Blogs from Central Macedonia, Greece, Europe - page 17

Less than 10 days before Christmas. The supermarkets have stocked all the Xmas Decorations and Xmas goodies . I put up some Christmas Decorations in the house and also made a Christmas Laurel for the front gate, using some cyprus branches and Christmas baubles. Mama had some friends over for coffee this morning and had bought some biscuits that were suitable for people fasting before Christmas.( no meat, eggs, milk) This household is not undertaking such fasting this year. We visited Michael's friend for his name day last week and he has a steel construction factory and he is finding things difficult economically with reduced orders. We go to the local street markets and buy the fruit and vegetables there, but I guess the supermarket is where the money goes. Dairy products such as milk ( ... read more

Here are some photos when we went into Salonika's city centre near the waterfront to see the switching on of the Christmas Lights. It was like Moomba, with ten thousand people, with one of the main roads closed for pedestrian access. The Real Christmas tree 22 metres high had 80,000 lights on it. Fairy floss sellers, popcorn, souvlakias, hot drinks in a trolley on wheels with coals underneath. Xmas hats with flashing lights and helium filled balloons and finished with a wonderful display of fireworks. We had 2 hot chocolates at a swanky hotel right next to the action ( Electra Palace Hotel) Cost was $22 Australian for the 2 ( most expensive chocolate or coffee for that matter) Michael's work had given him some money to have some Coffees in Salonika, so we took some ... read more

Week 3 of our trip Here are a few photos. It seems strange to see the beer and wine in the same aisle as soft drinks in the supermarket. Snow has fallen in Florina, the town about 2.5 hours from Salonika and where Michael was born. However not where we are staying, 25 km from Salonika near the sea. ... read more

One of the few days we had off in the past few weeks was due to a national holiday. The holiday consists of..... well I'm not 100% sure but it has to do with Greece's eventual defeat of Spain when the Spanish tried to invade and take over. The closest equivalent in an American holiday would probably be the Fourth of July. Rather than shoot off fire works and get drunk this Greek holiday is celebrated with a huge military parade. Just about everyone in the city, skips work(nothing new there), buys a flag and heads to the parade route early so they can get a good seat. Nathan and i got there a little late but found a good spot. We promptly lost that spot however when we went on a little search to find ... read more

Hi, From Sandanski in south Bulagria, we took a train to Thessaloniki in Maceodonia. The ride took 3 hours including 2 stops for the border control. In Thessaloniki, we were hosted by a very nice couple for 2 nights. We had a great tome with them, having high level conversations and debates as Jenny, the lady is a very political person. So we were trying to solve both Greece problems with FYROM and Israel problems with tre West Bank and Gaza. Not too much of success. Thessaloniki is a charming and lively city, reminds of Tel Aviv with many shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants in the main sqaure and the sea promanade, crowded with people all day and night. Not too many sights to see, though. A lot of churches and at least one sinagauge that ... read more