Greece! Part 1

Last week I had 5 days off because of the Kurban bayram, or the sacrifice festival. It's a really important holiday in Turkey and this year people had 9 days off (2 weekends and the bayram was from Monday-Friday)! It can be difficult and expensive to travel in Turkey during that time, and I looked at flights to visit some cities around Europe but they are also expensive, but my friend Anna mentioned going to Greece by train, which sounded like a lot of fun. And we did have fun - everything went really well - interesting sites, good food, perfect weather, nice accommodation, fun and relaxing train rides, and Anna and I got along really well, thank goodness. I think the only time we weren't together for the 6 days was when I used the internet downstairs one night, and she went and got tea for 5 minutes. Seriously, every minute we were together but it was fun!

We took an overnight train from Sirkeci, Istanbul to Thessaloniki. It was supposed to be only 12 hours, getting us into Thessaloniki at 9:30 in the morning but it was 5 hours late so we really didn't have much time in Thessaloniki because early the next morning we went to Athens. The train was a lot of fun, we both have always wanted to ride on an overnight train and it was nice just to relax, listen to music, eat, talk, and sleep.



Our train



Our compartment

Quick story - when we were waiting to get on the train, these really tough looking guys - leather jackets, gold chains, pot marked faces - were speaking really urgently to the ticket guys in front of the train, gesturing and standing really close. I saw one of the conductors ripping up a piece of paper. We then saw them loading really heavy black duffel bags into EACH wagon, so naturally we assumed it was dead bodies or drugs, and we were seriously creeped out. But I figured out at the end of the ride that they were probably delivering the sheets and pillowcases. Oops.



Good night! It wasn't uncomfortable but the sheets felt a little soggy and we had to keep waking up to give our passports when we left Turkey, then collect them, then they had to peek at our baggage, then enter Greece and give our passports again, then wait for them to be returned.






Thessaloniki was a really really nice city - a lot of waterfront, bike paths, gardens, nice little cafes, squares with nice architecture around it. I'd definitely return, it was nice and calm.



We ate in a good restaurant called Ouzou Melathron, where we had a delicious Greek salad and I had some PORK!!



The cheese you see on the left side of my plate was sooo good - it was grilled feta and it was so soft and warm and with just enough oil and herbs. Ahh so good!



We stayed at a place that was a bit different - it was called The Backpacker's Refuge and it wasn't technically a hostel, but more like a flat with just 6 dorm-like beds. They couldn't charge us but just asked for a recommended donation of 15 euros. There was a cute living room, small kitchen, bathroom, and wireless. It's a cool idea and it was started up by a brother and sister that wanted to provide reasonably priced housing for travelers. Anna is thrilled to be in the photo. I think I took this at 5:30am before we left for our train.

Views from the train going to Thessaloniki







Here's a sneak peek for what's to come in Greece! Part 2: