Greece

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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 we have visited in Yom Kippur eve.
In each additional step in the city, Shai's eyes shone more and more and he became more and more energetic and enthusiastic as he is a city person. One of the best sites for him in the city was the buses system. A lots of buses are running, very frequent and full of passangers.
Yet, there is currently one line of metro being digged. However, it will probably take years until it is completed since following each meter of digging progress, there is an "army" of archeologists looking for relics. And there are, a lot, since Thessaloniki is a very old city, built layer on layer in each era, similar to Jerusalem. So once exposed, the relics need to be evacuated to a different place. This halts the diggings.
After Thessaloniki, we took a train to Florina, in west Macedonia were we will be hosted for 3 nights (tonight is the last night). Our host here, Dimitry, is an extremly clever guy and has an absolute memory as well. He has a vast knowledege of almost everything, also he knows many facts about Israel, maybe more then many Israelies. And it is not that he is interested espically in Israel. He said, for example, that if he would meet with French people, he could have talked with them about French issues. So also with him we have tried to solve Greece problems with FYROM and Israel problems with tre West Bank and Gaza. Not too much of success either. Florina is a lovely town but too many attractions. It is a base for us to more interesting places in the area. Yesterday we have visited Edessa with its impressive watefalls. Today we just enjoyed a "day off" in Florina and tomorrow we will go to Veria and Kastoria and then, at night, hopefully cross to Albania.

Bye, Sharon

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Comments

[Itamar Cohen]

The Israeli side
As far as I know your political opinions, I'm a bit afraid that there was no real represenation for the Israeli side in the conflict. Well, I'm sure you (especially Shai) know well to represent the Palestinian side, but am a bit afraid about the representation of our side.