05 September 2007
Quote:
"Would you still come looking for me, even if you
weren't certain I'd be here?"
(Dermaphoria, Craig Clevenger)
Thessaloniki
At night in Skopje there had been thunderstorms and it had been raining very hard. It's like the clouds have been following me around. Luckily it wasn't pouring at 6 AM when I had to make my way to the station. I had bought a ticket on a minibus to Thessaloniki for 7 AM. Early, but it went one hour later than the only train to Greece. The trip was fine, and the border controls extensive again. I made it into Thessaloniki around 12.
The town is large, sprawling, loud and dusty. I'm not quite sure if I have found the actual town centre, or if there is one. I didn't have a proper map, only one from Google. I also had no tourist information. I should have looked on the internet the day before, but I got distracted... I also forgot to download a table of the Greek alphabet, so now I'm struggling to read the street signs. It's going alright because it's roughly the same as in the Cyrillic alphabet, but it's annoying me that I can't easily read everything immediately.
I walked around for a couple of hours, had lunch in a neighbourhood restaurant, which was nice, and a coffee in a Starbucks. At the port, they have hundreds of cafes, all lined up along the road. The town is clearly built for cars, and pedestrians don't really stand a chance. Bu it can't be much fun for the drivers either, because the whole place seems to be in a constant grid-lock. They honk a lot, which I find a very, very annoying habit. That's one of the reasons why Thessaloniki reminded me of Cairo in many ways. The other reason is the dust and the dirt and the noise. Down at the port the promenade with all the bars and cafes could be a lovely place, but the waterfront is not accessible and in-between the sidewalk cafes and the water is a large road with mad traffic. They are clearly making their own life a misery with all those cars. There are vehicles everywhere, but you can't actually get anywhere because you're always stuck in traffic or in a narrow street.
When I was downtown it suddenly started to rain heavily, so I took refuge in another Starbucks. There was an English bookstore conveniently located right next to the Starbucks, so I bought a book and the Economist and waited until the rain stopped. Afterwards, it had not really cooled down much, but the air was less dusty. I went to the station and bought my (last) train ticket for the journey to Athens. It cost 50 Euros! OK, it is the express train, but prices are very European here, especially the hotels are very expensive. I was quite tired so I went back to my hotel (not a hostel!), cranked the air-con up and spent a quiet evening skipping TV channels for English movies that I would normally never watch.
Not sure what it is, but it is
"the sight" of Thessaloniki
Something is burning... on the water.
