9 May 2018, Wednesday
Day 9 and it’s our last day in Greece. This morning, our Airbnb host Dimitrios kindly gave us a lift from the house to the railway station. After bidding him farewell, we caught the train 590 and departed Kalabaka at 8:19am.
The journey to Thessaloniki was not a direct one. At 9:13am, we alighted at Paleofarsalos and transferred to another train for the onward journey. The ride was smooth and comfortable and we arrived Thessaloniki at 11:24am.
As it was still too early to check in to our Airbnb apartment, we rented lockers at the railway station to store our luggage while we went shopping to pass time. The lockers are large enough to store big suitcases and they cost 2 Euros for 8 hours of usage (or 3 Euros for 24 hours).
From the railway station, we walked to One Salonica Outlet Mall, located about 1km away. As I had already pre-downloaded the Google Map of Thessaloniki onto my phone, I was able to use the map offline and navigate my way easily. The walk took less than 15 minutes and we arrived at 11:55am.
One Salonica (click here) is the first premium outlet in Greece and it has more than 100 boutiques, restaurants and a cinema. You can find big brands such as Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein Jeans, Adidas and Nike here, but don’t get your expectations too high as the mall is not that big and the prices are not cheap. Nevertheless, it was a good way to while the time away and escape from the heat outside. After about an hour at the mall, we walked back to the railway station to retrieve our luggage.
At the railway station, we decided to find out the boarding location of our Union-Ivkoni bus to Blagoevgrad tomorrow. Union-Ivkoni is a Bulgarian bus company. Being independent travellers, you’ll need to spend some time doing “homework” so that everything can run smoothly. One of the most important things is to look at the schedule ahead and sort out the next day’s departure ahead of time. The last thing you want is to drag your luggage around during the morning rush hour and frantically search for the place to board your bus. Remember that not all the signs are in English so it isn’t always so straightforward trying to find out where to go.
As it is, we didn’t see the Union-Ivkoni office anywhere so we asked a few people and they pointed us in different directions. It took us a while before we finally found the office, located outside the railway station at a quiet area away from the crowds. We entered the office just to double check that it was the right place.
For the ride to Blagoevgrad (in Bulgaria), I had already booked our bus tickets beforehand. However, I booked them through a third-party website called Bus Express (click here). I did not book the tickets directly through the Union-Ivkoni website (click here) because the website is in Bulgarian only, whereas the Bus Express website is available in English. And because I booked our tickets through Bus Express, I wanted to confirm that they were valid so that we would not have any surprises tomorrow.
The Union-Ivkoni office was manned by a single staff only and he checked my Bus Express booking carefully (i.e. slowly) before issuing us three physical passenger tickets. He had to manually write our names and all the information on the tickets and he took a while to get it done. So it was good that we settled this today instead of tomorrow morning before our departure.
As it would be our first land border crossing (it’s always a little nervy crossing borders), we felt much more assured with the bus tickets in our hands and knowing the exact bus departure location. From the railway station, we then took a taxi to our Airbnb apartment, which was only about five minutes away. As the housekeeper was still cleaning up the house, we just dropped off our luggage and headed out again to find lunch.
We didn’t venture too far. We found an interestingly-decorated restaurant nearby selling traditional Greek food and gave it a shot. We ordered pork ribs with honey, pork souvlaki and a lamb kebab, savouring our last taste of Greek cuisine.
After lunch, we headed back to our Airbnb apartment at about 3:10pm, and it was finally ready for us to check in. The apartment was located in a preserved art deco building and it had high ceilings, which made it appear more spacious. I was drawn to it because it was preserved in the old style and I felt it would be more authentic.
Airbnb apartment
Address: 36 Karaoli ke Dimitrou Ton Kiprion flat, Thessaloniki 546 30
Host: Asteris
Price: S$98.11 for 3 pax for 1 night
Link: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/9588709?s=51
Understandably, not everything was perfect because it was an old apartment. The wooden floorboards were creaky and the toilet door lock was spoilt. The shower head in the toilet was positioned at a low height, which made it difficult to shower. There was also no air-conditioning in the rooms. It was ok for one night’s stay but we agreed that it was the least satisfactory among all our Airbnb accommodations thus far.
At about 5:15pm, we ventured out again. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, located at the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea and close to the Balkans. It is a seaside city and its port is a major transportation hub for Greece and southeastern Europe. It is a bustling city with a large population of university students.
The first place we visited was the Church of Agia Sofia (aka the Hagia Sophia). Its roots trace back to the 3rd century but the present structure was built in the 8th century. It is one of the oldest churches still standing in Thessaloniki today and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
In case you’re wondering, it is indeed based on its namesake, the much more famous and larger Hagia Sophia in Constantinopole, or the present day Istanbul in Turkey. Likewise, it was also converted to a mosque during the Ottoman period in the 15th century, and only restored back to Christian worship after the liberation of Thessaloniki in 1912.
The exterior of the church was quite unremarkable – a rectangular building painted in a shade of dull orange, with stone walls and topped with a large copper green dome and a cross. The interior was more impressive. It was dark inside and the walls and ceilings were covered in elaborate mosaics, typical of an Orthodox church. Photography is not permitted inside.
Following the brief visit, we walked towards the sea and reached Leof. Nikis (aka Leoforos Nikis, which means Victory Avenue), the central waterfront avenue in Thessaloniki. It is a 1.3km stretch of expensive residential and commercial properties, with an endless row cafes and restaurants offering sea views.
Walking in the southeast direction, we soon reached the White Tower of Thessaloniki, the most popular monument and icon of the city. It was built in the 15th century and was used variously as a fortress, garrison and a prison. The 34m tall cylindrical tower was also once known as the Tower of Blood or the Red Tower due to its notoriety as a prison and scene of mass killings. Today, the White Tower is used for more peaceful purposes and it houses a museum telling the history of Thessaloniki.
After that, we walked along Tsimiski Street, a major avenue running parallel to Leof. Nikis. It is the shopping street of Thessaloniki and home to all the major international brands. We soon reached Aristotelous Square, the main city square dominated by the 5-star Electra Palace Hotel and the famous Olympian Theatre cinema. The large open space is frequently used for important political and cultural events. It is the busiest and most happening place in Thessaloniki. When we were there at 7pm, it was bustling with activities and it was very crowded.
We didn’t linger for too long and decided to walk back to our apartment for an early night’s rest. Somehow, Thessaloniki didn’t quite strike a chord with us. It is a vibrant city but there is not much to see or do in terms of essential tourist sights. Or maybe we just felt a little jaded from seeing the same shops after spending nine days in Greece. Or it could be that coming after two days in the quiet little town of Kalabaka and soaking in the magnificence of the Meteora landscape, the city life of Thessaloniki felt a bit too overwhelming. Anyway, we were there for just one night and we would be moving on to a new country, Bulgaria, tomorrow. Excited!