Sunday, 7th June, 2026
Another week. Another glorious morning. A day of end to end sunshine which will reach 32C/90F. Up early to get a walk in before the peak heat of the day.
It is about 3.5 miles down to the landmark statue of Alexander the Great – a hugely significant character in Macedonian history. The girl who serves us in the VIP Lounge is called Alexi as so many girls here are. I remember being surprised on Corfu/Κέρκυρα in 1982 to find that about 30% of men were called Spyros named after Saint Spyridon. Anyway, 7 miles in 27C/81F is enough for the morning and I will need a clean, dry shirt on return.
Down below us in Aristotle Square, the Beach Volley Championships are going along in spite of the heat. The scaffolding tower housing the television cameras reaches well above the spectators seating but I was surprised to look up in the sky and see this bird hovering. Morning and evening swifts and swallows dart and swoop in huge numbers to sweep the sky clean of insects but this bird – a TV Drone just hovered steadily collecting overhead views of the sport and beaming it back to the screens. Ancient & Modern jostling for popularity.
Our Suite in this hotel has improved over the years to the point where we have worked our way up to the best. The people – Chamber Maids, Cleaners, Personal Assistants – are absolutely delightful. The make the stay delightful and take such pride in their work. After a long walk this morning, we had a light lunch in the VIP Lounge and then a salad on the patio of our rooms this evening, relaxing and watching the sun go down. It is just then that the swifts and swallows come out to play with such speed and energy as we are winding down.
Monday, 8th June, 2026
Don’t you just love Monday mornings? We’ve survived another Sunday, Dear Reader. It is 8.30 am / 6.30 am (GMT) and the temperature is 28C/82F. It is extremely humid this morning and energy sapping. That is before my long walk.
I walk along the side of the sea down past the ancient White Tower which I featured last week, down past the monument to Alexander the Great which I featured yesterday and on to the Sailing Club and, if I’m feeling particularly strong, right down to the Opera House.
Other than the natural charms of the area and the wonderful tavernas, there are few concessions to tourism. There are the pleasure boat cruises around the bay, the open top bus to hop-on-hop-off and electric scooters for the lazy.
Even so, walking or promenading is extremely popular here. The Greeks and Italians call it volta.
The latest tourist money-making machine is the instant vintage newspaper souvenir camera booth. It is a portable camera + laser printer with a set up to drop the photograph directly into a newspaper front page and print out before the tourists can walk past you. It is a very popular replacement for the Wish you were Here post card of previous times. Even so, I know some old wrinklies who still love to get a postcard because social media is too frightening for them so there is something for everyone. I just like communicating, keeping the links open. We are a long time dead.
Tuesday, 9th June, 2026
Our 4th year in Thessaloniki has ended. It is 6.00 am Greek Time / 4.00 am (GMT). I have been awake for an hour and listening to The News Agents podcast. Up to Breakfast and then down to checkout. At 8.30 am a taxi is called for us. Alexi, our taxi driver talks non-stop about his city – Thessalonik – with massive pride. At the airport, his bill is €28.00 and we give him €40.00 for his enthusiasm.
Macedonia Airport is small, quiet and delightful. We arrive 3 hours early, go straight through security control and up to our Executive Lounge. The Sky Lounge is delightful for its exclusivity. This morning there were three of us with comfortable chairs and tables, good wifi and lots of refreshments from food and drink to bottles of wine and anything else we would desire.
The Departures Board announced our Gate to go to. We go early to make sure we can get our cases in the first two rows where we sit. Everything is going fine. Our flight has arrived on time and then it is announced that there is a problem.
Refuelling has revealed a technical problem which has to be resolved. A Fire Engine has arrived. We are on the tarmac and have to return to the Terminal. This has never happened to us before. We imagined having to find a hotel for the night and staying over, It didn’t wory us but created a logistical problem.
Anyway, we got to know some delightful people in the queue waiting to find out what was happening. I talked to this lovely, young girl – just 26 years old – who thought I could sort it out for her. We talked to her about the news, about politics and whether she had heard of Andy Burnham. She hadn’t, she relied on her husband for the news and wasn’t really sure who the PrimeMinister was. I told her off and treated her like an errant child. She loved it.
When we arrived at Gatwick Airport, she rushed up to tell us that her family had berated her for having to be told off by us and for not knowing about the By-election and the significance of it. She was lovely and totally representative of Gen. Z. She proved what a glorious girl she is whatever her ignorance. I’m really warming to Gen Z. They are the future.
Wednesday, 9th June, 2026
I woke up freezing. Couldn’t feel my legs. Thought I might be paralysed until I checked my phone to find it was only 8C/46F over night – a ridiculous temperature for June. Just as well I’ve only got 5 more nights at home and then off to Gatwick again for a month in Spain. Won’t be cold there.
Unfortunately, we are not flying into the small and friendly Murcia Airport on this occasion. The timings were all wrong so we are going through Alicante Airport this time. We booked it in December last year and couldn’t have predicted what would come up. Yesterday we sailed through Macedonia Airport in a matter of minutes because Greece has suspended the new, biometric system on the grounds that it wasn’t working well enough.
At least we are not going for a weekend but for 4 weeks which gives us long enough to get over any frustrations. I’m currently exploring whether I can pay for VIP Fast Track Security Channel as we can do in Athens. The property we are renting is the one we booked last year for 2 weeks through Booking.com. It was absolutely delightful but this time we have booked directly through the letting agents to reduce the price.
Although there only two of us, to get the space and facilities we want, we have to rent a bigger property than we need. In this gated Development, there are a moderate number of individual properties that are three floors. Ours has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen/diner/lounge, a Breakfast area immediately outside on the patio and then a huge sunroof with sunbeds, barbecue and dining tables under a covered pergola. The whole sunroof has expansive views over the gardens and two pools and out over the sea.