18. Thessaloniki to Istanbul - 1970

After our walk back down the mountain path, we got in the car and drove directly to Thessaloniki.  I was let off in the center of the city near the youth hostel.  I had just enough for money for one more night in a hostel.

The next morning it was off to the city hospital to get my blood typed.  Once you were typed, they would give you a color coded card identifying your blood type.  Then you would go outside with the card and set around the hospital steps with this card over your neck.  Families whose members were having surgery that day would walk through and pick you out and take you back into the hospital to have your blood drawn if a transfusion was needed for the surgery.  For this they would pay you something like the equivalent of fifteen dollars cash.  This was a lot for some of them, especially if they needed more than one.  Many people not used to this system would break down and end up donating their blood.  When you did this you had to accept the money and then give the family the money back yourself.  Other people would take the money, but out of guilt would come back a month later and donate.

This gave me enough money for a train ticket to Istanbul and ferry ticket to my final destination, on the Sea of Marmara, Yalova Turkey.I bought a loaf of bread and got on the train.  The train was powered by an old steam engine straight out of the old west.  1860's style.  The passenger cars were European style.  a series of glassed in seats that would seat six going down one side and the aisle going down the other side as pictured, where many people spent there time walking, stretching, sightseeing, and getting fresh air.  Sometimes it was a battle between cigarette smoke and the black smoke and cinders from the trains smokestack.  The picture shown is actually the orient express in 1971 that ran between Paris and Istanbul  until 1977.  The train I was on was older and the accommodations, like berths and dining cars, were  nonexistent.  The train was sort of a local and took about 24 hours. We were on our own for meals and drinks.  We left late morning or midday, I am not really sure.  Some of our stops were three or four minutes.  During that time we would rush out and get a quick drink from a fountain and jump back on the train as it was leaving.  I met someone that was in the same financial straits as me.  I had the bread, and he had a can of sardines.  I do not like fish but that day, I was happy to share my bread for some of his fish!  So much for maintaining standards!

The scenery was spectacular and the border crossing was uneventful.  We arrived at the Istanbul train station about noon the next day.