Thessaly South
It is Wednesday, June 24. We met our drive Vasilis at the El Greco Hotel early on Wednesday. He arrived in a brand new Mercedes Benz luxury bus, white, shiny and icon-blessed. Vasilis has a word-of-mouth reputation as a safe, knowledgable and third generation bus driver. He is prompt, polite, can squeeze the bus between two lemons and tells John not to bother us about being neat on the bus, he will clean it up afterwards. But the bus is spanking clean and we need to not spill frappes on pristine seat covers.
Passing acres of rice fields the land also that grows churches every few kilometers. We head south along a national highway. From Thessaloniki we were originally bound for the city of Veria (Βέροια). St. Paul and his brother, Silas, preached if Veria, one of the first Christian communities outside of Palestine. and the current economic center of Central Macedonia. Recalling that Paul preached in his travels to many Jewish communities, there are still pockets of ancient Sephardic Jews in Macedonia, though the populations were decimated by Germany during WW II.
Passing acres of rice fields the land also that grows churches every few kilometers. We head south along a national highway. From Thessaloniki we were originally bound for the city of Veria (Βέροια). St. Paul and his brother, Silas, preached if Veria, one of the first Christian communities outside of Palestine. and the current economic center of Central Macedonia. Recalling that Paul preached in his travels to many Jewish communities, there are still pockets of ancient Sephardic Jews in Macedonia, though the populations were decimated by Germany during WW II.
Vasilis and "Cleopatra", his name for this wonderful new bus.
Veria Lost...
Veria is filled with some of the most beautiful Byzantine churches in Greece, plus a museum. Its history is that of invasion after invasion: held by Bulgarians in late 9th c.; captured by Serbs in 14th c; the Turkish conquest in 1430; and a strong resistance movement during WW II. But we skip Byzantine-rich Veria because with the harsh economic crisis in Greece, the government-owned churches cannot pay for them to be open. Sad that we will miss the churches and Byzantine museum of Veria but sadder for unemployed Greeks. We saw this in Thessaloniki, where the paucity of municipal police allows motorbikes (using less gas, so this is good) to drive down sidewalks with impunity (not good); and there is no money to finish a mammoth subway system nor to clean the graffiti on most stoned surfaces.
Veria is filled with some of the most beautiful Byzantine churches in Greece, plus a museum. Its history is that of invasion after invasion: held by Bulgarians in late 9th c.; captured by Serbs in 14th c; the Turkish conquest in 1430; and a strong resistance movement during WW II. But we skip Byzantine-rich Veria because with the harsh economic crisis in Greece, the government-owned churches cannot pay for them to be open. Sad that we will miss the churches and Byzantine museum of Veria but sadder for unemployed Greeks. We saw this in Thessaloniki, where the paucity of municipal police allows motorbikes (using less gas, so this is good) to drive down sidewalks with impunity (not good); and there is no money to finish a mammoth subway system nor to clean the graffiti on most stoned surfaces.
 Greek farmers now produce "sun" energy. All over Greece we note solar panels, in fields, on houses, and atop commercial buildings.
Climbing
Our second planned stop, is the city of Elassona to see a monastery off the beaten Byzantine path. Flat fields give way to roadside pines and distant mountains. Elassona lies in the area of Macedonia know as Thessaly, near Mt. Olympus. Suddenly these distant mountains appear; the ancient center of the world and the heavens (Zeus the Sky Father). There are stunning peaks collared with cloud emerging from a misty horizon. Gas in Greece is “cheap”, $7/gallon (John converted from liters), half of which is tax. As we move through small towns there are tiny sidewalk chapels; solar panels sit on most house (for 30 years). Most houses in Greece sport solar hot water tanks. In the hotels you have to insert your key card into a slot by the door that acts as a switch for the lights. When you leave taking your room card, the lights shut. Soon we leave the four lane highway onto a smaller road and we pass sheep farms and vegetable fields. There are rich expanses of deciduous and fir trees, unlike the southern sun-bleach white-washed rocky Aegean region. |
 Bee hives as poachers...
We begin to ascend narrow winding roads. The several peaks of Mt. Olympus come into focus as we pass cherry trees and dense forest, village vistas and we look down over red-roofed clusters of village houses. This is taller Greek version of the Berkshires. Bee hives sit amidst the rocks and agricultural farmers cooperate allowing the bee owners to "poach" by moving their hives to different locations for pollination. The area is rich with fruit and vegetable groves, Asian lilies, bougainvillea, and flowers of every hue. We gauge the danger of the curves by the density of shrines along the side of the road. Some have oil lights. As an act of piety neighbors take care of the shrines by keeping the oil lamps lit. They look like tiny domed fairy houses. I was telling Mary Olive and May Belle, sisters from Alabama, that these "memories" of souls who have fallen asleep on the roads echo the Orthodox tradition of always remembering those who go before us.
Farmers with agricultural fields do the bee farmers a favor by allowing them to “poach”. The area is rich with fruit and vegetable groves, Asian lilies, bougainvillea, and flowers of every hue. |