Greek gluttony

We were going to Greece-land and no one was going to stop us. Hazel and Adria got the car and picked me up 5 minutes after my class at KIJAC ended. We were on the road heading south by early afternoon before the hoards of other internationals got off work to flee good ol' P'tina for the long weekend that marked the end of Ramadan. Hazel has made this trip several times during her 5 years in Kosovo and Adria and I were glad to be passengers in our little rented Opal. It was an easy border crossing into Macedonia for the three-hour drive around Skopje and down to the Greek border. From there is was another hour to Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki. Winding around mountains and coming down to nightfall over the Ionian Sea and the sparkling city was just what these three English teachers needed. We found our hotel and headed for the water.

Dinner the first night, as with all three nithgt, was full of feta cheese, cucumber and tomato salads, grilled vegetables, meats and seafood and red wine. It was the off season, so places were not very full. At each restaurant we were the center of attention with a flirtations Greek man waiting on us hand and foot. We stuffed ourselves with the manna realizing that our gluttony was actually pretty darn healthy. Keep on eating!!! So, while we sat, ate, drank and people watched the evenings away, we shopped the days away. The city center of Thess was a lot like 5th Ave. in Manhattan with store upon store lining the streets. We couldn't afford most of it, but definitely splurged when our frugal teacher minds were able to let go for a second. I was damned if I could find a pair of shoes that fit my feet! This problem in Japan made sense, but I thought Europe would be able to supply me with female footwear. No such luck.

Everything was closed on Sunday so we rolled out of our sea-side hotel and walked the shoreline hopping from one cafe to the next. The outdoor cafes are clearly typical of the whole Balkan region. I could not help but find the atmosphere of these cafes exact duplicates of Astoria, Queens. I must have said to my companions a thousand times how much of this place reminded me of my old neighborhood. I was always wondering how the cafes of Astoria could be completely full of people drinking coffee all day and night. In Queens that seemed strange to my non-Greek self. In Thess it was the way to live. As the sun went down the coffee was replaced by wine and ouzo a la Cavo on 31st Ave and 45th St.

The drive home seemed long. We dropped Adria off in Prizren via the Kosovo mountains which were blanketed in the fall rainbow. As the sun fell behind, it was all in flames with reds, yellows and oranges. Hazel and I said good-bye to Adria and headed for the road to Prishtina finding it was completely torn up! The arrow pointed right so naturally we followed it looking for the next arrow. The road became more of a bumpy dirt field that seemed to be going nowhere. We followed the car in front of us that seemed equally lost. For 20 minutes we bobbed up and down like boats going through hurricane waters. Who the hell created this detour?! And there was clearly no other way to go! We were tired, hungry and really pissed off at this point. Thank God it was not raining or we would for sure have capsized and sunk into a sea of mud.

But we made it back a little pit poorer, a little bit heavier and a little bit happier from our time in Thessaloniki, Greece. Check out the link to Wikipedia, which I never saw until 5 minutes ago. Knowing the history of the place was not a priority before I left for this long weekend. What I was looking for was thoughtless touring, shopping and eating. Mission accomplished!!!