The weeks pass by so quickly. Three weeks have already passed since I have arrived in Greece. In my last post, I already spoke a lot about the refugee centre/NGO I am working for and the genocide committed against Yazidis. Today, I would like to share with you my more around travelling to Greece.
Thessaloniki – a beautiful city with lots of history and a stunning view
I spend two days in Thessaloniki and one day was dedicated to sightseeing. Greece was in January surprisingly (for me) colder than Germany. However, on most days the sun is still shining, and it suddenly becomes nice to walk or even sit outside. While in Germany Bars and Restaurants usually do not have any tables outside in winter, in Greece sitting outside is perfectly normal during daytime – even if the umbrella heater is off. In Thessaloniki, I spend some time sitting at the seafront watching over the Mediterranean Sea towards the snowing mountains on the other side.
Thessaloniki has a lot to offer. The Free Walking Tours (they have several different tours) were recommended to me, but unfortunately, they just had their winter break, when I was in Thessaloniki, so I did my own little walking tour through the city.
If you have some more time, I guess it is worth visiting some museums, Thessaloniki has plenty of them from photography and art to archaeological and history museums and the Atatürk house. Across the city centre, you find everywhere cute little restaurants and cafes, inviting you to enjoy the very delicious Greek food or just relax sipping a coffee.
If you do a walking tour, ensure that you see the following buildings/places
- Arch of Galerius and Rotunda
- White Tower / Alexander the Great Statue
- Hagio Sophia
- Hagios Demetrios
- Roman Agora of Thessaloniki
- Vlatades-Monastery
- Trigonion (Chain) Tower
- Heptapyrgion
- Church of St Paul
- Street Leof. Ochi – nice restaurants with a beautiful view to see the sunset
- Student quarter – nice bars and good restaurants, especially in the street Alexandras Papadopoulou (corner to Akrita)
Meteora – Unique stone formation and monasteries
I guess many know this place from the calendar pictures because Meteora is frequently chosen for that due to its unique beauty. Words cannot describe it well, so please enjoy the pictures 😊
I went to Meteora over a weekend together with 13 other volunteers from LHI. We rented 3 cars and one Airbnb in Trikala. “Meteora” is closest to the town called Kalambaka, so if you want to go there and you do not need a house, Kalambaka has some nice hostels and hotels as well. In the area of Meteora, you can still visit 6 monasteries. It had been much more in the past, but most of the monasteries were abandoned or closed due to danger of collapse. If you visit Kalambaka, I recommend taking a few minutes to visit the tourist information centre. Here you can get a map and information on how to best explore the area. If you have a car, you can drive to different monasteries and viewpoints. The roads a very good. There are also many hiking trails from “easy” to difficult. The “Holy Trinity” Trail our group did on the 2nd day, was marked as easy. It takes around 40minute to walk up to the monastery “Holy Trinity” if you walk with a moderate speed, but it is 40min up the hill. From here you can easily (less than 10minutes mainly flat) visit the St. Stephens monastery. In town, you can also rent a bike or jump on a bus taking you to the different monasteries.
The monasteries are not open every day, so before going to one, it is best to check the opening hours and days of the respective monastery. We have visited only two monasteries (Holy Trinity and St. Stephens), I preferred St. Stephens, while the view from Holy Trinity is slightly better. On the main road, there are also plenty of viewpoints and each one is worth a visit to see the area from a different perspective.
Greece is so beautiful and though winter is cold, the sun is usually shining and especially for exploring Meteora it is probably good if it is not hot 😊
Wanderlust 