My fascination with the Greek culture was piqued by all the stories told by Victoria Hislop in her books such as The Island, The Thread, The Sunrise,The Return etc. and my interactions with one of my lecturers, the late Dr. Theodora Nikaki, a beautiful soul.
In February this year, I had to plan a trip to England for a niece’s graduation and family visits, then I thought to myself that it’d be nice to be able to visit somewhere outside the U.K. and the lot fell upon Greece and Thessaloniki ????.
After consulting trip advisor, I settled for a boutique hotel near the city centre: Vanoro hotel. The reviews were good and voila, my reservation was a done deal. I looked forward to visiting Thessaloniki.
I know it was not a coincidence that I walked up to Evina (at the dinner organized by WISTA International to commemorate the International day for Women in Maritime at the exclusive Military and Navy Club in St. James’ square) to introduce myself to her. Yes, your guess is as good as mine: she is from Thessaloniki! That could only have been God! Evina gave me such useful tips and pointers to good restaurants and tourist attractions. I was so grateful.
I left London on Monday, May 22 and arrived Thessaloniki 3 hours later. My first impression about the Greece or in this case Thessaloniki was a warm feeling. The appearance of the City was very different from that of most European cities I have visited. It appeared a mix between the layout of a developing nation and a developed one. The taxi ride was okay, the driver was willing to accept a transfer or payment with a card.????
The residential areas comprise of buildings several stories high, I can only imagine the size of each apartment. Drivers drive on the right and as expected the cars are small and compact lol
The interior of the vanoro hotel was a sharp contrast to its surroundings, neat, well equipped and tastefully furnished. I loved the light fittings.
Apart from the Vanoro hotel, Thessaloniki is a lovely place to visit. There is a lot to see : the Hagia Sofia; the ruins; the old walled city, the white tower and the stretch of water along the seafront.
Food! Food!! Food! There was an abundance of delicious food and yours truly sampled different Greek and non-Greek dishes. The food headquarters in Thessaloniki is Ladadika, a street lined with restaurants. Virtually all the restaurants were open till about 2am. I had planned to have pita gyros bread at Laikon( in Ladadika), but they no longer had those, but the meatballs and chicken souvlaki, was delicious! I also had chicken tigania at Allos tropos, a small Greek restaurant located in a side street not too far from the Aristoteleus Square. I also tried the baclava, a very very sweet pastry. However, The Kitchen Bar was my favourite; a cosy restaurant in a converted warehouse adjacent to the Port. I had dinner there twice during my four-day stay( that must count for something????).
I noticed there were so many stray cats and massive dogs within the city. They minded their business though and I tried to avoid both animals. Their gelato shops reminded me of Italy: so many flavours to choose from.
One admirable fact about the City is the way they have preserved the ruins of the old city and rebuilt it in the aftermaths of the fire in 1917 and the earthquake of 1978.
For sightseeing, I visited the White tower, Archaeological museum,Byzantine museum, Agia Sophia, The arch( Kamara), The Rotunda, Anapolis and the Ancient Agora.
I thoroughly enjoyed my 4-day stay in Thessaloniki and look forward to visiting sometime soon. Yasu!
