Magda’s flat is a very beautiful and spacious flat, with nice wooden floors, and a lovely flowery, sunny terrace facing south. There’s also a nice balcony on the other side, next to the bedroom, facing typical Thessaloniki’s buildings and laundry drying all along!
Nevertheless, I have encountered some issues, which forced me to leave after 2 months, although I had planned to stay 4. The most important one is that there are many buildings abandoned in the street (some very beautiful ones!), which means a lot of work to be done. From when arrived March 1st until April 20th there were works in the flat/house nextdoor. Magda told me that the whole building had been fully redone and that the works started a year ago. On April 21st, works started in the abandoned building in front of the terrace: workers were destroying the outside verandas, drilling, cutting, hammering… Although it’s wonderful to see that this area of the city is being reshaped, it makes staying on the terrace impossible. Given that many buildings in front of the terrace are abandoned, works will probably last for a while.
Another issue that was problematic for me has to do with the internet that was very unstable; sometimes barely beyond 10 mbps (it is announced between 30-37 on airbnb, which was sometimes the case, but impossible to predict when). This was too low to hold professional meetings. My Greek friends told me that the internet may be unstable in that area, and I wonder if the fact that the box is actually in the flat nextdoor also played a role.
The awning of the terrace is very old and cannot be closed and opened on a daily basis. Given that the flat faces south, one has to leave it down in hot days, but this makes the flat very dark.
Finally, although I personally loved the area, which is economically modest but with many charming alternative places, some people may not feel fully at ease. Many shops in the area went bankrupt, and the street is empty in the evening. The center around the Rotonda is more upper class and reassuring, and always lively at night!
The communication with Magda was initially easy. However, she got annoyed and then angry by the fact that I asked her a number of questions – whether she could figure out which days the works would take place (to get organized for my work meetings), how long the water cut would last (we had 2 that lasted many hours), whether workers were allowed to work on Sundays, whether she could solve the internet because it was totally out for 2 days (she was away). She decided that all our communication would go through Airbnb (rather than Viber), which I indeed found better. But in the end, she simply did not respond to any of my messages. She came one last time in the flat to show it to the cleaning lady, and spoke to me very rudely sayingthat I ‘broke the rules’ and ‘did not ask for permission’ for taking a blanket in the cupboard and putting the carpet that was under the bed in the living room, because it was cold (she had proposed to take the carpet out a few days before, and I had declined because I had just arrived and was not cold then: I should have asked again). I had some of my colleagues from the University who came for dinner one evening, but they left before midnight, and we did not make any noise. I received no answer to my messages from April 23 until the day I left on April 28. When I finally wrote that I had left, but still had the keys and did not know what to do with them, she wrote “You should have left them inside the appartement”. I found the whole situation not only unpleasant but also really unfair, given that I was the one who was encountering issues, who had to deal with the Airbnb assistance (very pleasant and efficient!), and to find a new place and move, and given that I always behaved in a very gentle and respectful way toward her.