way in Thessaloniki, but dogs as well!
I love when people treasure animals.
The stray dogs are huge😊. Everybody feeds them❤️.
No wonder my 'travel advisor' Gabby loves this city so!
Incidentally, Thessaloniki is not only an important tourism center, but intellectual, commercial and industrial too.
It has numerous universities including one named their famous philosopher Aristotle.
That is the largest university in Greece and it attracts many international students.
It is estimated that there are around 200000, university students in Thessaloniki at any one time and of course that includes Jamaicans.
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We are not shopoholics but had to check out the flea market 😊.
If you ever visit Greece, please have a hammam. This starts with a sauna followed by a wet massage from head to foot.
It is far superior to a dry massage. |
However, in the midst of life there is death.
While the crime rate here is very low and the city safe, we ran into a scene today where a covered body was on the ground and a number of police present.
Interestingly, this scene was just a few yards from a huge building marked 'Officer's club', but we have no idea what happened there as we were quickly shooed away by the police.
I guess if we spoke Greek, we would see it on the news later.
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Scene of an unfortunate incident.
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P.S. Apparently a 40 year old man fell off the White Tower. A reader in Canada saw it on the news and sent me that update.
So sorry.
NB. Sahara dust covered Athens the day after we left. The entire place turned red, according to reports. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6IpP6UtpiG/?igsh=M3kxMGpjcWJoOThq
