If you live in Thessaloniki

Every time I realised something interesting, I'd think about writing it down but somehow Greece wasn't the place to do it. Have spent a laid back afternoon in Munich's English Garden and finally managed to write a bit. So here it goes: if you live in Thessaloniki,

*
You smoke a lot.

Like a lot lot. People in here are literally constantly rolling one cigarette after another, which drives us non smokers crazy. Even though the government introduced a ban on smoking inside pubs, restaurants etc. the people of Greece decided it’s stupid and are cheerfully displaying their disapproval. You’ll find “no smoking” signs everywhere, granted, but there’ll be so much smoke inside the place that you’ll barely be able to see it.

*

You go out a lot.

Like a lot lot. It is amazing that with beer price starting at round 6 euros, the whole Europe going on about the Greek crisis and EU pumping money into the country, the pubs and tavernas are full, any time of day or night. As one of the Greeks I met put it: “That’s just the Greek mentality – we might not have money to travel or buy things, don’t save, but we will not stop eating out and going out”. 

And they definitely have places to go out – lots of pretty cool clubs and pubs, always full of people (maybe apart from Monday night).

*

You regularly meet with your friends in one of your favourite tavernas.

So what is this taverna thing, I hear you ask. Well, Greeks are very particular about the division between a taverna and a restaurant, so they’d constantly correct me when I’d call it one. I think it was hard for them to understand that I come from a country where we don’t have this type of a place. Tavernas are such a huge part of Greek reality, it’s hard to imagine Greece without them. As one of the guys put it: “Tavernas are one of the reasons Greek people like Greece.” And well, it’s not like it’s hard for me to understand why – they’re a brilliant hang out place! How the Greeks put it – you go to a restaurant to eat and satisfy your hunger. Plus, they’re expensive. 

You go to a taverna to sit talking to your friends while drinking and eating, which normally takes hours. And that’s about right, even if you’re not hungry, you’ll order so much food that you can’t just not eat. Not when it’s there on the table, looking so treacherously delicious. And the cool thing, especially for a foreigner, is that they only have traditional Greek dishes in very reasonable prices (anywhere between 3-5,5 euros per serving). The surprising thing is, they basically never have any kind of a dessert on the menu. For that you’ll have to go to a patisserie (and boy, will you love going there!). Depending on a place however, they might bring you a bit of something sweet with the bill, f.e. some Greek halva.

*
Once eating out, everyone shares everything.

It’s also a very Asian thing – unlike in Central/Western Europe and the States, the Greeks will order many different dishes (f.e. 2 people will order 3 different things each for the whole group) and once the food arrives on the table, you just dig in and help yourself to a bit of everything. 

I love this style of eating because 1) you get to try so many different things 2) it seems so much more familiar and friendly when everyone can just dive in with their fork and eat from a common plate. Of course, if there’s f.e. a salad, you’ll just put some on your plate and eat from there, but if there’s some meat in a pot, everyone will just take a piece straight from there. 

*
You won’t refer to Greece as Europe.

It’s said to be a typically British thing to be referring to the rest of the Old Continent as “Europe” while excluding GB, which I guess is understandable in a way, as the island’s separated from the rest of us. However, why the Greeks do it, I’ve no idea. I first realized this when we were out in a taverna, talking about different eating habits and Chris, looking at the table and our plates, said: “You see, that’s another difference – you in Europe put your bread on the plate, we in Greece put it on the tablecloth.” And, surely enough, Reni, Dora and I all had bread on our plates (and thus struggling with the lack of space!) while Chris had his next to it. I’d noticed that before he spoke of it, so what interested me more was the “You in Europe” part of his statement. I’d later hear it many more times from other Greeks I talked to.

*
You won’t flash toilet paper after using the toilet.

Again, something that made me think about Asia straight away. On the first and second day I’d see a “Don’t put paper in the toilet” sign in different places but I just assumed they meant paper towels that you use for drying your hands and it made sense, as we have the same signs in our restaurants. However, I was later at one Greek’s house and there was a small piece of paper on the bathroom door with a “Please don’t put toilet paper into the toilet” writing on it, which made me stop and realize that they actually meant … the used toilet paper! Turns out the water pressure is rather low, so their toilets get stuck a lot and well, there’s always a small bin waiting for you by the toilet seat…

*

You probably have some family or friends living in Germany.

I would have never thought that there were many Greeks going to Germany but apparently it is so. Be it immigration for personal/professional reasons, studying or travelling – lots of Greeks fly down there. Also, lots of German tourists come over here, so if you want a part-time job in Greece over the summer – it would be about time to spruce up your German!

*
And you’re in the construction business, you might have a hard life.

Ok, so I knew I was in Greece – one of the cradles of our civilization blahblah but I didn’t actually realize I was in the cradle of our civilization until we randomly stumbled across some big ancient ruins in the middle of the city center. 

 

It’s one of the cool things about Thessaloniki (but I’d assume other Greek cities as well) that you never know what’s around the corner (ok, maybe apart from the fact that you’re sure to find a pharmacy or two) – an old style building, a kind of a modern Greek block of flats, a kind of a colonial building or ancient ruins. 

However, it does make construction work so much harder, building roads and tube lines especially. They have started a huge investment in Thessaloniki to build a tube line but once they started digging, they found some ancient ruins (surprise, surprise) and the project just got dropped. 

And I mean it quite literally – they basically left everything as if they were about to take up work again the next day (I’ve heard has been like this for a couple of years now).

*
You’re a friendly and generous person.

Or at least I’ve had the luck to come across such, be it my host and his friends, other CSers or randomly met people. So if you’re looking for a relaxed place where you can lead the good life for a while – enjoy sun by the seaside, eat well, drink in style and hang out with open, friendly people – go on and book your flight to Thessaloniki!

First real hitch of the year

Is about to start in about an hour, hopefully...

We are moving to Sofia, Bulgaria, for two nights (actually, more 1,5, as my Monday flight leaves at like 6am) and what better way than hitch hike?

Originally, the plan was to go there on Friday morning but Reni really wanted to see Athens and I was waiting for her to come back. She did at around 7am but was pretty tired, so we gave her some nap time and decided to postpone the journey by 2-3 hours. However, it'll take at least 6,5hrs to get there and I'd still like to spend some time walking around the city (never been there), so I do hope we leave soon.

Now about to eat some (un)healthy Greek breakfast and then figure out a way how to get on all the buses we need to take in order to get to the hitching spot. A helpful CSer, Eirini, has written me the below:

Hi Magda!
It's quite easy to catch a ride from thessaloniki to sofia. Hopefully you will make it to sofia in a few hours because you are a girl (greek drivers are scared to stop for men). From the city centre you get the bus 27 (from egnatia, bus stop kamara or aristotelous) on direction to the west. If you get off at the bus stop "Kazmpa" or "Strofi Oreokastrou" it's possible to find a ride from the there. But propably you will need to change several cars. It's easier if you go to the final station of 27 and from there take a bus that passes from the street that goes from the Thessaloniki to Serres. That's the street you need. I can't remember the bus number now but I'll find it and I'll tell you. In any case you will pass from Strimoniko, then outside the city of Serres, after from Sidirokastro and then you are at Promachonas which is the boarder to bulgaria. If they go to any of these places it works. From the boarder I'm pretty sure you will find a direct ride to sofia.
Good luck!

Easy, right? *grin*

Thessalniki trivia

*

On literally every corner of thie city you'll find a pharmacy.

I've been told there are more pharmacies in Thessaloniki alone than in the whole of Austria and I have no doubt in my head about it. Heck, throw in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and a bit of Hungary in there as well and I'll still believe you! 

Oh, did I mention Chris's family owns and runs a pharmacy? Right then.

*

On every second corner in the city you'll find a bakery.

And do we love Greek bakeries or what!

*

On literally every corner of the city center you'll find a church.

It is truly amazing how many they have. During our first evening here, after about an hour long walk, all Chris had to do was point somewhere and I immediately knew what he meant - another church! They are, needless to say, very different from ours - both inside and on the outside, they come in all shapes and sizes.

(However, with the amount of pharmacies around I guess they still trust doctors more than God...)

*On literally every corner of the city center you'll find a patisserie.

And if I say we love the bakeries, we just cannot imagine life without Greek patisseries. The way all their cakes look like makes you drool as if you were a dogue de bordeaux. You'll find some international favourites like eclaires or chocolate tartes, a lot of Turkish style sweets in this awfully sweet sticky syroup (politika glyka), some amazingly looking sophisticated cakes of all shapes and sizes (so much more so than the churches) and, of course, some local things like tsoureki or trigona, typical for Thessaloniki.

The world will never ever cease to surprise me

It's only last  night that I was telling Reni about my huge dilemma and the contradiction I have inside of me and, as one of the paths for the future, I have said "Or maybe I'll go to Denmark and work for a year or two to save enough money, in real estate or something, to later do what I please for a while".

A small explanation - we were talking about different life standards in European countries and the salaries around this part of the world, giving Denmark as the best example of a high priced place but at the same time allowing you to earn enough to live comfortably, even while doing what's usually a low-paid job elsewhere. The real estate bit come from a conversation I had almost a year ago with a Norwegian guy I met in Andalucia.

I check my inbox today only to find a mail from him, sent out last night, (the first time he ever contacted me after that one time we met!) telling me about how he was recently talking to his best friend who has an interesting project coming up and he immediately thought about me and involving me in it.

I will never ever cease to be amazed by how the world works.

Ever.

*     *     *     *     *

Oh, and if you were wondering - yes, Greek food still kicks ass!

I knew I was gonna love Greek food

I just didn't know how much!

We arrived in Thessaloniki after a pretty short flight from Budapest. Short but not too pleasant - we were sitting in between some Greek high school students and well, let me just say we don't think very highly of that group of individuals. However, all got instantly better when we were greeted by our host Chris and met our co-surfer, Dora, who had come on the same flight.

Chris took us for a walk along the harbour and then into the old town, where we got treated to one of the most delicious dinners I can remember. We stayed at this local student taverna type of a restaurant for hours, trying to fit in all the food Chris had ordered for us. And we needed a lot of time, as we had 10 different dishes among 4 people: Aubergine salad, Greek salad, Tzatziki, grilled Gouda, 4 types of croquettes, Ta didima, Politiki salad, Soutzoukakia, grilled Sardella, Tigania, bread fresh out of the oven with herbs and olive oil... that's some serious food that we could barely fit on the table! Though it's not just about the food - the company was great as well and I think the last time I had so much fun over dinner was the memorable 30 euro pp dinner in Sicilly last summer.

A meal wouldn't be complete without a dessert, at least not in Reni's world, so we set out to visit one of the most famous cake shops in town. I can totally see why it is so - I could barely move, I was so full, and yet there was no way of saying no to those pâte à choux dipped in a sauce made of white Belgian chocolate...