Exploring a Famous Monastery on a Greek Cultural Route - The Vlatadon Monastery, Thessaloniki, Greece

For days, we were on a very strict budget as all our cash, credit cards and passports were stolen shortly after our arrival to Athens. After making some arrangement and going through a lot of red tapes, more emergency cash and my replacement credit card finally arrived to Greece.

After breakfast, we went to the closest Western Union and was happy to receive the money sent from Canada! With some cash and a replaced credit card, we were much more relaxed and could spend on the things we desired.

  We went to visit a famous monastery, the Vlatadon Monastery, on a Greek Cultural route in Thessaoniki today. We called a taxi which dropped us off at the front entrance of the monastery. The Vlatadon Monastery, situated behind a stunning city wall, seemed to have been protected from attacks in the olden days. It is a functioning monastery with a quiet, tranquil setting and a few buildings.

Vlatadon Monastery is the only active Byzantine monastery in Thessaloniki and the only site in the city with a continuous, multi‑century tradition linking it directly to St Paul. According to tradition and strongly attested - St. Paul preached on this hill, and the monastery was built to preserve that memory.

The view at the top was picturesque and commanded a good view of the city below!

  There seemed to be a small scale of chicken farm and there was an enclosed area where a few peacocks were kept. Seeing a few people were around to admire its beauty, one of the peacocks was proud to open his plume and strutted around for more than 10 minutes for all to see.

There was no tour, no worship service going on and we didn’t see anyone there except for the staff member manning the book and souvenir store. After visiting the monastery, we went around to explore the area and admire the colorful houses and the scenery.

We stopped for a rest, ordered a local snack and relaxed in the roof top garden restaurant overlooking the water. We could see the body of water right from where we were sitting. It was marvelous! It was time like this that I wish my best friend D., could still be around to share these wonderful moments with me!

Having gained a few pounds on this trip due to the delicious pies and pastries I have been comsuming for the past few days, I tried to order soemthing less fattening. I ordered a Greek yoyourt dessert which was served in a pretty bowl topped with generous servings of fruits and crushed walnuts drizzled with honey. It was delicious!!!!

I never knew how to serve Greek yoyourt at home. Now, I have found the perfect recipe combining it with fresh fruits and nuts in Greece! This is something I have learned on this trip and will take back with us to Canada! After this rich serving of sweet dessert, we were re energized and continued our visit in this area. style="clear: both;">

Reading and Understanding What St. Paul Wrote in the Book of Thessalonians in Thessaloniki, Greece

After attending the Orthodox Easter Friday service in the city square of Thessaloniki the night before, we had a good night sleep at our hotel and got up feeling rested and relaxed.

  Breakfast was served buffet style at the hotel’s lobby. We had a good breakfast with a few choices of breakfast sandwiches as well as some hot food items and an assortment of pastries and fruits. The varieties and choices of pastries being sold in the bakeries everywhere in Greece were amazing!

  It was a rainy morning here in the city. Instead of walking around exploring Thessaloniki after breakfast as we had planned, we opted to stay in the hotel lobby, a comfortable place, sipping our breakfast coffee and reading the Book of Thessalonian, one of the letters from the New Testament which the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. I have read Paul’s letters before but without much understanding of what he said in this book. However, this time being in Thessaloniki and re reading his letter, I understood it so much more! I felt as if Paul was speaking to me personally through his letter. It was incredible!

 

The part in chapter 1, the first 2 verses where Paul encouraged the congregation in Thessalonica to keep doing good. That is the exact feeling I have had numerous times after volunteering my services hours after hours but feeling unappreciated.

  Paul’s words touched me and encouraged me. I felt the power of his words right in the city where he was and where the recipients of his letters resided more than two thousand years ago! Unbelievable power!

 

Since the book of 1 Thessalonians consisted of only 5 chapters, we were able to read the whole book in one go in the hotel's dining area. Then when we came to chapter 4 verse 6 : " and that in this matter no one should should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you."

 

All of a sudden, remembering what we have learned from the Catacombs tour in an Athens church about what people did to each other in the Roman Baths, my eyes seemed to have been opened and I totally understood what Paul was talking about in this passage! Amazing experience! For the longest time, I had no idea what the bible was saying when I read it, but I was enlightened right here in Thessaloniki and finally understood the scriptures!

  I guess this is why pilgrims make pilgrimages to the holy sites to be close to where the religious events took place and to strengthen their faith and be inspired during their pilgrimages.

  RT, Day 2, Thessaloniki, Greece 042026

Taking Part in a Greek Orthodox Good Friday Service - Our Frist Orthodox Service Experience, Thessaloniki, Greece

The main reason we wanted to visit Thessalonica in Greece was to take part in the Orthodox Easter services and celebrations. We planned our arrival to the city so that we would be able to attend the Orthodox Good Friday evening service. After checking into our hotel, Downtown Suites, we went out to join an Easter service at 9 p.m. at the downtown square.

  It was a little after 8 p.m. when we took the Metro (from the Dimocratia station) nearest to our hotel to downtown. It cost only 0.6 Euro per person per subway ride, incredibly cheap!

  We were not sure where to go and asked a random person on the street. He pointed us to the direction and told us to just follow the crowd. We did and there were many people heading towards somewhere. We had no idea where we were going, but just followed the crowd.

Then we saw a procession taking place with some people carrying a big wooden cross leading the way followed by a few people carrying a floral covered dome with a rectangular box underneath it. ( Later, someone explained to me that what laid on top of the wooden box was supposed to be Jesus’ body.) Everybody started following the procession.

 

Though there were large numbers of people converging towards the same direction, everyone was civil. No one was talking loud, nor was anyone pushing anyone nor stepping on green grass strips along the way. A happy yet polite and orderly crowd. We felt safe and calm without the fear of any violent events taking place. We saw a band of musicians playing and some priests leading the way. Eventually the procession ended up at a platform built for the Good Friday Epithethos celebration by the waterfront of the city.

  The floral floats and the wooden cross were hoisted to this platform together with the priests in colorful robes. Orthodox priests were wearing either black or white robes signifying different ranks. Many of them had full beards.

According to tradition, the priests would chant in ancient Greek, not sure if they did, which might or might not be fully understood by the crowd. We stood there, along with the great multitude of local people and visitors, soaking up the atmosphere and listening to the music and chanting.

  Though unable to understand a word said by the priests, I was moved by the service tremendously. I was so grateful for the opportunity attending this somber service in person that a sunami wave of emotion feelings washed over me and tears started streaming down my face.

 

"God almighty! Thank you for loving us so much that you sent your only son, Jesus, to die for us so that we will have the hope of eternal lives in heaven and be with you and our loved ones who also believed in you. I am so grateful to be able to travel at our age and be present for this wonderful service in Thessaloniki. God, thank you and thank you for your love and mercy!" My simple prayer to thank God at our first service in Thessaloniki, Greece.

 

RT, Thessaloniki, Greece 04102026

Taking a bus from Athens to Thessalonica, Greece

We took a taxi from our hotel – Hotel Corto Maltese to the Athens’ bus station, a 15 minutes taxi ride. The bus station was busy with many travelers for the Greek Orthodox Easter long weekend in Greece. We changed our online tickets for 2 paper tickets.

The bus station designated a specific area for the bus going to each specific city. We were going to Thessaloniki and there was a clear sign with Thessaloniki written above the waiting area for passengers travelling to that city. Therefore, there was no mistake where passengers should be boarding their buses and they would know exactly where they should be waiting.

  We saw a few convenient stores selling snacks, drinks and some nice typical Greek pastries. We needed not worry about being hungry when we were travelling in Greece, we could buy food pretty well everywhere we went. There were even a few tables and chairs set out so passengers could have some beverages while waiting for the bus.

  Not long after we were standing at the waiting area, a woman around late 50’s dressed in black top and long shirt, holding a bundle of of cross necklaces approached us. Not speaking much English, she gestured us to buy something from her. I had no interest in buying anything, then she pointed to her mouth gesturing us that she needed food. Remembering the incident at the Acropolis a few days ago, after refusing to buy something from a lady similar in age and costume who kept following me and distracting me, and later I had my wallet stolen. I reached into my purse and gave her some money so that she would not follow us.

 

Moments later, another middle age woman with a child of special needs approached us too. I also gave her some money so that they would not follow us. After the previous theft incident, I was just terrified of poor people approaching us to sell things or asking for money for fear that my valuables like my passports and credit card might be stolen again. I rather gave them something than risking my valuables being stolen.

  Our bus arrived closed to 11 a.m. We had our luggage put inside the lugguage compartment of the bus and were ready for boarding. I asked the lady collecting the tickets if there was a toilet on the bus to which she answered, ‘ Yes, but it is not working.” Then I asked her where the toilet was at the bus station as I thought I should visit the washroom before boarding the bus. She answered if I needed to go to the toilet I must change my ticket to board a later bus as the bus would leave right at that moment.

 

This is why I am writing this blog post to warn future foreign visitors to Greece that if you are taking a long distance bus to another city, make sure you check if the toilet is working on the bus first! As the bus leaving Athens, we were greeted with graffitis everywhere on our way out of the city, even on the highway walls, I felt bad for the nice folks in Greece who have to see their beautiful sometimes historic buildings defaced with so much graffitis.

  Our bus left at 11:06a.m. from the Athens bus station and took about 6 hours before arriving to our destination. But the 6 hour bus ride went by quickly as there was so much to see on the way.

We passed by residential area, factories, big machinery companies, farmlands, pastures with animals, quiet emerald lake, huge mountains, cute farmhouses etc and I was kept busy taking pictures.

  After riding for two hours on the bus, we arrived at a restaurant and were given a 45 minutes lunch break. The restaurant was nice and spacious with an outdoor dining patio as well.

Wow, the dishes they served at that bus stop restaurant was delicious! The food choices were beyond our expectation. We never expected such a variety of hot food from which to choose at a roadside restaurant. We ordered a cabbage salad, moussaka and calamari with spinach. They were all very good!

We arrived at Thessaloniki at around 6p.m. The first thing we saw was a small church right inside the bus terminal! There was a service going on and this small church was filled with worshippers too! We have travelled quite a bit in Europe, but this was the first time we saw a church right inside a bus terminal building!

  After we had a quick dinner at the terminal, we used our GPS and were able to find our way to the hotel though not as easy as we had expected since the information given by the GPS was confusing at times.

  RT, Thessaloniki, Greece 10042026

Getting Our Temporary Passports and Celebrating at the Bread Factory, Athens

We were both relieved and happy that we finally could travel again with our temporary Canadian passports and our replaced credit cards!

Ami at the Athens' Canadian Embassy was super nice and helpful as she did her best getting our passports replaced by Wednesday of the OTHORODEX Easter weekend as we have planned to be at another city to experience the Greek Easter celebrations.

 She explained everything clearly to us to ensure we would able to exchange our temporary passports for the permanent ones after getting back to Canada.

 

With our temporary passports in our hands, I did a happy dance right outside the Canadian embassy! Later on, we also received our replacement credit card couriered to us in Athens by our bank back home.

 

 

With very little money for the past few days, we had to watch every penny we spent therefore were unable to afford eating anything we wished we could. Now, with passports and money in our possession, freedom from poverty! We celebrated by eating a proper meal at a bakery café called the Bread Factory near the Embassy. Not a pretty name for a restaurant, the Bread Factory served pretty good food as the variety and quality of the food items offered in this eatery blew me away. I have never been to a bakery cafe with such a huge choice of bake goods available. I was like a little kid running around in a candy store - amazed, happy and not knowing what to choose to eat!

  Not only did this bakery café offer great choices of bake goods, it also offered hot food items to customers for lunch and dinner and a nice dining area where customers could enjoy their food.

We were in Athens for almost a week and this was our second real meal in Athens. (Having had all our money and credit cards stolen on the second day in Athens, we had to work hard stretching the small amount of cash we had for a few days until receiving the money our son sent us.) We chose fresh grilled fish, salads and baked fava beans in tomato sauce, my hubby’s favourte . We took our lunch into the bakery’s enclosed patio and enjoyed our first real meal in Athens. With our passport and credit card problems behind us, we could finally let our hair down and start to have a good time in Greece.

  We enjoyed our nice lunch at the Bread Factory in Athens. We woul never had gone into a restaurant with a name that conjured up images of a place where people were slaving away working in a factory. But this time, I must admit I was wrong as the Bread Factory did exceed our expectations and served up delicious and affordable good food! 2 thumbs up, Bread Factory!

  RT, Athens, Greece 042026

Excellent Ground Transportation System and Wonderful Arts and Historical Displays in Athens' Subway Stations, Greece!

I felt so excited this morning as we would be getting our temporary Canadian passports this morning. Rolling out of bed and feeling happy, we got dressed and were ready to go. Our breakfast from the hotel was delivered to our room at 8:30 a.m. Our first in room breakfast on this trip. Though not a full hot breakfast as in other hotels we have stayed while on the Greece trip, the food items were displayed nicely on a round wooden tray and served with smiles by two lovely ladies from the hotel. It was filling for both of us.

 

By this time, we have learned our way around in Athens and were able to take the subway everywhere. One thing Athens has impressed us the most – its subway and public transportation system - accessible and affordable, taking us to anywhere we wanted to go in Athens.

 

It only cost 1.20 euro per person each trip regardless of the distance the passenger takes on the subway line. Not only that, each ticket allows the passenger 90 minutes time for reboarding.

Therefore, you can run short errands and hop on hop off the subway train.

  The train frequency was good when we were there and the subway stations were reasonably clean with many stations presenting arts and cultural displays educationg the public about the history of Greece or something educational.

Making use of the subway stations as an educational tool and sharing with the residents and visitors alike about the history, the arts and cultural of Athens and Greece is a great idea!

We also saw searching for missing person notices on its overhead monitors.

This is something we can learn from Greece in North America! I would like to see something like that in our subway stations in Toronto, Canada!

Two thumbs up for Athens for its wonderful Metro system and its great use of its Metro staions as a public service to its inhabitants! RT, Athens, Greece, 042026 p.s. if you like my blog, I would appreciate some comments from my readers! From what country are you reading my blog post?

Western Union Saved Our Day While Vacationing in Aegina Island, Greece!

Aegina Island - Day 3 We liked Aegina Island so much that we decided to stay another night here on this lovely Greek island extending our stay to a third day!

Not hurrying to get back to Athens, we could be more relaxed in our schedule to fully enjoy the Greek island life! We felt so relaxed here that we could have easily stay for anther week or so.

However, we still needed to deal wit our cash problem here. I checked my email hoping to receive a reply email from our Canadian bank. We requested them to send us some emergency fund last Thursday and hoped to get it from them by today. But we were hugely disappointed. Instead, I got a reply from my financial advisor informing me that I needed to call the 800 number to apply for another bank card and to follow a whole set of procedures. I was frustrated to no end!

 

We have money in the bank and the bank advisor knows me personally. She was aware of the difficult situation we were in Greece. However, she didn’t help us in any practical ways in order for us to be able to withdraw some of our money. Finally, I called my relative in Canada and requested her to send some money; she did it right away.

We received a message and the verification code from Western Union and we weret able to locate a branch on this island! We walked into the branch, presented the officer with the police report from the Athens' police station verifying that we were the people on the email message.

  Bingo! Western Union released the fund to us without further delay! So happy we could retrieve money sent by our relative from Western Union in Aegina Island. This saved our trip and allowed us to enjoy the food and finer things in Greece!

Right after we recieved the money, we enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch by the ocean on the dock of this lovely island! It was an absolutely fantastic afternoon with a blue sky above, sunny weather and gentle ocean breezes blowing on our faces and money in our pockets so that we wouldn't feel poor again!

A shout out and a big THANK YOU to Western Union, Aegina branch, Greece!

  RT, Aegina Island, Greece, 042026