My Images of SEE – 19:32, Saturday 27th August

So I started out on my long walk into town, towards the Tivoli Park. Along the way I rested on a bench to take in the glorious view. I decided that I should get the castle out of the way first; initially because I wanted to walk up, and secondly because I wanted to see the views. So I went towards the main square like yesterday and crossed the bridge. The town hall was nearby so I popped over to picture it. A rather grand affair, in keeping with its baroque surroundings. I walked past a series of cafes to my right that led out to a market on my left.

To my right was where the path led up to the castle, but it was undergoing repairs. So I walked on to go to the next route. However, I happened upon the hillside lift. I went over, and it would cost €5 to see the tower, virtual tour etc, or €7 with all that and the lift. Because of the tiring heat, I opted for the second option. So up I went and the views just enveloped out before me. It was awesome.

We departed out vessel and I went up to the courtyard. Completely surrounded by walls and a clock tower, it has undergone significant renovation and updating. But first I went for a coffee (and ice cream). I read and absorbed my surroundings. I then went up a small tower to a wall. The views looked north over the city, towards the train station and beyond. A sea of terracotta was before me. They only stopped because of semi distant green hills. But in the far distance, barely visible in day’s haze, were the peaks of the Julian Alps; snowcapped too. An inspirational sight.

I fled down to the courtyard, then up to the clock tower. Adjacent to it was a small chapel that I visited briefly. Very ornate and well decorated. I then went up three flights of stairs, then up a set of spiral stairs. It opened out on to a three meter by three meter roof, with turrets as rails. The 360 degree view was magnificent. I could see where I stayed. Behind, to the south west the spine of the hill that the castle was set on stretched back a good kilometer. All around there was settlement, surrounded by hills, by mountains.

I then came back down and sat in the 3D virtual tour of Ljubljana. It was OK, but more to show off the technology I think. On site there was also a small ‘Slovenia History’ museum. It briefly went through the nation’s history, but was more a reading tour than an exhibit. I then took the lift back down to river level.

I walked through the market, over another bridge and stopped at a café for a pizza and beer. Hounded by wasps still, I then walked up to the Parliament Building and the Republic Square. Unfortunately both a relic of Tito’s era, and the square was a mere car park. As I walked by though, it looked like a car drove into the Parliament Building! Next to this was the museum. It had a small exhibition on stamps over the last 20 years, a way of marking 20 years of independence. I then looked around the vast amounts of Roman gravestones, and at the other exhibits. All very informative and in a grand building.

I left, then walked south down the main Slovenska Road to a Roman wall identified on my maps. A convoy of cars passed with Slovenian flags and rosettes on their wing mirrors, beeping their horns. I think someone got married. I then took pictures and returned to the river, walking up lovely riverside buildings, and some with roof terraces similar to Amsterdam slightly. I then stopped at a wine bar for an hour, reading and battling with a wasp (although indoors to avoid such incidents). It then rained a little but cleared up before I left.

I walked up to the main square, and from there to the Tivoli Park. I heard loud bass music, and an unusually large crowd of youths. So I wondered over. I asked a steward what was going on. He said an electronic festival for €1. I decided to return. So I got to the hotel and made further enquiries with the girl on reception. She confirmed what the steward said. I then went to the 24hr shop to buy beer and food. However, the west sky was orangy-red. I feared a thunderstorm. So I bought beer and food, then as I returned it began. So I decided to stay in and entertain myself armed with beer and food.

My Images of SEE – 14:17, Mon 8th August

So, this morning my alarm didn’t wake us up at our scheduled time of 08:00. It was my intent to leave early to get to ‘Simeondis’ travel agents for 09:00. However, we slowly crept from our sleep to get ready for going out. Liam was frozen all night, him sleeping under the air-con and all, meant he had a disturbed sleep. I, on the other hand, stirred only once. We departed our hotel at 09:25 and headed west towards Democracy Square. We then turned off down 26^th October Street. I expected the shop to be at the bottom of this street – a good mile away. However the Law Courts, as indicated in my e-mail instructions, appeared to our left. So we crossed over and located our building. A porter indicated, using sign language, the first floor. So we went up. On the door there was a sign – in Greek. It said ‘Simeondis’ on it, but there was no answer. We tried opening it but no luck. Reading a number (and a vague similarity to numbers, a second ‘numeral’ we assumed it opened at 10:00, so we departed. To kill time, we discovered the old city wall. So we walked around the back (behind the Law Courts) via a small park, back to our original destination. The walls were a good 3000 yards from the sea, beating my assumption that they went all the way to the waters edge.

Once 10:00 had been reached, we moved in once more. Again the door remained unanswered and locked. Liam suggested we go up a floor, which we did. Lo and behold, there was the office. I produced my e-mail to the girl on the front desk. She opened her book and saw my name. I noticed it was at the top of the list for the bus that day – talk about forward planning! She took our passports, and gave us a stamped ticket and our passports. We paid €20 each for the one-way coach. It was to depart tomorrow at 17:30 opposite our building.

We then walked back to our hotel room. We rehydrated and applied sun cream before departing again – handing in our room key to the friendly reception man. Liam noticed a fort of the hill yesterday, so we decided to hike it there. So we stuck to a northeasterly route up the hill. We passed a massive open space, in front of what looked like a municipal building, which contained what one could only presume to be Roman/Greek ruins. They were spectacular, especially against the overbearing buildings around us. We then continued.

Above one of the next east/west roads we appeared to be in more residential surroundings. There were still slim and windy streets but the gradient was getting steeper. The housing must have been built mostly in the 1950s or 1970s – depending on the block. All had small balconies and over them had screens for shade. Cars were almost always parked chaotically on the road, especially at junctions. We pressed on.

Only for the local bus going past, to indicate some sense of familiarity in somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, we were best able to predict that we were on the right track. So we pushed on. We then got to a point where a house wasn't built in-between the sandwiched buildings.

The views were superb. It reminded me of images I have seen of Jerusalem – only with a bay; the crisp, turquoise sea glistening in the midday sun. Facing south, we could see east to where the airport was, scanning the bay – with its smattering of sea vessels – across to the tip of the port in the west. To our left was the old city wall, crawling past us, up the hill, to our destination. The Fort.

So we continued on for the last leg of the journey. Once we reached the ‘summit’ we realized it was closed. But I did get the opportunity to buy postcards and fridge magnets. We then went to the door of the tower, which had a decked area. The views were stunning. Now you could see the entire port too. 

 

Directly ahead of us, looking south was the wall striding towards the Rotunda. We could see the small, spiky tower next to the Archaeological Museum we visited yesterday, and the vastness of the Thermaikos Gulf before us. We then retreated back to the town, following the wall south, capturing a glimpse of the Rotunda close up as we went past. 

Its brick was almost sandstone like. Its accompanying tower must have been a later addition. We retraced out steps westwards down Egnatia in search of food. We intended on going ‘local’ out of a street side fast food outlet, but were put off by there being no English to help us make an informed culinary choice. So we walked down the ‘Bond Street’ of Thess, Tsimiski, and back to Aristotle Square. Here we ate at a different establishment, but still soaking up the daytime atmosphere.

Liam then wanted to witness the forum. So we walked up to Archea Agora Square, where we saw a pack of wild dogs snoozing in the shade, and onward to the forum beyond. Another sighting of a vast Roman settlement. A massive plaza in its centre but then tunnels and archways underneath, at its edge. To the right, an amphitheatre where Liam said discussions would have been held. Battling with the heat, we returned to the hotel for 14:00.

Watching some TV, it is interesting to observe how it compares to UK TV – and I do say that it is no competition. A TV show that looks like it is a 1990s repeat does actually seem to be recently made. So I opted for Eurosport – always modern!


It was on this day that I became aware of the depth of history of the city. I had known the regional history, but that it made its appearance in a city, hiding under grass, near the sea, next to more modern buildings, brought home the idea of Thessaloniki having more that what was being presented at first glance.

Since my visit, I have read Mark Mazower's Salonica: City of Ghosts (2004). This book enlightened me so much on the history of the city covering the last 500 years. Given that it rests within a Greek state, this city has been under Byzantine, Ottoman, German and Greek rule, and been targeted for rule by Bulgarians and Serbians. This was already known to me, but the diverse make up of the people that made this walled city was unknown. Most presentations of the city look at the Greek, Turkish or Bulgarian populations that inhabited this city, but lacking in study were the Jews who, up to 1912, were the largest ethnic group in Thessaloniki. The Ladidka is what remains of their physical presence in the centre. This was not only down to the mass slaughter on the city's dwindling population by the Nazi's during the course of World War II; but also because of great many a fire in the city over the years, or economic opportunities elsewhere. These residents and a host of other peoples resided in Thessaloniki over the centuries, ebbing and flowing in numbers as time went on. This book captures the vibrancy of how these people lived, how they were organised, what the customs were, and in what buildings they lived. One of my fascinations is the aesthetic beauty that buildings have, and my curiosity as to the intent of a certain style. At present the Modernist builds project rationality and purpose. But past building had other purposes that may be redundant now yet instead posses that aesthetic beauty somewhat more.

The home of Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, had Ottoman as its style, with its characteristic bay window which can still be seen today. On the note of Ataturk, who would now have been born in Greece, it should be remembered that after Greece took over Salonica, he was one of the Turkish generals engaged in the war between Greece and Turkey in 1923 that saw hundreds of thousands displaced. Greeks fled Anatolia, whilst Turks and Muslims fled to Turkey. This meant that by 1929, 75% of the city was now Greek. The Greek nationalising of the city could then begin in earnest.  

And it is this ethnic homogenisation, along with the binary of nationalisation/de-Ottomonization of Thessaloniki, that can be witnessed at present in the architectural and social structures of the city. This is what Maximilian Hartmuth observes in his article in Urban Life and Culture in Southeastern Europe (Roth and Brunnbauer, 2006). This leads on to the wider concepts of national identity, nationalism and citizenship, as categorisations of people, whether objective or subjective, and the processes that these concepts engage in or emanate from. But these will out in further debates. Only to finally say that Thessaloniki is a city that may seem 'modern' in its presentation, and Greek in its identification, but it has 'resided' in numerous states and empires, yet always remained regionally in 'Macedonia' (however one wishes to define its borders) whilst being historically diverse in its populations.