Mystery tour Autumn 2024 Post 1. Three days in Greece!

For those of you who follow my blogs, or know me well, you will understand that I am not very good at staying in one place for very long. So, discovering we had a few free weeks, and that our house sitters were available, I planned a trip! We didn't let many people know where we were going, so keep reading to find out! Chris isn't really sure!! We are not in Buzzbee the camper van this time, and apart from a few 'positioning' flights, we are flashpacking* overland!

(* our new word that we were taught in Asia. Backpackers sleep in dormitories and use night buses, Flashpackers stay in air bnbs and use trains and tours! Guilty as charged!).

So, we started at Christchurch station, with a train to Gatwick, and a flight that used up the very last of my Avios points... to Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. Why Thessaloniki? Well it was all down to Rick Stein. We watched an episode where he went there for one of his 'Weekends away', and it looked fascinating.

Well Thessaloniki, you didn't disappoint us! The cardigan and jackets came off on arrival.. we had found our missing summer weather!

We found a super restaurant about 2 minutes walk away. Chris discovered Nymphos local beer, and we had a yummy meal with a free chocolate mousse dessert! Then a walk along the waterfront and our first view of the 14th century white tower and some of the tourist boats. This city has a great feel to it.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, and was founded by the Romans in 370 BC. It was one of their most important hub cities until the Byzantine era which ran from 400AD. Over the years it was attacked by Celts, Goths, Bulgarians, Slavs and Scicilian Norman's, before it was invaded and taken over by the Turkish Ottomans in 1430. It was only returned to Greece in 1912. Then in 1917, the city was extensively damaged by fire! This is a city that merits walking. There are reminders from all these eras and they are all walkable from the centre. Our air bnb was a small apartment in the heart of the roman city - its address was Hippodrome Place which says it all! It was fairly simple, but spotlessly clean and well equipped.

We did have a few late night and early morning noise issues... this is a city of young people who like to party... and although having a little supermarket next door was handy, the 6am deliveries weren't so great. (Chris slept and snored through most of it though! )

Next day we set off early on a self guided walking tour. We ended up walking 6 miles, and climbing a remarkably big hill! The Romans, and then the Christians enclosed the city with a wall 8,800 metres long...over 5 miles. Half of it is still standing along with various forts and guard houses. Our first stop was the triangle fort at the top of the hill with great views.

We then followed the 1500 year old walls to Vlatodon monastery. Built in 1360, it is on the site of an older church, built where St Paul preached to the Thessalonians. The interior was tiny, and exquisitely decorated. I got goosebumps! It's friezes were damaged by the ottomans when they used it as a mosque, but it is now a Greek orthodox monastery again, and had an incredible feeling of peace.

We continued our walk down through a maze of steep streets, older style houses and pretty flowers, past the 16th century mausoleum of Musa Baba, to the heart of the old town of Thessaloniki, Ana Poli.

There, the tables in the village taverna were quickly filling up. We secured one, and had a great lunch, at a much lower price than in the city below.

Being Greece, there are plenty of cats! Mostly well fed and they even have their own street signs!

On with the walk, heading downwards past the church of the prophet elijah and the old roman forum which was only discovered in 1966, and would have been vast. The old market is great, and we watched butchers and fishmongers preparing their goods for sale.

The flower market next door was lovely, and next to a Hammam, or Turkish baths, no longer in use. Beautiful cake shops tempted us, and each cake was double the size of those at home, but we resisted!

The church/cathedral of St. Dimitri was originally built as an early Christian church inside the roman baths, and then added to. The crypt dates back to the 5th century, and is set in the roman walls. It contains the fountain where people worshipped St Dimitri, who was martyred here.

In the church were many beautiful frescoes and beaten metal icons which are highly revered. We were amazed to see many young and middle aged people kissing the icons and also queuing to visit the shrine and relics of their city's patron Saint Dimitri. It seems less young people are turning away from the church than at home.

When visiting churches around the world, I often put up a candle in remembrance for my very religious mum. I was just contemplating whether to have a 30c candle or splash out on a 2 euro one, when Chris pointed out that there were other sizes available! Nearly as tall as me!!!

Unfortunately, graffiti is very common in Thessaloniki, but occasionally you spot some great street art, like this nicely decorated building end.

Our all day walk continued past more Byzantine churches and Turkish hammams, sadly closed, and olive and pomegranate trees approaching harvest time. Then, suddenly we were on the waterfront, at the recently modernised port, with several museums, a World War 2 Fletcher class destroyer, and nice cafes.

We, unusually for us, decided to stop for a drink by the water, and watch the world go by. Chris discovered, and enjoyed, the local 2% Radler beer, like a shandy but with lemon juice and honey. Suddenly, from behind the Quay, it seemed as if 4 or 5 apartment blocks were moving into view. It was the enormous Norwegian Cruise ship leaving town!!

After a well earned break we began our walk back, firstly along the promenade, then through beautiful Aristotle square and along the rather chic main shopping street, Tsimiski, to the Agia Sophia church, once a mosque, and modelled on the Agia Sophia in Istanbul.

Dating from the 7th century AD, the decoration was gorgeous. Some mosaics dated from 780 - 895 AD, but there was a wedding taking place so we couldn't go right inside. However the bonus was the amazing chanting and singing which highlighted the wonderful acoustics. If this was a typical wedding, it seems normal for a) beautifully dressed guests to be continually arriving during the service b) guests to nip out during the service to pose for selfies outside!

As we approached our air bnb, our last stop was the vast remains of the palace of Emperor Galerius. It is cemetery surrounded by apartment blocks, and much of it is still hidden beneath them. Excavated relatively recently, they found many wonderful mosaics here but chose to re-bury them to preserve them.

What a day. We got back about 7pm, and decided we were still full from our lovely lunch, so had a snack bar and some delicious dates, and went to bed, for an early start tomorrow.

Day 2 was a real bucket wish day for me, and we had arranged a private day trip. Georgio turned up on time and was our excellent driver for the 6 hour return trip to a place I had seen pictures of as a child and always wanted to go.... Meteora. The forecast was for rain and storms, but, undaunted , we set off, waterproofs and umbrellas at the ready. However they weren't needed. As we arrived in this remarkable place, the sun appeared! Meteora is an area of incredible weather sculpted sandstone rocks and towers, some up to 1000 feet high.

For many years it had been home to cave dwelling hermits, but in the 1300's Saint Athanasious climbed, somehow, to the top of one great rock and founded the first monastery. He called the place Meteoro which means floating in the air. This eventually grew to be the biggest, called the Grand Meteoron. 29 more were built, mainly in the 14th century, but many were irreparably damaged by earthquakes and storms, so only 6 function as monasteries or nunneries today.

Access was by originally by ropes and ladders for many years. Then pulley systems were established to send supplies across, and the bigger ones had a winch system where monks and visitors were put in a net or basket and monks pushed a windlass to raise them up!

Thankfully, today there are small bridges and steps! We visited 3, and climbed and descended a total of 1200 steps. We decided we must be fitter than we thought!

Our first stop was the small nunnery of San Stephanos which had amazing views of the valley below, and an exquisite church. Photos are prohibited inside, but I managed a few from the doorways! Every monastery also has centuries old manuscripts and treasures on display.

Our second stop was Valaam monastery, harder to reach and much larger, it was equally beautiful and had a more extensive museum and a 1924 film of the monks living here, and being raised up hundreds of feet in the box and net lift, which was in use until quite recently. There were examples of mediaeval art, and a wonderful edict from the Ottoman ruler in 1486 when they took power, saying the monasteries at Meteora were to be unmolested and left to continue.

Our final stop was Great Meteoron, with the biggest church, and also a vast oak wine barrel, which held 12,000 litres. Chris is making sure there is none left. Again, stunning views. The photos do not capture the astonishing geography and beauty of this place.

We came back down to earth with a lovely Moussaka lunch at a local taverna, before returning by a different route, alongside Mount Olympus, at 9,730 feet, the highest mountain in Greece. The cloud swirled around it giving real credence to it's role in Mythology as home of the God's, the domain of Zeus. Arriving back we revisited our neighbourhood restaurant, and were given free desserts again, this time turkish delight in filo pastry with creme patisserie. Amazing! What a day!

Day 3 was our last day here. We had an afternoon flight, so we spent the morning visiting the great arch of Galerius, built in and decorated with wonderful friezes. This is less than half of it!

Just above it is the Rotunda, built at the same time, as a roman temple, which later became a church, a mosque and then a church again. It contains the remnants of original mosaics, and a 7th century fresco of the ascension, added on it's conversion to a church., and the only complete minaret left in Thessaloniki.

Then, in complete contrast, we stepped into Turkey! Not literally, but when Thessaloniki was part of Turkey, a man was born here who would become known as the saviour and founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Attaturk, was born here in and his first schooling was here. The house he was born in was given to Turkey, and sits in its consulate grounds. There is an excellent museum inside, and we learned a lot about this remarkable man, who knew he wanted to be a soldier from a very young age. He certainly seemed to work hard to bring about peace between Turkey and Greece, and in the Balkans, but died in 1938. Would things have been different in WW2 if he was still around?

We ended our time in Thessaloniki with a walk along the front, past the White Tower, and a huge statue to another famous man born nearby....Alexander the Great! We had a coffee and watched the ships going by, and decided that Thessaloniki is a great place for a 3 or 4 night break!!