Too fast

I did Thessaloniki too fast. 

Mostly on this trip, I have been taking things at a slower pace, trying to savor the ambiance and what happened here.  But I only scheduled 10 days for Greece, originally, and I did not alter the first few days when Israel fell through 

That left me with three nights booked in Thessaloniki, (at one of the best hostels I’ve been at yet.)  I could easily have spent four or five days here, Thessaloniki, with it’s richness of treasures, varied neighborhoods and wonderful day trip possibilities, could easily support a week. 

Instead I was going out at 7, intime to visit churches or to grab a bus to the airport even earlier, going all day, putting major miles on my hiking boots eating late and falling exhausted into bed at night.

That did not mean there were not wonderful moments.   Let me share three of them. 

The first night I took a free walking tour with Giorgious of Thessalonikifreewalks.com.  It was a hilarious walk through Greek mythology, appropriate this close to Mt Olympus.  Each person was assigned a Greek God to be, mine was Demeter, and we walked about normal Greek streets and houses and the businesses that support them, not tourists, stopping where the business invoked something about a myth.  For example, we talked about Hermès in front of the Post Office and by a pharmacy.   I can’t begin to explain the fun of the tour, but I did end up having dinner with the tour guide and some of the participants.  It was a lovely evening of  connecting. 

Second was a moment the next morning when I walked into the Agios Demetrios.  There was something just so solemn and sacred about the very atmosphere in the large, Byzantine church.  Maybe it was the darkness, punctuated by candles, maybe it was the people stopping in for a prayer at 7:30 in the morning before they started their day, maybe it was the intensity of the icons, Maybe it was my tiredness, I don’t know, but I felt very close to God in that Holy Place.   Same thing at the Agios Sophia, to a lesser extent. 

The third was walking in Philippi.   It really felt, much more than Thessaloniki, like walking in the steps of the Bible, of Paul.   While it was a thrill to see his supposed cave prison, the real joy was the Octagon there, and imagining the people, 1700 years ago, finally able to build a building to honor God, after centuries of their religion being illegal. The joy is still palpable in the ruins.   It still felt like a holy place as well.