Nithin: Update from Thessaloniki, Greece

Time for a more traditional entry. The past two days I've been Couchsurfing with a extremely friendly Greek couple, Antonia and Cristos, who live in the hills of Thessaloniki, Greece. Thessaloniki (or Salonica) is the 2nd largest city in Greece, and not frequented by tourists.

Maybe its a normal Greek thing, but this city is filled with ruins. And so casually, as you walk down the street, next to the shopping mall, and even in allies. People sleeping on ruins, drinking on ruins. And no mention of these Ruins by Lonely Planet, or by my hosts. Though I assume if I lived here, I probably wouldn't notice the ruins either.

Last night, I met up with another Couchsurfer, Tilemahos, who was nice enough to take a break from studying (its exam time for Greeks) and take me to his favorite Taverna, a tiny place tucked between two narrow steets halfway up the hills of the city. It was exactly the kind of place one would never find on their own, but here I was, sipping Greek white wine with a local, eating food that he had specially choosen for me, but the names of which I didn't know. We talked about politics, culture, girls, and languages, the meaning of friendliness. He admonished me for pretending to like anything that I was given to be "polite", telling me that lieing was a greater insult.

I wish I could spend more time in Greece. The atmosphere, the openness of the locals, is something I've only gotten a taste off. And therein is one problem with travelling - even one year is not enough. You never have enough time to see everything. But I promise you, Hellas, I will be back! Tomorrow, I head to Meteora, then after that, Turkey by some means.