Last Saturday, we all decided to go out to celebrate a lot of people’s last weekends in Thessaloniki. We walked down to Kamara to meet up with everyone and were surprised to see a lot of other people there too. Kamara is usually a big meeting place, but that night just seemed different. All of a sudden all the people started chanting “Basti, Gorounia, Dolophoni” which means “Cops, Pigs, Murderers.” Luckily, we were with Vicky and Stephanos so they were able to tell us what was going on. Earlier that day, the police in Athens killed a 15 year-old boy in Omonia, a typically anarchist neighborhood. The entire country was outraged and started riots because of it. Turns out, we were at the exact place at the exact time of a riot in Thessaloniki. Once all of the thousands of people started marching in the streets and setting dumpsters on fire, we walked down some side streets to avoid getting caught up in all the mess. It was pretty scary, but we didn’t really know what was happening, and we made it to our destination safely.
On the walk home, several hours later though, we were really able to see the devastation that this first riot caused. Stores had been broken into and looted, all the dumpsters were in the middle of the streets and on fire, and broken glass covered all the sidewalks and roads. Smoke could be seen from streets were stores had been burned.
The next day, we were instructed not to leave our neighborhood. During this time, we all did a lot of research and were trying to figure out why all the violence was happening. The Greek government is very unstable, with the anarchists close to being the majority. Because of this and other previous clashes with law enforcement and government, Greeks generally strongly dislike the police. We were told that contrary to our instincts, in this situation, we should avoid the police at all costs, because wherever they were there would be trouble.
No one really knew how long the violence would last, the only other experience we had with riots were the ones that never even happened on Polytechnic Day. I was really nervous about it because Kayla arrived on Monday, and if I couldn’t leave my neighborhood (and on Monday we weren’t even supposed to leave the building) how was I supposed to get her at the airport, let alone show her around my city? I spent much of Monday afternoon calling taxi services, many of whom refused to come into the neighborhood. Hours later I finally had success when I called a taxi driver friend and he agreed to drive me to and from the airport.
My neighborhood is at the edge of the public university’s campus, where most of the rioting is happening. There is an asylum law in Greece that states that police are not allowed to enter university grounds. Because of this, protesters and rioters use the university as a safe haven to throw their fire bombs and rocks. My apartment is literally on the same street as the university, so most of the roads around here were closed.
I was so relieved to get Kayla to my apartment safely. I could tell the taxi driver was agitated and nervous about driving through my neighborhood, but I’m so glad he agreed to. When we got into the building though, we were informed that we wouldn’t have school on Tuesday because the bus wouldn’t be able to pick us up safely. Normally, I would be overjoyed at this news, but I had finals scheduled that I would now need to find time to make-up. As we were watching a movie that night, we could see fire bombs being thrown from the roofs of some of the university buildings.
While we were told to stay inside the next day, I couldn’t keep Kayla indoors all day, and I too was itching for an outing. The violence was only happening in the heart of the city so I decided to take Kayla up to the Old City Walls, which are on the outskirts of town on top of hill where you can see the whole city. There are also some great ruins on the walk up there. We ate at a taverna on the edge of a cliff so we could see the whole city. Every once in a while, we would see clouds of smoke coming from the university area, rioters no doubt.
Wednesday, we decided to go out to lunch and grocery shopping, against ACT’s suggestions. Because the funeral for the boy was that day, we knew to expect more violence. While we were in the grocery store, a huge crowd of people marched by chanting the “cops, pigs, murderers” thing again. Moments after they passed, police went running after them in all their riot gear. A man in the grocery store started yelling about how it was a peaceful protest until the police intervened and escalated. Coming out of the store, the tear gas hung in the air. Luckily we’d caught on to the European scarf trend, and used them to cover our mouths and noses. Walking past the intersection at the campus, we could see a huge crowd of people running inside the campus gates to avoid the police.
I spent all day at school yesterday taking 4 finals and a midterm that I’d missed when I had strep throat last week. It was rough, but at least I’m finished with the semester! That’s a lie, I still have an ethics paper to write, but that isn’t due until January. We planned a great night out to celebrate, regardless of the riots, but I received some bad news from home, so I wasn’t in a celebratory mood. My grandmother passed away yesterday. I knew it was coming, but the fact that I can’t be home with my family, especially when they are so worried about me anyway, makes it more difficult.
Today Kayla and I went to all the museums of Thessaloniki, and actually went into all the ruins in the squares. I am so glad I went to the museums, and I regret not going sooner. I learned so much about the city that I’ve been living in for the last 3 months. The museums also had a lot of great artifacts and historical items that were really interesting to see.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Italy for the week. Kayla and I will be visiting Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome, and two friends from home will also be meeting us to travel together. I know I should be so excited about going to Italy, but really all I want to do is go home. After everything, strep throat, the riots, my grandmother, home is the only place that I want to be right now. But instead, we’re celebrating the end of the semester tonight at Apostoli’s and then going to Dante to reminisce about our first days here. I’ll come back to Thessaloniki for 2 days after Italy to relax and pack up, my only hope is that the riots and everything will be over. Wandering around the city the last few days, it is clear the billions of dollars of damage that was caused. Tsimiski, the street with all the designer shops is basically destroyed as are several of the kiosks and most banks throughout the city. It is crazy to me that these people would destruct the property of their friends and neighbors just to get their point across. But get their point across they did, and Americans could learn from the Greeks to assert their freedom of speech and right to protest. While it was more destructive than it may have needed to be, Americans would never put that much effort into an outcry and to really get noticed and listened to.
Friday, 12 December 2008
Monday, 1 December 2008
EGYPT!
Never in my life have I felt more at home in such an unfamiliar place. My trip to Cairo, Egypt went flawlessly. Maggie, Alex, and I arrived in Egypt at 3 am, a time that could create some uncomfortable situations no matter where you were in the world. After landing, we bought our tourist visas and headed out of the airport. Before we even took a step outside we saw my name on a paper and one of the guys that worked at the hostel. He promptly put us on the bus to the parking lot (vehicles are not allowed to park directly at the terminal for security reasons) and then we were off to find our hostel in a car much nicer than you’d expect a hostel to have. Driving through Cairo in the middle of the night was awesome, a lot of the mosques and other sites were lit up as we drove past. When we got to our hostel though, I didn’t know what we’d gotten ourselves into. It seemed to be in a kinda sketchy neighborhood, and anyone could just wander in from off the street. We sat down in the reception area of the hostel and were offered anything we wanted to drink. I can speak for all of us when I say all we wanted to do was go to sleep, but we didn’t want to be rude. We talked with the guys, Kerim and Ahmed for a while and settled into a short nights sleep.
The next morning we woke to one of the other guys offering us breakfast in our rooms, and he brought bread, jam, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Ahmed had arranged a driver for us to take us around the city to see some of the sites before the rest of our group arrived later in the afternoon. We drove up the citadel, the former home to the police and military training academies. There were a lot of cool things to see in the mosques and museums there, but by far the best thing was the incredible view of the city. Smog in Cairo is a big problem, but from the citadel we were even able to catch a glimpse of the pyramids! I guess that’s when I got really excited, and it hit me that I was in Egypt. Awesome. We ended up staying too long at the citadel and just headed back to the hostel.
Now would be a good time to explain traffic in Cairo. I thought Greek traffic was crazy. No. Cairo makes Greece look like dirt roads in New Hampshire. There are lane lines in Cairo, but in no way are they observed. Just imagine the worst traffic jam you can, and then imagine all the cars moving in every possible direction in every possible position. One car was even reversing and turning around in the middle of traffic. Right in front of us two cars collided, and without moving their cars they got out and started arguing about it in the middle of traffic. No wonder all the cars in Cairo are all really beat up – it really was just insane.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel and were met with Mike, Luke, Kyle, Dana, Danica, and Erin. Finally everyone was together! While a few of them took a quick nap, the rest of us went out to explore our neighborhood and exchange money and pick up some necessary items. Our hostel was in downtown Cairo, but was still relatively quiet. There were hookah bars everywhere, and pharmacies were as prevalent there as in Thessaloniki.
After our exploring we went back to the hostel to get ready for a night on the Nile. Kerim had arranged a dinner cruise on the Nile, and he came with us to enjoy the night. There were whirling dervishes, belly dancers, and stick fighters. It really was a great night on the Nile. After that, our driver took us to the 24 hour market, where we bargained for souvenirs for a few hours. Bargaining in Egypt is the same as in Istanbul; try to get the most ridiculously low price you can. Men in Cairo were also pretty similar to the ones in Istanbul, but maybe a little more aggressive. They kept offering the guys thousands of camels for us girls, one guy even offered 2 million camels for Maggie, so it became a running joke to see how many camels we could be bargained for. While it was kinda sketchy, it was never really that uncomfortable.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our pyramid excursion. Again everything was arranged by the hostel, making the whole thing really easy for us. They drove us to the camel stable where somehow we got an amazing price for our trip into the desert to see the pyramids of Giza and the sphinx. Getting on and off a camel is certainly an experience, and while we did it several times, I never really got used to it. The camels are sitting down when you get on, and then my camel was the first to stand up, so I had no idea what was happening. Because they do their front and back legs at separate times, you basically have to hang on for dear life until they’re standing up completely. After we went through a security checkpoint we were off into the desert. Our first sight of the pyramids was breathtaking, and every moment that we got closer, the whole thing just got better. Because the pyramids are right outside of the city we were also able to hear the Muslim call to prayer while we were out there coming from all over the city. We had a guide that knew all the good places for photo ops, so we were on and off the camels a lot. Unexpectedly we were also able to climb up the pyramids as far as we wanted to. I had assumed they’d be roped off and untouchable, but that was not the case. So we climbed up the biggest pyramid for a little bit and then were off on the camels to what I think was called Panoramic Mountain, the best place to take a picture of all 3 of the big pyramids. There were also 2 sets of 3 smaller pyramids around the big ones.
Then we went down to the sphinx, which was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, but still very impressive. Everywhere in Giza were people trying to sell their goods, but we were told by our guide not to buy anything no matter what. Even if you want something, the other sellers will see you buy something and pounce. The last thing you want is to be mobbed. We wandered around the sphinx a little bit and then headed back to the stables. Back at the stables, the owner took us into a traditional Egyptian home, just to see what it was like. There were 9 of us just taking a quick peek and the women living in the home offered us something to drink – I can’t say it enough, Egyptian hospitality was outstanding.
We were back in the car and we went to a perfumery, to see how Egyptian perfume was made. They offered us drinks and ice cream and showed us several of the unique kinds of perfume that are sold all over the world with name brands. We’d been to a perfume place in the market, so we knew the prices there were better, so we didn’t want to buy anything. We felt bad that they’d taken the time to show us everything and feed us and we didn’t want to buy anything, so we tried to give the guy a big tip, but he refused to take it.
Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum, which is home to millions of artifacts. Everything found in Egypt of value is placed in the museum. It was huge and extremely easy to get lost in. We saw mummy tombs, scarab beetles, and monuments galore. The only thing that I’d change about the museum was that I’d like more of an explanation of what things were and where they were found. It was hard to put everything into context from the museum. After a while in the museum we walked back to hostel for quick naps and then headed back to the market to pick up any last minute gifts. Maggie, Alex, and I had to leave the hostel at 1:30 am to catch our 4 am flight back to Greece. Back at the hostel we packed up and spent some time with Kerim. The Bedouin Hostel wins Best Hostel Award in my eyes. Never have I felt more at home anywhere that wasn’t my home. They were so welcoming and open to us. Anything that we asked for, we got. They really took care of us too, without them helping to plan everything we either would have gotten lost or terribly ripped-off. I was so grateful to them, and they were so grateful to us.
The Cairo airport was a little confusing, but soon enough we were back in Athens and then off to Thessaloniki. We were circling Thessaloniki for a while, and then had to go back to Athens because it was too foggy to land. It was annoying and an inconvenience, but luckily the flight is only 45 minutes and there are frequent flights between the 2 cities. We got home a few hours later than expected, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
This was really the best weekend of my life. Looking back on it, I honestly can’t believe that I was in Egypt – even the pictures don’t seem real. Never in my life did I think I would be able to see the pyramids. Studying them in school, they always seemed just too far away, just too mystical to actually be seen.
The next morning we woke to one of the other guys offering us breakfast in our rooms, and he brought bread, jam, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Ahmed had arranged a driver for us to take us around the city to see some of the sites before the rest of our group arrived later in the afternoon. We drove up the citadel, the former home to the police and military training academies. There were a lot of cool things to see in the mosques and museums there, but by far the best thing was the incredible view of the city. Smog in Cairo is a big problem, but from the citadel we were even able to catch a glimpse of the pyramids! I guess that’s when I got really excited, and it hit me that I was in Egypt. Awesome. We ended up staying too long at the citadel and just headed back to the hostel.
Now would be a good time to explain traffic in Cairo. I thought Greek traffic was crazy. No. Cairo makes Greece look like dirt roads in New Hampshire. There are lane lines in Cairo, but in no way are they observed. Just imagine the worst traffic jam you can, and then imagine all the cars moving in every possible direction in every possible position. One car was even reversing and turning around in the middle of traffic. Right in front of us two cars collided, and without moving their cars they got out and started arguing about it in the middle of traffic. No wonder all the cars in Cairo are all really beat up – it really was just insane.
Somehow we made it back to our hostel and were met with Mike, Luke, Kyle, Dana, Danica, and Erin. Finally everyone was together! While a few of them took a quick nap, the rest of us went out to explore our neighborhood and exchange money and pick up some necessary items. Our hostel was in downtown Cairo, but was still relatively quiet. There were hookah bars everywhere, and pharmacies were as prevalent there as in Thessaloniki.
After our exploring we went back to the hostel to get ready for a night on the Nile. Kerim had arranged a dinner cruise on the Nile, and he came with us to enjoy the night. There were whirling dervishes, belly dancers, and stick fighters. It really was a great night on the Nile. After that, our driver took us to the 24 hour market, where we bargained for souvenirs for a few hours. Bargaining in Egypt is the same as in Istanbul; try to get the most ridiculously low price you can. Men in Cairo were also pretty similar to the ones in Istanbul, but maybe a little more aggressive. They kept offering the guys thousands of camels for us girls, one guy even offered 2 million camels for Maggie, so it became a running joke to see how many camels we could be bargained for. While it was kinda sketchy, it was never really that uncomfortable.
The next morning we were up bright and early for our pyramid excursion. Again everything was arranged by the hostel, making the whole thing really easy for us. They drove us to the camel stable where somehow we got an amazing price for our trip into the desert to see the pyramids of Giza and the sphinx. Getting on and off a camel is certainly an experience, and while we did it several times, I never really got used to it. The camels are sitting down when you get on, and then my camel was the first to stand up, so I had no idea what was happening. Because they do their front and back legs at separate times, you basically have to hang on for dear life until they’re standing up completely. After we went through a security checkpoint we were off into the desert. Our first sight of the pyramids was breathtaking, and every moment that we got closer, the whole thing just got better. Because the pyramids are right outside of the city we were also able to hear the Muslim call to prayer while we were out there coming from all over the city. We had a guide that knew all the good places for photo ops, so we were on and off the camels a lot. Unexpectedly we were also able to climb up the pyramids as far as we wanted to. I had assumed they’d be roped off and untouchable, but that was not the case. So we climbed up the biggest pyramid for a little bit and then were off on the camels to what I think was called Panoramic Mountain, the best place to take a picture of all 3 of the big pyramids. There were also 2 sets of 3 smaller pyramids around the big ones.
Then we went down to the sphinx, which was actually a lot smaller than I had expected, but still very impressive. Everywhere in Giza were people trying to sell their goods, but we were told by our guide not to buy anything no matter what. Even if you want something, the other sellers will see you buy something and pounce. The last thing you want is to be mobbed. We wandered around the sphinx a little bit and then headed back to the stables. Back at the stables, the owner took us into a traditional Egyptian home, just to see what it was like. There were 9 of us just taking a quick peek and the women living in the home offered us something to drink – I can’t say it enough, Egyptian hospitality was outstanding.
We were back in the car and we went to a perfumery, to see how Egyptian perfume was made. They offered us drinks and ice cream and showed us several of the unique kinds of perfume that are sold all over the world with name brands. We’d been to a perfume place in the market, so we knew the prices there were better, so we didn’t want to buy anything. We felt bad that they’d taken the time to show us everything and feed us and we didn’t want to buy anything, so we tried to give the guy a big tip, but he refused to take it.
Our next stop was the Egyptian Museum, which is home to millions of artifacts. Everything found in Egypt of value is placed in the museum. It was huge and extremely easy to get lost in. We saw mummy tombs, scarab beetles, and monuments galore. The only thing that I’d change about the museum was that I’d like more of an explanation of what things were and where they were found. It was hard to put everything into context from the museum. After a while in the museum we walked back to hostel for quick naps and then headed back to the market to pick up any last minute gifts. Maggie, Alex, and I had to leave the hostel at 1:30 am to catch our 4 am flight back to Greece. Back at the hostel we packed up and spent some time with Kerim. The Bedouin Hostel wins Best Hostel Award in my eyes. Never have I felt more at home anywhere that wasn’t my home. They were so welcoming and open to us. Anything that we asked for, we got. They really took care of us too, without them helping to plan everything we either would have gotten lost or terribly ripped-off. I was so grateful to them, and they were so grateful to us.
The Cairo airport was a little confusing, but soon enough we were back in Athens and then off to Thessaloniki. We were circling Thessaloniki for a while, and then had to go back to Athens because it was too foggy to land. It was annoying and an inconvenience, but luckily the flight is only 45 minutes and there are frequent flights between the 2 cities. We got home a few hours later than expected, but it wasn’t too big of a deal.
This was really the best weekend of my life. Looking back on it, I honestly can’t believe that I was in Egypt – even the pictures don’t seem real. Never in my life did I think I would be able to see the pyramids. Studying them in school, they always seemed just too far away, just too mystical to actually be seen.
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