Thessaloniki

Well, basically there is no break from the point where last night ends and this morning began.  

I awoke on the train as the conductor announced 'Thessaloniki'.  The three remaining passengers in my berth all got up and collected our things.  I spoke with the young man who had been using English as a conversational tool through the night and learned he was from Slovenia.

The Thessaloniki train station first struck me as

 being rather decrepit when compared to the

 travel system I'd seen in Athens.  The trains bore removable/replaceable printed signs on 

their sides that announced their stops along the journey rather than the flashy LEDs that are co common today.

After descending from the platform though I was greeted with a clean and pleasant modern station (at least modern in the 60s/70s sense), just starting to open up for the morning (it was 7am).

I sussed out the surroundings, peeked outside to get a better feel for where I was and could clearly tell that I was in a city of a scale very different from that of Athens.  Five to eight story apartment buildings dotted the horizon with a full bus terminal around the periphery.  I chose to retreat back into the station to catch up with some coffee and relax time before I was to be 

picked up by Kostas at 8.

Kostas soon had called to announced he'd arrived and was waiting near the taxi terminal.  I went to meet him and was greeted by a warm, friendly man with a large frame.  We go in the car and set off for the university as I thanked him for coming to get me.  

On the way he gave me a quick orientation to the city and briefed me on the day's activities as planned.  Aristotle University is the largest school in the country with 60,000 students!  The

 Rangeland Ecology Lab had managed to secure a location on the periphery of the campus to house their program and the 60 or so students involved.

He works as a reserch rather than professor/lecturer.  Our plans were to stop at the lab, meet members of the faculty, share my presentation and then explore agroforestry systems in the surrounding countryside.  I had no expectations of us actually doing this and I was elated to learn of their willingness to so actively share their time and experience with me.

We arrived at the lab and there I met the program head Dr. Papanastasis.  He seemed 

interested in my travels and what I had to offer.  I was again impressed with the treatment I received and the willingness to drop their work so as to receive me.  They gave me a work

 space to set up at and I used the time to catch up on some e-mail and journaling.

At a few minutes before 11, I went to set up for the talk.  We started off with some technical difficulties and were about to export my flashy, precious keynote document to powerpoint for use on the resident PC when the projector miraculously read my computer's signal.  Whew!

The audience was compact - four researchers and another 3-4 members of the department.  They seemed to receive my message with stoic reserve.  It was quite difficult to read their faces.  As I described the process of forest garden design,it appeared to me that this was 'old news' and I learned that they teach many of the same characteristics in their program - though their efforts are geared more towards research and management, not design.

I was thankful I'd saved keyline for last as I knew it had a lot to offer their country and was something they had yet to be introduced to.  I concluded the presentation and we took some time for discussion and Q&A.

For the most part, Dr. Papanastasis was the only one who really engaged and seemed skeptical of the potential here.  Not so much skeptical but rather he just proceeded to spend several 

minutes describing all the reasons why he thought keyline wouldn't work here.  I think he brought up some very good points - shallow soil (like non-existent in some places), erosion

 concerns (as if that's not already happening everywhere anyways), steep inaccessible landscapes in many places and very complex land management logistics and relations.

Needless to say, folks did seem appreciative and he was interested in ordering several of the resources I'd shared - namely the Introduction to Permaculture and Edible Forest Gardens.  His curiosity was also peaked by my interest in visiting Panos Manakis - the student of Fukuoka's who is practicing natural farming techniques in Edessa - northwest of of Thessaloniki.  He even went so far as to arrange a meeting with him for me.

After this, I got my things together and Kostas and I set off for a tour of the countryside north of Thessaloniki.  I met him with a barrage of questions and he did a fantastic job fielding them 

in his English.  I was delighted as his willingness to share in the giddyness of a fellow 'plant geek'.

We covered three or four different management regions during our tour and this was very evident in the changing landscape and land use patterns.  After reaching the outer edge of the plains surrounding the city (dominated by field crops), we entered a hilly region covered in scrub oak - public forest lands subject to

 frequent burns and steady grazing pressure.  He explained that this area is extremely biologically diverse and we saw oaks, wild rose, poplars, wild pear amongst just a few overgrazed and fire-adapted species.

After passing beyond this range of hills - very reminiscent to me of southern California, we entered a much more rich zone, populated by and home to an impressive array of integrated tree crop systems.  We saw cherries, peaches, walnuts, almonds (some pollarded), grapes, chestnut, black locust, mulberry, figs, olives - which he explained were outside of their typical elevation range there.

Many of these areas were managed as silvopasture with sheep/goats grazing in the understory.  We talked about the use of pollarding to extend the productive life of a tree - olives for examples with an average life span of 30-40 years could be modified to produce for 300+.  this is due to the removal of dead wood and other energy demanding growth, essentially acting to keep the tree young.

We left this rich area and entered into another zone with rolling hills and large tilled fields that was used for cow dairy.  Kostas explained that cow dairies were almost exclusively confinement operations.

Agricultural management is challenging in this landscape.  Most farms are only 2-3 hectares (5-7.5 acres) so many farmers do not have the space needed to apply these design practices.  Shepherds often own their own land but also graze public land (by leasing) as well as the stubble that remains in harvested fields of other farmers.

We wound about the ascending hills, through an extremely eroded range and there on the other side of the ridge, a substantial lake came into view.  Also on the horizon, irrigated field crops could be seen, sprinkler systems blazing, probably giving up 30% of their water to the 

hot afternoon air.

We stepped at a lovely lakeside cafe and dined in the shade of a vine covered pergola surrounded by foraging geese, chickens and cats.  wine, salad, french fries, bread, spread and an impressive fish caught in the nearby lake.  It was really wonderful - surrounded by sweeping views on all sides.  

I got a chance to learn more about Kostas personally and his ideas and vision for his work.  He is a very kind man.  I'm grateful to have made his acquaintance. 

We took our time and then headed back home.  I think both of us tired from a long day.  Kostas had arranged for me to stay at a hostel-type building managed by the University.  He dropped me off, set me up and we said our goodbyes.  

I was stylin'.  My own room in a larger suite with bathrooms, kitchen, common room and most specially, a wrap-around terrace with seaside views.  All for 20 Euros/night.  Again, it all comes together.  I'd chosen to stay for three days - until Thursday when I'll leave for Lefkas.  They had helped to arrange a meeting with Panos the natural farmer for the following day, Tuesday, and they had also been interested in meeting once again and taking me to see other parts of the surrounding countryside.

I used the afternoon to decompress, catch up on computer work, post my first very amateur video on youtube, shower and read up on my trip for the following day.

In other good news, we've decided to go ahead and run the coppice workshop on the 10th-11th in Mass agreeing that we will likely be able to make it work economically.

After barricading myself indoors for hours, I got out and took a walk to explore the streets of Thessaloniki at around 10pm.  The air was cool and I kept picking up delightful scents in the air - I never did figure out why.  Life felt good and there was something that seemed so much more manageable about this city - about 1/4 the size of Athens (population wise).

I took a nice long walk, found a pedestrian promenade and explored it.  Crepe shops and other small cafes were in abundance.  I strolled past a massive walled off archaeological excavation with brick arches and domes and was amazed at how casually the locals walked by without even paying notice.  I know all about taking the things we're surrounded by for granted though.

I picked up a savory crepe on the way home - probably one of my best food values to date and was in bed by 2 to make sure I'd get enough sleep by morning.