Walking around the city.

When we have visitors from out of town it is the best of chances to walk around the city and go sightseeing.
This time it was my niece Ellie who studies Architecture and was very willing to have a look around the city sights and buildings. And Thessaloniki has a great variety of architectural samples.
On Friday afternoon we visited...
Yedi Kule (Seven Towers)

 Elias the Prophet Church 

 Alatza Imaret

In it there was an Art installation and exhibition by Tina Karageorgi which was impressive.

 It was time for a break so we decided to try desserts from a very old pastry shop called Dorkada. I had ekmek kadaif which was divine!

 Then we moved on and ate our desserts while sipping Turkish demli cay at Prigipos cafe!

 My son and my niece enjoying their tea!

 Back home they made hamburgers and I made fruit salad!

 On Saturday morning after a quick breakfast with pear and cheese muffins

we girls went on a city tour again. First a short stop on top of the Old Hamam cafe next to

  Bey Hamam which has a lovely view of the Hamam.

 It's great spotting beautiful buildings at the city centre especially when friends live there!

 We then went to Bit Pazar and looked around the antiques and second hand things. I tried not to buy anything as I just recently decluttered the house and there is not any space for anything.

 We then had a look at the Roman Forum,

 we passed outside Koumbi coffee and crafts cafe where there was yarn bombing

but we decided to have coffee at Frideriko agapi mou cafe which has beautiful antiques and is dog friendly!

 This is Oddie, another customer's dog!

Then we did some shopping mainly clothes and finally met the men and had lunch.

You can't really finish a good day if you don't have ouzo and appetisers at Ellinikon Restaurant which was once again very good!

 We walked back home spotting big bubbles at the sea front!

 In the evening we made some chocolate and marshmallows dessert (s'mores dip)

Barca really enjoyed this visit!

The poppies

On May 1st while walking at the seafront we saw hundreds of poppies being picked by people to make wreaths. The lawns of the seafront were plucked out and walked on and soon all the poppies were gone. After a while all the petals of the poppies were being blown away from the bouquets and wreaths and were covering the promenade.
I was thinking that people could not realise what beauty really is.
Poppies are a flower you can't possibly keep in a vase. They die instantly. Their beauty is their fragility and their temporariness, their contrasting red in a green field.
Beauty is to let them be!
Today, Sunday May 4th, just a couple of days later, we walked the seafront with our dog!
And there the poppies were back. Not as many as they were a week ago before the invasion of the May 1st seafront visitors but at least as beautiful.
And I breathed in the sea wind (the weather is getting worse and the forecast it too bad for the rest of the day again!) and I admired their beauty and took.....some photos of course!
As it was windy the poppies wouldn't sit still of course! I was prompted to take a first picture when I spotted a white poppy among all the red ones! Have you ever seen a white wild poppy?

 And then just underneath it a pink one which when I went closer to take a pic found a resident artist in it.

 The usual reds with their black centre were there of course.

 But those pink ones were my favourite!

 And a red with white that wouldn't stand still to have her photo taken!

 And a pink with a white centre.

 And a red with a white centre! That one really loved to pose for a photo!

I am so glad the poppies are back!

How great it is to be off school for a day!

As Independence Day is a National Holiday and it was on a Tuesday it was great to be off school in the beginning of the week.
We had the special traditional lunch at my mum's. Salted cod nuggets accompanied by her stuffed vine leaves and some salads.

And then we thought of walking at the beach front with my brother and sister as it was a glorious day.

Thousands of people were walking or lounging at the sun.

 And little boat-cafes did cruises at the Bay.

 We wanted to have coffee and I thought it a good idea to go aboard Clio, a boat-cafe! You can have your coffee there and also take a half hour tour of the Thessaloniki Bay.

 Seeing the city from the sea is such a marvelous sight.
The Macedonia Palace Hotel.

 The harbour.

 Aristotelous Square

 The White Tower landmark of my city.

 With the National Theatre behind it.

 And that's Clio.

 And of course Zongolopoulos Umbrellas.

It was a great day!