Thessoliniki, Greece

It’s always nice to visit somewhere we haven’t been to before. Yesterday’s stop in Volos fell into that category, as did today’s visit to Thessoliniki, in Greece.

We had a very slow start to the day. With no excursions booked, it meant we could take our time, have a little bit of a lie-in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and head ashore when we were ready to. It was only a very short walk from the ship into town, so no shuttle bus was laid on, or required.

We walked along the waterfront, enjoying the distant view of Mount Olympus, and admiring the boats. At one point there seemed to be an accumulation of fishing boats and an even greater accumulation of fishermen who – from all the banners they were waving about – appeared to be demonstrating against the rise in diesel prices, and how it was affecting their business. Occasionally, fireworks were heard being let off (or at least, we think/hope it was fireworks), and it certainly looked like they were in it for the whole day.

We walked as far as The White Tower, which we climbed (of course), before heading into the town centre. We are unfamiliar with Thessoliniki, so we sort of followed a route suggested by Hazel Griffiths, the port destination speaker. When you don’t really know where you’re going, one way is as good as another. That said, there are various Roman remains dotted around the city, which we tried to incorporate into our walk.

One such stop was at the remains of the Palace of Galerius, where we also bought a couple of pizza slices for our lunch.

Our next stop was an archway. Roman arches are always good value, and the Arch of Galerius didn’t disappoint…

… which is something that couldn’t be said of the Rotunda, a round building that robbed us of €20 each just to wander around its empty, quite boring shell. I wasn’t even able to extend my 360 camera selfie stick without attracting the attention of an irate security person. Despite me explaining to her what it was, she simply wasn’t having it, which made me even grumpier than I already was.

There is an old town in Thessoliniki which I think we’ll probably head towards should we come this way again. It was quite a walk away, and we didn’t feel we had enough time on this occasion. We could see it perched up on the hill, though… next time…