The Beginning of the End

We took our last trip at the end of the previous week on Friday and Saturday, this time flying from Athens to Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece. Since I have spent almost a month in Athens, it was eye-opening traveling to another major city in Greece. Athens is not only significantly larger than Thessaloniki, but it is much more cosmopolitan. Athens reminds me of New York: it's really an international megapolis, and though strewn with Classical and Medieval ruins it is on the whole very new. Thessaloniki is industrial and working class, the Baltimore to Athens' New York. Additionally, it is a medieval city. It has a large number of churches, many of which still function, as well its medieval/Ottoman fortifications, which include the city walls as well some very impressive towers.


One other thing you should probably know about Thessaloniki is that it has a much warmer climate than Athens. Although Athens is also a port city, there are no major bodies of fresh water nearby and the winds tend to keep the humidity levels low. Thessaloniki is more humid, and I've been told that its weather is close to that of nearby Istanbul. It was unbearably hot while we were there, with temperatures in the mid-40s C. The humidity was also high, and it felt like we were trudging through New Orleans or Atlanta instead of a city on the Mediterranean Basin.
This trip was also somewhat bittersweet. This was the last trip of the Byzantine Greek Summer School. The program ended last Tuesday, and today (Friday) is the first day I haven't talked or seen someone from the program, as the last stragglers left yesterday. One thing that I didn't take into account when planning my three weeks of freedom is how lonely I am going to be. In addition to the Byzantinists leaving for diverse destinations, the other two summer sessions at the American School are ending and many people in Athens are going on vacation during the month of August. I used to be something of a recluse but over the past several years I've turned into a social butterfly, so this will be an interesting experience. Basically it boils down to either learning Modern Greek or agonizing in secluded misery!
Which leads me to my plans for the next three weeks before I venture off to Turkey...if you can call them plans. First of all I am going to finish a Modern Greek grammar I bought. Secondly I am reading books at the Gennadius that I didn't get around to reading my first year of graduate school. Last but not least, I am also going to learn some words and phrases in Turkish so I'm not completely lost when I try to get to Ankara.
You see, I have to meet the Avkat survey team (which I am a part of), which is performing an archaeological survey in that same place until early September, on 17 August at the British School of Archaeology in Ankara. My "plan" is take a train from Athens to Thessaloniki, then from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, take a ferry to Asiatic shore, then take another train from Istanbul to Ankara. Should take about two days. Should be exciting...and fraught with danger! Well, perhaps not. But not everyone in Turkey speaks English (which seems to be the case in Athens), and I don't have time to learn much of the language. But I ought to get by.
I may also take a short trip in the next few weeks, but I haven't decided where to (whither). Everyone tells me to go to the Greek islands, but I'm not too interested in beaches and sun right now, and they are going to be very crowded with foreign tourists like me at this time of year. I may, just for fun, take a train up to Bulgaria. I've never been and I could use some cooler weather. We'll see.