My Parents in Thessaloniki

On Saturday we took it easy. My dad and I polished and waxed the car, and it’s looking pretty spiffy now! ( ;

(What better way for my dad to spend his vacation than waxing our car? See top photo.)

On Sunday, we went to the ‘upper city’ of Thessaloniki and walked around for a couple hours in the afternoon. First, we stopped at Eptapyrgio, which was an old Byzantine fortress on the outskirts of the walled city. The Ottomans and, later, the modern Greek state, used it as a prison until 1988.

The second photo is of my mom standing just inside the entrance. The whole place was pretty grim. I think that’s about as close as I want to get to a Turkish prison.

Afterwards, we walked down to Moni Vlatadon, a monastery perched on the hill overlooking the city and, according to tradition, built on the location of the synagogue where St Paul preached for three successive Sabbaths. The third photo is of a portico inside the monastery.

That evening, Pelagia and my mom made pizza and we had people over for a little party. Another American couple, John and Marina Harper (and baby Emilia) moved into another apartment in our building on Sunday and we wanted to celebrate (it was also my birthday).

On Monday, we went back downtown so that my parents could see a little bit more of Thessaloniki They saw the two 5^th-century churches, Panagia Ahiropiitou and St Demetrios, among other things. We then had a very nice meal on the end of Thessaloniki’s port (see bottom photo) before heading back to Panorama. before leaving.