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Northern Greece - mountains, valleys and stunning beaches
Northern Greece is the least touristy area of the country and that's one of the reasons why your holidays at our holistic retreat will be so relaxing. In addition here are stunning mountains, fantastic long, sandy beaches and green valleys with natural mineral sources. Not to mention the bird and animal life! From our terrace we see woodpeckers, hawks and eagles and swallows come back year after year to build their nests under the roof of our house. Northern Greece consists of Macedonia and Thrace. Macedonia is also that tiny little country north of Greece, that the Greek government still refuses to let call itself Macedonia, despite the whole world calling it that. The Greeks themselves call it Skopje, after its capital, not to confuse it with Macedonia inside Greece. Some years ago, after the Berlin wall fall and the Soviet Union dissolved and we suddenly got all those new European states there was a certain fear in Greece that Skopje or Bulgaria or both would claim all or parts of Greek Macedonia, but today I don’t think there’s anyone here in Greece who has that opinion. In west, Greek Macedonia is separated from the part of Greece called Epirus by the majestic Pindos mountains, while in south it’s the valley of Tempe and the highest mountain of Greece, Olympus ( 2917 meters above sea level), that mark the border. In east the river Nestos creates a natural border between Macedonia and Thrace, while the river Evros indicates the borders with Turkey. Northern Greece borders to four countries: Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Two islands belong to the region of northern Greece: Thasos in Macedonia, often referred to as the emerald island because it’s so green, and Samothrace in Thrace, famous for it’s ancient temples and its waterfalls.
After his death Macedonia lost its power. Macedonia became an Roman province in 148 AC and came under the East Roman empire in 395. Later the area was colonized by Slavs, then occupied by Bulgaria and christened. From 976 to 1018 Macedonia again was an independent state, with it’s center in Ohrid (the lake on today’s border between FYROM and Albania). Then followed new occupations: Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turks. In the 19th century there was a movement fighting for a new independent Macedonian state, but without success. This lead to new conflict about dividing the area between Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia and after the Balkan wars in 1913 Bulgaria was forced to give up great parts of Macedonia to Greece. Puh – but like the Russian monk Theophilos said some 500 years ago: This is not a place for play or laughter, this is the Balkan. So, what was all this fighting for? Access to the Mediterranean sea. To the sea trade and the money that followed. But in addition the fields of Macedonia are the most fertile agricultural area in Greece and here is a major production of wheat, rice, cotton, tobacco, fruit, grapes and olives. All those foreigners fighting for, occupying or traveling through northern Greece left their stamp on the area. Here are Roman aqueducts, ruins of Byzantine castles, an old Turkish Imaret (house for the poor) – like in the old part of Kavala (right). I almost forgot the more recent invasion: After the first world war hundreds of thousands of refugees, ethnic Greeks that were expelled from Turkey, settled in this area, and in the 1990 same numbers of ethnic Greeks from the former Soviet Republics have made new homes here, as well as hundreds of thousands of non-ethic Greek immigrants from the same countries, in addition to Albanians and Bulgarians. Northern Greece is a true melting pot of cultures, both historically and today. My kids, half Norwegian/half Greek go to school with children of Albanian, Batumian and Georgian background, as well as children whose one parent is from Germany, Bulgaria or Romania. Despite of 300 000 Roma living in Greece, most of them living here in northern Greece and many of them working in the local marked, or traveling from village to village selling carpets, garden furniture, shoes and clothes or collecting iron and steel for recirculation, there are no Roma children in the locals schools that I know of. Hardly anything is done by Greek authorities to stimulate the Roma to send their children to school. As a result many of them, especially women, can't read or write. Several times I’ve seen them having to ask for help from neighboring traders at the local markets to write the sign with the prices of the different items that they sell. The Roma have a living standard far below the Greeks. Many of them live in their trucks, that often have both stove and windows, a minority in houses and quite a few in tents in shanty towns with no sewage or garbage collecting. Thrace is even more multi-cultural than Macedonia, as approximately 40 percent of the population today are Muslims. In the cities of Komotini and Xanthi you’ll see orthodox churches next to minarets. But despite living friendly together, there is no doubt that the Turkish-speaking (Muslim) minority has been dicriminated when it both comes to education and work, resulting in a lower living standard then the Greeks in the same area. Thrace is also the home of a small minority of Pomachs. Return from Northern Greece to Kairos homepage Eleftheres Nea Peramos Nea Iraklitsa Kavala The best beaches in Greece And the most STUNNING mountains
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Macedonia is forever associated with the name of Alexander the Great. Thessaloníki, the capital of northern Greece (left), was even named after his sister. In ancient times, Macedonia was populated by inhabitants related to the Greeks, but the Greeks looked upon them as barbarians. The kingdom of Macedonia was founded by Perdikkas the first around 600 BC and became a strong power under the rule of Phillip the second, Alexander’s father. In the battle of Chaironeia in 338 BC Phillip won over the Athenians and the Thebians and Greece was put under ruler ship of the Macedonians. During the rule of Alexander the Great Macedonia grew to become the most powerful empire not only in the Mediterranean, but in the whole world. Alexander was a great fan of anything Greek – language, philosophy, religion, art – and with him the Greek culture was spread to big parts of the world.
