The only place to watch the World Cup in Thessaloniki. Θεσσαλονίκη: Το μόνο μέρος για να παρακολουθήσετε το Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο.

Η Θεσσαλονίκη το μόνο μέρος για να παρακολουθήσετε την έναρξη του Μουντιάλ
(Thessaloniki, the only place to watch the start of the World Cup.)

 

Originally, I had planned to fly to Athens from Poland. My clever plan was to visit the Olimpiakos ground as a kind of homage to Forest's oligarch owner, Evangelos Marinakis. As billionaire owners go, he seems to be one of the better ones. At least he loves football so much he owns not one, but two clubs. I admit to turning a blind eye as to where he gets all his money from.

However, the reality of getting a direct flight from Rzeszow or Krakow or Wroclaw proved too awkward. When I noticed there was a direct flight from Krakow to Thessaloniki it became the obvious plan. Cheaper and quicker and also a city I'd never visited. It was also relatively warm. From the -7°C of continentally dominated Krakow to the positively balmy 20s of the Aegean Coast seemed a no brainer.

So it was to the #2 city in Greece to watch the start of the World Cup.

Previously: Poland/Ukraine

Flight from Krakow 

It was an early start to get to the airport on time, which was something I wasn't looking forward to, as it had been -7C degrees the night before.

Sure enough, it was freezing, but it was only a short walk to the station (good travel tip there) and the train was punctual and warm. Once inside the terminal, of course, you could have been anywhere and getting on the flight was seamless.

I was pleased to have a window seat, as always - you get the best views in the world so why anyone would not want a window seat during a day flight is beyond me. We flew over a few mountain ranges I hadn't anticipated. I can only imagine they were part of the Tatra mountain range, on which the famous Polish strong beer brand is named,. 

Tatra Mountains?

Arriving in Greece

It was comforting to arrive on the Aegean Coast and feel the warmth straight away, although it did start raining pretty much immediately. Apparently it had been in the 30s a few days before but low 20s were good enough for me after the sub-zero temperatures in Poland and Ukraine. I caught the bus from the airport to the city center and, thanks to Google maps, found my very nice accommodation easily enough.

All I had to do now was find a bar to watch the start of the World Cup. I'd booked my accommodation specifically because I knew there was one of the best sports bars in Thessaloniki just around the corner - the mandatory Irish Pub. So I knew it was not going to be too challenging to find a TV. 

"The Dubliner" (because the guy that runs it is from Dublin) was everything I hoped for - and turned out to be pretty much the only place up for consideration.

But first, I had an hour or so to explore the area and to have something nice to eat.

View from my bedroom window

Seven Seas Fish Restaurant

When in Greece, eat fish. Well that's a lesson I learnt from my first visit back in 1985 and those memories of simply barbecued fish on the beach inspired me to Google the best fish restaurants near by in Thessaloniki. The nearest well-recommended one was called "7 Thalasses" (which, I am told, means "The Seven Seas".) It was again, just around the corner from where I was staying, so very convenient.

It was certainly very posh and there were tables full of what looked like the local great and good (including a couple of Greek Orthodox priests). The menu looked a little scary to me in that it charged for the grilled fish I was after by the kilo and after my embarrassing rip off experience in Istanbul a few years ago, I decided to opt for the safer (and cheaper) fish soup and some mackerel.

Fish soup

A rather dull salad

A rather dull mackerel

Nice Lemon Liqueur for after's

Match #1: World Cup Opener - Qatar Thrashed (0-2) - 20th November.

After my slightly disappointing meal it was back to the Dubliner for the World Cup opener, a none-too-exciting prospect: the match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador.

I took my position at the bar facing one of several screens with half a litre of their standard local Mythos lager. This was a position and behaviour I would repeat over and over again in the next three days.

I missed most of the opening ceremony. It's not really my thing anyway, and I wasn't really in the mood to see how the Qatari billions had been spent on this aspect of the show.

So... finally, the ref blew his whistle. The moment all the hype ended and the football began. That point in time when petro-oligarch billionaire fanciful whim met reality.

It took just 3 minutes before the bubble of the oil-rich dreams seemed to have been popped. Valencia nodded in for Ecuador, but within a few more minutes, it was rubbed out because of VAR spotted off-side. A million eyebrows were raised and thoughts of corruption spread like lightening around the world. 

Boo!

Valencia... 1-0!  Oh, no it isn't.

But, just over ten minutes later, as if to prove how fair the refereeing really was, Ecuador were awarded a penalty when the Qatari goalie tripped Ecuador's striker and they took the lead again anyway.  

On the half hour mark it was 2-0 and Qatar appeared to be heading for an embarrassing host opening rout. I am not ashamed to admit I was hoping for exactly that. Qatar 0 Ecuador 7 would have sent a real signal to the money men - don't bother with your fancy whims.

But, surprise, surprise, in the second half Ecuador seemed to take their foot off the peddle and decided to ease to a 2-0 win rather than humiliate their hosts.

That moment when you realise money
can't buy a good international team

As I always like to focus on goals/game, I'll keep running statistics on that.

Games 1, Goals 2, Goals/Game 2.00.

So, with the World Cup finally started, I went to waterfront to explore the area a bit more and found another bar to have a better beer in.

Kebab Café with ridiculously unhealthy portions - but not tonight 

I ended up in a craft beer bar having a chat to a brewer who knew all the terms and could waffle on for hours about different styles of beer.

Time for bed.

Day Two in Thessaloniki - Walk to PAOK and then back for three games

After a very comfortable night's sleep in what was quite a luxurious room, I went out again to do some more exploring of Greece's 2nd city, Thessaloniki, which is snuck up in a cozy bay in a north west corner on the Thermaic Gulf, with a backdrop of the majestic Mount Olympus.

Thessaloniki

A logical place to start my tour was the impressively long water front.

Half way along, I stopped for a bite to eat and take in the waterfront view.

A typical Greek savory brekkie pastry 

The first opportunity to wear my "Zelenskyy shirt"

Is that Mount Olympus over there?

Anywhere along the waterfront, you can't help but notice the famous White Tower of Thessaloniki. Ok, it's not the Parthenon but it's impressive all the same. So that was my first tourist stop of the day.

Touristy "pirate" ship sails back and forth during the day.

Inside the tower, at most levels up the windy stairs, there is an impressive museum of Thessaloniki.

There were several school trips there that day, as far as I could tell.

The view from the top is impressive...

After the tower, it was time for my first bit of football-oriented tourism in Greece, a visit to PAOK's stadium.

I always enjoy these kind of mini-adventures as they take you through places you'd never normally see. It was an interesting walk through standard Thessaloniki, past what seemed like a military base with hundreds of people gathered outside.

Toumba Stadium

Bizarrely, the woman on the phone up there would end up giving me a mini tour of the ground!

Interesting Graffiti

After circling the ground, I popped into the club shop...

Then, on the off chance of getting a glimpse into the ground, I popped into the club's office and, straight up, asked them "any chance of a look inside the ground?" I only had to wait a couple of minutes before the delightful young lady I'd seen making a call from the balcony earlier, came down to escort me in.

If you were wondering, like me, what PAOK stands for...

It means...

Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, 

Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón, 

"Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans"

PAOK is easier!

It's a pretty impressive ground but my guide was not too pleased to see my Ukrainian shirt (apparently PAOK's owner is a Russian oligarch) or the fact that I am a Nottingham Forest fan (Evangalos Marinakis, Forest's owner, is hated in these parts!)

Still, she stayed friendly and kindly took a few photos of me inside the ground.

So, after that, my next task was to try to find the Simeonidis office, to find out where I was due to catch my bus to Skopje in a couple of days. So more trekking across town.

It turned out to be another wild goose chase as the location given on Google Maps was out of date.

Impressively, Google Maps has been updated since it misled me.

Vardaris Tower and Walls

So, with all my touristy boxes ticked, it was time to get back to the World Cup, and what a match to see next...England's opener against Iran!!

So, it was back to the Dubliner...

Game #2: Eng-er-land Eng-er-land !! (6-2 - 21st November)

I was a bit late getting a spot and there were quite a few fans in to watch the match so I had to make do with a less than perfect vantage point...

It soon became apparent that most of the support was for England. The Greek locals too, seemed to favour the boys in white. Indeed one of the guys sat next to me was keen to sing the (horrible) national anthem too.

So, we were all set for the match with pretty good atmosphere in the bar. Every pint was accompanied by a ridiculously large bowl of salty popcorn.

A great move from the left and neat header by Jude Bellingham put England 1-0 up after 34 minutes and eight minutes later, Bukayo Saka made it two with a lovely strike. The game was effectively all over when a cross from the left was met with a perfectly timed volley by Raheem Stirling.

3-0 at half time. Easy.

Saka makes it 2-0

Stirling, 3-0

In the second half, Saka made it 4-0 with his second...

... before Iran scored a nice goal of their own to make it 4-1.

Then Marcus Rashford stepped up to make it 5-1...

... before Jack Grealish pushed in the 6th on 90 minutes.

A somewhat dodgy penalty allowed Iran to get another consolation goal in the 13th minute of injury time, but it was a great start for England.

Here are the match highlights (until FIFA complain and block it)...

Games 2, Goals 10, Goals/Game 5.00.

After that delightful feast of football, I went off to another fish restaurant, hoping for something a bit better than the night before.

The Frutti di Mare restaurant was just 5 minutes walk from the Dubliner and it served a nice starter with fish of the day.

Lavas bread

Fish of the day

Game #3: Senegal v Netherlands (0-2)

Then, it was back to the Dubliner for the next match, Senegal v Netherlands. Not so many there this time, so I managed to get my favourite bar seat...

Sat next to me for the match were some very pleasant business students from Sofia, Bulgaria. We exchanged stories about Putin and the rise of fascism in Europe before watching the game

Netherlands won this 2-0 but it was far from a fair reflection of the match. After a rather dull first half, it was Senegal who created most of the chances in the second half, forcing three great saves from the Dutch goalkeeper, Andries Noppert. But with just six minutes of normal time to go, Holland's Cody Gakpo beat the Senegalese goalie Mendy to a speculative cross and it was 1-0. Netherlands added a second in the tenth minute of injury time to clinch an undeserved victory.

Games 3, Goals 12, Goals/Game 4.00.

Game #4: USA v Wales (1-1)

I stayed in the Dubliner for the third match of the day, another potential humdinger - Wales versus the USA.

Of course, thanks to Elaine Morgan and The Manic Street Preachers, to say I've got a soft spot for Wales is an understatement. It was great to watch them beat Belgium in the quarter finals of Euro 2016 in Lille.

And who could not have been inspired by Michael Sheen's rallying call in the weeks before the World Cup started...

On top of all that, I now had the unusual experience of  seeing THREE Forest players playing in the World Cup. Wayne Hennessey, Neco Williams and Brenan Johnson. 

Hennessey, Williams and Johnson - Three Forest players in the Wales squad

The bar was quite full for this one with a few American tourists.

It was not a good start for Neco Williams. He took a nasty blow to the head inside the first ten minutes and was replaced by Brenan Johnson. The USA did most of the pressing and Hennessey made a couple of decent stops before Timothy Weah put the North Americans ahead in the 36th minute.

It stayed that way until the last ten minutes when Gareth Bale was brought down in the box and powerfully converted the penalty to equalise. Johnson had a late chance to grab a winner in injury time but shot too close to the goalkeeper. 

1-1 was probably a fair result.

Games 4, Goals 14, Goals/Game 3.50.

Day Three in Thessaloniki (22nd November 2022) and Four Games

When I do these kind of trips I like to try to combine a basic plan which is kind of set, with a bit of flexibility to spend more or less time in places if you find them pleasant.

Initially, I'd only booked two nights in Thessaloniki but having settled in a bit, I now thought I'd stay a third night before heading north into Macedonia. The trouble was, my hotel room had already been booked out so I had to change hotels. This was "no biggie" as there were plenty of others close by and so I just had to pack my bag and walk five minutes to The Luxembourg Hotel before doing my one task for the day - make sure I knew where the bus to Skopje left from.

Changing Hotels

My aborted attempt to find the Simeonidis office (the company that runs the service to Skopje) the day before at least led me to find the new location of the office and the actual bus stop, which was, logically enough, by the train station. So my next task was to make sure I knew where it was so that there'd be no cock ups on the day of travel.

It was a fairly pleasant walk from the hotel to the station and after a bit of confusion I was eventually kindly led to the office by a dear old man.

At the train station

At last - Simeonidis Tours

So, with that ticked off, it was time to try to find a bar/café to watch the first of four World Cup games going on that day: Saudi Arabia v Argentina - surely, and easy win for the South American's, right?

On my walk to the station, I'd kept a look out for any bars/cafes that might be showing the football later, but frustratingly I didn't spot any. At the station, neither... no café or bar seemed to be getting ready to show the football.

I Googled "sports bar" and the nearest one appeared to be "Alexander Sports Bar Café" a bit further out of town. I went for the easy option and used Uber to get a ride there.

My morning wanderings in Thessaloniki

Having arrived at the café, it soon became apparent that they weren't going to be watching the Argentina v Saudi Arabia game here after all, only some pesky basketball match. Apparently only one local TV channel were showing the games and this world cup game wasn't on their list.

No football here

So, I had to leg it back to the Dubliner... again. I had learned my lesson. In Thessaloniki there appears to be just one, and only one, place to watch football, and it's the Dubliner.

To be fair, the owner of the pub told me that there were other good sports bars but they were on the other side of town. He was pleased to hear that I would watch every match in his bar for the rest of my stay.

Match #5:  Argentina v Saudi Arabia (1-2)

Having scampered back to the bar, I missed the first 20 minutes, so I did not see Messi's penalty which gave Argentina a very expected early lead.

But I didn't miss breakfast! 

One silver lining of going to Irish pubs is that they do fantastic breakfasts for anyone that comes from UK or Ireland. 

Can't whack it, wi' a wet stick!

The "Full Irish"

Back to the football and nobody - and I mean nobody - saw what was coming in the second half.

Just three minutes after the restart, Saleh Alsherhri scored a beauty to equalise and then, five minutes later, Salem Aldawsari scored a screecher to put the Saudis in the lead.

Messi and the team regrouped and piled on the pressure but they just couldn't get the goal. So game #3 ended up being one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.

Games 5, Goals 17, Goals/Game 3.40.

Game #6: Denmark v Tunisia (0-0)

Next it was the first game of Group D, Australia's group, and the first, inevitable goalless, game. Denmark did his the post and there were a couple of brilliant saves from both goalkeepers but it ended in stalemate.

I stayed sober and stuck to hot chocolate. You have to pace yourself whilst watch back-to-back football.

Hot chocolate drinking chocolate

Games 6, Goals 17, Goals/Game 2.83.

After the game, I popped out to a bar on the waterfront where I had another hot chocolate. The lovely warm weather that had settled in the area a few days before my arrival had now gone completely and it looked quite dark and stormy.

Kitchen Bar

Hot chocolate drinking chocolate

Game #7: Mexico v Poland (0-0)

Back to the Dubliner for another 0-0. We obviously had been spoilt with all the excitement so far.

To be fair, there were a few outstanding saves in this game too. Szczesny made two great saves for Poland and Ochoa saved a Lewandowski penalty to keep things tight.

Perhaps Mexico just shaded this but as the greatest World Cup under achievers, their fans are even more used to disappointment than England's are.

Games 7, Goals 17, Goals/Game 2.43

Game #8: Aussie ... oh, oh, oh, oh!

Then, it was the big one of the day for me, Australia versus France, and what a start for the Socceroos.

A goal of alarming simplicity put them ahead. Harry Souttar played a long diagonal ball out to the right for Matthew Leckie. He killed the ball dead and danced past full back Lucas Hernandez in an instant and then sent over a beautiful cross over to Craig Goodwin who timed his run perfectly and launched the ball first time into the roof of the net past crazy old Lloris.

1-0! Amazing.

Unfortunately, my aussie gloating only lasted 18 minutes before Adrien Rabiot equalised and five minutes later Olivier Giroud had put France ahead.

In the second half, Kylian Mbappe and Giroud added two more to put us back in our place... the group underdog.

Mbappe, 3-1

Giroud, 4-1.

Games 8, Goals 22, Goals/Game 2.75.

Still, overall, a great start to World Cup 2023. 

Thank you, Thessaloniki, it was good choice to start here, even if there was only one place to watch the football... The Dubliner.

Next: Skopje, Macedonia.