Another day, another beach awaking. I mean less that I woke a beach to consciousness (a rather nifty trick, had I achieved it), but rather I woke up on a beach. Anyways, I ate some rather lacklustre breakfast, which was possibly 2 days old. So, I meandered out of town, encountering yet another LIDL (god bless the Germans and their aggressive expansion strategy. Hang on, isn’t there a German word for that? Ok, I should probably stop before I make this any worse) and stocked up on supplies. I walked for quite a way, waited for a little and scored a direct lift to Thessaloniki, 300km away. I was quite tired and ended up sleeping for most of the way, instead of soaking up the views along the coastline, as I had planned. Ah well. After being offered the drivers ham and cheese burger for the umpteenth time, I accepted it. Hmmm, kinda tasty and kinda tasty is more than I need. I got a bus into town and hung out there for a little while, then called my CS host (called George, rather incongruously) and organised to meet up. Interesting guy, speaks 4 languages (Estonian, Russian, Greek and English), comprising 3 alphabets. Always, we walked back to his place and had some beers and some retsina (Greek rosé) with coke. Sleep was inevitable...
Got up late, wandered into town for a frappé, which is essentially is a foam-covered iced coffee drink made from spray-dried instant coffee (thank you wikipedia). It’s the most popular drink in Greece, which is interesting as it tastes like bad. I mean, when did it become cool to drink instant coffee that was left for half an hour to cool down? Anyway’s, after paying the exorbitant price (like everything in Greece) we went further into town and wandered along the esplanade, which had a multitude of bars. No one (except for in Berlin and Copenhagen’s Christiania) knows about uncool being the new cool. So, what you get is ultra modern, ultra expensive bars filled with ultra attractive ultra rich people. Damn you and your good looks and full wallets. Prices in theses bars commonly hover around €10 ($16) for a beer. My daily budget. So. I contented myself to wandering past and wondering by which path does one take to find themselves sipping cocktails and looking like a douche bag in the beachside bar in Thessaloniki? Oh, and my beachside I am of course referring to the 20km long completely cemented, no beach or sand allowed, esplanade. You do get used to cement in Greece. So after this foray into the lives of the rich and douche baggy, we returned to his apartment and I ended up talking to his parents over Skype, with him. He translated (in Russian) to his parents. Interesting. After that I ended up joining him at his night shift for the apartment block, hung out all night and just talked...
After the late night, we slept quite a lot of the day. I went into town and walked up the rather steep hill, to the castle over looking the city. Some interesting contrasts, such as almost slum like houses, having multi-million dollar views. It would appear that at least here, views are not the purely the realm of the rich. I then wandered over to another part of the castle, which was completely deserted. Ate some of the grapes growing on a vine. Deliciously illicit. Next thing on the list was an internet cafe (far to much to organise for my liking).
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| Not everything is what it seems... |
So after some intensely aimless wandering, passingly some rather politically incorrectly named shops (I also noticed that in Greece there is no such thing as a normal bakery. it would appear that Greeks are only partial to a variety of sugared snacks, not loaves of bread) I happened across a shop with the words "Internet Cafe" in big letters (as you can see in the photo). Strangely, I took this to be a place where I might be able to use the internet. No David, no. As soon as i went in I noticed the interior had a hushed feel to it. I was presented with a bar and a velvet partition. Not a nerd in sight. Hmmm, somethings not quite right here. Presently, an attractive girl appeared wearing a low cut top. "What is this place?” I think. When I asked her wether they had the internet here, as advertised outside and she replied in a dreamy, seductive voice "No, its something else" I started to realise that perhaps what they offered didn’t cost only €2 per hour. So, I left. As I re-examined the "cafe" from the outside, I realised that perhaps the velvet curtains which didn’t even let a sliver of light in, should have clued me into the nature of the place. I was later informed by a local that it was most likely a illegal casino. However, I have chosen to disregard this information and stick with my initial, more exiting theory that I had stumbled into a disguised brothel.
The next day I left early, as I had an extremely ambitious day ahead of me. I wanted to hitch hike from Thessaloniki to a small town in Albania, north of the capital Tiranë, called Lezhë a distance of some 400km. And having heard about the poor quality of the Albanian roads, this was going to be quite a challenge. I caught a bus to actually another little village, on the far outskirts of Thessaloniki. As usual, I was following directions from Hitch Wiki, a free resource updated by hitch hikers with good hitch hiking spots and how to get to them. Hence my appearance in the middle of nowhere, following directions to a big toll station. As I am wandering through this town of no more than 2,000 people, I glance to my right and see an Ostrich. WTF? A goddamn Ostrich! Just wandering around in someone’s yard. Previously I had thought myself starting to become immune to being amazed my completely random, completely un-understandable things (there are so, so many in Eastern Europe, I love it). I would appear not, as I stopped dead in my tracks and gazed dumbfounded. Anyways, Albanian was still pretty much all of those 400km away... A walk though bushes and a jumped fence later (I would have taken more care in those bushes had I known as I walked through them that they were largely used as public toilets by the people pulling over in the stop area after the toll station) I found myself in front of a huge toll station, 5 lanes going in each direction. With a large pull over lane and plenty of traffic. "This shouldn't be too hard", I thought. 2 hours later, still standing in the same spot in the hot sun, I was starting to doubt the wisdom of that thought. Eventually I got a lift with a Greek guy, who spoke only Greek and German. Well, another chance to polish the scrap of brass that is my German to a high sheen. So, we ended up going a little different path to the one I had planned, but sometimes that happens. However, you should be careful that it doesn’t lead you into the Greek countryside, in the middle of the day, without any water. Hot. No lifts. Hours pass. I decide to walk to the highway that leads to both Thessaloniki and a town further south. Just as I am contemplating the decisions that led me here, a car reverses and asks in English "Where are you going?” I cunningly reply with another question, also in English "Where are you going". He says "Thessaloniki" and saying "OK", admitting defeat...
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| Politically incorrect much? |
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