When Frieda visits....

it's a chance for fun!
My friend Frieda lives on Skiathos island and we hadn't met for quite a long time!
It was great that she came and we met again and did things together!
Here's what we did! It was such a full of fun weekend.
On Friday...
...we went to the International Trade Fair grounds at the Xeirotexnika Fair (a handicraft fair) organized by the creative Ftiaxto ladies who first brought the DIY sites in Greece. First we went around seeing the various stalls and vendors who sold handicraft supplies and handmade things and then we attended a workshop by dear Anna of In My Closet. She showed us how to make a snow globe.

 There were so many beautiful things to buy.I bought a cushion from Sis style who are a family enterprise of some former students of mine. Isn't it beautiful? And matches my vintage Danish armchair.

I also bought a lovely pair of earrings made in makrame style by Helen's Macrame Creations.This vendor really had so many beautiful things.

After the Fair we went for pizza at Famigliano

 and had to try the pavlova too. Divine!

On Saturday...
...we went to the beach house. The leaves of the trees had covered the lawn.

 We planted the bautiful flower pot my friends had brought a couple of weeks ago and I felt it was a pity to leave it in a small pot in the balcony of the city house. Doesn't it look lovely here?

Of course we walked the beach looking for sea glass as sea glass was what brought Frieda and I together.Of course we found some.

Barca thought it was summer and she went in!

 And we ended the day trip with lunch at our favourite spot.

 Barca made friends with a stray puppy....

 ...who was clever enough to eat her food!

In the evening we returned to the city and went to the theatre to see Project Bacchae. It was amazing once again and Andreas Konstantinou, hubby's Godson was fantastic in his one man show again.

(photo from their site)
On Sunday we went on a tour for the Open House Thessaloniki. That's a tour of buildings with architectural interest in the city.It was their fourth year.
We started early and we were lucky we managed to visit the metro station which is under construction in my area and had huge lines. It was very interesting to see this very important project for our city waiting to finish at some point (in our lifetimes?)

 Then we went to the YMCA building and took a tour inside this old building.The tour guide was a young architect student and made the tour very interesting!

 She even took us out at a balcony with a view of the White Tower for a selfie!

There was a charity bazaar taking place in the premises and here is what I bought, a vintage USSR porcelain piece, I couldn't leave it, it was only a euro!

 And some embroidery pieces. The golden one is silk with handcrochet motifs.The black and red is tiny cross stitch. For a couple of euros I couldn't pass those either.

Then we visited a private residence in the city centre with fantastic views of the White Tower,

 great art on the walls,

 and an astonishing shell mosaic floor.

 Then we went to Make Creative Spaces,a designer space where one can create their own art or craft using machinery installed in the place.

 Finally before going back home we went once again at Xeirotexnika to attend one more workshop by Anna of In My Closet and we made a lovely mobile with paper feathers.

 It was a fun weekend wasn't it? Frieda you should visit again soon!

The smell of the kill.

We had recently booked at the Theatre out of the walls (Theatro exo apo ta tihi) to see 

The Smell of the Kill by Michele Lowe with friends and we really loved it. We were laughing for more than an hour. All three actresses were exceptional!

Ladies don't get any ideas...gentlemen just be careful how you behave, I will say no more!

That's the first time we went to this very small cozy theatre at the city centre. 

I think the performances end next week so hurry!

You can find more info here.

After the performance we went for a drink at Tabya.

That's a cafe-bar in a beautiful old house. You can walk all around the house and see how they have changed the rooms into a cafe. It will be even more lovely in summer I am sure.

The view from one of the windows.

 Tabya cafe

I really enjoyed my Mastiha Mohito listening to great music from old records.

There was an art exhibition upstairs, interesting sketches by Dimitris Kokoris.

And a suggestion for another interesting theatrical performance.

We will soon see again Project Bacchae.

Andreas Konstantinou,hubby's Godson is starring in this one man show which is exceptional as well. Performances at Black Box theatre. More info here.

(Photo taken from their website)

A Paris

A Paris

Mama Mia

Did I tell you that two weeks ago we attended Mama Mia musical at the Music Hall of Thessaloniki?

Every year the Music Hall here invites a big Broadway or London musical and we have tried to attend each one inspite the fact that the price of the tickets is rather expensive but I always think that once a year I deserve a musical. 

So far we have seen 

The Cats,

The Beauty and the Beast,

The Fiddler on the Roof (the Greek version)

and now Mama Mia.

Adding to those The Phantom of the Opera 

and Les Miserables we have seen in London,

The Lion King I have seen in Disneyland (the short version),

The Fiddler on the Roof in Goodspead in the States,

Annie,
Cabaret and

The Sound of Music (the Greek version, both seen in theatres in Thessaloniki)

I feel I have seen the best musicals so far.

I hope I will manage to see a few more in future.

We were a bit unfortunate to have a High School group of students sitting behind us and they were quite naughty and noisy which was disturbing especially when you have paid more expensive tickets than them and had booked the seats months ago but well teenagers are like that unfortunately......

 No photos were allowed so I only took a couple from the closing and they also sang "Waterloo" which is not a Mama Mia song but everyone had great fun with it!

I really liked the musical much more than the movie!