A day in Thessaloniki

That evening it was party time again, and once again Demetri joined us. We went to a coffee lounge with a lot of hanging plants in brass, wooden furniture and chandeliers. We sat there laughing and joking, then took a taxi back "home". The beds here don't have sheets but blankets above and underneath you, and then a synthetic fur like covering on top. Next morning we took our laundry in large plastic bags, slung over our shoulders like Santa and walked to the Laundromat. It has been great living with Greeks, it is absolutely the best way to travel, you really get to know the people and not just the tourist hype. We have certainly seen a different side to Greece. After depositing our laundry we walked up hill to find the local castle, we passed school kids playing, and walked till we came to what appeared to be just a wall or keep or city boundary. We were not very impressed so we descended, and half way down we came across a market. It was not at all aimed at tourists. When Paz went to buy an apple, the man gave it to her. We got back onto the main road and headed for the station. I wanted to get a Greek hat, and collect hats through out our trip. Eventually I found one for $8 (10,000 Drachma). We decided to gate crash the Student's lunch again, this time without an escort. We successfully got in and had macaroni cheese, meat, fruit and bread! Backpacker heaven! We collected our laundry, and froze our way home.

Leaving Greece!

The vibes with George were certainly better in the beginning than after two days, and we began to feel we had out stayed our welcome. So we decided that from now on we would not stay with people more than 2 or three nights, it just puts a strain on things. George is such a nice guy, suave, sophisticated and polite, but in miniature. So the next morning at 6am we had our last cup of tea in their messy kitchen, said our good-byes and staggered off as pack horses once again.

We got to the bus stop, squeezed into an insanely packed Greek bus, as we banged people every time we moved with our huge backpacks. So we tried to remain vertical for the journey to the station. We arrived 20 minutes after the train was supposed to leave, but it was still there and would only leave in another 20 minutes. So we rushed to the station kiosk and bought some rolls to go with some cheese we had, and that would be lunch for the day. We boarded and eat chocolate and chips for breakfast, while chug chug chugging off towards Yugoslavia.

Photo by Picture Dud's BBQ

Yes, there are free lunches in Thessaloniki

That evening we went to a Bazooka club, but none is as original and Greek as the one in Athens. The dance floor had flashing lights but still the singing and dancing, wine and cola were the same.The Greek dancing is so trance like and almost slow motion, it is unselfconscious and free, in a restricted way. It reminds me of a Bacchus rite. We got "home" at 2.30am, had a milk based coffee and went to sleep. The next day we went sight seeing. We made our way to the sea front and the White tower. It is a Byzantine tower that has been turned into a museum for Byzantine art. I found the tower more interesting than the art, although I liked the painting of Mary and Jesus with the Saints in bright colors. The painting had oriental overtones as they sat in the lotus position and their hands are placed as if in meditation, also some of them look like they are wearing turbans, they have dark skin and their eyes are slanted. It was a cold, grey drizzling rain of a day, and we walked up the coast line towards the Agata Road. Jay walking is the norm here and if a car is at a red light and the people don't start walking straight away the cars drive on by. Then our host treated us to lunch is the University student's dinning room, actually the lunch was free. All students in Greece get a free hot meal! So we walked in, had a tray of chicken, veg and rice shoved at us, and chowed down, it was rather tasty. Now we know the trick if we are ever starving. Then we headed "home" for an afternoon nap.

Photo by Keeroff

Arriving in Thessaloniki

We had an unpleasant experience as the conductor would not except our tickets. When we had come from Delphi, they had marked our tickets that we were going to Thessaloniki, so this conductor thought we had already been and were reusing the ticket, just because we had stopped on the way. Anyway we had to pay an extra $2.

Thessaloniki is the second biggest city in Greece, the old capital of the Ottoman Empire, and is near the birth place of Alexander the Great, and named after his sister. A Byzantine port city of 1 million people, misty and rainy. It is near to Turkey and 60kms from the Yugoslavian boarder. It is also home to the University of Aristotle. We walked to George's flat which he shares with another student. His father is a farmer near Naoussa. George wasn't there but his flatmate Panos and his girlfriend Katrina welcomed us, even though they had not been told we were coming. Paz was still not feeling well so she lay down while we talked and played computer games until George turned up, and later Demetrius arrived from Naoussa. Paz was not feeling well enough to go out so I tarted up and went out on the town escorted by these two short Greeks.

Photo by K Koudas

Last day in the North of Greece

The next day we rose at our leisure, and were force fed a fantastic breakfast of cheeses salad and eggs. Then we went with the younger members of the family to a nearby ski slope. Really small, basically just that - one slope. It was freezing cold and snowing, the weather was markedly different as we got into higher altitude. The altitude also caused our ears to pop as we made the assent. We didn't actually ski as it all seemed to be closed, but we sat in a little cafe and had hot chocolate, we also through around some snow, then descended.
That evening we went to their pub. It is literally a one street town with the occasional car zipping by. The pub was closed but they had the key, so opened it up and we had a few drinks and did some more Greek dancing. They all hardly speak English but we managed to communicate well enough. Paz and I both agree that the people in Northern Greece are much nicer than the South, or maybe it is just the difference between big city folks and village folks. They are just so hospitable for example I stopped to buy post cards, and the shop owner gave me one for free because I was a guest. Also on the way to the pub in the evening Katerina stopped to buy some cigarettes and nipped into a shop, then she bought us both a present! Not the best present for a backpacker - a paperweight - but the thought was nice. They have not let us pay for a thing, insisting all the time to treat us, even buying us flowers!
One of Demetri' friends - George - comes from Thessaloniki, which is supposed to be our next stop, so he has offered to let us stay with him! So on Monday we said our good-byes and took the bus to Naoussa - they even insisted on buying our bus tickets. We had time in Naoussa to post some letters, use the bank and have some frozen frothy coffee, called a frappe. Then we went to the station and caught our train to Thessaloniki.

A night out in Northern Greek village

After eating stew and chips in Naussa, followed by baklava, - which our hosts insisted on paying for - we went two a little village called Veria ( or Veroia) and our second encounter with a Bouzouki club. What a difference from Athens. It was a large converted cinema, pale blue and pink with high ceilings. It was much more family oriented, and we drank coca cola mixed with wine, which as quite nice. Each table had a platter of fruit this time and not the bottle of whiskey they had in Athens. We danced and danced, including the traditional Greek group dance in a circle. We danced until 2am, then they took us to their home and we flopped into bed. The bed by the way was high off the ground old 4 poster, with the strangest synthetic green fur cover.

Meeting the Greeks

It turns out that the family have not seen Asteris ( the guy my Dad knows) in 12 years. So over a cup of coffee we got to hear in broken English the whole family story. The only one who speaks English is Katarina's husband, Antonio, Katarina is another sister of Asteris. Once the husband arrived we could communicate. There are no hard feelings, they simply haven't kept in touch. So we met Magda, Katrina, her husband, and Dometri, another brother.

Magda is 43 and her husband died 10 years ago. A wonderful family, they let us shower and then rest in her bed for the afternoon. Don't forget we haven't slept since Athens! In the evening they were to take us out. We had agreed to stay for the weekend, as after that they will all be back at work on Monday. We all trooped off the Katarina's house to watch a long wedding video - we wanted to see a traditional orthodox wedding. Then we walked to the only pub in the village which Antonio owns. We had cocoa at the pub and then went into Naoussa for a night out in the "big" city!( for the life of me I can't remember the name of the village they live in, but it was close to Naoussa and was something like Steinmachos or Sterimachos).

Getting to Naoussa

There was nothing in sight at the train station, so after a connecting train we got a bus into Naoussa, a small village. The man who adopted us payed for our bus tickets and then took us to a cafe and we had breakfast together. Then he phones the contact number that we had for "Magda" - the sister of the man my Dad knew back home. She said:"Come,come!". They live in an even smaller village, so we had to take another bus. The village was literally a hill with about fifty houses built on it. Magda came running out of her house and down the stairs, and straight into our arms, like we were long lost family. She kisses us both on both cheeks, and then took us inside for tea and cake.

Travelling to Northern Greece

From this point North , there are wonderful gas heaters, but they look like log fires. While we were in the waiting room we met two Nigerians, so of course we spent until 2 am discussing the black/white issue in South Africa. We argued that once Mandela is eventually released and South Africa returned to the Blacks the white South Africans will be misplaced people, as they will never be truly British and never truly African. It is very cold, we are wearing almost all of our clothes to stay warm. We got on to the train only to be told that we needed to pre-book our seats, so we sat for 5 hours in the corridor at the end of the train and were mildly harassed about 5 times. We are getting quite good at dealing with male pervs. Paz turned on one lot who had offered to keep us warm, as they drooled down their unwashed faces, and said:" You know what, I hate Greece, I hate Greece, and you want to know why, cos' I hate Greek men!" We got off of the train at the other end, exhausted and cold. Luckily a friendly guy adopted us again and helped us reach the small town of Naussa.

Delphi, Greece

The landscape near Lavadia is completely different to that of Athens. We were surrounded by snowy peaks, and cars with snow dusted all over them. The one street villages seemed completely empty, and I could imagine that they are over crowded in tourist season. We met a 75 year old man who bought us tea, he was an American and he sort of adopted us for the day. We visited the remains of Delphi, an ancient city carved into the side of a mountain. It consisted of a stadium, Amphitheatre, several treasuries where a city would donate wealth to a priest, an alter and a temple. The Oracle of Delphi was a prophetess who would sacrifice animals, and then talk in tongues. People came from all over the world to see her. It is all very well preserved and the air is positively sterile compared to that of Athens. The next stop on our journey was Katarini, where we planned to make our way to a small village were we had the address and name of the sister of a man my Dad knew! And of course we were hoping to be welcomed, fed and given free accommodation. The train was to take 5 hours so we decided to wait until the train at 2am so that we would arrive at a normal hour, and be able to call the man's sister. So we spent the remaining time in the Lavadia waiting room at the train station.

Leaving Athens

We had to see the changing of the guards, just to tick it off our list, so we took a photo of them. We also encountered a Peace march in the main part of town. Then we did some final souvenir shopping and also bought a train ticket to Innsbruck , Austria for $87. We can take 2 months getting there, stopping where ever we want. Our first stop was Lianokladi, 2 hours outside of Athens, and from there to Delphi ( another 45 minutes), then Larissa, Thessaloniki, where we are going to stop for a while. After that we had planned our stops along the way to Austria and so were feeling more confident. We used two books for our guides, "Lets Go" and "Work your way around Europe", which says that Innsbruck is a perfect place to find work, and by the time we get there we will certainly need to find work. Going through the Greek country side by train reminded me of England apart from the old ruins scattered here and there. I haven't seen the traditional Greek buildings - blue and white - like you see in Greek adverts. It is so wonderful to be free. We have met many destitute travellers, or ones that are on drugs and down and out, they all seem to just phone or write home for more money. We heard one girl demanding money from her father over the phone. This time we packed our bags well, as we couldn't bare to carry the heavy weight.

Good-bye Athens

Athens has a great tram system, but we found the people on them very uncommunicative. On our ride to the Laundromat, we were stuffed onto a tram with a lot of other people while we held our huge laundry bags. We were standing, and people just kept squashing in. I got the giggles and couldn't stop. The people were tit-to-ass packed in and totally ignoring each other. I started saying "I have to get off now" - "It's been a pleasure knowing you all so intimately", "I haven't hugged some of my best friends as much as I have hugged you bunch". But they all kept their stony faces.
On every street corner there is a kiosk, a man sitting in a tiny hut, with goods dripping off of it. They sell a lot of pornography, and it is all on display. There are also a lot of porno movie houses around Omonia square where our hotel is. One has a poster of a nude woman with a swan?? There are also quite a lot of furriers, with their skins hanging our on show. We have grown to love our hotel and regard it as home despite the grim. Another interesting thing is that Athens in full of heavy traffic, so the cars that are allowed to enter the city are alternated according to their licence plate number. So if your number ends in a 3 you get to come to town by car only on a Thursday, for example.
I love the statue in the middle of the square, it is made of flat pieces of glass, and looks to me like a man being wind swept, but is meant to be a speeding glass man . It looks even better in the snow.
Photo by Tammy's travels

Coming round the mountain

We decided to climb Lycabetos Hill. So we began to climb. Paz was ahead of me as we came around a corner and passed a man sitting on a bench. He said to Paz:"Good morning can I help you?", she thought he was asking for directions - maybe because of the speed with which his hand was going up and down. Once I caught up I pulled Paz away and she couldn't understand why I was being so rude. But yes, we had encountered our second Greek wanker. Once past him I told her what I had seen and she said she just didn't notice as she is not in the habit of looking at men's crotches, but she promised to be more crotch conscious in the future. Further up we saw some workmen and tried to explain to them in sign language about the wanker. Unfortunately they did not understand, and now that I think of it they probably thought we were offering our services. We made it to the top of the hill. There is an outstanding view of the city and the Acropolis. We went into a very ornate little church at the top, brightly decorated with murals.
We heard today that Israel was attacked with bombs again today, I hope the friends I made there are all O.K. We are discussing where to go next, as it is getting closer to the middle of winter, and we need to make some money as well. We got back to the "hotel" and took all our washing in a trolly to the Plaka where we spent a fortune getting our washing done. Had a good meal then we crawled back into our rat-hole hotel, and slept.

The Bouzoukia Ballet

We went to the lady's house and had it out with her again about the fact that we didn't like the hostessing part. But it was too late as they were already depending on us. We got all dressed up and went to the club around 11pm. We had a quick rehearsal on stage and then the club was opened to the public. For the 2 hours we just sat at a front table with the rest of the girls and watched the endless stream of singers performing. We eventually went on at 1.30am and the dance went well. It was pretty simple stuff. The other dancers we an Irish girl who said she liked the job because of all the free whiskey, and a Canadian girl living in Athens with her Greek boyfriend, 2 other English girls and the choreographer. After the "ballet" we all trouped out and sat at a table together until slowly we were farmed out to sit with members of the audience. Paz was seated first and 10 minutes after that I was escorted to the same table to join her. We changed tables about 3 times during the evening. Each time Paz got stuck with someone who spoke English and I was next to guys who didn't speak a word of it. So she had to keep talking and I just smiled and nodded. One guy sitting with Paz had actually lived on the same street as one of Paz's friends, so she worried that word would not get back to her neighbourhood of her latest employment! No one tried any funny business. At one point I spotted Paz totally disconnected from the chatting guy next to her, gazing at a fur coat behind her and reaching back to feel if it was real. The greatest thing of all this experience was seeing the real way Greeks throw plates. They took piles of about 20 plates at a time and through them at the feet of the performers. The floor was covered with ceramics. Apparently the audience called a waiter over and pays for a pile of plates, then they are thrown. We had to wait until the club closed. Eventually at 5am the lights went on, we were paid and we left. We walked home 5000 Drachma($50) richer. We bought our selves a sausage and cheese sandwich and a chocolate, guzzled it down and then fell into bed to sleep for the rest of the day.
Photo by Elysegb

The Bouzoukia club etiquette experience

We arrived at our choreographer's place and were educated about bouzoukia etiquette: the performers must mingle with the audience after the show, as it makes the club seem friendly. A waiter will tap you on the shoulder and lead you to a table to sit down. You have either been requested to go to that table or just put there. The waiter pours you a whiskey (every table has a whiskey on it) you must lift the glass and toast your guests, but you must not drink it. If you want a cold drink you are not allowed to get up and get it, the waiter has to fetch it. Then you can ignore the whiskey. Smile, introduce yourself, watch the show. If the customer starts any funny business, like touching you or making suggestion, you just say politely that you have to go to the bathroom, get up, and don't go back. There are always a lot of waiters and bouncers around. We were assured that the customers are not allowed to do anything with us, in fact if we started a business with them on the side we would be fired. Another rule: no relationship or friendship with the staff. We must always look groomed and pretty. If asked where we come from we are to say "from a ballet school in England". Oh yes, and the whole dance number we do is called a "ballet"!

Backpacking Greece

We had planned to go to the rehearsal at 12-1pm but after our late night we over over slept and woke at 4 is. We each had a shower in the ridiculously dirty communal showers, and then we set off getting lost innumerable times. We had decided to go to the rehearsals even if we never saw it through or got on to the stage, so we made our way to the lady's apartment. They were asleep so having woken them up we had coffee and chatted. This woman can talk and talk and talk. She had thin red hair and she chain smoked and was herself thin and wiry. Eventually the furniture was cleared from the dining room and we began to dance. After an hour or so she announced that if we worked really hard she thought we could work that night!! Well neither Paz or I wanted to do the mingling with the audience bit as it seemed too much like prostitution, and we had only just met these people. But we thought only one night won't hurt, and for 50$ it would be worth it. We didn't feel like doing it but we kept going through the motions, until we said we had to go get our cloths and we left. We then had a chance to talk. We were worried about our money and passports so we went back to the hotel and hide them in the room. We also worried that if anything happened to us, no one knew where we were going. So we wrote a note and left it in the hotel room too. Then we went off to our "show".

Walking home at night

We walked home and when we reached a crossing looked at the map to decide which route to take. I was a little ahead of Paz and across the road I saw a man wanking - facing us with his what-not out and pulling on it with great vigor. I told Paz not to look ( she hadn't seen him yet) but to walk very fast, catch up to me and hold my hand. We were in a dark narrow street, walking in the middle of the street as there was no traffic at that time in the morning. It had been raining. We kept looking to see if he was still there, and he started running after us at full throtal, well, as fast as one can with their cock in their hands.We started running and reached a well lit street, saw a policeman and went to stand by him, then we asked him to keep an eye on us as we darted down the ally to our flea infested rat hole of a hotel. We caught our breath, but to tell the truth it took more courage to sleep in this hotel than to be chased by a wanker.

The Bouzouki Club

We had an advert from an English paper that said: Choreographer looking for girls for serious work in a Bouzouki Club. No experience necessary. We phoned, being very cautious of asking that it is not a strip club or anything like that. The English lady that answered said it was all above board, so we took the address and went around there. It was about a 15 minute walk and in a residential area, so when we reached the house we stood outside for a while debating if we should go in as it certainly was not a club. We went to a corner shop and asked about it, they said that it could be a club as there were some in the area, but it was just too early for the clubs to open. So with our knives in hand we went up. We were greeted by the English lady, and the place turned out to be her home, not the club. There were two other girls there who had started the day before and were rehearsing. She told us we would get $50 a night to do 2 shows, and the work was for 7 nights a week. When we are not dancing we have to sit with the customers, smile and be nice. We wondered how nice. They could buy us drinks but no funny business, or touching. She said we would have to rehearse for about 3 days before we started. We said we didn't know what a Bouzouki Club was, so she invited us to come back at midnight and accompany her and her husband to a club where he would be singing.

So we returned at midnight, and went to the club. The place was laid out like a disco, with a large band and some Bouzouki players. Once seated they automatically put a bottle of whiskey on the table., then cokes etc. It would have been very expensive to go to if we had wanted to go on our own. We watched singer after singer, of all shapes and sizes, male and female, there were a lot of them - a lot! We got progressively bleary eyed from all the smoke and at 3am made our excuses and went home.

The Zenith Hotel

We had planned to go climb a mountain to a monument today but it was very overcast, so we went to the centre of town to do several things: we had heard of a hotel with a double room for 600DR each with heating - heat being the important factor. We had the phone number but not the address. Eventually we tracked it down. It is called Zenith Hotel, and is down a dark and dingy ally, that smells of piss, and has rubbish every where. The place looked fine and is closer to the centre of the city. So we paid and decided to move our things over later in the day. Next we checked the Poste Restante - nothing - then we went walking, saw another post office and on the off chance went in to ask there as well. Sure enough we had been checking the wrong post office. There were cards and letters for us. We went to a travel agent to see if there were any cheap get aways to any where hot. He said no, so we asked about ski resorts, where we could look for work. He gave us the address of a ski foundation. We tracked that down to the third floor of a office with 2 very friendly girls who gave us tea, and explained that most of the ski resorts are government owned and so can only hire Greeks. They said there was one private resort and she got us on the phone with the manager, who agreed to meet us the next day.

Next we went to the museum of archeology where there were some wonderful statues, and bronze work. We then went back to the hostel collected our belongings and lugged everything back to our new abode.

We had half a hamburger and a salad for dinner and squeezed onto one of the stuffed trams(free of course). Once in our new room in the centre of town, we realized how dirty it was. Layers of dirt on everything. Paint peeling off the walls. Curtains brown and ripped unevenly to fit the windows. Very high ceilings, dim lighting. The interior reminded me of a scene out of Oliver Twist in Fagan's den. The corridors were very narrow and the wooden floors appeared to be gang planks over something else. Probably dead bodies. The rooms, apart from the dirt were bearable, but there was no question about leaving our room at any point until day break. We went to sleep with our pen knives in our hands, and balanced on the beds in our sleeping bags, fearing body, hair or any other form of lice.

Athens backpacking1991

I have been doing some very nice pictures lately. I brought an art pad and pencils with me. At the moment I am not feeling so gung ho about traveling. I miss Israel and feel like I abandoned them in a crisis. I am very worried about the war ( Nostradamus predicted world war 3 in the East for 7 years). It is depressing to watch a war on T.V. like a football game. I am also very different from Paz, who relies on me, and is insecure about travelling alone. I suggested tonight that I would only travel 3 months and she almost broke down, so it is a bit of a burden of responsibility. I am excited about travel but want to see everything now! And I am not so keen on Greece anyway. It actually reminds me of Russia. Israel was brash and crude, but Israelis laugh and talk to each other in the street. Athens just seems like a grey, workers city, a drudge - if that is a word. Maybe other countries will excite me more.

We are riding the tram cars for free, as you are supposed to buy a ticket and click it in a box on the bus, and unless an inspector comes on board, no one knows whether you have paid or not. So we sit close to the box and just keep an eye out for inspectors. So far none have come on board, so we are travelling free! We spend our time in the hostel gathered in the "news room" where the communal T.V. is, watching the progress of the war.

We met 2 Canadian girls and returned with them to the Plaka, to a less touristy market. It had every imaginable piece of crap for sale. T.V's, shoes, records, army surplus, jewelry etc. Being a Sunday it was crowded with locals, so we wound ourselves through the narrow ally ways. We also visited an archeological site just below the Acropolis. We got a good deal - paid 200DR(160DR-$1) and got to go on the site and to an adjacent museum and temple. We were a bit late in the day, so were rushed, but it was definitely a high light.

We went to a restaurant recommended in Let's Go. Very warm and full of Greeks, not tourists, it is a 2 story house. They were all drinking red wine out of plastic juice type bottles. We ordered a menu in sign language( you know you are off the tourist route when the waitress doesn't speak English) and to our horror a lady brought a huge tray our with everything on it. We found out that this is normal, and that we were supposed to take from the tray what we wanted. But not knowing this we thought we had to take it all. We had Greek salad, meat wrapped in grape leafs. Meatballs, kidney beans, calamari in red sauce. It was seam bursting, and we sat there as long as possible just to enjoy the heating. We paid - obviously more than we had bargained for.