All that for €3.38?!

We went to the Railway Museum of Thessaloniki yesterday and got a full-on Greek experience in pretty much every aspect of the trip. We walked from city center and it took about 90 minutes to get there--stopping for bougatsa and a cappuccino freddo, of course, along the way--and traversed some uninspiring industrial parts of the city (lots of car repair shops, cheap Chinese shoe warehouses, ramshackle buildings). At least the trip was almost entirely sidewalk, though plenty of cars and motorcycles park on it. We eventually got to the entry fence/gate. The museum hours were a bit mysterious online--Sam had even emailed to verify--but it looked closed when we arrived. A security guard, though, heard us ring the bell, let us in, and trudged with us to the office. Still open! Sam told the guys that we had walked to the museum from town and they were amazed. One of them said he would give us a tour and then drive us back to Thessaloniki himself!

And sure enough, he gave us a great tour of the museum and drove us home. He was a retiree from the Greek Railway, where he had been the director of the northern railway lines for 20 years. Clearly a passionate train expert. We got a history lesson in trains and how they're powered, safety improvements over time, and got to check out a dining car and sleeping car from the Orient Express.

Once we had done the tour, it was time to pay. But we only had a large €50 bill and he couldn't make change as the cost was only €2.50 each. I emptied out our coins and we had maybe €3.38. He sorted through it and then plopped in his own money money to cover our tickets--'you have enough to pay now' he said with a smile. And then we all piled into his little economy car. He was heading home, but he drove out of his way to take us near where we were staying. We tried to get him to wait so we could get some change at a shop and pay him but he wouldn't hear of it.

Greek hospitality, philoxenia (essentially means being friendly to a stranger), is famous, and we've felt it many times on this trip and previous trips. How could we not want to live in such a place, and strive to be more like these kind Greeks ourselves? The world could use a lot more philoxenia these days.