Thessaloniki - the city has a female face (with Paul)

The sun rose lazily over the sleepy quarters, gently embracing the ancient walls of the acropolis with orange rays, but Thessalonica was in no hurry to wake up early. She is not a frivolous coquette, nor an old woman, she is a little over the 23rd century. The city is over 2,300 years old. I like to make this metaphor of Thessalonica, and I think it appeals to her, because the city has a woman's face. Thessalonica is the bride city of the thermal gulf, as the Greeks say (θεσσαλονίκη - η νύμφη του θερμαаκού).

Tradition and History of Thessaloniki

There is still a legend about a mermaid named Thessalonica living in the Thermal Bay, asking everyone on the ship the same question: "Is King Alexander alive?" The answer is yes! Alive and still ruling. And any other response leads to the fact that she turns into a terrible jellyfish Gorgon and sinks the ship that came into the harbor.

The Macedonian king Cassander, ascending the throne, immortalized the memory of his beloved wife, sister of Alexander the Great in the name of the newly formed polis in 315 BC. Having quickly developed as a port and being at the crossroads of important trade routes, the city grew rapidly.

Thessalonica worshipped her brother even after his death. Blind maternal love seized her before her youngest son, who looked like her half-brother, Alexander the Great. The desire for the youngest son to become the next king of Macedonia cost her life: the eldest son, in a bloody struggle for power, ruthlessly killed his own mother. Frappe, couluri and bugaza as part of culinary traditions

Thessaloniki, like a spoiled lady, does not like to wake up early in the morning. Closer to 8 sluggish traffic jams from numerous cars fill the central streets of the city. The movements of machines and people are sluggish and scattered. The Queen has not yet drunk her morning invigorating coffee.

It was here, in Thessaloniki, in the 50s, that the Greek refreshing coffee frape served with ice was invented. Could this refreshing drink have been invented elsewhere? Of course not!:). Even the white tower of the local Greeks is associated with a glass of refreshing drink.

After a pleasant coffee, the beauty slowly but surely comes to her usual rhythm of life. Hurrying people in ties and with briefcases, full of importance, shouting coulour merchants (babbles), teenagers with trays of fragrant coffee, flocks of fashionistas like butterflies swarming with multi-colored wings-packages from countless boutiques - all this mass with the smell of fresh pastries, sesame and generously flavored with coffee fragrances pours through the streets - the veins of the awakening Thesalonica in a multi-voic boiling stream.

Until noon in the Greeks, breakfast replaces bugatz - a layered cake with sweet cream or feta cheese, or bagel - couluri, a local gastronomic attraction.

Couluri were known in the Roman era, but became very popular in early Byzantium. This fashion was brought to Thessaloniki and later to Constantinople by bakers from the region of Epirus. The composition is quite simple - yeast dough, salt, sugar. But the whole mysticism of kulur (Byzantine bagel) is the secret of its abundant powder, consisting of high quality sesame, the aroma of which is spread when baking far beyond the bakery.

Thessalonica lives by obeying emotion n

The crisis has changed the face of the city in recent years. Numerous strikes of municipal workers in the “irreconcilable class” struggle for another salary increase and reduction of hours of employment, unfortunately, do not give it a shine, as well as empty shops – so it is customary to call all establishments from the butcher shop to the jewelry salon, which are traditionally located on the first floors of buildings. 6 In the pre-crisis period, they all worked, and the area around them was well maintained. The owners of each establishment tried to decorate the store as much as possible, using flowers, mats with elements of local folklore, important old people with backgammon sat outside, slowly sipping their new coffee while discussing the latest news, spreading faster than the Internet from shop to shop.

Dressed in a light robe of tiled-red roofs of buildings, generously decorated with flowers of bougainvillea and geranium, the lady goes to the veranda. And let the crisis of Thessaloniki does not look chic recently: beautiful does not look after herself, she has not visited the hairdresser for a long time, and no manicure (garbage on the streets is not cleaned in time), but there is some magical charm in it that attracts travelers. These are the cute narrow streets of the old city, and the ancient Christian temples and the comfort of local innumerable cafes, which cannot be indifferently avoided, this is also the charm, the invisible threads of which are skillfully wrapped in the crafty squinting coquette-seducer. Unusual hours of work, or hours of usual non-work

On Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, shops in Thessaloniki are open until 3 p.m. On other days of the week (except Sunday) they reopen around 6 p.m. Shop workers retire home for a midday rest. Thessalonica doesn't like to overwork. Do not look for logic in this, like any woman, she lives, obeying emotions, not reason, and in this case it is better to take for granted hours of work. Therefore, forgive her this female whim in the form of closed doors of salons and other establishments. To go out in the evening in all its glory, the lady needs a noon rest.

After the “quiet hour”, Thessaloniki puts on an evening toilet – a classic dress with a luxurious neckline – an acropolis (the old part of the city) framed by a fortress wall. Drenched in the saffron color of the rays of the setting sun, the beauty appears in all its charm. With the grace of the goddesses, she descends from the cornices of the citadels to the shore. sea.

In her cheerful eyes, the colors of the sea light the lights of passion and, almost simultaneously, the first lanterns flash on the embankment of the Thermal Bay.

Let the stones talk.

The fortress wall in the upper city was built in the late 4th – early 5th century, beginning with the reign of Emperor Theodosius. Thoughtlessly destroyed under the rule of the Turkocracy, it is now carefully guarded by the local authorities. These walls remember the raids of the Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Turks, Saracens, Normans and other barbarians who tried to destroy the city.

Stone giants are able to tell about many things: about the greatness of Rome and the ruthless persecution of Christians, the Apostle Paul and the Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, the terrible massacre of seven thousand inhabitants at the hippodrome, the power of the Ottomans and liberation from the Latins. Thessaloniki tried to destroy, burned, plundered, but the city survived, recovered and now breathes freely, enjoying the long-awaited independence.

Paralia (quay)

In the coming twilight, Thessalonica dissolves among idle walkers, measurably drinking their coffee, flashes of traffic lights, a continuous stream of cars ... Invisible shawl, woven of passion, dreams and pleasure, fragrant salty sea it covers lovers and lonely passers-by, attracts everyone to the embankment, called in Greek "paralia", and from there leads to the White Tower.

Walking lovers, carts drawn by horses, ancient old men, street musicians, innumerable tourists - all this will sweep in front of you if you sit down to relax at the walls of the tower.

The White Tower is the symbol of Thessaloniki. It was built on the foundations of the old Byzantine in the late 15th century during the Ottoman Empire. Surrounded by four smaller towers, it represented the corner of the fortress wall and was intended to protect the vulnerable site.

Thessaloniki has a woman's face. The mischievous woman falls in love with herself, seduces, breaks hearts, not everyone who is passionate responds with reciprocity. This is the nature of women, and Thessalonica woman capricious, passionate and requires special approach and attention. To arouse her interest, courtship worthy of a young lady from high society is desirable, and perhaps then she will reciprocate you, revealing one by one all her secrets of more than two thousand years of history of the city.

Do you love your city as much as I do? Are you ready to travel back in time and immerse yourself in the history of the city with the affectionate feminine name Thessalonica?