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.... 

Ferry was a little longer than one enjoyed apart from the views of Lemnos

and the Holy Greek Mountain of Athos :

Sandra's blue fitted in marvellously for Greek's perception of colours - any shade - of it...

Kavala's greeting to us was Dimitrios the Tugboat, below the Castle :

The Aqueduct still strides across the valley to the Old (Turkish) Town, which in the last century grew wealthy on ... tobacco !

A short bust trip to Philippi (Paul had to walk on his 1st visit), an amazing place, with its theatre (met Londoners) : acoustics interesting !

Forum was a huge area - 20m longer than any soccer pitch & a bit wider, too, & a lot of marketting could  have been done...

 Looking over the nearby plains to the hills was so atmospheric..

 Today, in the rain, birds & the River Nestos Gorge absorbed our time in Hyundai fotografia hire car - we are getting the hang of them driving alternatively...

A Balkan Yellow Wagtail !

Tonight's Greek Ferry - From Where to Where ?

Mytilini, the red island, leaving 2.20am, following the dotted line. In more detail :-

Mytilini is the island in the bottom right corner. Heading to the top left corner.
Gallipoli, Turkey, is at the end of the Peninsula at the Upper Right edge.
Stopping at the island in the middle (Limnos).
Passing the Greek holy peninsula of Athos on our left,
Samothrace, with its very high peak 5,284 feet, on our far right, in the morning,
then round Thassos Island,
& to Kavala 1.30pm on the mainland, about 120 kms east of Thessalonica.
We will stay a couple of nights in Kavala, before, hopefully travelling to the north west where there is a birding site called Kerkini.  More Later.

Monday's grand day out in the Kia picanto. Climbing over the hills looking back to the saltpans. Later we drove down hair pins to the sea.

On the way, we passed other transport.

Some birds of the day.

Sunday - Mothers' Day back home in Oz, with many greetings flying to & fro... I take Sandra for Double Espresso...     overlooking The Sunday Market !

We walk in the pine wood underneath the Castle, where others are remembered today :

From out of the trees, there is a view over to Turkey, although threatened a little later by rain.

But we managed to identify a new bird : an Olivaceous Warbler

A common tern at the Kaloni Saltpans, and, in the main drain, squads of wood sandpipers.

The second day, we saw more birds, and more birders. Most were British, but others were German and Dutch. Like us, they were all in little rental cars, but, unlike us with our little camera and small binoculars, they had huge lenses and scopes supported on tripods.

Coffee break. Priests and old men, swinging worry, or prayer, beads.
The towns have very narrow streets,VERY narrow. That's why all the hire cars are like our Kia picanto.
What an experience it has been driving on the right for the first time!

Truly, we never took the car anywhere we wouldn't expect our Australian Seca to go, but we went over a ridge road and another up the pine forest to the plateau. We pulled up and were leaping out because Neil actually SAW a cuckoo, many of which were calling in the area. Two army guys in fatigues strolled over from the adjacent quarry to tell us we couldn't stop, the army was shooting today. Young Theo has a grandmother in Sydney. So we carried on down the other side of the mountain.

Down at the other saltpans were a sociable crowd of bee-eaters. Such colourful antics!

Last stop was a Roman Aqueduct, but we offer this photo of the red-backed shrike in the bush.

Today's morning coffee.

And this evening's stroll along the breakwater.