Thessaloniki and Thanksgiving: Days 86-88

From Athens we took a six hour train ride to Thessaloniki. We had not really planned on visiting, but decided to stop for a couple of days as it is on the way to Istanbul. We were glad we did. Although it is the second largest Greek city, Thessaloniki only has a population around 350,000. Its universtiy has over 80,000 students and there is a large universtiy area. It also has a nice seaside and many Ottoman and Roman structures and ruins. The people were extremely nice and the tourist areas were well maintained.

Walk along the shore of the Thermaic Gulf with the White Tower in the background.

The White Tower is the only remaining part of the Ottoman seawall from the 15th century. It used to be called the "Bloody Tower" when it was used for executions. The tower was eventually painted white by a prisoner in exchange for his release.

Inside the tower is a museum of 6 floors and the roof. It covers the history of Thessalonki and is very well done. The English audioguides were free, and a must as everything else was in Greek.

Steph sitting in the tower's theatre.

View of the seaside from the Tower.

On top of the tower.

Scupture and modern tower in a park/expo center near the university.

Another sculpture in the expo park. The gate to climb up was locked or else we would have had a better picture.

Church of Agios Dimitrious, patron saint of Thessaloniki. It was first built in 313 AD, but was completely rebuilt in 1949 according to its original plans, after being destroyed twice.

Relics of St. Dimetrious.

Byzantine wall and tower to the north of the city.

Near the northern wall there is a garden and church.

Thanksgiving Dinner. Not turkey, but we think it was lamb and pork. Very good! We did not ask for the fries and ketchup, but we did see them putting mustard on one and asked for no mustard.

Thanksgiving night we boarded the night train to Turkey. There is another bunk pushed up against the wall behind Steph and the other wall is directly in front of her feet. Quite cozy.

Most of the passengers were Japanese tourists. We talked to one young man from Seattle who was touring with his mom. They were all very nice.

Turkish border police office at 4:30.

 At 3:20 a.m., the train stopped at the Greek border and we got a nice wake up from the police so they could take our passports. At about 4:00 a.m. our passports were returned and the train started moving again. We made another stop on the Turkish side at 4:30. At the Turkish border control we also had to purchase visas. Being the prepared travellers that we are, we had checked on the internet and found that our visas would be 15 euros each. So we made sure we had enough when we boarded the train. After the train was moving the conductor told us that the visas would probably be 25 euros each. This worried us a little because we only had 44 euros. We pulled out the remaining US dollars and English pounds that we had and hoped that 44 euros, 8 dollars and 4 pounds would be enough to get us into Turkey. Thankfully the internet was correct and we only needed 30 euros. After purchasing our visas we were waiting on the train when a Scottish guy from our car approached us and said, "This is horribly embarrasing, but do you have 4 euros? I thought the visa was going to be 10 but it's 15 and I only have 11." After being worried that we weren't going to have enough we were happy to help him out. I'm not sure what they would do if you didn't have enough money for the visa. Would they leave you at the border? Finally at 5:15 the train headed to Istanbul and we were able to get a couple more hours of sleep.

Athens: Days 83-85

 The plane ride from Madrid to Athens was nice and uneventful. We took the Metro from the airport and a stop was within walking distance of our hotel, which was within walking distance of the Acropolis. We visited the Acropolis, the Agora, Filapapos Hill and walked all around Athens. It's a really nice city with a good Metro system. Lots of gyros and kebabs for lunch and dinner. The people in Athens were really pleasant.

View of the Acropolis and the Parthenon from our hotel balcony.

Amphitheater at the Acropolis.

Socrates Prison. They do not think it was actually his prison, but it was used to store valuable works of art during World War Two.

View of the Acropolis from Filapapos Hill.

At the Acropolis.

Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis.

Parthenon on the Acropolis.

Japanese tourists. She seems somewhat overdressed.

Agora Museum.

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Stephanie at the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. On the shorter column to her right is a sign that says, "Please Do Not Touch." 

Temple of Olympian Zeus. You can see a fallen column on the right.

Hadrian's Arch.

In front of the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis.

We also went to see Harry Potter. We had read that movies in Greece were not dubbed into Greek, but had subtitles. After finding a theater that was actually showing it, we were excited and purchased tickets. As we were standing outside waiting for the movie to begin, we realized we probably should have confirmed that it would be in English. Thankfully, it was! Going to the movies in Greece is a little different than the states. The ticket had an assigned seat on it and people actually sat in their assigned seat, even though the theater was fairly empty. Also halfway through the movie there is an intermission. During the intermission they opened up a room behind the screen for people that wanted to take a smoke break.

Next, we take a train to Thessaloniki (2nd largest city) in Northern Greece, then to Turkey.

Madrid: Days 79-82

Day 79: Out of Africa...Maybe

As we mentioned in the previous post, our ATM cards were not working in Marrakech. Thankfully we had enough cash left for a taxi to the airport and according to the website, our Riad took credit cards. We headed to breakfast early to make sure that a taxi had been called for us, but the only person around was the cook, who spoke no English. As we were eating breakfast another couple came down to check out and when the manager arrived she informed them that they did not take credit cards, but she would have the cook drive the guy to the ATM on his moped to get cash. At this point I started to stress out a little. After getting the other couple taken care of, it was Todd's turn to hop on the bike with the cook and go in search of cash. At this point I started to stress out a lot! The drivers in Marrakech are crazy. Also there was no guarantee that the ATM card would work this time. It felt like they had been gone much longer than it took for the other guy to go so I headed to the roof to watch for them. Finally they came around the corner with Todd clutching to the cook for dear life. Based on the look on his face, I wasn't sure that he was able to get cash. Thankfully, the card had worked at the second cash machine they tried. Apparently the look on his face was due to the scary ride he had just experienced. 

Todd's ride: You would think that with a foreigner on the back of his moped, the cook would take it easy, but no. Several times during the ride I had to lift my legs to avoid colliding with the car/ other moped/horse/cart/pedestrian. I wish I would have had a videocamera on my helmet; I wish I would have had a helmet. The cook thought it was very funny. 

After a stressful morning we headed to the airport and headed to Madrid. I really wish I had taken my camera to the roof to capture a picture of Todd on the back of the moped! 

Days 80-82: Madrid

It was nice to be back in Spain where public transportation makes navigation easy. It seems like we're jumping around a little, but with cheap flights it makes sense. While in Spain we visited the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofia Modern Art Museum, some parks and some squares. Most importantly, we spent the 18th celebrating the birth of Todd.

Church of San Jeronimo, behind the Prado.

Plaza de la Independicia.

Palacio de Comunicaciones

Not sure what this building is, but it was near the Reina Sofia. The top is rusted metal.

Reina Sofia Modern Art Museum

This museum houses many works by Picasso, Dali, Miro etc.

Sculpture by Picasso with Guernica in the background. Photos are not allowed in the Guernica space.

Glass elevators are fun!

Courtyard at the Reina Sofia. We think this is a Calder mobile.

The building is really neat; it used to be a hospital.

Another plaza.

Todd's choice for his birthday lunch.

For his birthday dinner we went a little more upscale.

Large piece of lamb with apples and roasted walnuts.

Birthday dessert and birthday candle.

He refused to blow the candle out after I sang Feliz Cumpleanos.

 Plaza de Espana. Tents were being set up for some Corona beer sponsered festival.

Palacio Real

Cathedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena with statue of Pope John Paul 

Palacio Real plaza

Next stop: Athens

Marrakech: Days 76-78

Day 76 was mostly just an 8 hour train ride from Fez. However, the scenery was a little different than our previous train ride through Morocco. This time we saw lots of desert similar to Utah and Arizona.

From the train to Marrakech.

We decided to buy first class train tickets as it was an 8 hour ride and it was less than $10 more than regular tickets. We were very glad we did. First class isn't that much nicer, but the key is that you get a reserved seat. In regular class, it is general admission and you are not guaranteed a seat. The above picture shows people trying to get into a second class car that is already standing room only. By the end of our trip, people were sitting in our first class car and paying the conductor extra money as there were no seats in second class.

When we finally arrived in Marrakech it was already dark so we decided to take a taxi to our Riad. After much discussion between several taxi drivers about where we needed to go, they sent us away with an old guy in a tiny run down car. After entering the narrow streets of the medina we understood why none of the other guys wanted to take us. After many near collisions with mopeds, bikes, horse carriages and other cars, we ended up on a fairly empty street where the driver asked some ten year old street urchins if they knew where it was. They acted like they did, so he told us to get out and follow them while he drove away. Thankfully they did know the place, which was 50 yards away, and they led us there. We graciously gave them 10 dirham for their help, but they wanted more. The lady in charge of our Riad yelled at them and seemed to say that they were lucky to get 10 and to get off her doorstep. We were a little worried we might run into them again as they did know where we were staying, but we did not. When we arrived at the Riad Bahia, the manager insisted that we sit and have tea. We thought maybe our room was not yet ready, but apparently she just really wanted us to relax and have some tea. The whole riad was decorated with beautiful Moroccan fabrics and artifacts. It was very cozy and felt like we were staying in someone's house. Inside there was a covered

courtyard where we had dinner a couple of nights. The roof has a great terrace for looking at the stars or soaking up some sun. If you ever go to Morocco this is the perfect place to stay! The place could not have been better and the people were extremely nice and accomodating, even though they did not speak English.

In the courtyard of our Riad the first night.

During dinner, the disco lights come on in the courtyard.

The sundeck on the terrace/roof of the Riad.

The view from our terrace over the cemetary. Almost all of the buildings are red (due to the local building materials from the red ground) and Marrakech is known as the red city.

Our other view was of the rooftops of nearby buildings (satellite dishes are popular) and mosque minarets.

We spent the days wandering around through the streets, checking out the old area of town as well as the newer area. In the old medina there is a square with lots of interesting characters. There were guys with snakes, owls, and monkeys that wanted us to take pictures with their animals and lots of people that wanted to draw on us. There were also many people playing music and dancing. In general the people in Marrakesh are much more friendly and didn't really seem to care when we said no to their offers. We definitely enjoyed Marrakesh the most of the cities we visited in Morocco.

Courtyard of a the Palace Bahia, which was near our hotel.

The palace doorways were very intricate.

The palace courtyard and fountain, which was empty.

Palace closet? That is what it appeared to be anyway.

This next section concerns the transportation of sheep in Marrakech. The people are very ingenious and the sheep (alive) are tolerant. These were all viewed from our terrace.

 In a pushcart on foot.

Tied down to a flatbed trailer by mule.

In front of the driver on a moped. Yes, that is a sheep in front of him.

In the bed of a motorcycle cart with the wife.

On the corner below our terrace, we watched these two kids trying to jump on to passing trucks and carts. They would wait at the corner for someone to turn right then jump on. A few times they made it, but the driver saw them and immediately stopped and made them jump off. The kids were not very subtle.

Eventually the kids just asked and a guy on a moped gave them both a ride. As we have been unable to use our ATM card in Marrakech, we thought it was a good idea to learn how to hitch a ride since that may be how we get to the airport tomorrow.

At dinner our last night in Marrakech. It was definitely our favorite place in Morocco. Next we will hopefully make it to the airport for our flight to Madrid.