Thessaloniki - entry to Greece (17th stop)

With the first possible train, we leave Skopje at 6:23 am heading towards Gevgelija. We are still quite tired and doze off most of the time. A bit of a shame, as we can't enjoy the beautiful scenery again. Arriving in Gevgelija, we look for a café for breakfast and WiFi. While enjoying waffles with fruit and a way too strong iced coffee, we realize that we forgot the entry form for Greece. Well, no problem so far. We can probably fill it out later. Wrong thought. We can fill out the form, but we can actually only enter tomorrow. Sh....
Well, we are still positive. Until the café owner tells us that they are really strict. Oh no. We decide to try anyway. After all, we have already booked a hostel. Maybe that wasn't such a smart move. The café owner calls us a taxi that can take us to the border. We can't go any further, as the taxi driver would also need an entry form. We are a bit nervous. Hopefully, this will work. In the taxi, we discuss how to explain the missing entry form. We agree: we could only fill it out today because we were busy exploring the mountains and national parks and didn't have internet access there. The thought of lying makes us even more nervous. Everything goes smoothly at the Macedonian border. Upon request, we even receive an exit stamp. It is still a few 100m to walk between the two border posts. We try not to show our nervousness and confidently present our ID cards at the Greek border. We are asked for the entry form and show the confirmation email stating that it is not sufficient as an entry form. We are asked if we filled it out for both of us. Yes. After showing our vaccination passports, we are allowed to enter. That was almost too easy. All the excitement for nothing. We have to hold back from laughing as soon as we get past the border. Lucky us. Now we need a taxi again. This time to Thessaloniki. We call a former truck driver who speaks German very well. Babsi shows off her negotiating skills and manages to lower the price of the taxi from 85€ to 50€. We have a great conversation with the older man. We learn some Greek and time flies until we reach the city entrance. Then there are some problems. The highway is closed, so we have to drive through the congested city traffic. By the way, the temperature in the car shows 38 degrees - phew, we're sweating. In the end, we feel like we're in a labyrinth. The maze-like one-way streets make it quite difficult to navigate by car. And we booked a hostel in the old town. It is located above the city center, so we have a great view of the city and the sea. Plus, our hostel (Crossroads) is really nice and even has a balcony with a bar. The staff is also super nice and helpful, especially with finding train connections and planning our trip to Mount Olympus. Veronika books a free walking tour through the city center for the next day (yes, we are learning). But first, we have to do some laundry. There's so much that we have to spread it all over the hostel. Despite the heat, we leave around 7 am to go to a tavern recommended to us. But we take the opportunity to stroll through the upper old town along the city wall. We notice the many baby cats. We actually read that the Trigonion Tower is buzzing in the evening. But so far, we don't see anything. In the tavern, we really crave salad. So, we order a Greek salad, a tomato salad, and zucchini croquettes (apparently a Greek appetizer called Kolokithokeftedes). Very delicious and just right for the heat. On the way back to the hostel, we pass by the Trigonion Tower again. Oops, now we know what was meant. People of all ages are sitting on the whole premises, drinking beer, listening to music, having fun. We sit on the balcony, write our blog, and call home.
After this quite eventful day, we sleep well.
Because there is still a lot to do before the free walking tour, we get up early. We have to pack all the fresh laundry back into our backpacks and prepare the hut on Mount Olympus. Actually, we are running out of time again and have to hurry to arrive no more than 5 minutes late for the tour. The many stairs through the city help us. Very important, especially since no one else shows up for the tour except us. Phew, good thing we booked. We start at the Electra Palace Hotel, which is located at the only square in the city where the architecture is coordinated: Aristotelous Square. From above, it supposedly has the shape of a bottle, which is why Absolut Vodka used it for self-promotion. We get a brief introduction to the city's history. The name Thessaloniki comes from a princess. The Macedonian King Kassander named the city after this princess, his wife. This city has also been damaged several times by devastating fires. That's why many buildings look relatively new and nothing fits together, except at Aristotelous Square. Our guide emphasizes that Thessaloniki may not have many sights, but many beautiful hidden places to discover. One example is the Walls of Kindness: there are hooks where bags of food or other small items for needy people can be left. A beautiful tradition that has remained after the strong economic crisis. Many people in the city are still very poor and take advantage of this opportunity.
We continue towards Hagia Sophia (yes, it exists here too). On the other side of the street, you can still see the original walls of the former church, which was much larger at the time. You can also visit underground tunnels there, which were used by different people in different times, but unfortunately, they are only still present there. Paintings of Saint John the Baptist holding his own head are displayed everywhere. Creepy. But we also find the only public drinking water source in the city here (of course, again, healing water). In the student district, he tells us about the most important drinks in Greece - and Ouzo is not among them. In student life, drinking coffee is especially important because you can do it all day long. According to him, iced coffee tastes best with Baileys (we haven't tried it yet).
Alcohol: he is most enthusiastic about Mastiha, a very strong schnapps made from a plant that apparently only grows on an island in Greece; then he puts down Ouzo - it's not unique enough since anise schnapps is available almost everywhere; Rakomelo is a kind of fruit liqueur that is drunk hot in winter and often contains cinnamon - okay, that sounds good too...
After some time, we arrive at the White Tower, located directly by the sea. The round towers date back to the time of the Ottoman occupation. Actually, everything from that time was destroyed, but the tower would have been too costly. By the way, the Trigonion Tower is another example of this. After the tour, we decide to climb the White Tower. Inside, there is an exhibition about the city's history. However, due to the heat, our concentration is rather low. For everyone under 25, museums and the tower are free, by the way. Honestly, we are not particularly impressed by the view either. We walk along the sea back to Aristotelous Square. There, we want to visit the market. After strolling around a bit, we get some sweet pastries (Bougatsa) and a braided bread (Tsoureki) to take with us to Mount Olympus. But now it's time again - we want to catch a train to Litochoro. The way back up to the hostel makes us sweat once again. We quickly grab our luggage and off we go to the train station. But since the bus doesn't seem to come, we have to take a taxi. The train to Litochoro costs 9€ and it's the most luxurious train we've had since the Railjet. There's even air conditioning and super comfortable seats. For the first time on our trip, we aren't late when we arrive. Good conditions. The train station of Litochoro is right by the sea, and we can already see Mount Olympus - WOW.
To be continued...