Thessaloniki, Second Day

Today we all got up a little earlier with a plan. I was going to drive one group up to St. Nicholas Orphanos, a tiny chapel with encredible frescoes – some of the best and most completely intact in the world. Then I would go back to the hotel and “ferry up” the next group. It sound so easy on paper!!

Maps are great, but sometimes obsolete, especially when they do not indicate one-way streets. Thessaloniki is full of them. I remembered how difficult it was for me to find St. Nicholas on foot years ago, tucked way up in a residential district with scads of tiny twisting streets. With a car, you’re often limited by 50%. We found the exact road we needed, but it went the wrong way! It took us almost 45 minutes to get there with group #1.

Then going back to the hotel? Although it would have been probably a 7 minute straight shot drive, had the roads been amenable, it took me a good 30 minutes. I had to backtrack and go around blocks over and over to get going the right way, then had to circle many times before I could find a parking place. I finally did, though, unsure if the men would even still be there waiting, as I’d taken so long. They were. Happily checking up on email and making fun of the British Greek phrase book. It's pretty easy to make fun of these little "mistakes" in translations, and also to muse over what the phrase book people have chosen to include and to leave out!

We all thoroughly enjoyed St. Nicholas Orphanos, and took our time examining the exquisite frescoes everywhere. Even the kids, there for well over an hour, were well-occupied because there happened to be 4 turtles on the grounds there. After this, I ferried the men down nearby Aghias Sofias and turned them loose there. We followed soon after but finding a parking place was horrific. I got one pretty much right away, actually did the parallel parking quite well, and then a local guy pointed out that we were in a no-parking zone. (indicated by tiny little reflectors on the street!). He suggested we could probably get away with staying there, as the traffic police (what? there are traffic police in Greece? We had just been musing that we haven’t seen a single highway patrol for 3 weeks now.) had just come by. I asked him how much the ticket would be if we got one. He said they don’t give you a ticket, they just SNATCH YOUR LICENSE PLATE RIGHT OFF YOUR CAR!!! And he pointed to the one directly in front of us who had this happen 10 minutes ago. No more discussion. Christopher handed me the keys and I was out of there, leaving them to visit the church while I found other parking… which took well over 30 minutes!

Basil and I went to a bookstore, visited another church called “Panaghia on the Right”, and also the icon painters again. It was funny when I was asking around to find the church. I was asking for “Panaghia Thextero” instead of “Panaghia Thexia”. So I was asking for the church of Mother-of-God-I-don’t-Know instead of Mother of God on the Right (meaning the right side of the arch of Galerian).

We all went out for dinner again tonight down in an area kind of like the Plaka in Athens. Christopher, Basil, Grandma and I had been to Vespers at St. Demetrius. I feel like I could never spend enough time there with his relics, which are encased in a large silver box covered by plexiglass and still incredibly fragrant. Fr. Nicholas, Gabriel and Emma went by Hagia Sophia, an immense but mostly bare church sunk down in the pavement several feet. Unfortunately most of the mosaics were removed and destroyed during Turkish rule here. They went by to retrieve her backpack, which she left earlier in the day, then walked 2 blocks down to the Metropolis Church, where St. Gregory Palamas' relics are. They had Vespers there with Fr. Methodius, which we had done the previous night. All of them came to our meeting point glowing, having had a wonderful and intimate experience there, actively feeling the presence of the great saint who established our understanding of the heights that can be reached through contemplative prayer. It was our last time before the men head out at 4:45AM tomorrow for Mt. Athos. We found a very typical Greek restaurant and enjoyed our food as well as the folk music played live behind us. It has been really nice in Thessaloniki, especially being here all together. We’ve been to some amazing churches and several very nice services.

Tomorrow we aren’t sure what we’re doing. The monastery we had hoped to go to near Larissa is now full. But a friend of Fr. Nicholas’ is helping us to find another place, hopefully somewhere in Volos. It’s always an adventure….

Our last 2 nights will probably be in Athens with Maria-Meredith. Grandma Coco is beginning to talk about how much she will enjoy her Martini Night. And she said tonight that one week from now she will be eating a plain old hotdog at the Mariner’s game. She said it with great relish!

Macrina signing off at midnight from Thessaloniki where the air conditioner is cool and it’s pleasant outside.