We continue the second installment of our trip to Greece in June 2015 involving Thessaloniki & Larissa. I may finish this baby by Christmas. Of 2016! Wow, progress. This installments picks up after we land in Greece, spend some time in the Thessaloniki Hyatt and then drive and roam the streets of my hometown Larissa.
Part One can be found here: On the Way to Greece Part Uno
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Welcome to Thessaloniki in northern Greece. Airport code is SKG. Small, nice airport.
As usual, every time I go through this airport I try to stay at my favorite Greek hotel, the Thessaloniki Hyatt. I did a review of it some time ago and you can find it HERE. We usually get picked up and driven by a nice Mercedes Benz to the property which is less than 10 minutes away.
Checking in, here I am utilizing my natural charm and techniques from years of experience 🙂
The lobby, open feel, very nice. One year I stayed here in late December. They had a band playing jazz right under that red painting. And wine happy hour. Thank the Lord my room was very close woohoo!
Every room is big! We got a suite this time. Remember, we are not Diamonds, just lowly Platinum!
The view from our balcony
And the view from the other side of the balcony, oh the lovely pool ahead!
Very well kept grounds. It’s a little gem!
Oh, the waterfalls. Like I said…
Beautiful and large swimming pool. Always great service as well.
I continue the tradition of never wearing sunglasses. Obviously, my kids did not get this gene…
Nearby, there is one of the largest shopping malls in the Balkans. It’s called, you guessed it, Cosmos which is “World” in Greek.
Best street food in Greece: gyros. It’s even getting more popular as the economic crisis keeps rolling along and people do not have enough money to eat something more expensive. Gyros is always cheap AND good!
I love them!
Outdoor entertainment, beautiful summer night.
And the frape coffee, another Greek staple.
We slept very well and then we went for breakfast (included).
Excellent selection. I ‘ve had better I must admit but very good overall.
You could sit outside but it was too hot so we stayed inside with the A/C going!
We were driven back to the airport and then I went downstairs to the Avis Rent a car office. I had reserved an Intermediate car for a base rate of $476.24. After all fees & taxes it worked out to be $657.69 for 14 days. I used a discount code I found somewhere. And of course I booked as “Avis First” all along aiming for the upgrade I was entitled to.
“Would you like a Mercedes?” YES I said almost screamed before she even finished! The plan all along was to pay with my Barclay Arrival card to get it reimbursed but at the last moment I had a change of heart and used my Fairmont Visa for the primary insurance benefit. You know, things happen and I felt I had everything else pretty much taken care of so it was okay to pay out of pocket once!
We then got on the road to my hometown Larissa. You can see the city written with one “s” as well. It’s fine either way.
It’s a nice 2 hour drive south from Thessaloniki. Nice roads now, thanks European Union!
Driving by the Platamonas castle
The roads take us through the Valley of Tempi . Always kind of scary driving through there as rocks have come down suddenly and crashed cars! And it gets very busy in the summer weekends with people from the city escaping to the beaches nearby.
So, for many many years they have been working on a tunnel cutting through the mountain rocks bypassing the crazy roads through the valley. It is almost ready. In Greece, everything is…almost ready.
We arrived safe and well in Larissa. Some shots around the city. With economy in free fall, it never fails to see construction of yet another church, wow.
Family bonding time with coffee drinks at our favorite local coffee chain. The Panera of Greece lol.
Frape time…again!
Strolling around the city at night, it’s time
Yep, it’s gyros time!
Hanging out with gyros in hand. Coolness!
The chain is Mikel. Excellent coffee and service, try it out sometime if you are in Greece. They are expanding all over Greece. Cyprus too. “Motivation.Knowledge.Love”
I will now take you around the streets I roamed as a kid. And I am going to show you some sights that it is still hard to believe they are real. Empty store fronts. Everywhere!
This is just off the central square near my old neighborhood.
This is just a few blocks from the house I was born. Amazing how everything looks so tiny now!
I brought my kids several years ago in this shopping complex when everything was booming. Son still remembers go karting and he crashed the car! Look at this place now #sad
Every store in the complex closed.
We saw a couple movies in this place last time. No more
The biggest church of city. Saint Achillius
Another shot near downtown
There is a hill in the center of town where you can see some of the old town characteristics. Lots of history.
More empty store fronts.
Up here there have been many hugely important archaeological discoveries. But the city does not get much tourism. They are trying to get it together. They never needed the tourists as the whole Larissa valley is one of the most productive agricultural areas of Southern Europe. Yeah, I am from a city with lots of farmers all around it!
What follows are some pictures of these archaeological finds. Finally, they opened the ancient theater to the public in 2016!
The area around here in the Old part of town has many traditional tavernas and bars and it is beautiful.
The former glory
And the current mess….
This little mall is near my home. A local agricultural something decided to invest in a mall. And they borrowed like everyone else. And then it crashed. There are only a few tenants left in here.
Okay, now we visit my former high school. Number 6. The best. Lol. The graffiti at the left corner says “Down the Government”. It is in my DNA to do rebellious things haha.
To rent signs
The local bus from downtown to home, because walking it during the afternoon is too hot!
Another lunch out…
This was the house I was born. In 1967. Well, the neighborhood has changed…a little since then. Me and my brother own this land now, we are waiting for the turnaround. We are resigned we may wait for a very long time.
Oh yes, there is an IKEA just outside the city. Amazingly, it has not closed! It attracts shoppers from all over central Greece.
We visited another mall
Back in the old part of town, where the city band was practicing before the outdoor movie theater opened for the season.
Whenever I visit in the summer I always try to catch the movies here…
It is probably one of my favorite places in the world. Watching a movie under the stars with pop corn and drinking some drink with vodka
I do not remember what movie we saw that night…
Well, of course, the girls in the familia had a great time shopping around for bargains. And oh boy there are so many more now as the prices have fallen so much! Surprisingly, several retail clothing stores are owned by Chinese immigrants so it was interesting to say the least to see us.
The princess
Another Mikel, best coffee and wifi!
Ok, then it was time to take my mother to the beach to an Airbnb place! More soon
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Good Sunday morning and good early morning read.
Am I correct thinking your natal home is now a parking lot? You paved Paradise and put up a parking lot?
Wishing Buzz a speedy recovery from the #BRT Food Coma…
Everything in that neighborhood is either a multi story apartment building or a parking lot 🙂
The food coma continued with Brooklyn bagels and then dim sum in a place full of Asians, 5 whites and one black dude.
Just got a call that my room in The Plaza in Fifth Avenue is ready, gotta go 🙂
Present.
Buzz, did you stay at the Hyatt for freee? How many days, and so forth, if you don’t mind filling us in. And what’s the likely best discount rate there, for those of us who aren’t there with the hotel points just yet?
I’m just back from Paris, Valencia, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Istanbul. I had the impression that Istanbul had the most friendly fellow-tourists. (Why would that be? Inexpensive destination=people more down to earth?) I met a few people from Iran and China and elsewhere there. I don’t think I met any Americans though. There was a bomb across town the morning I got there. Tourism is way down with businesses hurting, and a big economic downturn (crisis?). This according to the owner of the B&B where I stayed, which was almost empty. He said a year ago they were almost always full.
In four weeks of travel, I had a lot of “down” days, where I was tired or didn’t feel like doing much, or local scheduling/tickets/transportation proved so challenging that I was spinning my wheels a lot. 8 hours of time zone and 330am calls from home didn’t help. Also, in the few months leading up to my trip, I was super busy and planning was way below optimal. OTOH part of me wanted to just rest and relax, but I felt like I was missing out when I was staying in. Also had mild cold for several days.
I’m interested in others’ experiences with this and any suggestions !
What kind of question is “did you stay for free?”. Come on man, no need to ask that. Of course, this is what I do 🙂
You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt. Or if you have the Hyatt card you get a free night each year and it’s good at this hotel. Or use Barclaycard Arrival points. In this trip I think it was one night at each end. I am pretty sure one was the Visa free night and the other one was points (12k I think) or Barclaycard points. Yeah, summer is much more, I don’t go there 🙂 But, like Charlie said, some advance prepaid rates can be low 100’s which is a great rate! If only all the Greek hotels were like this 🙂
Southern Europeans are known to be friendlier in general. Too much sun softens them up I guess lol. Not surprised to see Turkey’s tourism affected by the terrorist attacks.
Great report, George! When I stopped in at the hotel, were you coming or going from Greece? It was nice to meet your family that day!
It is so sad to see so many of the for rent and for sale signs around.
We hit the Hyatt again last week and will be back there (for the pool and breakfast) again next week! Great place and hope they don’t bump up the category!
@ Mike, I have seen some advanced rates for the hotel around €129. Summertime is definitely going to be at the higher end.
Have a great day!
I think I was leaving. But I would not bet on it, memory is fading 🙂
Thanks Charlie.
George, I forgot to mention, very nice report !
I had the best yogurt/dill ever in Istanbul and I bought ingredients (fresh dill, whole milk yogurt) and made some of my own from an internet recipe today.
Whoohoo !
Think I may have left an expensive Pendleton wool shirt at the restaurant though (?)
I’m not completely sure on this, but I think because you were outside of the United States that any card that offers auto insurance would be primary (because your personal auto insurance doesn’t cover international driving) and the same as the coverage that you got with your Fairmont card. (With a few disclaimers ie. Certain countries, exotic cards, etc…)
https://www.barclaycardus.com/servicing/img/base/guideBenefits/BAR-4667-4_AIR_MX.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiL35ORxKLNAhURJFIKHdx8Cf8QFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNH2gHVhCPl9OzHedpMVnzfsHLEnBg&sig2=1HqDBPVlCp-j7CSYMxDRYw
Nice trip report. Must be hard to see the changes in your hometown each time. Greece is a very special place and I hope they can dig out. Well digging may be the wrong verb for Greece, or the right one. Mike, I am sure Turkey is really suffering with a major tourist upheaval after all of the many attacks. I’ve been there quite a few times in the last few years and will again end of this year. I suspect the tourists you meet still going to Turkey are different in part because they are not scared away and they are interested in different cultures, etc.
I really enjoy your trip reports, keep them coming. 🙂
To all: Having a great time in New York City. I really enjoyed the Brooklyn Reality Tour. This Dan Hammer guy does a really good job of hosting it. I learned a lot, made new friends and we just enjoyed the company of others who understand the crazy things we do. Oh, we also ate…a lot! I need to hit the gym today, or run at Central Park.
I am now near the Plaza waiting for my room to get ready. I was told “we have a nice upgrade for you, a junior suite”. Hmmm, we shall see. As soon as I exited the subway I was hit with the Puerto Rican parade, lots of fun watching them.
Sorry I have had no time to respond to comments or do much else as a matter of fact.
Thanks to all the BRT participants for a great time!
Thanks for the Panera card gift card GeeEmm, so nice of you. Great to finally meet you and your father as well, what a great guy!
That Dan guy rocks… I’ve enjoyed the Tour a cpl of times… Glad you got to cross that off the bucket list! You are missing the Ann Arbor heat wave!
Very nice trip report! I would love to visit Greece soon in the near future. Thanks for including the airport code so that I can start to do research on how to get there with miles …