This past weekend Jen and I took an excursion to Thessaloniki, Greece. Thessaloniki (Solun in Bulgarian) is Greece's second largest city and is only a couple of hundred kilometres away from Blagoevgrad. The comfortable bus picked us up out on the highway at 6:30 for the four hour journey.
Needless to say, we were the only gringos out of about 50 day-trippers and the tour guide refused to speak English to us, although we knew she could. However, her eleven year-old son, Ivan, was along for the ride and spoke dynamite English. Jen asked him where he learned such great English and he blithely replied, "The Cartoon Network". Really, this kid's accent and natural delivery were very impressive.
It was hot in Thessaloniki. We had 3 or 4 hours to walk around the main part of town near the waterfront. The city does not give the greatest impression, as it consists of mile after mile of 10-story characterless apartment buildings. There are some cool Roman ruins and beautiful old churches, but since the old city burned in 1917, there isn't an historic center, per se.
We wandered around, ate an awesome gyro, went to the flavorful local market, and again boarded the bus for a trip around the city's historical sites. We climbed up the steep hills behind the harbor and finally reached the Roman walls, which were very cool and offered great views of the city. There were some more picturesque neighborhoods up there as well.
Soon it was time for our 4 hour trip back to Blago. There is a lot of beautiful scenery along the way, with Bulgaria being noticeably greener (and less developed) than Greece. We got back to Blagoevgrad around 10 o'clock and had a couple of well-deserved beers. It was a nice, exhausting trip and well worth the 20 bucks apiece. We thanked little Ivan for the help and urged him to keep up the good work...Cartoon Network, that is!
Postscript: We were chatting with one of my students today and asked her how she learned English (she is an excellent speaker). She answered immediately: "Cartoon Network".
Holy mackerel!
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