Thessaloniki

Oh my god! This apartment is gorgeous. This man has taste. So happy. City centre too. Loads of information. City map etc available to make good use of our time here. 

First job. Supplies. Milk, wine, breakfast, wine, bread, wine......you get the idea. There is a restaurant directly opposite, a little shop downstairs. We are well supplied. But we find a supermarket 3 minutes away with everything we need.  So, shopping done! We deserve a treat so, head off looking for a wine bar. BOOM! Hit the jackpot. A lovely little back street restaurant/bar. We order a bottle of Greek white wine, delicious and relax. Read more about this bar in `Thessaloniki again`. Later we visited again, Norman had pork medalions in a creamy mushroom sauce with dauphnoise potatoes, I had shrimp linguine. Absolutely delicious.

A lovely family come in, Mum, Dad, big brother, little brother. They get the table next to us. Big brother says `Thank you` when I pick up little brother jacket off the floor. (How did he know we were English speakers?) He then does ask which country we come from? England! Mum speaks then, where abouts? Her English is perfect. Near Brighton. (Expect the usual blank look) but NO. This lady studied at Sussex university for 3 years!! How spooky is that? What a lovely family. Very interested in travel, hard with little kids though. Hope they read the blog and keep in touch.

The city centre is very easy to navigate, its actually quite compact. It has lots of little narrow streets and a one way system (that I cannot fathom at all, good job I am not driving!) Its a mixture of lovely old buildings and newer apartment blocks of about 6 floors high. The usual Greek grafitti is everywhere. Maybe the natives just don't notice it anymore. Its sad to see a lovely old building soiled in this way I think.

We visited the tiny beautiful Church of Panteleion in the centre of the city. UNESCO site of the late Byzantine era. The architecture and interior decoration are very lovely. It is not permitted to take photos of the interior, which is a shame. But I have got a photo of the exterior (complete with grafitti).

The city is full of lovely old buildings. Lots of churches, all different shapes and sizes. 

The Rotonta - originally built as the temple of Zeus in AD 306. The building has had many uses over the years. It has been home to three religions. It is now de-consecrated and is a museum. The mosaics are lovely and the architecture of the dome is lovely.

The Kamara arch - located in a pedestrian area in the centre of the city. It was built to celebrate the victories of various campaigns of the Tetrarchy. All that remains of the original four arches is one complete central, and one complete side arch, and a partial side arch. It was the entrance building to the courtyard of the palace, the pantheon of Thessaloniki (now known as the Rotunda). Now people walk around it barely registering its prescence, pidgeons roost on it. The carvings are a bit blurry but still worth a look.

The white tower - The symbol of Thessaloniki. Stands alone on the sea front. We couldn't find out whether we could see inside. It was once a tower on the souteast corner of the cities fortifications. Quite a striking building. 

The seafront. What can I say? A broad promenade with bars, cafes and hotels. First thing that strikes me is there are no fisherman. When we get up close we realise why. The sea is a filthy soup of strange oily scum dotted with bottles ,cans, old tyres and various other rubbish. The smell is eye watering. I am shocked frankly! I doubt a fish could survive. What a waste of a resource. It could be so good!

The Turkish consulate visit - just along the road from our apartment. I gather all our documents and head off for some clarification and advice about our visa issue. Its not a huge building, the back is the Mustafa Kemel museum (he was born in Thessaloniki). Surrounded by high walls and tall solid metal security gates. We ring the bell and wait. A small door opens, we explain the purpose of our visit to a friendly man in civilian clothes. I am expecting to be turned away or told to make an appointment. But we are ushered in. Its all very informal and friendly. We tell our story, they listen and take copies of our documents. They confirm that the advice we had been given by the e-visa office was incorrect. You get 90 days within the 6 month period. If you leave and come back in that period the count of days resumes, not starts again. We stayed for 102 days in total. We can apply for temporary residents permits, but it would need to be done through the consulate in London (our home country). We can apply 90 days following our last exit from Turkey. Had we known BEFORE we violated our visas, we could have applied while still in Turkey at any local police station. So, we won't be getting back into Turkey on this trip. Its sad but not a disaster. Time is running out and we should be heading homeward.

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