Today was a travel day, and pretty uninteresting to be honest. We checked out of Host El Greco - took us an age to find someone and then walked to the train station just as one pulled in. It was the train we needed so we hopped on immediately, and set ourselves up on a four seater with all our luggage.
Previously there had been a few questionable people on the train so we had wanted to keep all of our luggage close and not in the luggage racks.
As the ticket inspector hole punched our ticket, he said something to us. He got blank stares in return. He repeated himself in broken English saying we needed to change trains at a station, the name of which I didn't catch. This set me on edge - I was hoping to just sit back and relax for the next three hours but now we had to change and we didn't even know where. When we came through again after the next stop, I asked again which station, and then had him write it down on my ticket.
He had a bit of difficulty writing with the train moving but eventually he managed, tongue between teeth, and the station was nothing like I had imagined. Dan checked maps and it was about an hour away.
I wasn't feeling great - my cold seemed to be coming back after the hikes and the fresh air, and the train was really, really hot. There was no air. It became really full and then we reached the unpronounceable station - and everyone got off. Turns out everyone had to change here, which was probably why the ticket inspector was a bit bemused.
We ran across the platform and Managed to nab a four seater again and keep it to ourselves for the journey. We Set off and I got some writing done!
We arrived about 11.30 am into Thessaloniki. I still wasn't feeling amazing, and the idea to just have a day in our hotel was rather appealing. Once off the train dan and I made a beeline for the ticket office to hopefully purchase train tickets to Skopje, Macedonia for the next day.
When I went up to the counter and asked for tickets, she replied that there is no train. Bugger. This is what we had read but the Serbian Railways website said it was still running. She then pointed out a ticket office down the corridor that could sell us bus tickets for Skopje.
Upon arriving there, the old man bumped me to the young lady who could speak English. There's one bus a day at 8.30am, it takes 4 hours and costs €20 per person. Dan hadn't been keen on just buying a ticket straight away without researching so I told her we would check in to our hotel and be back to buy tickets.
The walk to our hotel was arduous this time. I thought it was closer than it was, and the majority of the path was under construction and it was in full midday sun. We finally made it there and climbed one very high set of stairs. I threw off all my backpacks while Dan waited, and checked us in. The man seemed apologetic that we would have to climb another two flights of stairs and asked if we wanted to leave our luggage in a space down there.
We've done worse! I replied, grabbed the key and up we went, onto the third floor. The hotel was Hotel Kastoria and our room was 34a. 34b, which I peeked into, was enormous - ours was a small postage stamp in comparison! It was pretty stuffy so we turned on the aircon to try to cool it down a bit. I realised they had only given us one towel (which should have been a pretty telling feature of the room) so went downstairs (2 flights) to get another (and back up 2 flights again).
As is usual, and you're probably coming to realise, by now I was getting hungry. Dan and I both researched Thessaloniki - Skopje bus companies and both came to the same conclusion - there is only one company that runs, it's €20 and leaves at 8.30am. Ok! So the plan became - go back to the ticket office and get some lunch. We hadn't had any down time really since we began this adventure, and where we were in the city wasn't very appealing, so we just decided we would eat and come back and catch up on things (such as sleep, and this blog!).
The walk back to the station was a big easier, and we looked a bit at the strange stores we passed on the way. There was a whole corner seemingly dedicated to army outfitters, which seemed odd. The purchasing of the tickets wasn't a drama, and then onto lunch.
No highly nutritious meal, no, we went back to Goody's Restaurant. It's Greek, at least! This time we both tried the mexican burger (even though I knew it would upset my belly with the caramelised onions), and of course the maxi fries and maxi drink. We plonked ourselves down and watched the looped "Goody's Fashion" parade on the TV. When our burger arrived, it was pretty damn tasty, and about €6 cheaper than we had gotten on the boat. I continued to peruse the menu, and we impulse bought a couple of sundaes as well, seeing as it was hot.
Initially I thought this had been a bad idea - the lady didn't really know what she was doing. The sundaes didn't fill the cup, and looked a little limp. Also she was referring to the recipe board, and my orea sundae ended up with what looked like scotch fingers on it instead. I took it back, and she piled it high with orea as well, so win-win. They ended up being totally delicious and just what we needed!
Again, we walked back to our accom, it was hot and sweaty and I looked in a few shops as the clothing was ridiculously cheap. No purchase though. I had a bit of a nap and then we both caught up on blogs and photos for a while, until we felt a small bit hungry and thought about dinner.
We tossed up between having a nice dinner out - it was our last night in Greece after all - or saving some pennies and having another gyros, which was typically Greek anyway. Gyros won out, and I had googled a place on the waterfront that was supposed to be good. We walked there the long way, and by golly the waterfront was strange! It was a Saturday night, and it seemed that every underage tween (or maybe everyone under 21) in the entire city was hanging out on the pier. Dan and I felt totally out of place being as old as we are. Everywhere we looked were groups of 2, 3, 4, 5 girls or boys sitting in a little circle. There were very few mixed groups - either boys, or girls, or couples. And hundreds of them!
We did a quick lap, took a couple of hurried photos, and continued back along the pier to the foreshore. Finding the gyros place was slightly complicated but we came across it, and their gyros were a little more expensive coming in at €3. Well. Once we received them we knew why! We definitely went out on a gyros high! These were enormous. As big as my head. The wrap didn't even try to close. And it was jam packed with chips. There was no garlic/yoghurt/sauce on this - the meat had so much flavour it wasn't necessary. We were very happy with our purchase and after sitting in the perfect summer night air for a little while, we went back to our accom to - yes - pack, and get ready for - you guessed it - the early start in the morning.
Til next time,
xx
As is usual, and you're probably coming to realise, by now I was getting hungry. Dan and I both researched Thessaloniki - Skopje bus companies and both came to the same conclusion - there is only one company that runs, it's €20 and leaves at 8.30am. Ok! So the plan became - go back to the ticket office and get some lunch. We hadn't had any down time really since we began this adventure, and where we were in the city wasn't very appealing, so we just decided we would eat and come back and catch up on things (such as sleep, and this blog!).
The walk back to the station was a big easier, and we looked a bit at the strange stores we passed on the way. There was a whole corner seemingly dedicated to army outfitters, which seemed odd. The purchasing of the tickets wasn't a drama, and then onto lunch.
No highly nutritious meal, no, we went back to Goody's Restaurant. It's Greek, at least! This time we both tried the mexican burger (even though I knew it would upset my belly with the caramelised onions), and of course the maxi fries and maxi drink. We plonked ourselves down and watched the looped "Goody's Fashion" parade on the TV. When our burger arrived, it was pretty damn tasty, and about €6 cheaper than we had gotten on the boat. I continued to peruse the menu, and we impulse bought a couple of sundaes as well, seeing as it was hot.
Initially I thought this had been a bad idea - the lady didn't really know what she was doing. The sundaes didn't fill the cup, and looked a little limp. Also she was referring to the recipe board, and my orea sundae ended up with what looked like scotch fingers on it instead. I took it back, and she piled it high with orea as well, so win-win. They ended up being totally delicious and just what we needed!
Again, we walked back to our accom, it was hot and sweaty and I looked in a few shops as the clothing was ridiculously cheap. No purchase though. I had a bit of a nap and then we both caught up on blogs and photos for a while, until we felt a small bit hungry and thought about dinner.
We tossed up between having a nice dinner out - it was our last night in Greece after all - or saving some pennies and having another gyros, which was typically Greek anyway. Gyros won out, and I had googled a place on the waterfront that was supposed to be good. We walked there the long way, and by golly the waterfront was strange! It was a Saturday night, and it seemed that every underage tween (or maybe everyone under 21) in the entire city was hanging out on the pier. Dan and I felt totally out of place being as old as we are. Everywhere we looked were groups of 2, 3, 4, 5 girls or boys sitting in a little circle. There were very few mixed groups - either boys, or girls, or couples. And hundreds of them!
We did a quick lap, took a couple of hurried photos, and continued back along the pier to the foreshore. Finding the gyros place was slightly complicated but we came across it, and their gyros were a little more expensive coming in at €3. Well. Once we received them we knew why! We definitely went out on a gyros high! These were enormous. As big as my head. The wrap didn't even try to close. And it was jam packed with chips. There was no garlic/yoghurt/sauce on this - the meat had so much flavour it wasn't necessary. We were very happy with our purchase and after sitting in the perfect summer night air for a little while, we went back to our accom to - yes - pack, and get ready for - you guessed it - the early start in the morning.
Til next time,
xx
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