Good Morning

We wake up and decide to go to the Acropolis of Thessaloniki today. We can't see any breakfast restaurants on Google Maps near our new apartment, so we decide to find a place close to the Acropolis to eat instead. We drive over, and park in the lot right outside the main entrance. The emergency brake, or parking brake on the car seems to be a bit faulty. We start to roll backwards even though the brake is engaged. It takes a few attempts to get the brake to stick.

We walk half a block down to the restaurant and see that it doesn't open for another hour at 11:30. Well, we'll just go without breakfast at this point and enter the acropolis.

The Acropolis of Thessaloniki

We both agree that this acropolis is cooler than the one in Athens. Yes, Athens is older, but this one is much more explorer-friendly. We walk through the front entrance after paying the fee, and go to the left. We walk into a quarantine quarter. The quarantine quarter looks a lot like a tiny prison. It has several cells with slots to put food through. The original door to the quarters is still there, and Jeremy closes it jokingly and I just hope it doesn't accidentally lock. It doesn't. Phew.

We go back past the entrance and up a set of stairs which leads us to this hallway. There are quite a few closed doors in this hallway, and each of them have the little slider towards the top to peak out. I open one and look out and a guard comes to tell me I can't do that. Oops. It doesn't say anywhere I can't, to be fair?

We walk through an outdoor corridor covered with vines into another building. This building is the guard tower. We climb up to the battlement, and we can go all the way to the top and see the old archery windows and spots where artillery used to sit. Now that we are at the top, we get to walk around the top wall, seeing more spots where archers used to sit. It's very cool to see all of this so close.

We enter another building which has all of the information on the building's history. The building was erected in the fourth century B.C. when King Cassander of Macedon founded Thessaloniki. It was used after that by multiple empires including the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans. Macedon was an ancient Greek kingdom, which is why the northern region is called Macedonia, and why the country just North of Greece is called The Republic of North Macedonia.

We leave the fortress and walk the perimeter, walking amongst ruined pieces of outer walls that used to stand taller and firm outside of the main building to protect it.

Ouzeri to Yenti

We walk down the hill from the fortress to go back to that restaurant we attempted to go to before we bought our tickets for the acropolis. Despite the fact that the A-Frame sign on the sidewalk mentions breakfast, there are no breakfast items on the menu. We don't bother asking for a breakfast menu though, because we see things we want to order on the menus provided. We seek shelter indoors next to the wall furthest from the outdoors, hiding from the sun and the heat. The owners are shocked we won't want to sit outside, and we are asked three times if we are sure we don't want to move.

Jeremy orders water buffalo meatballs, and I order a creamy chicken dish. Jeremy's meatballs come out looking a lot like brats, but I think the Greeks call any kind of ground meat put together in ball or sausage form a "meatball". Both of our meals are scrumptious. This is definitely on our "recommend" list.

JUMBO

We leave the main part of the city and drive out towards New Life Clinic. We still have time before my 14:00 appointment, so we stop in a store called JUMBO to see what it is. We have seen several of them whilst driving around to different places, so it's time to see what all the hype is about. Walking into the store, my first impression of it is that it's kind of like IKEA in terms of navigation. There is a specific route intended for you to take through the entire store, ending at the registers and exit. All of the products are very inexpensive, and vary greatly. There are clothing departments, a beauty department, a toy department, a home decor department, and so much more. We don't end up buying anything, simply because we don't want to have to pack it.

New Life Clinic

We drive over to the clinic. I have my first vaginal scan for phase two of IVF. The eggs have been collected. We have three healthy and frozen blastocysts. Now it's time to get the womb ready for the two babies we are transferring. Everything looks good, so I receive the prescriptions needed to obtain the medication I need. The doctor is concerned with the rash on my leg from our trip to Athens, and prescribes me an ointment for that.

XIROKRINI

We drive back to our VRBO in City Center and walk to a nearby pharmacy. I show him the note and he says to come back in two hours. The pharmacist has to call around to other pharmacies to obtain all the medications and he says he will have them ready for me by then.

We eat at a restaurant called Ouzeri Kosmas, which is right next to the apartment, and then grab coffee at a little café across the street owned by one of the owners of the VRBO we are staying in.

Jeremy leaves tomorrow morning, and my heart hurts. We watch friends on the sofa in the living room, and then go cuddle in bed. I cry and he rubs my back. I really hate that he has to leave. Eventually, we fall asleep for our last night together in Greece.