Sunday, March 28, 2010
Travels around Greece
Greece was a pleasant experience for the most part, with very cosmopolitan areas complimented by the historical sights. The first city we stayed in was Thessaloniki, which is greece's 2nd city, we managed to find a nice hotel for 15 euros a night and considering we arrived so late, we snapped it up! There were nice restaurants and the most significant of the historical monuments was the White Tower or sometimes known as the Bloody Tower, which was a building used by the Ottoman's to kill young Greek boys or house them there as slaves. The city was also the birthplace of Kemal Ataturk, although it wasn't really high on my agenda to see his house, and as we didn't have time, we never went. I was also introduced to a drink called the Frappe, no matter where you go in Greece i'm reassured that everybody drinks this coffee based drink, why? I'm not too sure. It is basically nescafe mixed with sugar, milk, cold water and ice. Although i drank more than one, there was nothing appealing about it apart from the fact that everyone else was drinking one!
When we arrived in Athens, we were left with the familiar predicament of having no where to stay, but we found some travelling Canadians and basically followed them to their hostel. It was based in the mother of all ghettos! Walking down the street we saw a man with a needle in his arm, numerous eastern European prostitutes. As a son of immigration, i was bewildered to see how so many immigrants were living, basically on the street, and it was completely against my expectations. There were Africans, Arabs, Asians, Eastern Europeans, yet they were all living in terrible conditions. I spoke to a few of the Bangladeshi, who worked on the street selling souvenirs and they told me that they stay and work for 6 months, and afterwards spend 6 months living well in Bangladesh and being able to provide food and education for their children. At times it was hard to see.
One particular incident came on the final day, when we were walking through the 'tourist shopping' area and an immigrant had sat down on the floor, with the sunglasses he wanted to sell, when the owner of the shop he was outside of, came out and shouted at him in Greek, gave him two swift jabs to the jaw and threw him on the floor. It was unreal. I felt for that guy. For some life isn't filled with promise, as is with our own, Alhamdulilah we're more than blessed.
Acropolis, the ancient Greek ruins, was an amazing sight as were the many other greek ruins we visited around the city. Although not as pleasant as Thessaloniki, Athens had its own aura about it, a city with so much history.
The experience of having to take a bus from Athens to Istanbul, is one i'll never forget and insh'Allah i'll never have to do it again! In the end it had taken us 26 hours to get all the way back to Eskisehir and there were two particular reasons for this absurd journey, or rather the choice of it. Firstly, it was by far the cheapest options, the Greek companies are aware of the appeal of travelling from Greece to turkey or vice vera, so the ferry travel option is very dear, as is the plane or the train! Secondly, we didn't want to get stranded at the border again, hitchhiking across a border, although an experience i'll never forget, it's one i never want to do again!
I'll leave you with a quote from Ancient Greece, by the Philosopher Aristotle:
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”
We all have a chance of obtaining it, but Alhamdulilah, some of us more than others.
When we arrived in Athens, we were left with the familiar predicament of having no where to stay, but we found some travelling Canadians and basically followed them to their hostel. It was based in the mother of all ghettos! Walking down the street we saw a man with a needle in his arm, numerous eastern European prostitutes. As a son of immigration, i was bewildered to see how so many immigrants were living, basically on the street, and it was completely against my expectations. There were Africans, Arabs, Asians, Eastern Europeans, yet they were all living in terrible conditions. I spoke to a few of the Bangladeshi, who worked on the street selling souvenirs and they told me that they stay and work for 6 months, and afterwards spend 6 months living well in Bangladesh and being able to provide food and education for their children. At times it was hard to see.
One particular incident came on the final day, when we were walking through the 'tourist shopping' area and an immigrant had sat down on the floor, with the sunglasses he wanted to sell, when the owner of the shop he was outside of, came out and shouted at him in Greek, gave him two swift jabs to the jaw and threw him on the floor. It was unreal. I felt for that guy. For some life isn't filled with promise, as is with our own, Alhamdulilah we're more than blessed.
Acropolis, the ancient Greek ruins, was an amazing sight as were the many other greek ruins we visited around the city. Although not as pleasant as Thessaloniki, Athens had its own aura about it, a city with so much history.
The experience of having to take a bus from Athens to Istanbul, is one i'll never forget and insh'Allah i'll never have to do it again! In the end it had taken us 26 hours to get all the way back to Eskisehir and there were two particular reasons for this absurd journey, or rather the choice of it. Firstly, it was by far the cheapest options, the Greek companies are aware of the appeal of travelling from Greece to turkey or vice vera, so the ferry travel option is very dear, as is the plane or the train! Secondly, we didn't want to get stranded at the border again, hitchhiking across a border, although an experience i'll never forget, it's one i never want to do again!
I'll leave you with a quote from Ancient Greece, by the Philosopher Aristotle:
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”
We all have a chance of obtaining it, but Alhamdulilah, some of us more than others.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A Most Unforgetable Journey.
It is 1.39 am. At roughly 1.27 am yesterday we set off for our journey to Greece and just that alone has been remarkably memorable. Wer arrived in Istanbul this morning and were lucky enough to find a train to Edirne, which we believed had Trains which came straight to Thessaloniki. However, when we got there, we were met by a very dusty, deserted train station, in a town where very few people appeared to speak English. Eventually after a Burger King, which didn't appear to go down well on any of us and had the adverse effect to what we desired, we managed to get a bus to the bus station, where we thought we would be able to take the bus into Greece.
How wrong were we.
When we got there, we were told we had to take a bus to the Turkish town of Kesan, followed by another bus to Ispala, where we could then get to the Border and cross over into Greece. So much for a quick train ride from Edirne. The journey to Keshan took 2 hours and it was around 6pm by this time. We got the next bus to Ispala at 6.30pm and finally got there at around 7pm.
This is when the fun began.
We took a taxi to the border, and just as our taxi disappeared out of sight, we were informed that we could not cross the border without a car and if we attempted to, we would be shot, as the area between the two borders was a military zone. The Officer promptly advised us to hitchhike across the border, the idea of which seemed easier than in practice.
We tried our best to explain to Lorry drivers the predicament we were in, but many weren't willing to offer help, probably due to fear we were illegal immigrants. There was a British guy who was willing to help but wasn't himself crossing the border for a few hours.
And just when our spirits were at their lowest, a guy who appeared Dutch was telling he would be willing to cross us over.
Bear in mind, we had been travelling for roughly 20 hours at this point, If Charles Manson had offered a lift, I doubt any of us would have rejected.
Alhamdulillah, this guy took us across, and it was revealed that he was in fact a German, originally from Chechnya, a pious Muslim and it turned out to be that my first experience of Greece, was praying with him on the side of the motorway. The more amazing thing however, was that he took us all the way to Thessaloniki, 400 km away! He was going there aswell, subhanAllah!
Things were looking bright, a long day seemed to be drawing to a close..
Until we got to the city and couldn't find a Hotel because they were full for the weekend, but we did find one eventually around 1.20am and the first thing I had to do was to right this down, because it has been draining, frustrating and unbelievable at times, it's just that i think it's one of those scenario's you look back on and think "Actually that was kind of cool!"
A night in a Hotel never sounded so appealing.
How wrong were we.
When we got there, we were told we had to take a bus to the Turkish town of Kesan, followed by another bus to Ispala, where we could then get to the Border and cross over into Greece. So much for a quick train ride from Edirne. The journey to Keshan took 2 hours and it was around 6pm by this time. We got the next bus to Ispala at 6.30pm and finally got there at around 7pm.
This is when the fun began.
We took a taxi to the border, and just as our taxi disappeared out of sight, we were informed that we could not cross the border without a car and if we attempted to, we would be shot, as the area between the two borders was a military zone. The Officer promptly advised us to hitchhike across the border, the idea of which seemed easier than in practice.
We tried our best to explain to Lorry drivers the predicament we were in, but many weren't willing to offer help, probably due to fear we were illegal immigrants. There was a British guy who was willing to help but wasn't himself crossing the border for a few hours.
And just when our spirits were at their lowest, a guy who appeared Dutch was telling he would be willing to cross us over.
Bear in mind, we had been travelling for roughly 20 hours at this point, If Charles Manson had offered a lift, I doubt any of us would have rejected.
Alhamdulillah, this guy took us across, and it was revealed that he was in fact a German, originally from Chechnya, a pious Muslim and it turned out to be that my first experience of Greece, was praying with him on the side of the motorway. The more amazing thing however, was that he took us all the way to Thessaloniki, 400 km away! He was going there aswell, subhanAllah!
Things were looking bright, a long day seemed to be drawing to a close..
Until we got to the city and couldn't find a Hotel because they were full for the weekend, but we did find one eventually around 1.20am and the first thing I had to do was to right this down, because it has been draining, frustrating and unbelievable at times, it's just that i think it's one of those scenario's you look back on and think "Actually that was kind of cool!"
A night in a Hotel never sounded so appealing.
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