Ferry to Skopelos June 26, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Travel , add a commentAt midnight on Tuesday, the GA Ferries ship Ntaliana set sail from Thessaloniki for the overnight voyage to Skopelos in the Sporades, 9 hours south. For such a very large boat, finding it was quite a challenge. The big building with a sign which looked a lot like Passenger Terminal was a red herring and the ship itself was at the other end of the wharves. Wandering around strange docks on my own is one of my favourite ways to spend an evening.
I’d booked a berth in a 2-bed cabin, and either I had no roommate, or she didn’t show up. Or she did show up, saw my stuff and demanded another cabin. The bondage gear comes in handy sometimes. About twice the size of a Scotrail sleeper, with proper bathroom, it was all mine. The lack of a key was a bit odd, but I could lock it from the inside, though a trip to the deck involved carrying all my valuables with me. As I’m travelling like a branch of Dixons at the moment (laptop, phone, mp3 player, camera) the handbag was heavy. Convergence would help a lot – tech companies take note.
Leaving the port was wonderful. The big engines quietly churned and we had soon left the noise of the dock bars in the distance. The city’s lights glowed behind us, the Chalkidiki peninsula’s to our left, and a huge orange half-moon hung so low in the sky it could have been a mountain top. Chalkidiki is so built up now that there are lights almost all the way to the lighthouse at the tip.
Gulls surfed the air turbulence while fish jumped through our wake. Slowly, stars appeared. Its a long time since I’ve seen a lot of stars.
The sea was calm, and I slept well, waking up to full sunlight and the realisation that the porthole looked out onto a deck. Hello, Sailor, indeed.
First port of call was Skiathos, and then on through beautiful clear seas to Skopelos. The boat left me there, and headed on south to the Cyclades and Crete. It makes the round trip every couple of days, and I’ll get it back on Saturday. For €73, which is less than I paid for my hotel in Thessaloniki, its a great way to travel.
Back to the beginning June 22, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Travel , 1 comment so farRight, lets start at the beginning. In the case of Thessaloniki, that’s an awfully long time ago. According to the Archaeological Museum, there have been humans around here for about 200,000 years, though the city itself was founded in 321BC by Alexander the Great’s brother in law, who named it after his wife.
The highlight of the Archaeological Museum is the Gold of Macedon, grave goods from the many graves which have been excavated. That of Phillip II is the most famous and, if I can sort out the bus timetables, is the plan for Tuesday. I’m charmed by the beautiful gold sheet work in crowns of delicate golden flowers. They look so fragile, but have survived so long.
After the museum, I head off to find the Roman city. The Palace and Arch of the 4th century AD emperor Galerius, who ruled as part of the 4-emperor tetrarchy, sit in the middle of the post-war apartment blocks which characterise so much of the city.
A little further north is the Rotunda, which my guidebook tells me has the best mosaics outside Ravenna and Constantinople. Its a bit hard to tell, because the interior is covered in restorers scaffolding, but the bits I can see sparkle in gold. Like the Pantheon in Rome, this building has survived intact from ancient times by being consecrated as a church, then becoming a mosque and is now a church again. The mosaics I can see look Islamic, rather than Christian, with birds and abstract shapes.
In between, there’s lots of sitting in coffee shops and enjoying the sunshine. Its still all very quiet, and clearly not a tourist town. Even the hotel seems to be more for business people than for tourists.
Barrel wine and the war on moisturiser June 21, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentI remember now why I gave up flying. When the automaton at the airport took my conditioner because it was 150ml, not 100ml, I’m sure the free world was saved from an atrocity. It’s the first time I’ve had to do the shoe thing, which just shows how long its been. Of course, its deeply uncool now to winge about these nasty little nuisances. The terrorists won long ago, aided and abetted by NuLabor.
Greece, the sea and some sunshine are worth putting up with bureaucratic silliness, and I spent the afternoon wandering around the waterfront of Thessaloniki. Looking for dinner at about 8.30, I turned a corner and found the local Goths, though they seem to be the only life around the place. The bars and restaurants of Ladhadikha, the district behind the port, have emptied for the summer and sensible Thessalonikans have headed for the beach.
Still, I managed to find a pleasant wee taverna called Negroponte, with a drinkable barrel wine and basic menu, recommended by the Rough Guide but with local and tourist clientele. No menu, so I thought I was in for one of those kitchen adventures you occasionally get in places which don’t have a lot of tourists, where they take you out the back and show you boiling pots of stuff which smell fantastic, taste wonderful and could be stewed cat for all I know. But the waiter explained the dishes perfectly, and I found myself with a very good salad and rather boring meatballs. Eating in this part of the world is less about cuisine, and much more about being outside, taking it slowly and watching the world go by, and the bill only came to €14.
Tomorrow, museums and ruins, and trying to work out which beach to go to for the second half of the week.
