To Hellas and Back

Give them a couple of days, and you can bet that Anne and Mark will travel.  The University decided mid-semester that Good Friday was going to be a holiday.  This creates a long weekend for Anne and Mark, but one for which they had a limited period to plan.  The result - a quick trip to Thessaloniki.  Thessaloniki is about a 3 hour drive from Blagoevgrad, but Anne and Mark had not visited there yet.  They rented a car from a friend's landlord and made the trek.

Thessaloniki is a city that was founded in honor of Thessa - the Greek god of overpriced restaurants.  (*Editor's note: the previous sentence is not intended to be a factual statement).  The city is located on a natural port and has been a center of shipping and commerce for quite some time.  The city is an eclectic mix due in part to having been populated and/or ruled by many different people over the years (founded in the times of Alexander the Great - then occupied by Romans, Christians, Jews, Turks, Greeks (duh) and several other groups), each of which left their respective marks.

Eclectic mix also due in part to total lack of zoning laws.

Probably the  most famous landmark in Thessaloniki is the White Tower.  It is old and has served many purposes for the different regimes that have controlled the city over the years.  As you would expect of a tower built near a port, it has served as a look-out and military position.  However, over the years it also served as a prison, administrative office and now, a museum.

Prior to serving as a prison, the White Tower served as a rook in several European chess championships (1850-1863), as Mark demonstrates by moving the Tower to queen bishop 4.

Modern visitors (hey - that's Anne and Mark!) can climb to the top of the tower for a view of the port and the city waterline.

Hey, right behind you! You can see the spot where you took that silly picture of the White Tower as a chess piece.

Aside from historical venues, the aforementioned dining, and the boardwalk along the port, the other thing Thessaloniki is known for is shopping.  Most of this fame is due to the high end shopping available in this port city: Armani, Dolce & Gabbani, etc.  Unfortunately, the fashion stylings of Anne and Mark are not conducive to this type of shopping, so they were unable to take advantage of the opportunity to pay $500 for a pair of leather pants.  They were able to shop more productively in other areas, however. Anne found some hippy-esque artisans selling homemade jewelry, which was pretty cool.  Anne and Mark conclude that the guy was from Ecuador and the girl was a local.  There was a bit of other conversation, but nothing that made any sense.  Anyway, Anne got a cool necklace out of it.  

Thessaloniki, where "pick up some olives" is WAY too vague.

Anne and Mark also made it to a farmers market in Thessaloniki.  This market was interesting and displayed lots of fresh food (in the case of the butcher stands, maybe a little 'too fresh').  Later Anne and Mark found one of the permanent merchants that was working hard to ensure fair prices for the customers.

Discount Market: Cutting unnecessary costs and passing the savings on to "E".