9/2 Monday
We
don’t have any trouble grabbing a taxi on our corner to take us to the tram
station. We use the last of the money on our smartcards to get us to the metro
station where we can transfer to a line that goes out to the “Central” bus
station. Someday, the metro will be more extensive. We relax for an hour at a
station café, having our Turkish style tea. When we get to our bus, we find
that we have a giant double-decker tour bus, with about a hundred seats on it.
We are in the second row in the front of the top deck. It’s got a great view,
but it’s unnerving to be running down the highway with no driver in sight. The
first challenge, however, is getting the bus out of the confines of the parking
lot. We have men shouting out to the driver, standing at each corner as the bus
pulls in and out, dodging oncoming buses passing through, tweaking the angles,
thank god not squashing anybody, and giving it a good ten minutes to back out
without bashing into anything. So then we’re on our way!
Everybody
settles in for what turns out to be a 12 hour ride to Thessaloniki. We enjoy
watching the countryside pass by. We’re following the coastline for most of the
way. There are come resort towns, and some industrial towns, some urban sprawl,
then lots of farmland.
At
the border, we see trucks lined up waiting to clear customs. Waiting, waiting,
waiting. Not one is moving. There are trucks lined up for a good mile. Nobody
seems to be working on this at all. Our bus takes a while, since there are so
many people on it, but we don’t have to unload the luggage for screening, which
happened at one border. There’s just a lot of waiting around. Most passengers
seem to be happy to have time for cigarettes. This will be our last border
check; from here on we’ll be in the EU.
It’s
after nine when we arrive. We get dropped off at a secondary bus lines office
in the middle of nothing. Fortunately, there’s a driver to take us to the main
station. We are very happy to find that we can buy our next tickets easily so
we won’t need to make a project out of that. We give our host, Kostas, a call
and he comes right away to pick us up.
He’s
a very nice, energetic man, in his late fifties or so. He greets us so warmly,
and talks with Bob as he drives us to the flat, connecting immediately when Bob
asks if he has a city map for us. “A map! Of course! You must have a map!” At
the apartment, he has beer, wine, cheese, fruit, pastries, jam and coffee all
ready for us. The place has a garden terrace that’s nearly as big as the living
room. Everything is sparkling clean. There are shops, cafes and groceries on
the block. Best of all, we have an elevator to our seventh floor. Kostas shows
us everything we need, then offers to take us on a personal tour of the city
monuments. We agree to meet on Wednesday morning.
We
walk out around the corner and treat ourselves to a doner sandwich for dinner.
One is big enough for both of us.
1 Video Included
Bus Istanbul to Thessaloniki
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