Meteora, Greece
Thessaloniki is the gateway to Halkidiki. One cannot get in and out without passing through it.
The first time I visited the city was when Elina, my host in Greece, went there to run errands and she took me with her. I spent most of the day at her friends’ apartment and only saw Thessaloniki from the car window.
The friends’ apartment was small, filled with cigarette smoke and packed with people of all ages. Conversations were going non-stop, children played and did homework, people came and left as they pleased, coffee was brewed pot after pot. I did not see the communal life like this for a long time and forgot what was like.
I had a cup of thick Turkish coffee and the family matriarch, Aunt Katya, read the coffee grounds for me. She was very specific in what she said and spoke at length. I am afraid I did not memorize everything; it was a lot. Katya said many interesting things about my future. I’ll mention here only 2 things that already happened. Mind you, that Katya knew nothing about me except for my first name and that I live in America.
Katya saw my husband standing with an axe and hesitating to cut down something.
We have a huge ash tree in the backyard that is infected with the emerald ash borer. It is dangerous to keep this tree; it will damage the house if it falls one day. On the other hand, it is very expensive to remove. At the time of this fortunetelling, my husband was getting quotes for the tree removal and was not sure what to do. The tree is still there.
Katya said that my close friend Tanya (yes, she even gave me the name) would call me with important news. Tanya did call me on the following day from America to say that her daughter contracted COVID-19. Luckily, her only symptom was the total loss of smell. She has recovered since then.
This makes me wonder about the other Katya’s predictions if they come true or not.
The second time I was in Thessaloniki when I was leaving Greece. My next destination, Barbados required a negative test result for COVID-19. I bought a ticket to Barbados for Thursday, the 5th of November, and made an appointment for the test for Monday, the 1st of November. The test results were valid for 72 hours, so I hoped to make it in time. The days between the test and the flight, I planned to spend in Delphi.
Elina drove me to Thessaloniki on Sunday. We said goodbye to each other, I checked in into City Dome hotel which is located inside the Thessaloniki bus station and bought a bus ticket for Monday afternoon to go to Delphi. For the rest of Sunday I went to see Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki has its own Agia Sofia. It is not as grand as its namesake in Istanbul but still quite impressive. The church was built in the 8th century, converted into a mosque in 1524 and restored to Christianity in 1912.
Kamara is a triumphal arch, built by the end of the 3rd century or the early 4th, in honor of Caesar Galerius. Only some parts of it are in good condition but the fact that it is still standing is amazing.
The city center is dotted with islands of excavated Roman ruins stuck in between residential buildings. The entire city stands on them, no matter where you dig. Not surprisingly, Thessaloniki’s underground system is under construction since 2006. The construction workers uncover next ruins; archaeologists come and freeze the works until they finish doing their part. Currently, the most of the main line is scheduled to open in 2023.
On Monday morning, I went to the lab for a COVID-19 test. It was within a walking distance from the bus station. Instead of doing a proper nasopharyngeal swab for my 80 euros, the nurse rubbed a swab stick against my tongue. I was not worried about the test result this time; there could be no viruses in this specimen. The lab emailed me the test result in English later and I was all set for traveling to Barbados.
At 3 p.m. I was sitting on the bus going to Itea, a small coastal town 9 km from Delphi. That was as close as I could get to Delphi by cheap public transport. At 9 p.m. I was in Itea looking for a taxi to take me to Delphi. There was a car marked taxi parked on the road but no driver. I asked a group of Greek men where I could find the driver.
“Hey, Spiro! You have a passenger!” they yelled. Spiro appeared out of nowhere and for 20 euros, he drove me the remaining 9 km (12.5 mi) to my hotel in Delphi.
Cool! I fear a little fortune-telling, but when the rest is so innocent, as the first two predictions, then it is nothing to worry about:) It is always astonishing to bump into the atmosphere of “kommunalka”. Last time it happened to me in Kharkov, when I went to buy a second-hand accordion for my son, who attended a musical school at this time. I was not prepared for what I saw and have stupidly asked: “Is there a renovation going on here?” The host was clearly offended: “No, it is always like this with us”:)
The other predictions are positive and exciting. It’s the second time in my life when someone read coffee grounds for me. Everything foretold the first time came true.