Ya sas, Thessaloniki!

Ya sas, which actually is spelled like this Γειά σας, is the only Greek word I managed to pronounce and remember, but I want to try and remember to use it as a greeting regularly! Last Friday, I flew with 4 girlfriends to Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. I wasn't expecting/planning on getting to go to Greece during my travels, but when we found a 42 euro round trip flight with Ryanair, it was hard to resist! It ended up being one of my cheapest trips yet as well, since the hostel was only 12 euro a night, and restaurants were super cheap as well! Plus museums and historical sites are almost all free for EU students like myself. :) 

My favorite parts of Greece were probably the beach, bakeries, and olives. I've never been the biggest fan of olives, but omg these were amazing, and wayyyy cheaper than any I've ever seen in my life. We got a quarter kilo-bag for only 1 euro-- amazing. The bakeries were also fantastic, and every day there started with a sugar-high off of their chocolate molten cake, mounds of shortbread cookies, baklava dripping with honey, and a delicious Thessaloniki special pastry, like of like a flaky hot pocket filled with vanilla sauce. And lastly, of course the beaches were beautiful and wonderful. We took a bus to Halkidiki, just south of Thessaloniki, on Sunday, packed a picnic, and spent the whole day basking in the sun and in the salty Mediterranean. Even more amazing was that I managed not to get sunburnt after being exposed to some deadly rays. 

Greek Salad! Veggies, eggs, feta, olive oil. Delicious.

The rest of our time was spent sightseeing and eating Greek salad and gyros. We went up in the famous White Tower, saw some ancient artifacts at the Archaeology Museum, and went on a free (minus cocktails) Pirate ship around the harbor. The nightlife there was super alive, and the streets were more crowed at 2am than 2pm. The financial crisis going on was definitely noticeable with the many street beggars and state of the majority of houses, but it seemed similar to the life in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It was interesting traveling in a big group of girls, with sometimes contrasting opinions, but overall a really nice mini-vacation. I would love to go back someday and visit one of the islands, and stay on the beach absolutely the whole time. 

Ameera, Alex, Tiffany, me, and Kasia