In Greece!

I left Constanta Wednesday afternoon around 1pm, watched the sun rise in Bulgaria on Thursday and watched the sun set in Thessaloniki last night; what a trek! The trip was not without its challenges but so worth it - I'm visiting friends here in Salonica who had their first baby seven weeks ago (Chris and Carla - and Layne!) and it's great to see them! On Monday I'll make my way (more bus) to Patra, the biggest city on the Peloponnese, to see some friends, and then from there I'll continue south to Kavasila where I'll stay with the Mixalopoulos family for a few days before heading home to Romania. SO... (sigh) ... what were the challenges, highlights and observations of taking a bus across Bulgaria in the middle of the night? Well...

The first leg of the trip was Constanta to Bucharest, one usually made in a smaller bus, but seeing as how I was the only passenger, a newish Dacia - sans backseat seatbelts - was my ride. When I asked the driver and his front seat pal if there was a belt for me in the back, he said, "No. No problem, only driver must wear." I started to dig and, well, insist, but all this seemed to do was suggest that his driving skills were subpar at best, because clearly the back seat passenger only needs a belt of the driver is no good... right? Hm. Not that this was the first time I'd encountered this attitude/insistence on backseat non-safety law obeisance. (Portugal: one car, two seatbelts, three Canadians.) Romania is home to some crrrrazy drivers (Romanians) so I made the trip with fingers crossed. The Constanta-Bucharest trip (and presumably the rest of Romania) is full of contrasting scenes of old and new, decay and vitality, and of tradition living side by side with modernity. With techno blasting in the Dacia, outside landscapes whizzed by: dilapidated and poorly cared for fields (spotted with horses and carts, donkeys, shepherds, flocks of chicken, sheep, cattle) and small towns (a man pushing a cart mountained with cabbage, bent, scarved octogenarians) were bisected by a two-lane road and rail tracks that led from the capital to the coast and back. After three hours we arrived in Bucharest, the land of gargantuan concrete apartment blocks. The scale is this: if we're (humans) about the size of miniature tiny lego people, these apartment blocks are super-sized cinder blocks, sometimes two or three or four of them in one - glued together with zero-character concrete (that's untrue: they are foreboding, ugly and heavy with gloom). We drove by Ceaucescu's Palace (also heavy with gloom) - the second largest building in the world (after the Pentagon), and in the late afternoon, gray-winter light it was no more impressive than any of the concrete blocks - it was just sculpted. Maybe in the sunlight it would be more attractive - ? (It was built by Ceaucescu as a Palace for himself - 1/9 of Bucharest (according to Wikipedia) had to be rebuilt - it has 12 stories, 3100 rooms and is over 330,000 square meters; now it's a government building.) So anyways, I was dropped off at the bus station (in a dark, sketchy corner of the city) where I waited (inside) for two hours for the next bus-leg of my trip: Bucharest to Thessaloniki.

When I bought my ticket the other day I was told that the bus would only be about 50% full - so imagine my surprise when a full busload of eyes met me when I stepped aboard. The bus was crammed! But I lucked out - I sat in one of the only free seats at the very back of the bus where beside me, was another free seat! Relief! It was so full and cramped, and thankfully I had a little extra space from the bulky (and non-bulky) Romanian men - there were a few women on board but by enlarge it was full of Romanian dudes bound for Greece. So the trip across Bulgaria was fairly non-eventful; we stopped at a few gas stations, there were movies on... and then around 2:00 when movie time was over MUSIC time started. Traditional Romanian music played throughout the night and not at a shy volume. SO! Sleep was a challenge - which it would have been anyways - the roads were bumpy, windy and slow, and there was a lot of late-night (middle-of-the-night) bus lurching. I know I managed to sleep for a few hours but was awake from sunrise on.

So the two stops we made in Bulgaria were 10 minute-long "pausas" where we had time to get out of the bus - at a gas station - stretch our legs, and visit the ick squatter toilets. HOWEVER! When we pulled into the city of Thessaloniki, the bus driver barked something in Romanian, and we stopped on a busy road. Doors opened and nobody moved... so here I am in the very back thinking, ummm... is this the stop? On this busy road? Why isn't anyone getting off? It couldn't only be me... And then the doors shut and the bus started moving. And then we were leaving the city. Anxiety on the rise, I asked the guy next to me who didn't speak any English if that was the stop... So he went and talked to the bus driver - came back and sign-languaged that the driver would stop and I would get out... Um. What. Okay. So 10 minutes or so later, we arrived at a toll booth where he made an announcement that made everyone on the bus turn and look at me and made me grab my bags and hurdle down the aisle where he (I think) scolded me (in Romanian) for not getting off the bus in Thessaloniki. Right. I gave him the Italian fingers-together hand-bob motion and thought what the hell, you're dropping me off here at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere at a toll booth? What am I supposed to DO?! Whatever. I got off and thought, fine, I'll figure it out. I crossed hmm... about 16 empty lanes of traffic and headed for the police car parked nearby. The guys were super nice and directed me to the other side of the toll booth where I talked with another super nice police officer who flagged down a bus for me 10 minutes later to take me back into the city. Argh... BUT! In the end, it all worked out. This bus took me right to the bus station where I caught a bus to the airport - Chris and Carla live way closer to the airport than they do the city center SO... whatever. I paid my 50 euro cents and made it safe, sound and sane to the airport. Of course I had one of my favourite Greek pastries for breakfast - bougatsa - and a coffee and this helped me maintain my cool. Plus, after travelling for close to 20 hours I was just happy to be nearing the end of my trip.

SO it's great to be here - I love 'lil Layne (he's such a sweetie, so so so cute), it's great to see Chris and Carla, and I love being back in Greece. I went for a walk this morning and the local once-a-week market has more broccoli and lettuce than all of Romania - YUM! I told the guy that I wanted to buy all of it and take it home. The Wolfendens live right by the water in a town called Nea Epivates about half an hour oustide of Salonica, and there's a long stretching seawalk not a block away from their place - with beach, beach and more beach. It's a great spot. SO! I have lots planned for the week - lots of visiting and eating - and I am looking forward to it like crazy!!