A Special Week-end!

 Three dear ladybuds did us the great honour of coming up from Athens to see us. Hot tea and warm scones awaited them, as the mountains had been snow—dusted the day before their arrival.  That day the weather was dull, damp and dreich! ☹

 After lunch we headed to paint the city centre whatever colour took our fancy! Our centrally located air b’n’b flat in Mitropoleos welcomed us with a warm wave of heat – wonderful!

 In the evening we wandered around the Ladhadhika area.  Near the port, this area used to be full of oil warehouses …. and red lights. Now it is the epicentre of more modest night life! Our restaurant of choice was Greco Restaurant in that it gained three points over the others: it had no dudes touting for custom outside, had lovely traditional-like decor and was frequented by locals – always a good sign!  We enjoyed speedy service, excellent food and wine and a great group of musicians who played songs of old, well-loved  composers/singers - Tsitsanis, Chiotis, Kouyoumtzi, Papazoglou. At around 3am young people still thronged the streets, ready to dance the night ‘right through’, to borrow a phrase from a Zabetas song!                                               

      

                                                                            

The next morning sunshine awoke us – excellent conditions for sightseeing. Task 1: to seek out a nearby recommended bougatsa shop.  Outside folks were queuing– again a good sign, we thought. Sitting on the sea front  directly opposite a magnificent snow-capped Olympos, sipping our coffee  - best breakfast view ever. Sadly, the bougatsa – we had cheese, meat and cream fillings – did not live up to expectations – the special pastry being really quite oily. ☹

In Aristotle Square, we admired its centre-piece: the recently renovated Electra Palace Hotel.                                                            

We appreciated old buildings too, like the Harara Hamam building in the Loudhadhika area – the flower market. Newly opened, it offers massage services, snacks and drinks – next time!!

                                                       

A lick of brightly coloured paint vamps the appearance of old tenement blocks in Aghia Sophia Square, while the black statue of the Bishop Chrisostomos of Smyrni looks on approvingly.

                                                           

We had to visit the newly-constructed Modiano Market, a huge enclosed area on the old market site. Retaining part of the old spirit, its modern stalls offer the best of Greek produce.

                      

       

                                              

Below a young girl delicately fills the famous syruped, filo pastry horns with crème patisserie. They are a must for tourists to sample or take home as delicious gift:  trigona panoramatos.             

                                                                                   

The store below honours the dear-departed local composer/singer Nikos Papazoglou whose music seems to appeal to every generation of Greeks.                                                              

 All too soon it was time to sit around the table before the ladies set off for the airport.  This time we went to an old haunt of mine: Ta Koumparakia - The Brothers-in Law - on Egnatia, near the Arch of Galerios. Fortunately, as for the Greco, we had booked a table – these popular venues fill up fast. Siblings Vicky and Christos were working flat out to meet the demand and their food was superb. Sitting outdoors beside the sunken church with a tree in full pink blossom, that was a beautiful experience to cherish.

Thank you, ladies, for making the weekend so special!

                                                  

And just in case you were wondering: the colour we painted Thessaloniki was …… tartan!!

Train Tragedy.

  March opened with the horrific news of the train tragedy when, en route from Athens to Thessaloniki, an express passenger train collided with a south-bound freight train which the local stationmaster had accidentally routed onto the same stretch of track. This accident claimed 57 lives, many of whom were students returning to their university after a holiday weekend.  

 Four railway officials, including the stationmaster, have been taken into custody, the Minister of Transport immediately resigned and the Prime Minister has promised a transparent inquiry.

Anger is being expressed nationwide by huge demonstrations demanding accountability as well as radical systemic and managerial changes in the railway network which has been revealed to be in a derelict state.

The first picture speaks for itself with student backpacks forming the heart-rending last message of a mother sent to her child who died: ‘Call me when you get there.’

                                             

Greeks are neither great queuers nor regular blood-givers so this scene of hundreds of prospective donors queuing patiently - and one replicated outside hospitals in all major cities - shows the immediate support for medical services dealing with the many injured passengers.

                                       

We saw haunting funeral images, most with white floral tributes symbolizing the youth and purity of those lost souls. Below, the mourners of a young student brought white balloons and the white sugared almond sweets which would normally have been distributed at her wedding. Tragic in its simplicity.

                                  

Human error undoubtedly played a part in the tragic accident where an inexperienced stationmaster was left in charge. Modern equipment was only partially installed and had remained so for years. The system was never fully operant, nor were employees adequately trained.

 In my opinion the supervisors, managers, department heads, right the way up the hierarchical chain of command to the Minister of Transport, all bear some responsibility for the woeful situation. Unions continually call for more employees to be brought in – obviously affording them more funding and power. They do claim they frequently requested the system be improved but clearly did not put enough pressure on the appropriate authorities for this to happen. There is a smell of a cavalier, laissez faire attitude all along the line, so to speak.

The responsibility to push for change is now, by default, being picked up by the populace.

‘Solidarity’ would aptly be the title for the picture of this huge demonstration in Athens.

                                                   

    Their banners bear the legends:

‘We are the voice of all those who died.’

 and

‘We won’t forget, we won’t forgive.’