Many many people visit Greece for the Islands, the beaches and the nightlife. I prefer the cities and the historical sites. And the food and the welcoming easy culture.
O.K. Perhaps Greece does not have the remains of Roman wealth and Renaissance art and history to offer the opportunity for unexpected wonderful moments like Italy. The country is say 25 years behind Italy and is a very different culture. But I hardly ever go back to Italy now that the tourists are year round elbow to elbow.
If it were your first visit to Greece, I would of course suggest go to Athens. But you can “see” Athens in two or three days. Of the historical sites I would recommend Olympia and Delfi, leaving the many others to history buffs.
And .. a long preamble to bring me to this .. IF you decide you enjoy Grece and want to hang around more .. then I would suggest Thessaloniki. The city on the bay looking across at Mount Olympus.
This is a very big city, but it feels small in the compact Roman area on the bay. Founded by the Macedonians, it was a small town until expanded by the Romans as a stronghold on their road between Rome and Constantinople.
Occupied for 500 years by the Persians and the Ottomans and accepting hundreds of thousands of Greek refugees from their expulsion from Turkey in the 1920’s .. the amalgamated culture and cuisine are unique.
There are historic ruins, fascinating churches and interesting museums. I enjoyed being here with CAMarchand on her first visit.
Here are links to some previous posts with much more information about the city:
We are heading over to chilly London for a while. There are numerous posts about London here and so I will probably not check in from there. Going then home for holidays and family visits .. and I will see you here again in February.
Between the times of the explosion of Santorini, which ended the Minoan civilization .. and the expansionist power of the Romans started to reach out of the Italian peninsula … the dominant civilization in the Mediterranean were the Macedonians.
Between (very roughly) 500 BC and 200 AD, they accomplished two remarkable things: Philip the Second united the Greek City States into the Greek nation, and his son, Alexander the Great, in a sensational 11 year campaign, defeated one and all east to the border of India.
These were a wealthy organized people living lives that are recognizable as almost contemporary. To me, this culture was the sprouting seed of our western civilization.
The Romans and earthquakes and movements of the shoreline of the sea have all but obliterated their original capital cities of Pella and Vergina.
However, what was found in grave sites even after centuries of looting is extensive and tells us a lot about these people. Plus we can read their writing. Incredibly the grave of Philip the Second has been discovered and opened and found to be completely intact.
Here are some photos of objects from various museums, a tiny tiny fraction of what can be seen in Northern Greece, for the interested:
Just a few photos from a short visit in little Sibenik.
Nice to be in this little comparatively calm and quiet town after bustling crowded Split.
The people in the hotel, the restaurants, the laundry, etc. are all exhausted after what they describe as a summer of constant waves of tourists washing through the city.
Here are some links to previous posts should you want to see more of Sibenik.
Some towns you just like. And little Sibenik is one I like.
Depending upon what administrative district you choose to count there are only say 30 to 40 thousand people here. Just a bump on this coast, which is a continuous narrow strip of houses, apartments, shops, etc.
Tourists come to Sibenik to visit the old Venetian town, that rises straight out of the sea, capped with a fortress.
The main other visitors here are the Yachties. The shoreline around this stretch of coast is a network of islands and channels out into the main Adriatic Sea. Dotted with little villages, it is heaven for them.
At Sibenik there is a peculiar direct east west channel that runs through the islands into the sea, and so the boats can easily come into and out of the harbor. And they do. All sizes of them.
And so, besides the tourists, Sibenik has a constant influx of boats that they serve with cleaning, provisioning, repairing .. and restauranting. This is probably why even around the first of November almost everything is open.
For me this timing has been perfect. Sibenik has been so quiet and calm and uncrowded. I had a fine corner room with the channel to the sea out one side and the old town harbor the other.
And I have had good luck with the weather. Fall is catching up with me here, the temperatures have slowly come down from the mid 70’s into the high 60’s over the week. And some rain, but intermittent showers, so I was able to get out and walk every day.
_upscale
Besides reading books on the kindle, walking, hanging out and eating … I used the time for chores: twice took laundry to the wash and fold, got some dry cleaning done, searched out a sewing shop and had a pair of trousers repaired. Got a very unfortunate haircut. Life on the road.
Croation philosophy, I guess:
Of course I ate some fishes! Some simple, some elaborate. They are readily available all over town.
There is a lot of Italian food here, but since I am going to Italy next I did not get into it. Nor some of the more exotic local offerings.
I think most people would be seriously bored with SIbenik in two days. But I have really enjoyed my peaceful visit. Here are some random photos around town.
And, that’s it. I will soon fly over to Florence and meet up with the lovely and talented CAMarchand. We have an apartment together for the rest of the month. Near the Central market so there will be cooking and cooking and cooking. I will report again from there.
CAMarchand had never been here, so we spent the entire week for her to have a good visit. Luckily the good weather persisted even here in mid November.
We had a beautiful sunny room right on the water in the harbor.
This is one of my favorite cities. But it is rapidly changing. Every year cleaner, better organized, more new construction .. but way more tourists. Plenty of cruise ships and tourists now, even off season. And getting very pricey.
But still a great place to visit. The old Medieval city around the extensive remains of Diocletian’s fortress is a fantastic world heritage site. The town just outside the west gate sits on the footprint of the old roman village, and the market just outside the east gate still operates every day.
There are a number of blog posts on this site if you want to delve deeper into what Split is like.
One of my favorite things about Split is the huge Forest Park Marjan directly adjoining the old town .. readily available for long quiet walks. Better than Hyde Park or the cascades park in Florence.
The local food is excellent although slowly becoming more pizzaish and touristy. They still serve up excellent fish.
My second favorite: Lamb Chops, are getting very difficult to find. I used to relish the heaping servings of delicious, inexpensive lamb chops. I presume that they do not work well on the tourist menus. But rest assured that your diligent correspondent managed to track some down.
I should mention that Croatian wines are very good. Notably we tasted some very good local fruity dry Rose wines. As you know so many countries do them poorly.
That’s it. We are heading up the coast to little Sibenik for just a short visit, and I will check in from there.
We have been travelling south down through Bosnia. Not a wealthy country, but both intrinsically and historically interesting. Very friendly people. Good food and wine. Inexpensive.
The old Ottoman market in Sarajevo and the historic area around the old stone bridge in Mostar are major tourist attractions.
I have written about these places several times in the past on this blog site .. and so I am only posting some pictures of our trip this year, for those interested.
We will soon be heading down onto the Croatian coast, and will check in from there. Thanks for coming along.
Travelling this Fall/Winter with CAMarchand. We are starting out around the Adriatic, visiting some places I have been to many times but new to her.
Our first stop .. to get over jet leg ..is Zagreb, the Capital of Croatia. The city center is very contained and friendly and even though tourists do come here the city is comparatively quiet and relaxed.
We stayed in the Sheraton. Still a fine hotel, but what an example of how things change. All of the lovely old wood paneling that was once throughout the hotel has been covered over with paint and fabric, the old bar removed for a larger breakfast area, and the new decor is reminiscent of a Fairfield Inn.
Zagreb is my “usual” starting off point for travel in the Balkans, and I have been here so many times and written about the city that there is really no more to say. You might look over some of my previous posts about Zagreb if you are considering visiting here or want to see more photos.
This time I am just posting some photos of this year’s visit .. which you may find interesting.
That’s it. Thanks for your visit.
We are now heading down into Bosnia and will check in from there.
Izmir is a good place to visit in the spring when the weather is usually beautiful. Warm with plenty of sunshine.
This visit was in mid March. Early spring in Izmir, high temperatures in the upper 60s. But green already and they are planting the summer flowers.
Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey, located on a large bay on the most western tip of the country. Istanbul has many things that make it interesting and worth a visit, but it is so huge and densely packed that it hits you like a tidal wave. Izmir seems like a small town by comparison..
I am told that Izmir it the most secular city in Turkey, and although it is plenty Turkish it is also fairly European.
This is an ancient city. Neolithic, Iron age, Hellenic Greek .. , ancient before the Romans came here and established their Asia Minor Capital in nearby Ephesus. And an important city of the Ottoman Empire. There are archeological sites from all these ages in and around Izmir.
A funny photo. This was my breakfast table one morning when I started out with a guide to look at Roman ruins.
Besides comfort and curiousness, I travel around warm places in the winter because I like to walk. And Izmir is perfect for a walker. You can walk as long as you wish along the sea wall, in the clean air off the ocean. Or away from traffic in the very large “kulture park”, located right in the downtown, or just stroll around the city.
And, they have fish. Lots of fish.
And so, it is very very easy to find my forever favorite lunch:
There are surely a million photographs available for the taking in the old Ottoman market.
Down in the Ottoman market I was led to see some of the remaining caravan hostels .. left from the days when Izmir was one of the most important trading ports in the Ottoman Empire. Arriving or departing caravans stayed as a group in these enclosed, alley like places. There were storerooms for the goods, rooms upstairs for the men to sleep, places to eat, restrooms, and the Camels stayed in the courtyard. Today they are mostly full of coffee shops and restaurants.
There are a thousand restaurants here in the city center. All along the waterfront. Everywhere in the Ottoman market. Throughout the close by neiborhoods.
The base cuisine here is from nomadic peoples: meat roasted on sticks, flatbreads, simple cheeses and yogurt. One pot soups and stews.
But over the centuries the food has been greatly expanded by an influx of refugees and migrants. Izmir was an important destination for Spanish Moors and Jews when they were expelled from Spain in the 1500’s. And more recently, Muslim refugees from Bosnia and Syria. As well as economic migrants from central Turkey and surrounding countries.
But no Greeks. The Turkish government forcibly expelled all Greeks in the 1920s.
And of course, spices. The food here is usually spiced in exotic (to me) ways.
And, this being the Mediterranean, super fresh salads of all kinds. Interesting to me: they eat a lot of Parsley just straight. And, they have a local big leafed Arugula, very peppery, that they eat with salt and squeezed lemon.
Some more unusual things:
Fresh Almonds.
Sweetened cakes of ground Sesame seeds (made in this shop for three generations).
Fruit juice stands. Many many of them.
And, these Mussels. Sold everywhere. Not simply the steamed shellfish, like say in Brussels, but here, inside, besides the fish is also spicy seasoned rice. And they are delicious.
Had to try this stuff, but you are looking at a photo of my first and forever last. Probably the strongest stuff I have ever tried.
And yes, the bees found me.
Pushing your patience, I want to pass on this factoid. This funny “bean” .. the Carob ..has a fibrous gummy layer between the very hard shell and the seeds. You can make syrups and other concoctions from this material, and people do and have done since ancient times.
It is interesting that the market for Carob boomed and then collapsed when the interior material was used as a compounding agent in PVC to make vinyl records.
But more interesting. The ancients found that no matter the shape of the seeds, roughly spherical, elongated, etc. etc. … every seed had exactly the same weight. And they used the seeds to weigh precious things. And so Carob, now Carat to us .. gave us 14 carat gold, 24 carat gold, 3 carat diamond, and so on.
And that’s it. Thanks for coming along. I am moving west to Athens tomorrow and soon back to Minnesota.
Georgia is on the very eastern shore of the Black Sea. and the country stretches further east up into the Caucasus mountains. The capital, Tbilisi, is in the very east of the country, in a valley within the mountains, running along both banks of the Kura River.
The river valley is steep and narrow but widens to the west to hold this city of just over a million people.
This is Asia. Any further east are the handful of countries with names that end in “stan”, and then China. And yet here, this far away, Georgia is a country that is historically “connected” to Europe, because of their Christian religion.
The “Golden age” of Georgia was around the time of the crusades, the 12th and 13th centuries, considered the time of the development of the Georgian culture. Sheltered somewhat west and east by the Black sea and the Caspian sea, and up in the mountains, they have been able to maintain their own culture over the centuries. But not without adversity.
You can read their actual long and interesting history, but here is a “nut shell” version of the determining flows of the last few centuries: Invaded and dominated by Persia (Iran) and the Ottoman Empire…
…they had to reach out to Russia for protection. The Persians sacked and burned Tbilisi as recently as 1795, whereas Georgia and Russia have the same Eastern Roman Orthodox religion.
“Saved” by the Russians they were then dominated by them from the mid 1800’s. But the relationship was never happy. Every time the Russian state weakened, the Georgians declared themselves independent: In 1917 during the time of the Russian revolution, but the Russians came back.
And in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2008 -2010 the Russians tried to come back, but they were still weak while Nato and the USA had been strengthening and training the Georgian army. After a brief nasty little war Georgia was free.
Unfortunately this mostly rural, poor, agricultural country (serfdom was only abolished in 1864) has endured ongoing corruption and political turmoil during their independence. These negative factors have steadily diminished, but still exist today. And this has caused investment and development to be slow. But steady. And today gives us a case example of an economy in transition.
First the old. It is amazing that the Georgians have remained Christians for so long considering that they are surrounded by Muslim countries. (They are called Georgians because of their reverence (since the Crusade era) for St. George). When you look out over the city the Christian churches stick up like mushrooms. And they date from 1020 to 2004! The populace appear to be very religious. On the street you constantly see people “crossing” themselves as they pass near a church.
They have also maintained their own language with it’s curious and attractive font.
As to the town, maybe half of the buildings are crumbling. No, maybe 75%. Not figuratively crumbling, I mean walls cracking, structures falling apart and down. Incredibly, people are living all throughout these areas.
All across the city you can still see what I call “local initiatives”. This is where (I have seen this a lot in Russia in the 1990’s) the collective system collapses and locals are free to establish themselves as entrepreneurs. And they can get little businesses up and running when nothing much else is working.
Some of these businesses may be able to grow and survive into more modern times. But many, extremely undercapitalized and offering the quality level of soviet products, will perish. When your income and standard of living increases, why would you continue to buy the horrible old Russian breads..
..when right down the street western breads and pastries and sweets are on offer?
I think the laundry I found will be a success. It is very tidy. The woman that runs it is super friendly and has cleverly positioned herself just outside the new Holiday Inn. It was great for me.. a week’s load of laundry wash and fold for 9 bucks.
More and more this divergence of the shopping offerings is occurring, as modern, efficient shopping such as Spar and Carrefour and other international brands move out into the neighborhoods.
Just off Freedom Square there is a glittery new Mall housing the familiar global brands.
The stores in the mall are “manned” by young attractive females while on the street corners downtown clumps of men stand around and smoke cigarettes.
The super upscale brands are also landing in Georgia.
And of course the Americans are here.
The nicest area of the city is west of Freedom square, around the government center, where many buildings and the streets and walks are in excellent repair.
As the investment climate has improved, many global brand hotels have been newly constructed, or set up in renovated buildings. The new modern constructions can seem very strange sticking up in an area where literally across the street the buildings are crumbling.
There are now new apartment blocks with many more on the way.
Renovation and investment are generating nice new areas in the city.
The upkeep of the city parks is now excellent, and so the neighborhoods around them are improving and becoming nice.
I have had a fun week exploring the food. Had to forego the acres of complementary breakfast in the hotel to go out at lunch and track down “must try” Georgian dishes. (One can only eat so much). Then every night through the magic of the “Concierge lounge” three new hot Georgian entrees to sample. Here are some observations:
They have an extremely long grain rice that cooks up beautifully loose and is delicious. Many of their dishes are sauced like Indian curries, but with completely different spices. Mountain herbs and berrys and seeds. Very interesting and many of the dishes are quite delicious.
Lamb Chakapuli is notable as characteristic of this cuisine. Simply braised, but heavy with mountain herbs including lots of tarragon and garlic. Delicious.
Chkmeruli was suggested to me as one of their best and most famous dishes. A small chicken, browned and then simmered done in a powerful cream and garlic sauce. I thought it was too heavy, very hard to eat, and also hard to taste anything but cream and garlic.
They have a green condiment here that is as ubiquitous as ketchup in the US .. “Tkemali” .. made from unripe green plums that is so outstandingly flavorful it made my heart throb. When home I may try to find some on the internet.
They do a lot of things with doughs, many combined with cheeses, which makes the cuisine a little clunky.
Unfortunately, for me, their famous “”Khinkali” dumplings were disappointing. Compared to the Chinese XiaoLongBao these Georgia dumplings are crudely crafted and poorly flavored.
I did not get out to seriously encounter their wines, so consider these comments just my reflections. The few whites I had were limpid. Their standard red wines are “semi-sweet”, and do not agree with me at all. You have to ask for “dry red wine” to get what we would consider standard fare. But the ones I tasted were surprisingly well crafted and delicious. I am sure that I did not have the “really best stuff”, but the best wines I encountered were from the Saperavi grape, and they were very very good.
What Tbilisi is currently famous for is ruckus nightlife, but I am afraid I cannot report much about that. I did walk down streets with bars and night clubs, cheek by jowl. But I believe that they start up around 11PM and run through the night. Probably not so much here in the winter.
Some things that surprised me on the street. The abundance of offerings to sell Tourists souvenirs, tours, transportation did not. But the offerings of alcohol and particularly wine were seriously, everywhere.
Also in surprising abundance were offerings to Exchange money, in some places every 100 steps down the street. And in all types of establishments from glitzy to very humble.
And flowers. These people seem to love flowers. They are on sale everywhere and many people are carrying them in the streets.
Statues. I could take 50 pictures of them. Maybe a hundred. From the glorious to the remembrance down to the guy who changes your tires.
And the simply peculiar:
And last, the bees. All of this trip the bees have shown up. I was around in the back of an ancient church, in the churchyard investigating a consecrated well. The churchyard backed onto a city park, and they had maybe 15 bee hives .. right in the city center, almost across the street from the Parliament building. Standing there you could smell the honey.
And that is it. It has been beautifully sunny here all week, cool, in the 50s for highs during the days. I am now heading west and will stop for some days in Izmir and enjoy the hot weather. I will check in from there.
I have not been in Thessaloniki since, pre-covid. But I am so happy to have came back because now I remember how much I like this city.
Here is the “White Tower”, the symbol of Thessaloniki, the city on the bay.
I am a little further North here compared to most of my winter ramblings. In this first week of March it has been chilly, barely up to 60 degrees during the days. But green with signs of early early spring.
This is the second largest city in Greece, and probably my favorite. The total area of the city is huge, but the old town down around the seafront seems small and manageable. I think perhaps because the distance between the sea and where you see the top of the nearest hill is so small.
In the old town the market still is in operation and the surrounding area is crowded with shops and everywhere all types of good inexpensive restaurants. I say all types because one of the most delightful things about Thessaloniki is the legacy from all of the civilizations and cultures that have held the city over the centuries, and the immigration of peoples from other countries.
And the old town is very busy and lively, especially on the weekends.
This is not a truly ancient city, having been founded by the Macedonians in recorded history, but old, and the remains of the early times are everywhere throughout the city, some of it still being unearthed and under study.
There are also churches everywhere, mostly Eastern Roman, and most have been here for centuries.
Thessaloniki is, of course, a tourist destination. In fact, a huge cruise ship docked here just overnight. But here in the winter I found the numbers of tourists to be negligible compared to say Athens. I felt that I was among only locals all week.
I like to get out in the mornings in Thessaloniki and walk along the sea wall. Smelling the pine trees and the ocean.
It is a nice climb up to the top of the near hill, very steep and up say 900 feet to the old city walls.
But the climb is through some sad and scrappy neighborhoods. Coming in at about 17,000 dollars GDP per Cap, Thessaloniki is not rich and not poor. The old Roman road from Rome to Istanbul is now four lanes and lined with upscale shopping. But there are also empty storefronts and a few beggars and buskers around.
I took a nice “Food Tour” to help me get oriented. It was actually excellent, introducing me to things like cheeses and local wines and local ingredients concocted into delicious tastes ,, that I could not have discovered myself. And I was introduced to a number of very friendly foody type people. It was a great experience.
Of course I have been eating the wonderful salads and the fishes.
And just because I am typing, a note of travel information: I bought some drug store type supplies in a very nice market right downtown. Gone are the days when you have to pack up everything you might need for a month or two on the road. Globalization has made everything available almost everywhere.
And a reminder: As I usually do, I tracked down a wash-and-fold laundry using Google maps and got a huge pile of laundry done for 10 euros. That is about the price for two pairs of Sox in the Marriott.
And a factoid. I just last week learned so much about bees and honey. And it brought me to appreciate how important honey is in Greek culture. Not like religious, but important.
And that’s it. I am off to a lifetime new place: Georgia. Will check in from there.
