A Visitor from Finland - part 1

The White Tower

In the evening of November 15th I headed to the airport by a bus. It was good to check how long it would take to go there, considering my trip to Athens. Anyway, I went to the airport to meet my dad, who traveled to spend some time with me in Thessaloniki. We didn't do much on the first day, as his flight arrived rather late in the evening. 

Some cute cats!

On the next day all the stores were closed, as it was Sunday, so we had to find some other things to do. The weather was somewhat nice; the sun wasn't shining, but it wasn't raining either. That's why we decided to walk a bit and go to the White Tower, which this city is known for. 

After the tower we headed to the Olympics Museum, which wasn't as easy to find as it's seen on the map. We did find it in the end, and walked through the place. I don't think I had been to such a museum before so it was interesting to see, tho it was mainly concentrated on summer Olympics and the success of the Greeks. haha. 

Our next stop was supposed to be a cafe close to the museum, but then I realized we were somewhat close to Ano Poli, so that's where we headed next. I just love to climb the hill - or not! I must say the view from there is very nice, however, it could have been better if there weren't so many clouds on the sky.

We found a nice cafe/bar there, where we decided to drink and eat something small. I had a mint tea, which didn't taste like mint in my opinion. Both of us took 'club sandwiches', but we had no idea there would be 4 pieces of them on a plate as well as fries. There our plan of eating at a nice restaurant in the evening went to the trash, as these plates were so filling. 

Later in the evening we went on a walk and decided to visit this one church. I'm not completely sure of its name, but anyway it was beautiful inside. It's always funny to compare Catholic churches, which are always super decorated, with churches in Finland (most of the Finns are Evangelical Lutheran, btw.), which aren't much decorated at all. 

The second day shall get a post of its own. :)

Two Random Journeys

Here in Thessaloniki I have made two rather random trips to close-by places. The idea has been to go on a walk and to see, where I end up. Such journeys are sometimes rather fun, I think! However, it's a good idea to carry a map with you, in order not to get lost in a place, where you haven't been before.

On my first walk I ended up visiting a Chocolate Factory Museum. It was clearly built mainly for children, but who cares. haha. It was still interesting to read about the history of cocoa, and also the journey of a bean to the chocolate that we eat.

There were many secondary school classes on school trips, which was rather funny. At one point you were able to watch a short film about the journey of a bean to 'real' chocolate. It was meant for children and it was in Greek, so I didn't understand much. It was still funny to hear the children being so fascinated by melted chocolate. heh. 

Of course, they sold chocolate and other candies at a place like this. I bought a bit of super expensive chocolate, which were delicious, btw. 

The second trip was to Ano Poli, which is a place in the upper town of Thessaloniki. It's an amazing place for sight-seeing. When going there, be prepared to climb quite much. hah. At this point I believe pictures tell more than any words, so...

 

Ano Poli is a place that everyone, who visits Thessaloniki, should see!!