It was goodbye to the out laws as our taxi arrived at 8.30am. It is always hard saying goodbye but at least we know we will be back in Australia in 8 weeks. Yes that's right, 8 weeks & the travels are all over. But we have many 1000's of kilometres to travel before then & many sites to see, countries to visit & people to meet. We arrived at the station and waited the hour before boarding the train for our 5 hour trip to the North of Greece & Thessaloniki. After the lovely British trains we were back to the joys of poor European country transport. Our trip took us through mountains, still with patches of snow, huge valleys & plains full of farms. The countryside was beautiful & varied & pretty similar to Australia's. One thing we noticed was the amount of freeways & bridges half finished that have been abandoned. This is obviously due to the country being broke & ridiculously in debt. Several Greek people have told of the big new taxes implemented to try & get the country back in the black. Not only that but a lot of people have had their wages cut, followed by their hours which further reduces their wages. But with high unemployment it is not a matter of just moving jobs. Very sad & it is going to take a long time to repair the country, especially with all the youth moving out. Makes is realize how good we have it back home. We passed by Mount Olympus & arrived in Thessaloniki at 4.30pm after a 6 hour journey. Our hotel was a short walk & we managed to swing by the bus company to get our tickets to Macedonia for tomorrow. We then checked in to the hotel before making our way our to dinner & a little wander around the town. It is pretty much just a city that travelers pass through so nothing very exciting. A few ruins here & there but after Athens it is harder to be impressed. We returned home about 9ish & just relaxed for the evening. A bit more of an explore tomorrow morning before boarding the bus at 5.30pm for the trip to Skopje.