Day 8: Thessaloniki

As usual, we started the day at the hotel breakfast buffet. Today is family day at Anatolia College Thessaloniki (ACT) where Lily attends (via Northeastern University). We left hotel at 8:15am and walked along the boardwalk to the Queen Olga hotel where Lily and many other students are staying and where the shuttle picked us up to take us to ACT. Belinda signed up in advance and didn’t need to include Lily in the count since “your student is accounted for.” Apparently that meant “not with you” since she had class and exams all day.

Walking along the boardwalk in the morning

Walking past the White Tower

We all started with a welcome speech and some general information about the program. We learned that the campus actually houses students in Pre-K through college with the upper campus buildings almost exclusively for Pre-K thru 12 and the lower campus’ three buildings for the college.

Anatolia College

Welcome speeches

After the speeches, we had a tour of the campus including the soccer field, gym, a few buildings, and bunkers which the Nazis built when they occupied the campus during World War II. Nobody cares about that hilly land in the outskirts of the city until ya need a fortified military location!

In the lower campus, we started with a tour of the library, but ditched the tour group and found Lily studying with her friends instead. We walked her to class and regrouped with the tour — which was really just coffee/pastries, the cafeteria, and the building we had just walked to with Lily.

Heading into the bunker

In the bunker

Finding Lily in the library

When we officially completed the tour, there was a couple of hours for lunch. The campus is in a pretty “industrial/car repair” part of town and away from the city center, so there aren’t really any notable areas to go for a walk. We bought some salad and sandwiches from the cafe and hung out until the next item on the agenda — a city tour.

Lunch spot on campus

Found Lily between her classes

We got the first coach bus and were started back towards the city. We started at an old fort where some of the northern walls were still standing. You could look south and view the city towards the water.

Starting the tour

Highest part of the city walls of the old Upper town

Looking out from the Upper Town

Greek Orthodox Church

Next stop on the tour was a Greek Orthodox Church called the Holy Church of Saint Demetrius, who is the patron saint of Thessaloniki. We spent some time inside as our guide explained the history and architecture.

Holy Church of Saint Demetrius

Inside the church

The “Yo, Listen up, God’s talking” Thessaloniki team

By this point, it was getting late in the afternoon and traffic was picking up. We spent some time driving a short distance to the White Tower. Another structure with historical significance from the 12th century. It’s located back on the waterfront and was the end of the tour.

Statue of Alexander the Great

We walked back to hotel from white tower for a quick break before going out to meet Lily at Aristotle Square for gelato and dinner. Not surprisingly, it took her longer than originally expected due to traffic. We wandered the square as we waited.

When Lily arrived, she joined us at our table for our new tradition of dessert before dinner. Cordwood and Belinda got gelato, Lily got a chocolate shake, and Matt and Jo split a stack of Oreo Cereal pancakes.

Cordwood and Lily

The server said, “good luck.”

We didn’t need luck.

From there, we went to dinner at Ikigai, an Asian restaurant with the tagline “the dumpling experience.” We got an order of dumplings featuring one of each flavor they offer, as well as Tom Yum soup. Quite tasty and actually the right amount of food.

Lily “One Piece” anime pose

Dumpling sampler plate

By the time dinner was done, we were pretty tired (except Lily who was going out with her friends later) and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Tomorrow we have an early morning start to visit the Monestaries at Meteora. It started raining today and is expected to continue tomorrow, so we will see if we get a good view. It should still be a memorable experience.