While these first impressions are labelled simply as “Greek”, I can’t say for sure if they are generally “Greek”, or specifically belonging to Thessaloniki. I’ll just lump them all on here together, as I doubt anyone really cares.
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First was the confusion of what time it was. I had no idea that Greece was in a different timezone, and our phones didn’t update when we connected to the local Wi-Fi. Fortunately this didn’t cause any issues, since we didn’t have any reservations to rush to. Ah, the beauty of an unplanned holiday!
The second confusion was the Greek alphabet. While I can pretend to understand a foreign language when I see it, my brain had no idea what to do with an entirely different alphabet. Fortunately many signs were in both alphabets, and most people we interacted with spoke excellent English. And the world grows smaller…
My first and strongest impression of Greece was of the number of smokers. I thought that Switzerland was bad, but Greece was worse! Everywhere we went we were hit by the stench of cigarettes. Sitting outside for lunch? Nope – not if I want to taste my food. Walking down the street? Don’t breath too deeply when you see that cloud of smoke waft above the person in front of you.
On the opposite of side of that, I was really impressed with the number of garbage and recycling bins available everywhere. There was no question what I’d do with my wrapper when I was done with my snack. But the prevalence of bins begged the question: why was there still so much trash in the bushes and fence lines? I rarely saw anyone cleaning up, or if they did, it was only in the highly-trafficked tourist areas.
As we wandered the many streets of Thessaloniki (population 1 million!) I was impressed by the bustling and lively scenes. People were out and about, visiting unique shops, hanging out in the many parks and looked generally happy. The clothing style wasn’t anything special, although the predominance of black clothing from head to toe was notable. The sidewalks were broken, and there were many, many graffiti-covered buildings that looked abandoned. Many buildings had scaffolding set up with massive construction cloths covering them, but the condition of the buildings and the cloths made it seem that nothing had been worked on in years. There were beautiful buildings with architecture from the early 1900s, but many were so neglected that it was hard to see how they could still be salvaged.
There were many fresh food vendor stalls
I love the butcher’s table: one massive slice of tree!
Part of the high level of activity in the city was the constant stream of food delivery scooters. They zipped up and down the streets, parked on the sidewalks while they dashed inside to grab someone’s meal – the industry had take a firm hold here.
More street-side observations: orange trees were plentiful, with many fruits, but I didn’t see anyone take any. I assume that the were not the delicious, sweet, oranges one would get in a shop. I considered trying one myself, but I felt really conspicuous about it.
Bird whistles. Yes – bird whistles. It was crazy how many people walked down the sidewalk, blowing through these tiny little wooden contraptions and producing a very natural bird sound.
General street scenes
So much graffiti
Wide plazas lead down to the waterfront
Narrow street of Ano Poli
Cultural mix
The pedestrian crosswalk lights were short – but not impossible. The lights would go from Green to Red, which initially made me think that I was about to get run over before I could get to the other side. But eventually I realized that the red light for us was also still a red light for the waiting cars (and scooters!) and no one was moving yet. Whew!
Feeling the love
So much potential in the buildings we saw
Parking! Cars, motorcycles and scooters parked just about anywhere they could on the street. A quiet neighborhood intersection would have cars or scooters parked all along each corner, leaving only the bare minimum of space for vehicles to get through. But still, it appeared to work and most drivers were quite patient when it came time to squeeze through. The only time I saw parking tickets written were for scooters along one of the main plaza strips, and even then the police were lenient when a man ran out and offered to move his scooter out of the way.
Intersection parking
While there were normal gas stations, the first one I noticed was set back from the narrow, busy street. Needing fuel, a car would double park on the street while the station attendant hauled the fuel hose across the sidewalk to the vehicle. Odd, but it was effective.
It was only the first week of November but there were already Christmas decorations scattered around the area. They looked out of place on the sunny waterfront. Also on the waterfront were the occasional fisherman – and yes, I did see them catch some fish. Not sure what kind they were, but they weren’t small!
Many clothes lines were seen – usually with all-black clothing on it
Sunset views
Alexander the Great
Shaking things up!
Many pet watering stations in front of businesses
Oh yay, baby! This is the way to go!
People mention the wonderful Greek food, and we also enjoyed it. I’ll put down some restaurant names here, in case they are helpful for later. There
– Taco Mazama – yep, tacos & burritos!
– Tarantino – great burgers
– Kyr Giorgis – amazing traditional Greek food
– Bulldogs and the Beast – pub food