a journey to thessaloniki by train

8/14/2019 A journey to Thessaloniki by Train.

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A Journey from Nafplio to Thessaloniki by Train, 2006.

This is an extract from my diary and describes a journey we (Alison and Barry Mitchell)made by train from Nafplio in the Peloponnesus to Thessaloniki. It perhaps wasnt the

most successful trip we ever had so I sound a bit grumpy at times. However, thats how it

was I havent edited the diary entry in any way.

Fri 10 February 06

We got up at 7.30 am and got ready, then walked down to the bus station. We had time

for a quick spinach pie before boarding the bus, but unfortunately not for the cappuccino

which we also bought. The bus journey to Athens was uneventful and we got a taxi from

Kiffisou station to Larissa station. Just before the bus got into the station I noticed thatyou can see the Parthenon from the bus, which I have never noticed before. What we

were calling Larissa station (Larisi actually) is really Kentrikos Station, Larissa station

being the underground station which is right beside it (literally three yards away).

The taxi driver asked us if we wanted the train to Thessaloniki, which we said we did.

He spoke no English, but asked us where we were from and interested to hear that wewere from Nafplio, as he was from Argos. The trip from Kiffisou to Kentrikos cost eur8,

which is probably only mildly extortionate. (But he kindly rounded it up to eur10 for

us!).

We arrived at Kentrikos Station and went in. It was very busy. Our first job was to find

out if the train we expected to get at about 1.30 was leaving. The answer was Ochi, there

was no train leaving until 4.20. So the timetable published on the internet was on thisoccasion not correct. I dont know why we were surprised about this. I joined the ticket

queue and asked for two 1

st

class tickets in Greek. This was one of those occasions wherereply was long and incomprehensible. I thought perhaps that he was saying that therewas not first class. I got the tickets anyway.

So we had a lot of time to kill before 4.20. It was about 12.00. Alison had the idea oftaking the underground to Syntagma Square and having a coffee or our lunch there. This

seemed to me like an excellent idea, so we had our first trip on the Athens underground.

And how impressive it is clean and efficient and even has a Victoria St Station! It was

only four stops to S Square and it was interesting to come at that interesting station,surely the best (or at least, most interesting) underground station in the world. My

favourite bit is the grave from the classical period (one can imagine the conversation

Seen any good plays lately?). We emerged into Sy. Sq. and headed for The Ethnikon,our favourite watering hole. It was just about warm enough, or not cold enough, to sit

outside. As we had a coffee a demonstration paraded around the square, complete with

megaphones and banners. I dont know what the demonstration was about.

After that we headed up to Plaka and had a nice lunch in an estiatorio. Back to The

Ethnikon for a coffee and then we headed back to Larissa station on the underground. We

bought a few snacky things from a periptero beside that station and then headed on to the


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platform. We waited in the first class passengers waiting room until the train arrived.

When it did, a somewhat chaotic scene took place, as people tried to find their correct

carriage. The carriages were not numbered, which was causing the problem. Apparentlyeveryone is allocated a seat, just like on the buses. I showed my ticket to a guard and he

told us to get on carriage 8 at the front of the train, which was the only first class carriage.

So we had got first class tickets after all.

We got on, but someone was in our seats so we sat in free seats. The train was very busy,

and I suspect people were not sticking to the system. Soon a Japanese man came alongand took Alisons seat, so I gave her my seat went and found a seat about 10 rows away.

It was not long out of Athens until we started seeing quite a lot of snow, and not just on

the mountains. But it soon got dark, and our desire to see something of Northern Greece

was frustrated.

As we approached Thessaloniki there was thick snow on the ground, and when we got off

the train the platform was icy. We made our way out of the station (a soulless and

utilitarian 70s-style building) and got a taxi to The Makedonia Palace. We were sharingthe taxi with two other passengers and the taxi driver discussed the problems caused by

the bad weather with them (we think). We arrived at the hotel at 11.30pm and went downto the bar for a coffee. Our room was quite nice, and as we were on the 7th floor facing

the harbour we had quite a good view.

Alison was dying for a cup of hot chocolate and so we went downstairs to where 2 of thelounge/bars were. One of them wasnt open so we went to the other however, they had

turned the coffee machine off, so no hot choc! We went up to the 9th floor to the 3rd bar,

but it was very smoky, so decided not to stay there (& therefore didnt find out whetherthey had hot choc!). In the end we ordered two hot chocolates and bottle of water and

some biscuits from room service (6 mini cookies) eur16.90 but very satisfied

eventually. The waitress in the 1st bar tried to persuade us to have an alcoholic drinkinstead, but we were strong.

Sat 11 Feb 06

We woke up at 8.00am. We had breakfast at the hotel and then went out onto the sea

front. It was quite cold. We walked down the sea front towards the famous White Tower,

passing along the way a huge statue of Alexander the Great. He is on a horse, sword inhand. This statue bears out the observation of Edward Gibbon that mankind bestows

more admiration on its destroyers that on its benefactors. I have had more pleasure

looking at the statue of Hippocrates in Kos town or the statue of Sappho at Mytilene. Theeffect of the Alexander statue is stiff and uninspiring. At least the monument serves the

useful function of providing a skateboard area of Thessalonikis teenagers. As the White

Tower was open we went in and went up to the top, where there are excellent views ofThessaloniki. The building is also impressive, but obviously under-used at the moment.

There are plans to use it as a museum, I believe. After that we walked down to the end of

the sea front as far the passenger terminal for ships. It is a very long sea front.


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We walked back through the city centre, which was busy. We saw a shop selling its own

soaps etc. and went in out of interest, given our plans for our own business. When I say

we went in, I should say we were dragged in by the shopkeeper who virtually dragged usin off the street and went on to give us an enthusiastic description of his product range.

The products looked good, but we thought the shop was a bit cluttered. We bought some

milk soap, which we later compared to Korres milk soap.

From there we walked up to The Archaelogical Museum and The Byzantine Museum,

which are very close together. I had hoped to see the remains of Philip of Macedoniastomb, which I had read were in the museum. When we found the Arch. Museum it

looked very much like a building site. We went in to find that there was only one

exhibition on, an exhibition about ancient gold. This was a bit disappointing. The

exhibition was very interesting, and the craftsmanship of the items was very impressive.There was also information on the inhuman treatment of ancient gold miners, the slaves

who toiled to make these vain baubles of mans vanity possible.

However, there was one truly amazing item on display, which is the Derveni Krater. Thiscomes from a grave c.330BC. The craftsmanship of this item is truly amazing, and the

theme is the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne. The detail is incredible and the standardof the design is exemplary. The krater is in a virtually perfect state. The material is also

notable, since it looks like it is gold-plated but there is no gold at all in the piece. In the

same grave was a parchment which is the only example of a parchment being preserved

in Greece. This parchment was preserved because it was charred. The text is aphilosophical work. Whoever was buried in the Derveni grave, their taste and interests

were worthy of a Renaissance prince.

After that we went across to The Byzantine Museum, which we had to look at quickly

since it was less than an hour to closing time. The museums close at 3pm. I didnt think

this museum was quite as impressive as its counterpart in Athens. There is one roomdevoted to the private collection of a Greek chemist, and there are a couple of well-

painted icons there with beautifully painted faces of the The Virgin. One has a kind of

monochrome face very unusual. But there is also some not very good stuff there. Inanother room are some large icons, which are impressive.

After the Byzantine Museum we decided to walk up to the Arch of Galerius and the

Rotunda. By this stage we were forming a not very favourable impression ofThessaloniki. It is obviously a culturally very active place, but the buildings are

undistinguished, if not downright ugly. On our way up to The Arch we saw a modern

arch and a fountain which looked like a 70s-type building. There was also a water featurethere, but with no water switched on. As we walked up towards the hill we could not

help but be reminded on that phase of British town development of which The Bullring is

the peak. The apartment buildings of Nafplio, if uniform, at least do not have the greyuntilitarian ugliness that is found in Salonica. At the top of the hill we came to the

University campus, another modern development that would not have looked out of place

in Sheffield. I commented that Salonica was the Greek equivalent of Liverpool and

Alison agreed.


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We took some photos of the Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda and walked down through

the city centre to the seafront. We took some photos of the impressive umbrella sculptureand then went back to the hotel. It was cold and we were tired as we had been walking

around for quite a long time. A cold wind had appeared during the day.

We had a coffee in the hotel and then went up to our room. The winter Olympics was on

Eurosport so we watched that for a while. We had a very nice meal in the hotel which

cost a whopping eur98, but was perhaps worth it.

We decided not to stay another day in Salonica. Apart from anything else, the next day

would be Sunday, which would be very quiet. We asked the hotel to find out train times

back to Athens in the morning, which they did.

The Makedonia Palace is not nearly as nice as The Athens Plaza (both are part of the

Grecotel chain). The appearance from the back is of vast cube typical of a 70s mass

tourism hotel, though they have made the rooms quite nice. It is a bit faded too.

Sun 12 Feb 06

We got up at 7.30 and turned on the TV to see that there had been a case of bird flu near

Salonica. There had also been some swans in Sicily that looked as if they had died of

bird flu (though maybe they had been rubbed out by The Mob). We paid the bill eur590(!!) and headed off to the train station. Unusually, we had not spent any money outside

the hotel on this trip, apart from museum entrances. As we had some time we decided to

walk to the train station. It was very cold. The walk only confirmed our impression ofSalonica is the Greek Liverpool. Our train was at 10.20, and we were getting slightly

anxious because we not found the station by 9.50. But we found it all right and made our

way to the train, which was on the platform.

This was where the fun began. We showed our tickets to the guard who told us that

needed to go to the ticket issue desk and get seat numbers. I did so, but was told by theperson there (a very nice woman) that the train was full, and so was the train after that.

But she could get us on the 12.43, but only 2nd class and with seats as far as Larissa. So I

accepted those tickets. However, we decided we would try to beat the system and get on

our 10.20 train. We wouldnt mind standing if all the seats were booked. The trains wereso busy because it was a Greek holiday, which we were not aware of. We got on the train

but were soon told that we were on an Express Train and, to stay on, we would have to

pay an extra eur80. Or we could get off at Katerina and get on the next train. We decidedto get off at Katerina and waited there for the next train. But when the next rain arrived it

was the same story and we were told to get off at Larissa and get the next train, which

was the 12.43 and so the train we had tickets for.

The station was very busy and it was clear that there was not much chance of us getting a

seat. And so it proved. We stood in the corridor all the way to Athens. A pity we were

not able to see any of this part of Greece. I saw a few glimpses of the countryside, and


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there were some spectacular views of snow-capped mountains. The journey back was

uneventful and we arrived back home just before 10pm.

We decided not to travel by train again, as coach seems much better. Based on one

journey at a busy time I can say that travelling by train in Greece is remarkably similar to

travelling by train in England. The chaotic seat booking system that everyone ignores,the overcrowding. Though the Greek trains were fairly punctual.

And so I achieved my ambition to visit Thessaloniki. I dont think I shall be rushingback, though the experience was an interesting one.

Barry Mitchell

a journey to thessaloniki by train

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