A visit to an old school

The 1st High School of Thessaloniki is famous for its achievements and for the people who studied there.

It was built in 1899 as a house for the Modianos, a powerful Jewish family of merchants in the city who were afterwards victims of the Nazis during World War II as the majority of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki.

In 1978 the earthquake of Thessaloniki destroyed the building but fortunately it wasn't allowed to be put down. It was left to decay for years. 40 years later the building was rebuilt with European money boost. That's how slowly things go in Greece. But better late than never!

On the 31st of March it was allowed to visit it before it comes to its proper use as administration building of the High School next to it.

I took the chance as it is in my neighbourhood and visited it.

 That's how all of the neighbourhood looked in the old years.

What a pity the modern Greeks chose to live in blocks of flats, flats like cages and narrow streets. Our city would have been much more beautiful if we had evaluated correctly the old buildings and turned them into beautiful homes or offices and not put them down to make blocks of flats. That's how builders, civil engineers and architects became rich in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Now that nothing is built in the city and flats have lost their value and are sold cheaply they are changing profession.

Here you can see how the project started.
And here you can see how it is today.

Here is the alumni page on facebook.
And here are the stolpersteine outside the building.They are the stones of truth for 149 Jewish students of the school who were taken to Auschwitz by the Nazis. Only 2 returned alive.
You can read how they came to be here.

Anyway this blogpost is full of photos of the building I took while visiting it (except for the last one taken from the Internet) and is dedicated to my husband and all the people I know who went to this school.

My trip to the Peloponnese (1)- the shadow puppet play

As I have told you I went on a ten day trip to Athens and the Peloponnese recently during the school holidays.
I'd like to share my lovely trip with you! Let's start the tour. I know at least few of you would like to hear all about it.
We started on a very rainy day on the 27th December to Athens. It was raining cats and dogs all the way (more than 500 km) but what upset me more was the many tolls on the way and their prices. We did it non-stop with eating our home made snacks in the car.
And we arrived at hubby's cousin's house in the afternoon.We had a short chat and then went to
Megaro Mousikis (Music Hall) to attend a shadow puppet performance by our friend  Elias Karellas, an excellent shadow pupetteer.

 Inside the building.

Elias Karellas was performing Captain Karaghiozis (O Karaghiozis Kapetanios) and he had created a whole ship on the stage.

  Along with him were the artists Areti Ketime and Burger Project who were amazing in their collaboration with the shadow puppets.

 Karaghiozis, his wife and children.

 My favourite photo. One of the performers along with the shadow puppet!

 All the performers on stage in the end of the play.

 We really enjoyed the play. Here I would like to thank Elias for allowing us to take pictures of the play.

 After the performance we went backstage to admire Elias shadow puppets and congratulate him on a great performance.

 Hubby could not resist taking one of the puppets in his hands.

Afterwards we returned to hubby's cousin for dinner and sharing of family stories.
This is Zen, the house pet! Isn't he adorable?

It was a  great first day!
(People believe that nowadays, in this financial crisis that Greece is in, to brag about one's trips is thoughtless. But I assure you I am not bragging and anyway if one plans every detail in advance one can save up for little treats in life. I am not one to buy clothes or do other things so my hobbies take up my saving money.)

This blogpost is linked to Our Beautiful World blog that has the subject of shadows this week.