Sports Travel Weekly 5: Shit Hit The Fan

This week was a bit of a failure I’ve got to say. No excuses, but the two main reasons were my phone dying (so random Instgram memes as pictures) and a dodgy knee.

I did get a small dose of sport in though. Could have been so much more though having spent the weekend in Istanbul.

Sports Shit Weekly October 22nd – 29th

Started off the week in Saranda, where I seemingly kept delaying my leaving date as it was so cruisey there along with that sweet running routine I had going.

I ended up leaving Saranda on Tuesday afternoon and really should have squeezed a run in that morning after doing the usual route on Monday along the Saranda waterfront.

Tuesday evening I arrived in Gjirokaster, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the plan was to run on arrival but after fluffing around it was dark by the time I was good to go. In larger cities, that’s no problem, but I was staying on the outskirts of town and wasn’t sure what the town situation is like after dark.

Again the following morning was when the run was supposed to happen, but there is just no way I can go running early in the morning. After a quick trip up to the castle and a wander around town, it was time to head to Greece!

Why Greece? The initial plan on Monday was Macedonia, but with near-freezing temperatures predicted in that area that was quickly canceled.

Getting a lift to Greece didn’t take long, but this is when my phone died after playing up for a few days. I got into Ioannina easily (three rides from Gjirokaster), but that’s basically when shit started to hit the fan. My ride dropped me off saying they were taking the ring road and that when the lack of phone battery was a pain. I should have stayed with them for a while longer.

To cut a long story short, I couldn’t hitch out of Ioannina so took the late bus to Thessaloniki which arrived just after midnight.

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Let’s just say this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson on my buddy Evans list of quotes rings true: “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.“

With no working phone or paper maps, I was clueless as fark.

Thessaloniki is the second biggest city in Greece! And on Thursday I went for a sweet run in the evening. With no phone, I had no idea how long I’d been running for but turned out it was about an hour according to the receipt from the falafel shop. It felt great. No idea on the distance though 🙁

The following morning I hustled over to the Thessaloniki Olympic Museum that’s part of the IOC Museum Network. I was skeptical as to what to expect with this museum but was quietly impressed. The information on the Ancient Games was insightful as was all the information from all the Modern Olympics, with, of course, extra tidbits on the Greek athletes.

After failing to get out of Greece that day (was a half-hearted effort if I’m honest), this is I’m pretty sure when my knee got tweaked which wasn’t helped when I kept walking with my pack on.

Anyhow, another night bus later I arrived in Istanbul and proceeded to do my knee more harm by being stubborn and walking for a few hours (didn’t know it was inflamed at this point).

There we quite a few games of basketball and football I could have gone too, but after walking around during the day, going to the matches was the last thing on my mind. I’ll be back in Istanbul in December either way.

What I’m Reading

With a broken phone means no e-books to read either as my Chromebook doesn’t support Kindle. Fail. But I have picked up Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point second-hand in Istanbul which is a fun thought provoking read so far.