Sunday June 7
The Xoth-O Glentismata was awesome! It was at a big stadium, and it was super crowded with young and old people! The dance floor was crazy crowded and if you got too close to the edge you would fall off the little raised up dance floor, so we ended up mostly dancing on the grass and the track in smaller circles which was nice. There was a Thracian style band and then a Pontic lyra guy. Caleb and I got a bunch of chicken souvlaki and some beef soutzoukakia, and also a little cucumber tomato salad. We danced a lot and my mon led a Paidusko! Yesterday we had a nice breakfast at our hotel and then Caleb and I walked around looking for thrift stores. I wanted to find a flowy white dress and Caleb wanted to find Greek sports jerseys, and we went to a couple places but we didn’t find what we were looking for so we will look again on Monday. Then in the evening we all went to Bakxai fest, a super amazing music and dance festival with five different bands from different Greek regional music and dance- Ipirus, Macedonia, islands, Crete, and Pontos! The Macedonian brass and Pontic were my favorites, they were high energy and so fun to dance! It was a lot less crowded than last night’s concert and there was much more room to dance comfortably, and there was a big flat stone floor with no edges to fall off. There were young people and old people, but more 20s-40s-ish and a lot less teens taking up the dance floor than at the Xoth-O-Glentismata! Caleb and I got souvlaki and soutzoukakia from a food truck across the street from the venue and it was yummy, and we got some beers and I got a tequila mojito (strong!) from the vendors at the venue. The guy at the drink stand was very impressed with my Greek speaking yay 🙂
Today we went to the Jewish museum of Thessaloniki and it was very beautiful to see the art, pictures, gravestones, and religious items like tallit, tefillin, megillah scrolls, ketubah, traditional clothing, and a beautiful velvet ark cover. We couldn’t take pictures but it was all very beautiful and powerful. We learned that at one time Jews made up half the population of Thessaloniki. They contributed to a lot of social welfare organizations like children’s orphanages, Bikkur Cholim (hospitality for the sick), and Matanot L’Evyonim (giving food gifts to people in need). It made me very emotional to go through the holocaust section after learning there was such a vibrant Jewish community that had so many social contributions here. I’m glad we went even though it made me sad, because it was important to learn about the rich Jewish history here. After the museum we went to Halkidiki to hit the beach! It was so beautiful and relaxing. The water was cold but once you get used to it, it is super refreshing and perfect for the hot day! We got beers at the beach and then we went to a gyro place at got yummy chicken gyro and brought it back to our chairs. We ate and then I took a nice little nap on the beach chair which felt so good. Caleb and I went back in the water for a while and then we packed up to go back to the hotel.
We went out to Rouga restaurant for dinner and there was nice rebetika and laika music with two guys, a guitar and a bouzouki. Their vocal mics were too quiet but when we asked them to turn it up, they told us it was at the limit allowed by the restaraunt :(. For appetizers we got a salad, delicious garlicky oyster mushrooms, and dolmadakia. I got an ouzo mojito which was super delicious and we got beers and wine too. I got lamb kontosouvli, Aba got octopus, Caleb got lamb leg, Mom got vegan mousaka, and Sophie got chicken souvlaki. Everything was good and we sang along with a bunch of songs and the musicians were smiling at us and asked if we were Greek! Yay! After we left the restaraunt, Caleb and I walked around a little looking for more live music but it was all DJ boom bap rap music and oontsa oontsa techno music and “mediocre house on CDJs” (according to Caleb) so we just went to sleep.
Monday June 8
Today Aba returned the rental car while the rest of us had breakfast in the Caravan hotel. Then me Caleb and Aba figured out how to take the bus to Ana Poli, the old town, to see Heptapiryion, Trigonion tower, and Pasha’s Gardens! We learned that Heptapiryion was used as a prison from 1890s to 1980s, and one of the prisoners did fund raising and built a little church inside to raise people’s spirits and help them hang on to hope and faith. Trigonion tower was a fortress with a big portcullis and artillery storage rooms and we climbed lots of dim little staircases into little rooms with small windows. There were amazing views of Thessaloniki and the Thermaic gulf from the top of the tower. Then we went to see the Pasha’s Gardens, which has all these wierdly shaped Gaudi-esque stone structures and is very mysterious. No one really knows who made it or what it was used for or how it got its name, which is very unusual for a place with so much ancient history. I thought it would be much grander like the Bahaii Gardens in Haifa, but it was basically just a park with a couple of strange eroded stone sculptures. A little underwhelming, but the mystery makes it cool and a little bit eerie.
After Ano Poli we went back near the hotel, Aba went back and Caleb and I stopped by a junk shop to try a little crappy drum and tamborune and check out some random jewlery and stuff, but it was super smokey inside and we felt sick so we left. We got big pita wrap sandwiches with chicken from the Baghdad market store for lunch, which were decent but not amazing. We walked around some more looking for thrift stores, but we still couldn’t find the right place. I ended up getting a white flowy dress from H&M for a good price, but Caleb couldn’t find a good Greek sports team jersey that was good quality and good price this time. I guess we’ll have to come back :)! Then we came back to the hotel, showered, packed up, and went out for dinner and live music at Dihti, at the recommendation of the nice hotel desk guy Giorgios. We sang and danced, and there was a huge group of older Turkish people dancing and clapping and singing along and it was really fun. We shared a salad, I got salmon, Caleb got dogfish which is apparently a shark (!), Mom got pasta with salmon, Aba got mussel risotto, and Sophie got chicken shnitzel. Everything was great and we had a good time singing and dancing with the music. Caleb and I also got some ouzo and Mom and Aba got tsipouro, and they gave us free watermelon for dessert! When the watermelon was all gone I poured the juice from the plate into my ouzo and it was sooooo delicious! It was a great last night in Thessaloniki 🙂 Thank you Greece for being so amazing and fun and beautiful, I hope I will see you again soon!