Thessaloniki; Friday, 14 October, 2016

I’d set multiple alarms as my small cabin had no windows so I wasn’t convinced I’d wake up in time, but in the end I was awake a little after 4am and after a quick, if very cramped, shower, I checked out and headed over to the North terminal to checkin for the flight.

I’d forgotten quite how busy Gatwick is at that hour of the morning as there is a mass of flights all leaving between 5 and 7, so the departures lounge was very busy. Thankfully it wasn’t very long before we got a gate for the flight – mostly because it was one of the bus gates and they wanted to corral everyone early to ensure they made the flight on time, consequently I was on a bus and heading to the plane whist all the clocks still started with a 5.

We ended up being delayed for around 20 minutes on the tarmac due to air traffic control restrictions, but after that it was an easy journey – if at times quite bumpy – down to the North of Greece and a smooth if quite slow transit through the airport. The same could be said for the bus into town with the first part of the journey being quite quick until it hit Thessaloniki Friday lunchtime traffic and crawled through the city centre.

I’d landed just after midday, but by the time I got to the hotel it was gone 2:30 so I was hopeful I would be able to quickly checkin and head back out into the city, but the hotel still hadn’t got a room ready for me and I had to wait another 15 minutes before I was actually able to check in, drop my stuff off and walk into town.

I headed down to the waterfront and headed along the side of the harbour towards the city centre and onto the White Tower at the Eastern edge of the old city.

I had a bit of a wander around the area before picking up the last open-top tour bus of the day to take in the key sights of the city, returning back to the White Tower around 75 minutes later.

As it was still open I visited the exhibition in the White Tower on the history and development of the city located over the floors of the tower, before taking in the views over the port and surrounding city from the top of the tower.

Back down at ground level I wandered over to one of the boat tours that head off for a quick circuit of the harbour. The tours are free, so long as you purchase at least one of their over-priced drinks (but at €5 for a tour of the harbour and a large cold beer you can’t really complain)

Having completed the tour, I wandered back through town looking for somewhere to eat, before finally finding a very nice Armenian restaurant set off of a small square. I had a very nice and very filling dinner and completely sated I gently waddled the mile or so back to the hotel and an early night to compensate for the very early start.