20 years ago today - Day 219

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Tuesday, October 8th - Thessaloniki

I have checking into my hotel a second night as the weather is gloomy and threatening today. Besides, I haven’t had a day free of cycling for more than a week, since Vatos on Corfu. This is the biggest city I have been in since Venice, and the biggest one I will be in until I reach Istanbul.

Breakfast consists of coffee, eggs and toast at a local diner. The morning rush is still on. Greeks are not afraid to use their horns, it seems. As soon as it does down I set off to wander the streets.


The Greeks are not good at designing cities. There is a shortage of nice pedestrian spaces. Although they do have small ones here and there, like around the White Tower and Aristotle Square, next to the waterfront, which one of the first places I visit today, they pale in comparison to public spaces in other European cities. Perhaps as I am approaching Asia the concept of public space is beginning to change. Buildings are not set back from the sidewalks. They rise five or six floors in solid walls on either side of the street, creating a feeling of crowding. The signage juts out everywhere and becomes a bit overwhelming. The sidewalks are narrower too and there are a plethora of TV antennae cluttering the few available vistas.

From Aristotle Square, I walk east to the White Tower again, and then away from the chilly wind along the water to the Arch of Galerius, a ruin which dates from about 309 AD. The arch is connected to the Rotunda, a heavy, round structure that looks like a mausoleum, built by Emperor Galerius in 306 AD. A minaret was added when it was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans. The walls are 6 , thick, which is why it has survived so many earthquakes over the centuries. There are some wonderful remnants of beautiful tiled mosaics inside. It must have been wonderful when it was new, but the lack of natural light is a bit oppressive inside.

There are several Byzantine churches and other, somewhat newer Eastern Orthodox churches that pre-date the Ottomans. Muslim influences from the time of the Ottoman Empire are not as common. I am sure there was a desire to tear them down or let them fall into disrepair after they were finally driven out a century ago. But as I mentioned earlier, their architectural treasures are not often graced with lovely open spaces to set them apart from their neighbouring structures, which often crowd in against them and tower over them. This is a poorer area than many I have visited and I am certain they would have provided more space around them if they could have afforded to.


I interrupt my exploration to have lunch and rest my legs. I have another long day tomorrow so I don’t want to overdo it. I am sitting outside on a sheltered patio of a restaurant looking at the pedestrians hurrying by. Jack Kerouac mentioned, in his novel “On The Road”, that William S. Burroughs once sat like this in the cafes of Athens “watching the ugliest people in the world pass by.” Well, at least the young Greek men are often stunning with their dark eyes. A few of them caused me heart palpitations when I was visiting southern Greece in 1984 with my then-boyfriend Matt, who was already insisting that he was not my boyfriend by then. But they don’t age well. A Greek friend in Toronto told me that when he was young he was a Greek god, but now that he was older he was just another goddamn Greek.

I set off again on my walking tour, venturing further away from the core where the buildings are all medium-sized high rises packed tightly together and all of the small architectural type, devoid of imagination. The weather is worsening and spitting rain starts to hit me. Fearing an all-out shower I return to my hotel to read. I am quite tired today. So I take a nap.

Later, I go for dinner at another nearby restaurant and then walk around a bit more. There is no listing for gay establishments in Thessaloniki and no interesting place to hang out so I retire to my room and read.


PHOTO 1: statue of Aristotle
PHOTO 2: the Arch of Galerius
PHOTO 3: detail on the Arch
PHOTO 4: detail inside the Rotunda
PHOTO 5: local Byzantine church
PHOTO 6: churches are crowded by developments, no parks
PHOTO 7: St Dimitrios
PHOTO 8: lack of urban design?