Thessaloniki

Country #40: Grease, the musical.

9 days into the trip and the punchline finally makes some sense (maybe)! I even had some time to celebrate; I swirled my tongue in the Aegean, I exchanged a naughty high five with Aristotle, I even wished Happy Easter to my plate of feta cheese.

Rewind to the morning though and it was a case of manning the action stations. I'd booked a coach from Blagoevgrad to Thessaloniki for 08:40, with the full knowledge that I had no way of getting there from Bansko by public transport (1hr away) before the planned departure time. Why did I do that? No idea, but I did. I knew there were no buses, certainly no trains.

Hitchhiking it was to be then, and I set out my stall at a petrol station's corner, bracing my friendliest expression and adorning my carefully inscribed cardboard sign. Slight hiccup - it's 7 am on Easter morning, where are all the cars? It's almost like everyone's still sleeping...

It was around then that I met Ellie, a digital nomad / journalist from Devon who had been living in Bulgaria of all places. By stroke of pure luck, it turned out she also needed to get to Blagoevgrad station, and soon. Perfect then, and we teamed up to try and flag down the sporadically populated road. Persisting for as long as time permitted, we eventually caved, splitting the cost of a taxi then the joy of some anecdotes. I came to learn a few interesting things - that despite not speaking any Bulgarian, she'd been living in Bansko since covid, had bought her house there for £22,000 (!), travelled to ~70 countries, and that there was actually a sizeable English speaking community in the area. Who'd have thunk! And lucky though it was, once we parted ways at the station a small part of me wanted to shake its fist at the universe for failing to fulfill my hitchhiking prophecies.

Thessaloniki is a bustling metropolis. Towering apartment blocks cast comforting shadows over aggressive, wide boulevards. Away from the cars, never have I seen such a large city be quite so dead. With church services presumably concluded and workers liberated for Easter, I can only tell you that Greeks must love a nap (me too tbf).

Night!Weiterlesen