Our Greece time is almost spent.  We have come onto the mainland in North East Greece, near Thessalonica.  Kavala, with its harbour, Castle & Aqueduct, got us a base..

...to see the ruins of Philip of Macedon's city, & where Alexander the Great started his life. The Apostle Paul reached into Europe for the first time with the Gospel in this very place.  So much history - European & World, has followed from those few small steps...

Sandra stood in the middle of the theatre (but did not sing).

The location of Philippi is beautiful, just inland from Kavala beside a huge plain, where the conspirators against Julius Caesar, Brutus & Cassius, also met their end against Mark Anthony & Octavian.  All from Rome, much about their destinies was settled here.

The first early churches were... octagonal in shape, as the one on the site.  

 So we went just along the coast to the Nestos River Delta to see more birds.  Yes, it was wet - very wet at times.  But a chance to change plans & see the Nestos Gorge instead !

Travelling on a Saturday is not such a good idea in Greece unless you start very early in the day (not our style).  Connections tend to run into "Siesta Schedule".  But we hung out at Drama, & passed through some wonderful farmland, full of  rich & abundant production.  The picture does not lie.  This is a rich land.  Who then is trying to make it otherwise, & why ?  That is a question many here are asking.  They sense there are bigger issues at stake... for them, Europe, & the Western World.

We managed to reach a special place, Kerkini Lake.  Our first surprise was to be greeted by many storks, high on there nests in the village.

 This was special for us because we missed them in Strasbourg when we last visited Europe.  So we clicked away :

The place is called "Eco-peri-gitis" in Greek = "Eco-Walk-About" in our language ( 'sta'in ). 

Sandra & I actually hired a couple of bikes to trundle along the lakeside doing more bird-spotting.

They say travel changes your mind, but I never realised how good this country, Greece, is, - & how good this part of this country is.

Today we took a boat trip onto the lake & saw more of those birds that excite us.
But tomorrow we start early & should be into Bulgaria by 10.30am, en route to Sofia....