Thessaloniki, Greece, one must remember that this isn't a gigantic tourist destination like Athens is, but they do get a fair share of visitors, thus the african and persian merchants line the shores here. It isn't hard to find some pretty amazing sunset pictures, that is if you're not afraid to walk the enormous distances along the shoreline to guarentee no oil barges or any other vessel clouds the shot. My visit to this Greecian city only lasted two days, but I did get to walk quite deep into its interior, all down the beaches, and to a couple of really nice resturaunts. I first flew to the Thessaloniki airport, which is actually quite small compared to every other airport I've been to in my life, reminding me more of a small private field rather than a hub for large carriers. My first trip into town was by cab, and it surprised me as it was a late model BMW X5, with a couple of Greek men chatting away in what I can only call complete gibberish to me. However, I enjoyed the trip around town, as I grew to understand just how close Greece is to America, in some rather ignored respects. A gas station is a gas station is a gas station, anywhere you go, there's cigarettes, beer, sweets, and salty junk food available, all in Greek of course.
A market, is a market, no matter where you go, as my first journey out of my hotel, the Makedonia palace, was to go grab a greek sweet roll, their version of oreos, some milk, and cigarettes(ugh, don't remind me). What I ended up purchasing was a creme filled crossaint, waffle like oreos, and to my disgust, buttermilk, and I only found that out after taking a deep gulp of the racid stuff(NOT A FAN OF BUTTERMILK). Thankfully, most vendors were taught English in addition to Greek when in school, so you won't find yourself completely lost all the time. Out of all my foreign adventures, this is what makes Greece so wonderful to visit, the fact you don't have to feel totally out of place like most of the destinations in Italy.
In some of my walks around town, I happened upon some rather cool little landmarks, like a late day encounter with an Alexander the Great statue, sword unsheathed, on a horse. The vistas of distance are what I was after the most, as you can walk the beach, and at times see no one for what looks like tens of miles, but of course it was just a lucky shot or two, as there are probably 300-400,000 people that inhabit this city, of course this is my uneducated guess, as I feel any census counts here are off by quite a bit.
Something to remember when shopping here, you are 5,000 miles away from home, and people here like American goods, so don't be surprised if you want a pair of Levis, and it ends up costing you 5 times the price from back in the good ol USA. I found some interesting purchases here, and a unique pair of jeans with a fatal flaw, low, deep pockets 12 inches below the normal position for jean back pockets, thus they're easy to reach into and grab. After wearing them around for a bit on my second day, a nice man that was laughing at me, told me they were "tourist" pants, and they sell them to foreigners because it's easy to steal from them, as they're so baggy.
Still, without carrying much that could be stolen, they make a great pair of walking jeans, and back home, not a soul has a pair like them.
While in Thessaloniki, I did visit a shoreline resturaunt that was probably quite expensive, but seeing as though I was with a friend, the price wasn't a big concern, but it was nonetheless shocking that I ate a salad costing $40, and an entree that was over $120. This isn't the same for all resturaunts here, as some were very reasonable, but that one spot, was ridiculous. Out of everything, what I will always remember is the incredible sunsets, the friendly people, and the fact people can drive drunk through the streets, and if they at least stay in three lanes, and not cross outside of it, there's no worry of police, as they have better things to do, like hit on the ladies, and not wasting time on reckless drivers.
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