Salonica, the capital of Macedonia and the most important town in Greece after Athens, was founded in 315 B.C. and took its name Thessaloniki from Alexander's sister.  In the fifteenth century, the town was conquered by the Turks and remained Turkish until the beginning of this century.  In 1917, a huge fire destroyed a large part of the city which was then rebuilt in the modern Greek style.  The old city remains Byzantine with Turkish modifications and Turkish domestic architecture, Thessaloniki was one of the richest centres of Byzantine culture and it is therefore not surprising to find that many of the splendid churches still preserve very beautiful mosaics, though a considerable number were spoilt when the Turks pitted them so that they would more firmly hold the covering plaster which obscured them until comparatively recently.  The great Rotunda, or Church of St. George, was built by the Romans at the end of the sixth century A.D. and it was converted into a Christian church in the fifth century.  Later, it was changed into a mosque by the Turks and one slender minaret still stands beside it in the untidy garden where wild flowers bloom in charming disarray.

The vast interior with its great dome is sad and empty, but the remains of some magnificent early mosaics still decorate the walls, in fact, those of praying priests in chasubles, on the lower dome, were so obviously of great power and beauty that they were even respected by the Sultan who ordered that they should be left untouched when the rest of the decorations were plastered over.

The minute church of St. Panteleemon is a most lovely example of Byzantine brick architecture, and its colonnaded courtyard has a small fountain.  Another delightful little building is the eleventh-century Panaghia ton Halkaeon, in which is the tomb of Christophorous.  San Sophia was built in the same style as the church at Constantinople, but at a considerably later date, and it is only about two-thirds of the size.  A domed basilica of the eighth century, its mosaics were added two centuries later.  Other churches well worth seeing are St. Catherine, the Church of the Apostles with its five cupolas, and Moni Latomou, or St. David, a fifth-century church with a lovely mosaic of the vision of Ezekiel and Habakkuk.

The vast basilica of San Demetrius is traditionally said to mark the site of the martyrdom of the patron saint of Salonica.  It has lovely antico verde pillars, but most important of all are the exceedingly interesting and beautiful mosaics which date from the seventh century.  In particular, the mosaic of San Demetrius himself standing between the founders of the Church, is one of the most interesting which remained after the fire of 1917.  The figures are austere yet handled with delicacy.  They have a quiet majesty and the sober vertical lines of the robes are relieved by the small geometric patterns on the material.

Though Salonica has the untidy, rather shabby appearance common to most ports, at dawn and at dusk it is filled with enchantment.  We have wandered on the hills above the town at sunset and seen the domes and few remaining minarets of the old city turn golden and soft pink, whilst the smooth waters of the bay, broken by the dark lines of ships and caiques, shone pale against the darkening hills.  Sitting on the ramparts at four o'clock on a June morning we watched the town and the port slowly break into colour through the pale silver mist and hold that colour until the blazing midday sun had drained it all away and left a steely-blue sea, a dusty, baking quayside relieved only by the dense cool black pools of shadow in the doorway of a warehouse, or the minute noon shadow of a mangy, skeleton cat as it slinks along in search of scraps.  By lunch time the whole port seems to sleep, everyone is indoors eating, or sleeping it off.  Those who lunch out, choose the tavernas near the waterfront, where tables are set under the trees faintly stirred by the sea breeze.  Between five and fivethirty, life begins again and boys with trays of shoelaces, sweetmeats, honey cakes, pencils and pens, begin to circulate in the town, shopkeepers, dozing in chairs, rouse themselves, draw back the shutters and start calling for custom again.  Soon, by half past six or seven, the great parade begins, the leisurely evening stroll along the quays and through the town, when the pedestrians take over and stop to chatter in the middle of the street, dressed in their best clothes.  Nothing will hurry them and cars have to weave their way through the throng.  It is all very cheerful and gay, if you do not happen to want to get from one end of the town to the other in a hurry.

The old town is interesting and picturesque at all times, but becomes beautiful and mysterious in the evening when the dusk hides its rather ramshackle appearance, and the long shadows give it mystery.  The timbered houses with overhanging upper storeys are colour-washed in pink, white or blue; some have brilliant decorations painted on the walls.  Great nail-studded wooden doors in the windowless ground floors guard the entrance to quiet courtyards and elaborate iron grilles cover the windows.  Through these narrow streets the road becomes almost a footpath, and winds up to the fortress and battlemented gateways and towers.  To the west of the town walls, storks build their great nests of branches, often on the low roofs of cottages or shepherds 1 huts, on mosques or minarets, and it is said that storks used to come from Alexandria on the same day every year to build in some old towers which stood near the western ramparts, but the same couple only come once, during the first year of their adult life.  Whether this be true or not, there are certainly storks to be seen in abundance, in their beautiful ordered flight across the plains of Macedonia, standing picturesquely poised against the sky or in the fields, feeding their young on a minaret or swooping to the ground for food.

Though the paths and walks round the ramparts are untidy and dusty, the ancient gateways make a wonderful framework for the hills of Macedonia as they stretch into the distance, patterned with groups of fruit trees and cypress beneath a vast and radiant sky.  From the old walls there is always something of interest to look at as well as the magnificent panorama.  A football match is a most entertaining sight, for the Greeks play with a mixture of grace and swiftness and the general effect is of a dance rather than a game.  Tough as the Greeks are, they move and leap and struggle for the ball with the easy movements of dancers.  Donkeys stand around and mock them with their raucous braying, the donkeys which are the easiest means of transport up the steep slopes.  Indeed, they are used a great deal in the narrow streets below where the atmosphere of a medieval town with street vendors and water-carriers persists.  Goats are milked outside the houses where fruit barrows stop and goods are weighed on the spot.  Donkey carts carry provisions and many of the smaller traders bring their wares to the door on a donkey's back.  In a square where a mosque is used as a shop, grass and flowers sprout from its minute dome, and even a miniature tree flourishes in the dust and earth which has collected there.  A cascade of deep red roses from a garden behind trails over its tiled roof.  A fountain in the middle of the square stands beneath an immense tree which shades the women and girls who come to draw water here in the earthenware jars that have been used for centuries.  Great baskets are piled with fruit and vegetables and canaries sing in cages.  Old men stand about and chatter whilst the women get on with the work and donkeys trudge along the tortuous street.

Besides the old city and the colourful port, the residential quarter along the waterfront has its own charm.  The houses are usually attractive bungalows with ample veranda space for sleeping out in summer.  There is generally one large room out of which all the others open, so that during the hot weather when all doors and windows are open, there is a continual current of air.  This is certainly a great boon when the temperature is high, but in winter, when an icy north wind blows off the mountains, it is extremely difficult to keep out the cold, and most houses have cosy stoves, oil heaters, or better still, a veryefficient system of oil central heating.  Most of the villas are set in delightful gardens full of ''old-fashioned" flowers, huge pink cabbage roses, wistaria and poppies, and the windows look over the sea.  Along the shore, rather mournful-looking horses and donkeys stand patiently with their rather dilapidated carts.  Silhouetted against the sunset sky, or materializing from the mist in the radiance of sunrise, and reflected in the wet foreshore, they make a most romantic picture, breaking the long horizontal lines of sea and trailing cloud.

Less romantic is the unpleasant custom of leaving unwanted kittens to die on the shore.  It is a common sight to see three or four tiny creatures, their eyes hardly open, floundering about before they starve to death.  This is not an act of wanton cruelty.  The Greeks hate taking life.  They feel that if they leave the kittens out in the open, there is at least a chance, however slender, that they will survive, and oddly enough, some do, or are rescued.

We have always found Salonica an exciting and amusing town to stay in, but it also proves an excellent centre for seeing Macedonia.  A great deal can be covered by day trips on the rather ancient buses, as well as by the modern coaches which, if not exactly comfortable, are always entertaining.  The driver's seat is usually festooned with all kinds of devices against evil spirits, and there is often, too, an ikon with a lamp burning below it, or a coloured religious picture, cut from one of the weekly papers, surrounded by flowers.  More often than not, there are fresh flowers in the holder and peacock's feathers, oddly enough thought to ward oft ill luck, wave over the windscreen.

The only way to be sure of a seat is to book in advance, the best seats being allotted in order of booking, but for the latecomers who have forgotten to book, the conductor may well put up a camp stool in the gangway.  The trip is certain to be a noisy one quite apart from the rattle of the bus, for the Greeks never stop talking, and are always interested in the life, history and personal habits of a stranger.  Ignorance of Greek is no safeguard, for the Greeks are the best mimers in the world, and will soon establish some means of communication.  If any passenger begins to sing, the rest of the journey will be a musical one as far as the semi-Oriental songs sung in high-pitched voices can be called musical for all the passengers will join in in parts.  After a few trips on these buses, one becomes immune to everything, and can forget the noise and discomfort, and enjoy exploring the countryside from a sitting position, even though the seat be a hard one.

A great variety of journeys can be taken, both east and west, through the little-known country of Macedonia.  There is, for instance, the trident-shaped peninsula which juts into the Aegean Sea, to explore, including of course Mount Athos and its wonderful monasteries, open only to men, and the shores of the Gulf of Salonica along the east coast of western Macedonia and at the foot of Mount Olympus.  Beyond the peninsula and beyond Mount Athos to the east is the southern coast of eastern Macedonia and Thrace.  In this region there are several places which can easily be reached in a day, either by car or bus, where there is good bathing, but perhaps the most delightful of the shorter journeys is to Stavros, two hours by bus to the east of Salonica.

The road leads straight across the neck of the peninsula beside the two vast pale blue lakes of Koronia and Volvi which stretch nearly its whole width, almost turning it into an island.  At the eastern end of the Lake of Volvi, the waters flow through a gorge into a beautiful fertile valley, so fresh and green that it is often called the Tempe of Macedonia and indeed, it has much in common with the famous Vale.  Its beauty is enhanced by the contrast its fresh green makes with the countryside further east where there is a rather dull and monotonously barren coastline.

When he was a student at the school of Aristotle, Alexander the Great used to take his warm baths in the spring that runs across the valley.  The ruins of the establishment can still be seen on a hillock near the spring.  The main road runs on rather drearily for another sixty miles or so to the town of Kavalla, important chiefly for its flourishing tobacco and currant trade, but a small road leads for some two and a half miles down a side road to the village and beach of Stavros, which in the spring and early summer is a place of sheer enchantment.  The small square and the colour-washed houses are unpretentious and simple enough, but when the verandas are pale blue with masses of trailing wistaria and the gardens filled with scarlet, crimson and pale pink roses, it is most attractive.

Tethered white goats graze in the rough grass under the plane trees.  Blossoming fruit trees divided from the sea by only a narrow strip of sand, cast their petals on the gently moving water; black and white sheep graze peacefully amongst the scarlet and green fishing boats drawn up on the rough grass and geese and ducks waddle down to the lake-smooth sea.  Across the bay, green and blue mountains slope to the opposite shore.  It is an ideal place for bathing and boating, and for lying in the shade of the trees.  A naturally shady beach is rather a rarity in Greece where so frequently ramshackle and unattractive shelters have to be provided, for protection from the sun is a necessity.  There is an inn which can accommodate a few guests, but clean beds and friendly service can be found in the simple village houses.  Although a regular bus from Salonica does the journey in about two hours, arriving at midday and returning after about three hours, we have never seen it crowded and the bus is used chiefly by the inhabitants during the working week.

From Salonica it is also easy to explore the eastern shores of Macedonia opposite the peninsula, and to bathe at one of the sandy beaches within sight of Mount Olympus.

To be rather more ambitious it is well worth while spending a night or two at Kastoria.  By road, which is by far the most exciting way of getting there, it is nearly two hundred miles.  It can be more easily reached by air in about one and a half hours by going to Kozani and then driving one and a half hours by bus, but the flight is apt to be a bumpy one.  There are several ways of getting there by road, and by picking the days for the buses carefully it is possible to go by one route and return by another.  By car, of course, there are any number of permutations.

The journey to Kastoria, which takes one almost directly due west from Salonica and very near to the Albanian border, is a most exciting one.  It may be that our enjoyment was influenced by the fact that it was the first long bus journey we ever took in Macedonia, and it was spring with the almonds in blossom.  Different in atmosphere as it is from Classical Greece, we still felt nearer to the gods in these wild mountain ranges than in any other region, and the countryside was more charged with magic and mystery.  Shepherds, playing their pipes, stood silhouetted against a wonderful sky as we climbed the barren mountains with their shrivelled trees and and caves in the rocks.  Goats and sheep were searching the scrub for a blade of grass.  We came to a dip in the heights and a vast purple snowcapped range appeared across the sunlit valley where masses of pink blossom covered the lower slopes.  Here was a village of yellow stone cottages amongst pale poplars in their spring green, and the dark red earth was being ploughed by teams of cream oxen; there, a mountain village clinging precariously to the rough steep crags and looking, from a distance, completely inaccessible.  The bus, however, reaches almost any village and negotiates the most terrifying corners and steep hills.  However, the road to Kastoria is a good one and surfaced all the way, though it is only for those with good heads for heights, otherwise it is better to go by plane, for the highways by Edessa and Fiorina or Verroia and Kozani climb up to great altitudes.

It is as well to remember that identity cards or police permits may be needed for many of the journeys along these northern roads, as they run near the Iron Curtain frontiers.

The approach to the town of Kastoria is enchanting, for as the road runs gently downhill, the lake shines between two hills with the town tumbling down the hillside into the lake.

In the spring, the dark brown roofs make a wonderful contrast with the pink blossom and the rows of gaily coloured washing which seem to hang everywhere.  Delicate poplars and willows grow down to the water's edge where odd-looking black boats are moored, boats which seem like clumsy attempts at gondolas, but snub-prowed and tub-like.  Between the willows, fishing nets are hung to dry and from peach trees and poplars the lines of washing with scarlet blankets and striped rugs move gently in the breeze.

The town is actually built on a peninsula, joined by a narrow isthmus to the mainland and so it seems like an island in the middle of a lake.  It is easy to get lost at first, as by walking downhill towards the lake one may arrive on the wrong shore and have to walk some way to reach the other side of the peninsula.  Remember though, that the Albanian border is not very far away and restrictions make it unwise to go walking far afield without a permit.  The police are always friendly but they do like the reassurance of some official permission for taking notes or photographs or even making a sketch.  But it is not only the charm of a lakeside town that makes Kastoria so delightful to stay in, for it has many other delights and there is plenty to see.  It is a prosperous town, for although it no longer enjoys its great medieval importance as the chief outpost of western Macedonia, its fur trade still flourishes, and those not engaged in stitching skins are fishermen or merchants and used to travelling and contact with other countries.

During the Byzantine rule, the generals and officials who served here in the border town, built churches and chapels in all there are more than seventy churches, most of them Byzantine and later the wealthy merchants who traded, principally with Central Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, made their contribution of churches, but more particularly of splendid houses, many of which can still be visited though most of them have been modified to meet modern needs.  They have a definite Macedonian style of architecture which we have come to think of as Turkish.  Some have great wooden doorways in high white walls leading into courtyards, brilliant with flowers and overhung with wistaria which seems to grow better here than anywhere in Europe.  In one such house an arcaded terrace is almost hidden with the wonderful blossom which trails about the overhanging balcony.  A wide outside flight of stairs leads to the first floor and the enormous reception room reserved for great occasions such as weddings and name days, since name days are kept rather than birthdays in Greece.  A wooden gallery on one side is for the musicians who play for the dancing, and a raised platform which runs under the big windows opening on to the lake is reserved for special guests.  The ceiling of this vast room is decorated with patterns made from thin strips of wood gilded and painted in bright colours; the walls are wooden with plaster panels, gay with birds and flowers.  A great lamp hangs low from the ceiling, and on either side of the entrance doorway, fierce lions are painted to protect the household from any harm that may come from the north or from the south.  A small room, accessible through a solid wooden door, used to be reserved for the women, more particularly the unmarried girls, so that they could watch the festivities through the heavily latticed openings.

The whole atmosphere of this and many other houses is of sumptuous opulence and of very solid construction.  The ground floor is often of stone and windowless, as it was needed by the merchants as a warehouse.  The upper storey is heavily timbered and overhanging in the medieval style.  These dwellings on the border of the lake with their main balcony windows overlooking its wide waters, have dignity and great distinction.

Many of the churches have paintings and all of them are small, having served as family chapels for the wealthier merchants.  Several of them had fallen into disuse and were suffering badly from exposure to the weather until recently, when they were restored and protected from damp.  One very small one near the lake is surrounded by blossoming trees; goats and hens scratch around its open door.  The darkness and mystery of its painted interior is relieved by the flicker of a lamp which illumines its walls, deep green, red and brown, with illustrations of Bible stories.

The tall tower of a church, the Panaghia, stands out against the sky and is, incidentally, to be found in the grounds of a school.  Enjoyable hours and even days can be spent in searching out these hidden buildings.  A mile or two along the shores of the lake is the charming and peaceful monastery of Mavrotissa with its two ancient churches and its wide spreading plane trees.

Rather more than ten miles away, but it seems further for the road is a difficult one with very sharp turns, is the ancient picturesque little town of Verroia which is well worth a visit.  It was once a flourishing Byzantine city and in gardens and backyards can still be found the miniature churches, recently repaired, where the Christians worshipped during the persecution.  The massive houses, with lower walls of stone and overhanging timbered upper storeys, overhang the narrow flagged streets and make them rather dark and gloomy, but springs and cascades enliven the surroundings where the vegetation is pleasantly green and luxuriant.

For those making a short stay in western Macedonia, the only other town worth taking trouble to visit is Edessa, and this can be a stop on the return to Salonica from Kastoria, or the journey there and back is easily accomplished in a day by bus.

The architecture of Edessa is similar to that of Kastoria, but on a less massive scale.

Great cascades and waterfalls which rush down from the heights make it a place for trippers, so it is apt to be over-crowded at holiday times.  Some of the streets are waterways, formed by the River Vodas which flows through the town above the deep ravine of Tria-Potamia, and are overhung by the heavily timbered upper storeys of the ancient houses.

To learn much more about Macedonia, please visit Macedonia on the web.

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