From Albania to Greece

What a contrast today has brought. We woke up in the developing world and have plunged back into the developed world.

Albania is a lovely place in terms of wild country side and nice people... but it is definitely facing challenges as it attempts to work within a democratic framework. The economy is fragile, the infrastructure is developing but inadequate, and the overall feeling you have is the one you might have had traveling in a southwestern border town (either side of the border) in the 1950's.

We entered Greece at about 11 today. The change was almost instantaneous... it was still exceptionally rural and mountainous, but the roads had shoulders and were smoothly paved. (Incidentally I may have mentioned that Albania was mountainous... apparently Greece decided to just plain omit flat spaces, at least in its northern reaches.) As we got out of the wilderness of the far northwest, we began to see other differences. Even though it was still farming, the individual fields were much larger, there was evidence of farm machinery as opposed to a very unmechanized way of farming, and there was irrigation evident, with big sprayers on all the fields.

The land we were going thru initially was what Greece calls Macedonia, once the powerful kingdom of Philip of Macedonia and then his son, Alexander the Great. The mountains are beautiful beyond measure, just as the ones in Albania were; high, rocky, piney at times, and very sheer. The roads were up and down, round and about.... not good for those of our group who have motion sickness issues, but then we got a -- gasp -- superhighway complete with multiple lanes, limited access, smooth surfaces, and a long series of tunnels that went right through the mountains instead of up, around, and over them. It made travel much faster.

Even so, it took us about 7 hours to get from the border to where we are now....

But that 7 hours included what many of us thought was the best meal of the whole trip. By about 2:30 or so we were all hungry, hit a little Greek village (not really even village, but more like three small cafes and a gas station.) We picked one...oh my..... run by two generations of Greek women with the third generation daughter home from being a lawyer in Athens. It was so good.... started with a homemade liqueur of some sort, kind of like a cherry/apple cordial, very mild, but tasting of sunshine and breeze. (No the driver, didn't have any!). Then there was a big basket of warm bread... just plain real bread. Then plates of freshly made feta cheese in olive oil with fresh herbs. Then plates to share of fresh green beans in olive oil with thyme and other seasonings. That is what green beans should taste like.. they told us they picked them this morning. Then Greek salad... tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, all home grown. Then plates of cold dandelion greens (we think) with a light mustard seed dressing... then braised veal with french fries (also home grown). None of the portions were huge, but there was plenty, served family style, with the sun warming the patio and bees and butterflies flitting about in the flowers. It may sound humble, but it was the perfect meal. We finished up with candied zucchini... an interesting concept, and not bad, but not as spectacular as those green beans!

We left reluctantly and drove on to Thessaloniki, a big city in Greece's northeastern coast. It is quite large and very European. Our hotel is pleasant, small, but the air conditioning works, the bathroom was findable and the only fly in the ointment is a broken elevator. But we can deal with it.

And so... I will put in more academic content tomorrow when my brain has acquired some more... Greece is significant in the Ottoman Empire and Thessaloniki (once called Salonika) was a regional capital. We are going to see ruins, etc., tomorrow on the way back to Turkey.