Thessaloniki

 February 28

Anton took this Find Frankie shot of the ship:

Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece, population 815,000.  It is part of Macedonian Greece (not to be confused with North Macedonia LOL) and has a history of over 2300 years.  It was founded in 315 BC by King Cassander of Macedon who named the city after his wife Thessalonike (half sister of Alexander the Great).  This was after he had killed Alexander the Great's mother and children.

imagecredit https://www.britannica.com/place/Thessaloniki

There is a subway in this city that took 20 years to build because every time they started to dig, they found more archaeological ruins.  The streets are narrow and windy, and parking is a nightmare.  So many times we saw cars that were double parked.  They just leave their name and number on the car they are blocking so they can come move when needed.

This is another city with ties to the Apostle Paul.  He established a church here around 50 AD during his second missionary journey.  He faced intense opposition which led to riots and he was forced to leave after only 3 weeks.  The first Biblical letters that he ever wrote were to the Thessalonians, dated around that time.  He wrote it while in Corinth.  The letter focused on hope and endurance during hard times:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

In 1917 the Great Thessaloniki Fire broke out when refugees were frying eggplant.  Dry conditions and a strong wind fanned the flames for 72 hours, and it didn't help that Allied forces had taken over the city's water supply for their nearby military camps.  The fire destroyed a third of the city and permanently altered its identity.  There were no fatalities, but 70,000 people were left homeless.  A large proportion of them were Jewish, and this led to a mass migration of the Jewish population to France, Palestine, and the US.

imagecredit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Thessaloniki_Fire_of_1917#/media/File:Aftermath_of_the_Thessaloniki_Fire_of_1917.jpg

Today we decided to stick to the included tour called Scenic Thessaloniki.  Basically a 4 hour bus tour.  We booked the earliest one so we could have the afternoon free.

We started at the Church of St. Demetrios, a 5th century Byzantine church built over the ruins of a Roman bathhouse.  A Roman soldier named Demetrius was said to have been imprisoned here because of his faith, and martyred by spearing in 306 AD.  Much of the church was destroyed in a fire in 1917 but rebuilt using plans from the 7th century.  We arrived during the service (Liturgy), there were a surprising number of locals there.  We couldn't wait until it was done because their Liturgy can take 3 hours.  We heard a lot of chanting, and watched as they took Communion.  The priest dunks the bread in the wine, and then uses the same spoon to place communion directly into the mouths of the parishioners.  Ugh!

There are some mosaics and frescoes that survived the fire.

Demetrius' relics are in the main nave of the church.  He is known as Demetrius the Myrobelite because 

his tomb exuded fragrant myrrh in the 10th and 11th centuries.  Well, not all his remains are here.  His remains were stolen by the Ottomans and later found (labelled) in Italy.  Italy returned most of him, but kept some for themselves.

Beneath the main church is the Crypt where you can see the Roman bathhouse ruins and other artifacts.

 Next, the group went to the White Tower of Thessaloniki:  an Ottoman fortress and former prison about 500 years old.  It has been called The Tower of Blood due to it being an execution site.

This is the statue of Alexander the Great, even though he never technically visited here.  But there is no statue of King Cassander who founded the city.

These are life-sized spears:

We spent time at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki which has artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods.  It has the largest collection of golden crowns (wreaths) in the world.

Next to the Acropolis which is the highest point of the city, for Panoramic views of the city and the Thermaic Gulf.  The old city walls are from the 5th century.

We got back to the ship at 12:30 and had a quick lunch at the buffet.  Since we were the early ones back, Frankie was able to have a gluten free pizza made for her.

In our room, we had a surprise message on our phone.  They noticed that our handle is broken on our luggage and offered to fix it for us.  We think it got broken somewhere at the Athens hotel, because it worked at the airport.  Not sure why they waited 3 days after boarding to contact us about it, but impressed that they did.

After dropping off the broken luggage, we made our own way into the city for a walkabout.  Oops, Frankie had to use the washroom.  Can she go in that Starbucks?  Oh oh a keypad directing us to punch in the 4 digit code on our receipt.  Hey, that guy at that table has his receipt beside him.... We're in!

We walked along Nikis Avenue, a seaside promenade along the waterfront.

This was the Palace of Galerius, Roman emperor from 305 - 311.  Well, really just his summer home.

Next we found the Arch of Galerius (the locals call it Kamara).  It was built in 305 AD to celebrate Emperor Galerius's victory over the Persians.

Near the Arch of Galerius is the Rotunda, built in 306 AD to be Galerius's mausoleum, although he ended up being buried somewhere else.  It was converted first into a Christian church, then into a mosque during the Ottoman period, which is why there is a minaret on it.

Unfortunately the Rotunda was closed, possibly due to the huge crowds of demonstrators that we inadvertently found ourselves amongst.  Oops!  There were thousands and thousands of demonstrators marching down the main roads, carrying signs and chanting.  They were almost all young people.

At one point we heard several loud bangs.  Firecrackers?  All of a sudden the white-helmeted police came running.

Anton was quite nervous but Frankie was fascinated to watch what was going on.  For the most part the demonstration was peaceful.  The worst we saw were some large garbage bins toppled into the street.

We stopped and asked some young people what the chanting was saying.  It was all Greek to us!  Yes, we've been waiting to say that tee hee.  The girls told us that the chanting was protesting the lack of transparency by the government regarding the train crash.  They were offended by the crash being called an "accident" and no one has been taken into account for it.

imagecredit https://abc7ny.com/post/larissa-greece-train-crash-derailment-two-trains-collide/12895540/

e sunseth

The sunset was at 6 pm as we were eating dinner.