On this sunny Saturday of Cal’s reunion with his Army buddies, we went back to where it all happened – the small detachment outside Giannitsa where they were stationed. For background, if you haven’t read my previous post, you may want to do so before reading this one.

Lefteris procured a van for us for the day. I was surprised that no other family members besides myself were coming, but there wouldn’t have been much more room in the van anyway. I wasn’t going to miss seeing this place that I’d heard so much about.

Our first stop down memory lane was this bridge:

Back in the day, this one-lane bridge was a mile long and had a stop light on either end, necessitating at times a long wait. And sometimes, the drivers coming the other way just didn’t want to wait for their light. The guys had many funny memories here, and there were a lot of stories flying back and forth. There is a “new” road now that bypasses this bridge.

By titling this blog “back in time” I didn’t only mean the time while Cal and his friends were stationed here. There also things to see that went back to the time of Alexander the Great.

Tom was the perfect guide for the day, making sure we stopped at everything of interest, and I really appreciated his efforts in this. Our first stop: a statue of Alexander, in the town where he was born, Pella.

We then moved on to ancient Pella. We pulled in to the site, discovered that it cost money, and Tom and Lefteris went over to the ticket booth.

Score! They told the people that we were all veterans and that the guys had been stationed nearby. Free tickets for all!

This is the ancient town of Pella, the place where Alexander the Great was born and raised. The amazing thing about this is that it used to be covered by the road going to Giannitsa. Cal still remembers seeing this pillar, which was the only thing that could be seen when he and his friends were here.

They couldn’t believe all of this had been underground as they had driven by. In the picture below, you can see the lone column amongst the ruins.

I should mention that we were respectful of these ruins, despite my sitting on an old Macedonian wall. The ruins were open for anyone to walk in and around, but we stayed outside the walls when doing that. The most precious pieces, the ones no one should step or sit on, are in a museum. Here at Pella are some, though, that have low barrier fences under shelters around them, and these were mostly the mosaics that had been found:

This was a mosaic floor depicting the abduction of Helen.

Once-flourishing Pella was the capital of the Macedonian kingdom. The city is believed to be inhabited as far back as the 4th century BC, and it was huge. There was a palace here, a rectangular street layout, and a water supply system with drainage, among other things. Most homes had a mosaic, which told the archaeologists that there were many mosaic craftspeople in town.

We finally arrived at the old detachment, which is now in a ruined state.

What were the guys doing when they were stationed here? Officially, they were advisors to the Greek Army since the communist country formerly known as Yugoslavia was just over the border. Today, that country is North Macedonia, named so as not to cause confusion with this area of Greece which was formerly Macedonia.

Nature is reclaiming the site. Mulberries and olive trees are growing wild and fighting for space along with the weeds and prickers. We picked through some of it to get a closer look, but I think the prickers won the battle.

The Greek Army was across the road and that site is still there and operating. That is where Lefteris was stationed.

Here is an old throwback picture of the American detachment from back in the day:

From the site, this picture is a view of Mount Paiko, which lies on the border:

This area is a fertile plain, producing cotton, tobacco, peaches, rice, olives, and other crops. Cal remembers that fields completely encircled the site, but now there are some homes and farms.

The guys were excited to see the site. They tried to figure out what was where back in the day, and many stories were told. Cal felt bad that it had deteriorated so much. Inside, everything which wasn’t nailed down, to include the fixtures, had been plundered and hauled away. We looked and walked down the road a bit.

Many of their memories are also linked to the little town of Giannitsa which is nearby. We traveled there next for a walkabout and a late lunch.

There is a tradition in Greece called the volta. Every town has one, and it is an area for an after dinner stroll and socializing. The way it was explained to me, in Giannitsa, a street was blocked off on weekend nights for this purpose. Lovely young ladies would be part of the stroll, and Mamas would hope that their daughters would make a good catch. Once she found a young man, of course, Mama could also supervise the dating scene right there on the Volta. Cal just remembers walking up and down the street, saying hello to people and that the locals were friendly. He thinks that the Greeks enjoyed them being part of the tradition.

Giannitsa is now a small city, and the volta is blocked off permanently to traffic. Cafes line the sidewalk.

The efforts of the Mamas must have paid off. In just the couple of years surrounding the time that Cal was here, several of the guys married Greek women. This is the local church:

We had one more stop to make on the way back while still in Giannitsa. Tom said he had driven by this statue many times but had never stopped to look at it before.

It is a memorial to the soldiers lost in the Battle of Giannitsa, the final combat between the Greeks and the Ottomans in the war for independence in 1912. The signboard nearby stated that “the Ottoman Army retreated disorderly, followed by Muslim residents.”

Our day had come to a close, and it was time for the drive back to Thessaloniki. Kudos to Tom and Lefteris for all of their efforts in planning such a wonderful day. The whole weekend had been spectacular. Seeing the detachment again was fun, but seeing his friends again for made it special for Cal. I really enjoyed meeting the guys. Of course, there were so many others…ones that had not been able to make the trip, ones who have never been found on Facebook, and many that have already passed on. They were all remembered this weekend.

Of course, we couldn’t just spend one long weekend in Thessaloniki and leave the country. It was time to head south, and the next destination was just a train ride away.

But first: how about another throwback picture to when Cal was here? Most of the guys had an extra job in addition to their regular duties. Cal’s job was to run their little PX. He had to make trips down to Athens to resupply it, and usually had a list of special requests from the guys. The Quonset hut which housed the PX, rec center and a bar is gone now.

Next time: south to Athens