Greece > Almost missed the train to Istanbul

Tired from the poor sleep, we roll out our mats on the platform. We are immediately shooed away. Outside, we have better luck. We sit next to the station and doze off a bit. A few Greeks try to keep us awake with completely incomprehensible stories—probably about a sightseeing tour or something—but we brush them off.

Greece - A nap next to Thessaloniki station

We stay there until nine o’clock. We walk into the city, passing buildings depicted on various postcards from local shops. Under the war monument, we play a game of cards. Thessaloniki isn’t such a particularly remarkable city for a long stay. On the way back to the station, we do some shopping for the evening and grab something warm to eat. Finding a bakery proves more difficult than expected, and the distance back to the station is longer than we had estimated. At a quarter past two, we enter a hamburger joint. Using hands and feet, we make the waitress understand what we want to order with our last Greek coins. We eat quickly and take the fries wrapped in a napkin to go. We have to hurry to the station—after all, the train to Istanbul only runs once a day. When we pick up our backpacks and arrive at platform three, we find that the train to Turkey is leaving at ten minutes to two, instead of ten minutes to half past two as listed in our timetable.

Greece - Train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul

The train doors are already closed. Luckily, the conductor sees us, and we manage to get on just in time. Gasping, we find—strangely enough—an empty compartment. Here, we realize we’ve been very lucky; otherwise, we would have had to stay an extra day in Thessaloniki. The train moves slowly. It mostly runs on a single track and stops about every fifteen minutes. At night, near the border, the Greek customs come first. All passports are collected. A few minutes later, we must leave the train to retrieve our passports from a small booth. The train then moves another 500 meters. Here, we are given a sort of survey form about our stay in Turkey, which must be shown in an office along with our passports. Then someone comes by yet again to check that everyone has a stamp in their passport. Finally, we are awakened for the sixth time to show our train tickets. Altogether, the border crossing takes two hours. After that, we can finally sleep well. At half past seven, we are awakened for Istanbul.