Exploring Thessaloniki ↑ all posts

Another day camped out in the hostel. I was initially planning on hitting the road today, but my legs disagreed with this decision. The hostel is in Thessaloniki’s old town which is on the steep hillside northeast of the sea. This means that having a look around town (which I feel I really should do at some point) involves a 30 minute downhill walk - it’s the return uphill slog that’s been putting me off so far. The local dogs are even less impressed with the heat - every parked car has a dog or two lying underneath trying to cool down a bit.

After another long lazy morning eating endless bowls of cereal I finally decide to head down into town. Thessaloniki is the first proper city I’ve been in since Rome and it’s a huge contrast from the Greece I’ve seen so far: miles of long straight shopping streets run parallel to the seafront filled with prosperous looking shoppers. Rural Greece has been much more run-down, towns are filled with abandoned construction projects and piles of rubbish are left at the side of the road.