Day 28-Greece, Thessaloniki

My last day in Greece :'( Oh, how I wish I had all the time in the world! I'd come back in a heartbeat. Today was such a great last day. We spent the morning enjoying some Byzantine churches still in use (the incense can get pretty strong...). Apart from the architecture, I loved watching people come in and pray to the different saints because it was so interesting to think about how religion unites us all. Kind of a strange thought tangent, but it worked in my head ;)

After the churches and in a separate group, we kind went on a fun adventure trying to find some prayer icons for a girl in my group. After about 4 different icon shops, we finally found a lady who knew someone who could get us them. She communicated to us she wanted us to follow her (by the way, she didn't speak English and we all know I don't speak Greek), and the fun continued. Somehow we ended up in another shop and began waiting, during which three Greek ladies continued conducting their business and we observed the banter. I loved it. For some reason, the way Italians and Greeks do business is incredibly entertaining. Way too soon our merchandise arrived and we eventually ended up back at our hotel-El Greco.

My adventure continued when my lovely roommate rescued me from Facebook (pretty sure two people have gotten engaged, two have had babies, and one more has been announced since I've been on last) and convinced me to go running with her...Ps. I don't run. And yet, something about running by the sea sounded appealing to me. One set of borrowed shoes, shorts and a T-shirt later, we headed out. It was a beautiful evening with the choppy waves and sun on the verge of setting. Running through the crowds of people with our eye set on the tower had to be one of the best moments in Thessaloniki, even though I'm sure I looked amazing ;)

By the time we got back, it was dinner time and I was hungry! We decided to head back to the tavern I had suggested from Monday. When we got there, the guy told me he recognized me and led all 10 of us to an outdoor table with the biggest smile on his face because big groups mean big money ;) It was funny because he actually shook my hand and then kept holding it while leading us to our table. Greeks are so friendly :)

I ended up going all out my last day in Greece and ordered seafood risotto. It was soo good! And now I can say I've had (and loved) squid, octopus, and muscles. Sorry for all wary of seafood, but I have to say this next part. The little sucker things on the octopus' tentacle were so fun to eat because they felt so cool! Ok, I'm done. Throughout dinner, we'd sporadically start dancing in a very Grecian way and shout "Opah!" (which is what we're doing in the one picture) which was a blast. Definitely couldn't have asked for a better last night in Greece. Yassou!