When I arrived in Thessaloniki, I found out that they had planned a tour in the city to see historical places and monuments. I was very glad because I would have the chance to know Thessaloniki!

We started our tour from the city Castles.

The second stop of our tour in the city was Agios Dimitrios Church and Catacombs. Agios in Greek means Saint.

The Church of Agios Dimitrios in Thessaloniki is dedicated to the memory of Dimitrios, the martyr and patron saint of Thessaloniki.

 

Our last stop in this city tour was in Paralia (the water front).

 

Paralia is a wonderful place to walk, have a coffee in the cafés there or just pass your time watching the sea, the huge ships waiting to enter the port or the small sailing boats.

 

 

Today it hosts an exhibition of Christian artifacts, including objects that date back to the period between 300 A.D. and 1430, mostly from Thessalonica. The exhibition is evenly distributed among the different floors.

Holy Week and Resurrection of Jesus

In Greece this year they celebrated Easter on May 5^th. The schools close for 15 days for Easter vacation. I’m very glad because I will celebrate Easter here this year! My new friends are also happy because they will not go to school!!!

On Holy Week everybody is preparing for Easter. On Holy Thursday in Greece they paint eggs. The eggs are painted predominantly red (though not unusual variety of colors or designs), several times with intricate shapes.

 

After, we went back home to have dinner! The traditional dish for tonight is Magiritsa! Magiritsa is a Greek soup made from lamb offal. Magiritsa is eaten to break the fast of the Greek Orthodox Great Lent, the 40 days before Easter. Its role and ingredients result from its association with the roasted lamb traditionally served at the Paschal meal; in its traditional form, magiritsa simply consists of all the offal removed from the lamb before roasting, and subsequently flavored with seasonings and sauces.

Oh, and while waiting for the food I climbed on the olive tree in the yard!

 

The next morning everybody woke up early to prepare the lamb! The tradition here is to eat lamb on the spit. And of course I helped because it needs hours to be ready. But it was delicious!

I really enjoyed the Greek Easter!