Postcards from abroad
We started the day with a technical achievement: I managed to work my way through the Greek instructions on the television so that I could cast my phone to the TV. It was my uncle’s State Funeral (today is a national day of mourning in his honour in Zambia) which was streamed on YouTube. We… Continue reading A final day in Thessaloniki – a funeral and a rally
We are nearly at the end of our journey - back in Thessaloniki in our stylish Air B and B, having driven 3000 kilometres and taken 1600 photos. We leave tomorrow. But we have a small competition for you. Sue started it (‘never pass up the chance of a cheap joke’) and Rosalind and others… Continue reading Signing off with a challenge for the cheapest joke pertaining to Northern Greece or a quiz if you prefer
The opening photo is of the border between Greece and ’the Garden of the Virgin’ - that’s a stamp we’re not going to be able to get in our passports since no female animals and humans (except cats) have been admitted since 1063. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site - isn’t there some kind of… Continue reading Monasteries of Mount Athos
We woke up to the sight of groups of men (Russians we think) with backpacks marching through Ouranoupoli on their way to the monasteries of Mount Athos. So we established that we could take a three-hour boat trip along the side of Mount Athos peninsula to see the monasteries - the boats are not allowed… Continue reading Mount Athos – a holy journey (for some)
It’s too complicated to explain all the different civilizations, wars, religions etc that flowed through this site, now UNESCO. But we hit it on a glorious day with a chill in the air. Having slogged around its uneven surface, and tried to find the very prison into which Saint Paul was thrown (and subsequently released… Continue reading Philippi – an archaeological millefeuille