Eating our way around Thessaloniki

The city of Thessaloniki is set on the coast, and the centre of town is a marina (rather than a beach), which means there is a lovely boardwalk to wander along in the sunshine, eating ice cream or delicious Greek pastries.

The city is an old walled city, but most of the remnants of the walls have disappeared.  Sadly, a lot of the history of the city seems to be ignored, or locked up.  There are various churches built 2000 years ago which are locked to visitors.  There are archaeological sites that are completely unprotected – with graffiti on ancient ruins.   

We really enjoyed wandering around the edges of the city, coming across the remnants of ancient Greece, but I wish that there was more money in Greece to take care of the ‘old stuff’.

We did exert ourselves somewhat to make our way up the White Tower – like the Round Tower in Copenhagen, the White Tower is an internal ramp, rather than stairs.  At the top the view over sunny Thessaloniki was lovely. 

The city is full of delicious food.  In addition to the Greek pastries, we ate cheeses, olives, fish and salads.  

There were so many tempting things to try, that it became difficult to find enough to see and do in between each meal or snack (I know, a terrible problem to have).  Probably the most delicious meal was our final dinner, where I had a delicious pasta with fresh tuna.

Thessaloniki is a lovely city, pretty perfect for a weekend, or a couple of days, where you want to do a little sight seeing, and eat a lot of delicious food.

Lazy days in Larnaca

Geoff and I headed off on a Hellenic tour – a few days in Cyprus, then a few more in Greece.  Firstly, Larnaca in the southern (Greek) part of Cyprus. 

A mostly flat, sun-bleached town on the beach, Larnaca was a perfect place to spend a weekend in lovely weather, sunshine, sea and eating seafood.

After an early start in London, we arrived just before sunset in Larnaca, with just a short cab ride from the airport to our hotel.  

Naturally we headed straight to the beach, and wandered along the sand and dipped our toes in the water before the first of multiple dinners of calamari!

We did some exploration of the town – we went to the church where St Lazarus was buried (the second time, of course).  It was so different to the cathedrals and churches that we had visited across the UK and Europe – from the Bristol Cathedral to local churches in Krakow, Poland, we had become used to a certain look.  The St Lazarus church was entirely different – absolutely dripping in gilt and iconography, very little floor space and very small.  Underneath the church is the tomb of St Lazarus where people come to drink the water, or anoint themselves (and their children) for good fortune.

Larnaca is full of tiny streets, none of which are straight, and we wandered along them – stopping in at little shops selling ceramics, honey, nuts and religious icons (and bought none).

Mostly we soaked up the sunshine, and bathed in the ocean.  It was low tide during the day, so we had to wade a fair way out to get to deep enough water, which was easy enough as the beach is a bay with pretty calm water.

More seafood followed, with more beach wandering.

Our Roman Holiday

We’re in the midst of ‘making the most of it’ mode, so headed to Rome for the weekend – we arrived at about 8:30 on Friday night, and left at lunchtime on Sunday.

We made the most of it in our style – focussing on the delicious food we could eat, and seeing what sights we could (even though a good amount were shut on the Saturday due to the Treaty of Rome 60^th anniversary celebrations).

The food market at Termini – which is otherwise an unpleasant place to stay for long – was amazing.  There are heaps of stalls, and you can order from different stalls, grab a seat and settle in.  People will come by with drinks carts and it’s very easy to build up a small pile of used glasses and plates.  The cacio e pepe pasta was the highlight, but the salmon tartare was a pretty close second.

Another delicious meal was some foccacia stuffed with mozzarella and zucchini flowers, followed by gelati of course!  

We went to the Vatican, but didn’t join the 3 hour (minimum) queues to get in, saw the Trevi (ugly surrounds, but lovely fountain itself), and went into the Pantheon – squeezing in all the sights we could and covering a good amount of ground.

We enjoyed some really delicious wine and cheese that night, before some pizza, and falling into bed. 

Sunday morning we were up bright and early and queuing at the Colosseum before the railings were even up for the day, and as we’d pre-booked our tickets we were inside, on our own, as the hordes waited to buy their tickets. 

We spent some time wandering on the Palatino (which we could see from our lovely hotel), and through the Forum, before buying some lunch in the Jewish quarter, grabbing our bags and heading back to the airport.

Edinburgh Yarn Festival recap

I’m probably last to the party, but here, finally, is my recap of the Edinburgh Yarn Festival (EYF)!

Geoff and I finished our Scottish tour in Edinburgh – perfectly timed for me to attend EYF naturally.  I had booked classes on both afternoons, and wanted to spend some serious time in market place, so left Geoff to explore some of the aspects of Edinburgh that I had already visited.

EYF was absolutely manic – the first hour of shopping on the Friday was pleasant (though there was a decently long queue to get in), but as soon as the main doors opened the building was flooded with excited knitters.  As the temperature in the building rose (literally) people soldiered on, wearing beautiful shawls and garments knitted especially for the festival. 

I did most of my shopping in the first hour – my planned purchases included mohair from Woollenflower, a sock blank from The Wool Kitchen, some lambswool from Di Gilpin and a skein of the brightest pink yarn you have ever seen from EasyKnits. 

Later on, there were some impulsive purchases – some SkeinQueen, and skeins from each of John Arbon, The Knitting Goddess and JC Rennie for a 3 colour shawl project I have in mind (Nordic Arrows, from the 1st issue of Laine Magazine).

I picked up some trinkets – a tape measure, some needles, a tote bag – to round things out.

I really enjoyed opportunities to sit and knit with people – including in the podcast lounge, chat to people about what they were wearing, and definitely enjoyed shopping with so many like minded knitters!

Geoff and I rounded out the trip with a delicious seafood dinner, at Fishers in Leith, which was a lovely way to end our trip (yet again, with more good food).

Were I to go to EYF again, or if you are thnking of attending, I would sign up for a morning class, do some shopping in the 9-10am window that’s limited to just class attendees, and potentially a bit more after class as well.  I did find it pretty overwhelming once the main doors opened, and would have liked to come and go, but as the venue is a good way from the centre of the old town there wasn’t much point to coming and going (except to get lunch across the street).