Peace restored?

Plaka looked quiet and lovely again in the morning sun.  A visit to the Jewish Museum tucked away up the road, showed both light and dark, and an insight into two Jewish cultures that came together in Greece, one using the Greek language and one more which eventually dominated the incoming Sephardic Culture.    Under the Ottomans Judaism had more or less had equal status and some of the Patriachs tried to stand up to the Nazis when they overran the country.     But just as I was thinking peace had returned the shouts of dissent, from a small march.

In theory Thessaoniki was like a war zone according to one correspondent, but having walked around Thessaloniki today,  I suspect it always looks like a bit of a mess partly because quite a lot is run down, and quite a lot is being rebuilt and in some places there are anti establishment views expressed in the graffiti, so it is not the most beautiful of places in the first place,     One member of the riot police was seen, but just one, otherwise everyone seemed to be happy to be out and about and shopping despite the cold weather.    And most people seemed to be enjoying the town,  especially along the port area,  where people were packed into the cafes,  but having been to places where the port is so much more attractive e.g. Lisbon, Malaga, even Genoa,  I find Thessaloniki a bit plain really after Athens.   Frustratingly I could not find the information service as I was keen to see if I could book a trip outside of the town, and it turns out that even local buses to one of the places I wanted to visit (Pella) do not go from anywhere near to where I am staying despite there being a bus station at the train station.

However, on the plus side, I have a nice room, with central heating and I have found some places a bit like the Turkish restaurants in Wood Green that serve nice Greek stews to take home and as there is a kitchen here, that is what I have done, come in out of the cold and done some teaching.  Also done some further research, having planned to visit, Pella on Monday as most local museums are closed, guess what - yes Pella is closed too!   I just asked the member of staff at the hostel to recommend something, so she suggested a town on the railway, and it looked most promising, but apparently the train station is actually 6 km from the town!  so perhaps not. I feel I got very lucky with lots of things in Athens and had known Thessaloniki may not be so promising but to make it worse I now know that Vergina and Pella are amazing places to go to so if I had been more organised I would have tried to ensure that I was able to get to them and to make it worse the exhibition of material from the former site that should be on display at one of the local museums is also closed.       I shall just have to make the most of what is available.