Testing Times in Thessaloniki........

The View from our Balcony in Platomona

Travelling into a congested city is not everyones cup of tea, travelling into a congested city and not knowing exactly where you are going, tends to get the ole nerve ends tingling. In an effort to reduce this we decided to book our accommodation over the internet, Hotel Mandrino, at least that way we had an address to which the satnav would take us, helping to reduce the risk of a ‘Domestic’. However, in using the internet there are of course associated risks, one of which is, the hotel does not live up to expectation or the written reviews!

Well, we arrived into the city at about 13.00 hrs in blazing temperatures of 30 degrees, the sweat was cascading down me and out through my trouser leg (a heavy bike suit is one of the drawbacks in hot weather – c’est la vie). No doubt, I was leaving a trail that ‘Tonto’ could follow! You youngsters will not know who Tonto was, ask uncle Paul he’ll let you know. Fortunately being a weekend, by Thessaloniki standards, the traffic was modest, by mine it was like driving along the Sukomvit Rd in Thailand, and anyone who’s been there will know exactly what I mean. We managed to locate the Hotel which happened to be on the chuffin Sukomvit, but as I said, it’s always a bit of a lottery using t’internet. We booked in and went up to our room on the third floor. The lift, was unusual in shape, and should have started the alarm bells ringing, it was long and quite narrow. If you happened to be on the large side, and entered in a forward direction, to leave it, if you weren’t already stuck fast, you had to go in reverse, you literally couldn’t turn around in it! But we were still in that honeymoon period, pleased with ourselves that we had gotten to the right place, we weren’t bothered about such trivial matters.


More Greek ruins - A bit like our hotel!!

With a growing sense of apprehension and armed with a door entry card, that looked like a piece of old plastic that you’d find on a beach, with sun bleached designs, we shoved the door open. Holy mother of God! The name Pilkington, Carl, ’pit’ and ‘shoebox’ sprang to mind, this was surely Ricky Gervais having a larf. There was little to commend the room and I genuinely think we both heaved a sigh of relief when we saw the ‘vitreous enamel’ bog and toilet paper too!! We were in a state of shock. It took us a couple of days to come out of shock, by which time, we were leaving and it was too late to complain (complaining is not really an option in Greece.) Seriously though, I reckon lassie had better accommodation, but we took it on the chin and didn’t let it affect our time in Thessaloniki - we just spent the minimum time in the shitel. I think the straw that almost broke the camels back was the hot water, or should I say the distinct lack of it, we had to shower in luke warm water. Ann was not best pleased and did bring it to their attention but that’s as far as it went, were they Bovvered? Even the chuffin airconditioning unit was hopeless, it chucked out hot air! We did give them the name of a very good plumber, but I suspect they didn’t place a call to SUPERMAN Pauly Moore.

'Ahoy There, me ole Shipmates'

We done a fair amount of walking around the immediate area and down by the sea front, it was teaming and full of life. The cafe’s and bars were at breaking point with tables and chairs spilling out onto the pavements, you literally had to weave in and out between them, and the noise was immense, like walking into a blast from a bank of speakers at a gig. It was great fun and a delight to be able to participate in the experience. We remained out till late in the evening and found a restaurant where we ate some of the local food and had a noggin or two, to help sedate us for our return to the -h-tel!

Specially for Ballingerbob - A BMW blast from the Past


We got up reasonably early next morning and set about an itinerary for the day, using the internet to help us. Yes the internet, there was one positive about the place, along with the glorious weather. We read about a Jewish Museum, not far from where we were staying , which documented the history of the Jews settling within Thessaloniki two millennia ago and right up to present day, including their fate during the Holocaust. I have to say it was a moving experience and clearly demonstrated the horrors and the suffering the Jewish people endured during WW II.


'Papa' Priests - Elishai on the right


Immediately behind the museum was a Greek orthodox church, which we felt was certainly worth a visit. OMG, we thought there must be royalty around, everyone was in their finery and it was heaving. It appeared that the service was over, so we siddled our way in trying not to be noticed, but wearing rags is kinda very noticeable. Whatever, we went in and managed to get to talk to one of the Papa priests, he was a young man (early thirties)who spoke very good English, he was indeed most helpful and told us we were welcome to stay and look around, but he was about to officiate at several Baptisms which were due to get underway.

 

This did help to explain why the throngs of people were in their finery . We stayed and watched with great interest, it was fascinating and during the service, Elishai (The Priests’ name – though I’m not sure it’s the correct spelling), came up to us when he was not participating, to explain further what was happening. It was a lovely feeling to have witnessed a Jewish baptism. 

'Mama, he's trying to break bbbaby's arms


We took our leave and headed off to the next item on our itinary. And so that was how the day was spent. At 7pm, with the sun still high in the sky, we went to an English Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception and thanked God for the many Blessings he has bestowed upon us, during the course of our lives.

After mass, we walked to an area we had discovered the previous night, full of Greek restaurants serving traditional food, with musicians playing various instruments. We got ourselves a table and sat and enjoyed the music and had a great meal.




Guttser - not satisfied with one fish!


The end of another fascinating day, on our incredible adventure. Tomorrow, well, let’s just wait and see.......



Love to all back in Blighty

The Dynamic Duo AKA -The Easy Riders xxxx