Thessaloniki

 On December 23rd we drove from Delphi to Dion to Kalakatria.  Our goal was to spend Christmas in Thessaloniki, about 30 minutes from Kalakatria.  We stayed out of town for a few reasons: one, it was cheaper, and two, we thought our hotel was on the coast.  Well, one proved to be true, but two was a bit of misleading advertising on the part of the hotel.  Ce la vie!

Kalakatria is a small seaside town that definitely caters to tourists in the summer months.  The night we arrived, many places were closed, but there were still enough open for us to find somewhere to eat.  We ended up eating at a little family owned pizza place.  It was delicious, and we made friends with the family!  One of their sons had just gotten married, and he and his wife were welcoming family members who were coming and going offering their congratulations.  He was very excited about his wedding, and ended up buying us a round of wine and ouzo.  Ouzo is one of Greece's traditional drinks.  It tastes like black licorice and am not a fan.  Arvay took one for the team and drank all three shots of ouzo for us.  We didn't want to appear rude!  Fun fuct: I did not hear anyone say 'Opa!' once the entire time we were in Greece!

On Christmas Eve Day, we drove into Thessaloniki.  We walked along the waterfront for quite a ways before we came to the White Tower.  We sat down to figure out our plan of attack for our time in the city because we knew that not everything would be open due to the holiday.  While we were looking at our guidebook, a group of Jamaicans approached us to tell us about the party they were DJ'ing that night.  DJ Rasta-ChiChi (make sure you roll your r there to get the full effect) was quite interested in getting us to go to the party.  He and his friends also offered us free bracelets since we were his 'friends.'  Then he asked for money.  "Anything you have is okay."  Now, this is not my first time with people trying to guilt me into giving them money while on holiday.  My beef with their tactic is they tell you it's free, then try and guilt you into giving them money.  Chris was smart and completely ignored them, while Arvay and I were trying to be polite, and we were, until they asked for money.  Eventually they went away.  So, the moral of the story?  Don't EVER accept anything from random people on the streets :)  Yes, yes, I know, I should know better, and I do.  I just wasn't on my 'A' game at the moment, and had to remember...see what I did there?  Excuses, excuses!

Anyways, we wanted to see some sights while we were waiting for Kelly.  She's a woman Chris met on couchsurfing.com.  They had talked a few times throughout the Fall, and she had offered to host us for Christmas dinner.  We would be meeting her later that afternoon.

The White Tower - it was closed the day we were there, so we didn't get to go in it.

A pretty street!

We took a nice walk along the waterfront the first day we were here.  The White Tower is beside the water.

Entrance to the Church of Agia Sofia

Agia Sofia - It didn't look like much from the outside, but the inside was gorgeous.

For the grandparents I have lost.  I light a candle for them in at least one church in every country I visit.
 

Galerius was a Roman Emperor in the 4th century.  The arch and church below linked to his palace.  We waited for Kelly to meet us under the arch.  While we were waiting, a couple of stray dogs started to bark, and we couldn't figure out why.  A few minutes later a man came from around a corner and the dogs went right up to him and continued to bark and didn't want to let him pass.  Chris ended up throwing water on the dogs to get them to let the man through, but the man was a total grumpy-puss and just glared at him.  We kind of wondered if he was even human...

Rotunda at the Arch & Tomb of Galerius

Arch and Tomb of Galerius

We were strolling along a street for shopping when we stumbled on this.  Really, there are ruins everywhere!

Chris, Arvay and Kelly on Christmas Eve.

Traditional Greek Tapas: olives, tomatoes with oregano, cheese slices, ham slices, bread, a spicy cheese spread, dried cod, dried & smoked some other kind of fish, and that plate up front has mussels, crab and I don't know what else on it.  I tried a mussel and both types of dried fish and didn't die.  I didn't like though!  I did eat the crap out of the tomatoes, cheese spread, cheese and ham ;)  That little pitcher has tuppero in it.  That's another traditional Greek drink.  This particular kind had been aged, and was so strong we had to cut it with some water.  Uffda!

Poinsettas!  For me, it's really not Christmas without them.

One of the many 'warring' bands we saw on the streets.  It was crazy loud and really fun to watch.  Kelly said it was nice to see people letting loose for once, since the country has been having some tough financial times and people are under a lot of stress.

Mount Olympus from Thessaloniki

Bloody Mary's for Breakfast on Christmas Day?  Obviously!

These little guys are for Sara...

On Christmas Day we went to Kelly's flat.  Arvay and I helped Kelly prep everything and drank wine the entire day.  Chris was sick, so he napped on the couch.  He felt good enough to eat dinner though!

Christmas Dinner: pork belly (SO good), potatoes baked in fresh squeezed orange juice, mushroom risotto, bread, pork ribs, aubergine (eggplant) salad, cauliflower salad, and traditional Greek sausages that were a combination of lamb and beef (not bad!).  That was the main course people...there were also three different types of traditional Greek desserts.  I have no idea what to call my favorite one, but it was ooey-gooey deliciousness!