December 31, 2012 Greece Day 2

Good morning, sort of refreshed.
Our breakfast was greatly Greek...

 I mean, cheese, cucumber, and tomato, with other variety of foods which filled my stomach with power and energy.

Then we went out to see the final day of the Year 2012 in Thessaloniki.
We brought thick stuff to be ready for the cold weather, but during our stay luckily it was not so cold.
Our hotel is at the next block of the station, from there we rambled along the sea to the White Tower.

And here it is, the White Towel, as the landmark of Thessaloniki.

Unfortunately it was Monday that I couldn't see inside the tower.
Still worth to see.

There is an hourly sightseeing bus "Route 50: Cultural Line" starting from the bus stop by the White Tower.
Just by 2 euros you will have comfortable trip on the new and clean bus with the hardworking tour guide who describes every spots on the route.

A few pictures below are taken from the window of the sightseeing bus.

OTE Tower. They say there's a cafe at the top.

Fish market.
It reminded me of Ameyoko, the market in Tokyo.

From the bus I could see ruins from Ottoman period and those from other eras everywhere.
Actually Thessaloniki is the great city with huge bunch of ruins!
You need no map to find any random ruins in the city. They exist everywhere.

The bus climbed the hill and we got off the bus at the bus stop 10: the Upper City Keladis.

And as expected, there were surely some ruins.

There was a certification by UNESCO as the world heritage
On the door there was a notice that it is closed on Monday but it actually was open.

Pictures from inside.

See the great view from the hill!

And it's time for lunch, we went to this taverna.
From the picture you can see some Christmas decorations still there.
It was what amazed me in Greece that they keep celebrating Christmas until January 6 and I was happy to unexpectedly see beautiful decorations for Christmas.

For me this is the first meal except in-flight meal and breakfast buffet at the hotel.
I found the price on the menu looked almost similar to that in Japan, but the average size of the dish is much much bigger!

Rocket salad:

Stuffed tomato with rice:

Beans soup:

Souvlaki, grilled meat in Greek style:

They are actually really nice and the waiter was nice too.
Please notice that apparently in general at the restaurant in Greece they bring breads even though you didn't order that you have to consider the space of your stomach well.
(You can see a piece of bread on the picture of the rocket salad)
I enjoyed all the dishes above but I was too full to finish them.

As the bus comes only once an hour and to work off our lunch we started walking down to back to the center of the city.

I wanted to see this big church by expecting the New Year's eve mass but it was closed.

Then, back to the central area.

It looks so empty in the picture but actually there were full of people enjoying the mood of the New Year's eve.

I could hear the scream of the excitement by the kids in the amusement park.

This is a hamam over there, the public bath from the ancient period.

As I said, there are ruins everywhere in Thessaloniki even at the center of the city.
I was willing to experience the moment of the New Year coming as I've never done outside Japan, but still I was suffering from the jet lag and walking around made me feel more tired that I fell asleep much earlier.
Next time I have to go earlier to get used to the time difference until the New Year's eve!!

December 30, 2012 Greece day 1

Long story behind, as the main purpose of this travel is to visit my dearest friend Christina in Greece.

She's nice, cool, hot, beautiful, and powerful.

We share the fun as women, and she cheers me up when I'm down.

She used to visit Japan as she is much interested in Japan, and I regret not going to her wedding in her hometown several years ago while I wanted to go.

And the time has come. It's my turn to visit her. I can fly!

People in Japan may know that it's not easy, more like nearly impossible, for us to have holidays longer than a week.
And even if shorter, consecutive holidays are hard to take in general, which is not fun and rather tiring.
Still there's a few chances for us, such as midsummer and new year holidays.
So that's why I could plan this "long" travel.
And this is my first time going outside my country during new year holidays.
Some new year decorations were found at Narita airport.

This time our travel started with the Austrian Airlines,

Which amused me by its boarding pass. Let me know if you know this guy.

Before boarding I wanted to eat something but at the restaurant near the boarding gate almost everything was sold out.
Successfully I got the last onigiri (rice ball).

Now I can say that the in-flight meal by the Austrian Airlines is great. Oishii (delicious).

These are what I was given this time.

Welcome snack: pretzels and biscuits.

First meal, I chose beef.

Snack again, I could choose either peanuts or this chocolate cookie.

And second lunch, or early dinner.

It took 11 hours but thank god by these delicious meal and in-flight movies I could survive the long distance to Vienna, the first transit place.

The airport in Vienna was big, clean, and new.
Since most of the signs are written in German which I don't speak, I was a little afraid, but nothing scary happened.

The signs were simple and cute.

Stores and restaurants.

As I was sure that we were going to spend 1 night there on our way back, I didn't buy anything.
Actually I wanted to try this vending machine of the water bottle, but as I didn't have any coins unfortunately I couldn't.

It's blur as I was too thirsty....

And the next destination was, Munich!
Somehow no direct flight to Thessaloniki was available on that day!

No meal this time as it's just 1 hour short.
Also given a delicious biscuit.

The Munich international airport was clean and new with lots of restaurants.
But we had only 1 hour for connecting that I could take only a few pictures after shopping some stuff at the store.

And finally we fly to Thessaloniki!

4 hours flight by the Aegean Airlines.
In-flight meal was okay. I loved noodles with tomato sauce.
(You need to know that I basically love tomato flavor)

But I began to feel a little sick by the jet lag and the long flights... I took painkillers for my headache and slept in the plane.

No pictures here but we surely arrived at Thessaloniki International Airport.

Somehow our luggage never appeared and in the end they mysteriously came out from the different lane, but never mind, as now we are in Thessaloniki.

It seems there's a midnight bus to the center of the city hourly running, but as we didn't want to wait long and Christina told me that the taxi in Thessaloniki is cheap and nice, we took it to the hotel.

Yes, as she said the driver was nice and kind, I remember it cost 22 euros, not expensive.

30 minutes of our drive finished near the entrance of Capsis Hotel.

There was a construction of the metro in front of the hotel that we had to walk, but let's say that it was less than 1 minute.

Our hotel!! Finally!!

Even bath tub!! I can sink to wash away my stress and pain!

Over midnight there means over 7 a.m. in Japan.

We've done our first mission. Okay, let's rest. Good night!!