Thessaloniki People

A couple of people pictures from our wandering around Thessaloniki:

An immigrant looking out over the Thermaic Gulf on a drizzly day

Waiter pouring wine in the Ergon Agora Restaurant where we had lunch

Two Thessalonniki Scenes

Thessaloniki has lots of vivid things to see. Here are just two out of many - one full of action, one ancient and still.

Central Market butcher

Roman Forum wall

Thessaloniki, Greece

The morning after the farewell dinner of our Balkan Odyssey trip, we hired a car to drive us over the border from Skopje, Macedonia to Thessaloniki, Greece - about a 2.5 hour ride. Compared to the relative spaciousness and slow pace of Skopje, Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, is crowded and bustling. I was struck by a visual difference as well: Skopje has very few graffiti or street art, while Thessaloniki is loaded with them. 

A striking example was in a doorway just outside our hotel.

This detail of a fresco in the Museum of Byzantine Culture strikes the same mood as the street art.

Balkan Odyssey: Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, has about 700,000 inhabitants. It's an odd mixture of old and new, of finished and unfinished.

A view of the old fortress behind roots of the old town.

Statue of two Jewish children about to board a train that will take them to a WW2 concentration camp and their death, in front of the unfinished Holocaust Museum.

Balkan Odyssey: Prishtina, Kosovo

We took a day trip from Skopje in Macedonia to Prishtina, the capitol of Kosovo.

We had a very interesting lunch conversation with the Director of the Kosovo Museum. Here is a portrait from a stroll after lunch.

Perhaps the most interesting building in Prishtina, and certainly the most controversial, is the National Library of Kosovo.

Balkan Odyssey: Macedonia - Ohrid to Skopje

We left Ohrid and its lake for Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia. 

Our first stop was at the resort town where Lake Ohrid drains into its only outlet, the Drin (Black) River. The Drin flows northward into Albania and then into the Adriatic Sea. 

Our drive to Skopje took us through some rugged and beautiful mountains. At one point, the cloud formations were particularly striking.

Balkan Odyssey: Lake Ohrid Light

Lake Ohrid in Macedonia is a UNESCO natural heritage site, just as the city of Ohrid is a cultural heritage site. This is due to its geological and biological diversity. But its beauty, at all times of day, is also noteworthy.

A boat in an stream from Lake Ohrid, on the grounds of the St. Naum monastery.

Sunset over the lake and a hillside in Ohrid, seen from the city center.