Poles Apart, Part Two - Svalbard and the Arctic

In 2003 I was often asked, "Why go to Antarctica".  For me, I wanted to see unique pelagic life and the elemental black, white and grey landscape most humans will never experience. It was also a journey of the mind: to visit the southern continent near the axis of the earth where day and night are extreme; and to see places where nineteenth and early twentieth century explorers discovered new lands at considerable hardship. Today it's popular for adventure and catastrophe tourism (seeing wildlife and ice sheets before they disappear). Recently I've been asked, "Why go to the Arctic - in winter? !!

My entire life I've been drawn to off-the-beaten-path outdoor and cultural adventures.  In my teens and twenties I drove cross-country on Blue Highways eight times. In my twenties and thirties I was mountaineering in the Cascades; and in my thirties and forties I kayaked the Salish sea and off the west coast of Vancouver Island (once in winter), and backpacked for weeks through the remote mountains of the Wind River Range, Sawtooths, Yellowstone N.P. and North Cascades. In my forties, fifties and early sixties I took two-week treks among the highest mountains on earth; Himalayas in Nepal and Bhutan, and the Andes in Peru and Patagonia.

During my international career I traveled solo to remote villages in China, the Middle East, India, and the drug-lord controlled Golden Triangle (Laos, Thailand and Vietnam). After retirement, Robin and I traveled to many non-touristed destinations in Eastern Europe, South America and Africa. 

I make no claim to a lifestyle of extreme sports, service in the Peace Corps, or fearlessness of war journalists. Many have committed and risked their lives to much, much more. I tried to balance my desire for adventure with a career, family, and managed risk. Since The Third Phase, however, my physical outdoor adventures have taken a back seat to our cultural travels.

When we returned from the Balkans last November, I told Robin, "I have an itch I can't scratch".  I feel time is moving on and I want at least one more unique outdoor experience.  At the time I was finishing a book from my polar library entitled "Furthest North", by Norweigan Fridtjof Nansen. He is considered the Dean of nineteenth century polar exploration.  Based on remains of a previous polar expedition whose ship was crushed by ice north of Siberia, and found several years later on the east coast of Greenland, he deduced that there must be a polar current that moves arctic sea-ice across the North Pole.

He had a ship, The Fram, purposely designed and built to be embedded in sea-ice, so that when ice closed in the ship popped up rather than being crushed.  In 1893 he and his crew (which included young Amundsen - later first to reach the South Pole) embarked on a daring but well researched and planned attempt to prove the current exists and, if possible, to reach the North Pole. They sailed across the top of Siberia, trapped their ship in the ice, then drifted for over a year to a high latitude where he and one other left the The Fram with provisions, dogs and sledges to make a dash for the pole. They got to 86 deg 14', (225 nautical miles from the pole), a record furthest north, before retreating. They took a year to return having to winter on the frozen arctic ocean. Their destination:  Spitsbergen!

Map of arctic with Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in yellow south of the ice-sheet and north of Norway

Spitsbergen was the name given to the islands by Dutch explorer Willem Barents in the sixteenth century meaning "pointy mountains". It remained so named until the islands became part of Norway in 1925, when they gave the archipelago the Norwegian name Svalbard, meaning "cold coast", and restricted the Dutch name to the largest island. It is the furtherest north land mass close to Europe, and the jumping off place for historic arctic exploration.  It also has the furtherest north city in the world Longyearbyen, which seemed fitting to visit since I'd been to the furthest south city in the world Ushuaia. Within a couple weeks of returning from the Balkans, I decided that's the trip I need to take. And I wanted it to be in winter for a true polar adventure, not a summer tourist experience. 

I found a company, BaseCamp Explorer, in Longyearbyen, that offered what I was looking for. I reached out and said I wanted "cold, dark and windy" to experience a polar winter, and I did not want to ride snow mobiles, but mush dog sledges the way polar explorers did. They advised that March is their coldest month and is also the transition between the constant dark of winter through mid-February, and the midnight sun beginning in mid-April. I signed up for their five day Trapper trip starting March 4th, to be sure of cold and dark. There'd be only two of customers, two guides, and thirty dogs. We'd mush for three days and camp isolated on the ice-covered tundra. 

To reach Longyearbyen I flew from Seattle to London, arrived the following morning, and had a seven hour layover before departing for Oslo, Norway, arriving late at night. I stayed at the airport hotel and  early the next morning flew from Oslo to Tromso, at the northern tip of Norway, for immigration control before departing for Longyearbyen. (Svalbard is not part of Europe's Schengen agreement, which I'll explain later.)  It was 43 hours door to door.  

Approaching Svalbard surrounded by sea-ice.

Longyearbyen has a year round population of 2,500, with about 20% changing annually.  Until the mid twentieth century it was a coal mining town operated by Norwegians, Russians and other countries, though the first to mine coal was an American, Longyear, who sold his company in the 1920s. The suffix -byen is Norwegian for city or town. When Norway was given sovereignty over the islands, it was agreed that other nations could continue mining.  Thus, the islands are not part of the Schengen agreement that allows European countries to travel passport-free.  The last coal mine in town shut just last year, though Russia still runs two mines on the island outside of town. Today, the primary economy is tourism, with the vast majority in summer.  

On this map north is roughly to the right.

The red line around the town is maintained polar bear free and no gun is required.

Hotel in center of town, though everything is in the center of town.

Polar bear in hotel lobby

My rustic guest room

View of main street from guest room

The morning after I checked in I took myself for a walk around town and the one main street. The town has a good selection of restaurants, one with a Prix Fixe of $300! (I did not go there as not interested in "art food".)  However, I did find a restaurant serving reindeer, minke whale, and seal. 

The red meat on left is Minke whale, with horseradish sauce.

Tastes like a cross of beef steak and salmon.  

About noon the sun is less than 6 deg above horizon, the maximum for the day.

The historic tram towers for transporting coal from mine to port is visible (cables removed).

This time of year the city is in constant shadow. 

The tram towers traverse the fluted cliffs

That afternoon we had our pre-trip briefing where I met my tent mate Jan and our guides Marta and Pavel. I was relieved to find that Jan was only one year younger than I. Part of the trip description requires that on uphill sections you need to get off the sledge and push through deep snow to assist the dogs.  I didn't want to slow the group down if they were young and energetic. The lead guide Marta was a very cute 35 y.o. Italian who works as a nurse in London during the summer season; and Pavel was a 50 year old Czech.  They both love dogs and the arctic as their reason for being here. Both leave Longyearbyen during the twenty-four hours of winter darkness when there is little tourism.  

Jan and Marta at briefing in lodge dining room

Marta explained there was a winter wind-storm forecast for our first night and the next day and we'll have to revise the trip plan.  In order to have a safe retreat if needed we'll not take the route up hill to the traditional camp location, but stay closer to the flat river valley. We'll decide the second day whether to continue or shorten the trip by a day. After our briefing we were supplied with heavy felt lined winter boots, one piece mushing suit, mittens and fur lined hat with balaclava.  For camp we were provided tents, sleeping pads and arctic sleeping bag with fur lined hood. We each had to provide our own wool base layer (underwear), down parka and personal gear.  The following morning we were picked up and taken to the kennel out of town and the start of the trail.  

Marta explaining polar bear flare gun repellant, rifle, emergency radio, and other gear

Pavel loading steel anchor to secure the sledge when stopped

Staff putting booties on the dog's hind feet. 

For harnessing you face the same direction as the dogs.

The dogs are chained within eight feet of their shelter. They are very excited to get mushing and are constantly barking (see video in email) and jumping around. To harness the dog you hold them between your legs at the hip and they know that means to calm down. The harness is slipped over their heads and draped across the back, while you slip each foreleg through it. The top of the harness is a web handle, like a suitcase.  Once released from your knees they again are jumping and pulling you around. We were told to lift them by the harness handle so the front feet are off the ground. Pavel said that reduces their power from four-wheel drive to two-wheel drive. Though the dogs are not large, on my first attempt I lifted the dog up, but he was so excited that he leaped forward and pulled me face first into the snow. I then realized how strong they are. You need firm physical direction to control them. 

When mushing Marta was in the lead and gave verbal command to her team Gee, go right; Haw, go left; Sto(p), stop; and Clara, get ready to pull.  They are so excited to run that they'd take off when you say it. Other teams just follow the lead team.

My team in first hour mushing with Marta in the lead.  

Mixed weather first day.

There are only three ways to control speed:  let 'em run (but don't let them pass other sledges), uphill get out and assist by pushing, and when downhill, or the team is trying to pass the sledge in front, stand on the break, which is a metal bar at your feet with two spikes that drive into the snow.  When you're stopped for a brief moment standing on the bar works, but when they are excited they can drag the sledge with your full weight on the break.  For that situation there is a anchor tied to the handle of the sledge composed of two connected cut steel plates making a claw about eight inches by one foot that is dropped into the snow and stomped on to secure it.  Even then, if the snow is light or the surface icy the dogs can still drag the sledge.  For longer stops when off the sledge, there's an additional a front anchor for the lead dog, and the sledge is turned on its side to prevent them from running away with your supplies.  

Sledges tipped over to prevent run aways

Our first destination was up a side valley to the terminus of the Tellbreen Glacier and ice caves.

About 25 km from our start. The dogs can do about ten km an hour

Marta and Jan in ice caves under glacier

Marta checking weather with Polar Bear rifle at the ready.

Jan standing on break on way to camp, another 15 km from glacier.

At our destination the wind storm came roaring in. To make camp, Marta directed us to form a diamond shape with the four teams and "circle the wagons".  We staked out a steel cable next to each team and transferred the dogs from the trace to the cable for the night. Our tents were inside the diamond because the best polar bear protection is the dogs.  By law, we'd each have to take watch for a couple hours through the night, but with the storm Marta decided the dogs were enough early warning. They will sense the bear long before we could ever see it, whiteout or not, and bark crazily.  We all participated in setting up the tents, putting vests on the dogs, and feeding them some meat product that looks like a large chunks of frozen Spam followed by a gruel made of "dog-food product" with hot water.  While three of us buttressed the tents with snow around the perimeter, Pavel carved snow blocks to built a wind break for our latrine.  It was like half an igloo.  We had three tents, one for Jan and I, one for the guides, and one for our communal dining hall.  Dinner was excellent reindeer stew made by a local caterer.  It was frozen solid but we were constantly melting water so the plastic bag was just heated in the water.  We also had chocolate brownies with coffee or tea. 

Marta feeding dogs their gruel

Pavel after building latrine 

Me inside tent vestibule getting ready for bed. 

A chore to remove all the outer layers and stuffing them in or under the sleeping bag; 

and placing all items needed during the night handy; headlamp, pee bottle, water bottle (not to be confused). 

We slept in hat, base layer and socks.  Very toasty.

During the night the storm picked up with winds steady at 30 - 40 and gusts to 50. (Be careful what you wish for - you may get it! See video in email.) It sounded like a freight train inside the tent with flapping fabric. While it wasn't snowing, you couldn't tell by conditions.  The wind blew the snow from the surroundings and deposited it on our tents and dogs. In the morning, before we had coffee or anything, we roused the dogs from their peaceful sleep to feed them.  Some didn't want to get out of their cozy covering of snow even to eat.  

Early in the morning we had to dig out of our tent.

To reach our dining tent in the middle we had to dig out the doorway.

People express concerns for the dogs, but they are bred for these conditions. 

They bury their nose in their crotch and go to sleep insulated by their fur and snow.

A few dogs were almost stepped on in the morning.

Over breakfast of porridge we all discussed what we wanted to do. The forecast was for similar conditions all day and through the next night.  Our options were to spend the day in the tent, to mush to the next campsite, but that would be into the wind and blowing snow with no visibility, or cut the trip short and return back to the kennel with the wind at our back.  The guides were willing to do what ever we wanted.  We decided it was not worth laying in a tent all day, and mushing into the teeth of the storm with no visibility did not seem rewarding either.  We elected to return to base. 

It took four people to strike our tents to prevent them from blowing away. After we packed our sledges with all the camping gear, untethered and harnessed the dogs, we were ready to leave around 11:00 am.  Visibility was near zero but we all had GPS for navigating back to base.  To leave we turned the teams in a tight circle and tried not to tip over the sledges; then mushed into the wind for about half an hour to reach the valley.  On turning left into the valley, the wind would be at our back for the three hour return. The valley is over the braided Adventdalen river which was frozen solid. Because of the wind storm, the previous day's snow covering was often blown away leaving crystal clear ice in patches. This added additional challenges for the dogs and for the musher trying to break or control around corners. We took no photos on the way back. It was complete whiteout. At times I could not see Marta thirty feet ahead of me and trusted the dogs to follow her track.  Same for those following me.

This is how the lee side of my body looked.  

I'd like to know what the windward side looked like.

Marta caked in ice.  The white collar below here chin was a 1/2" thick rim of solid ice,

not ice caked fabric like her hat.

Mission accomplished.  L-R Pavel, Jan, Marta, Moi.

GPS track of route. Longyearbyen is just off the map to the left, 

Tellbreen glacier and ice cave at top and camp at red dot.  

Back a day earlier than planned I relaxed as I was exhausted. I was surprised how physically demanding mushing is; often standing on one leg with the other breaking the ambitious dogs, constantly shifting weight to keep the sledges from tipping over, and wallowing through knee deep snow at the glacier and camp.  Occasionally the wind would knock me over into the deep snow where there is no resistance to push up to stand again. 

The following two days I went to their two museums, one on polar exploration from Svalbard, and the other the history of the island. In the early twentieth century there were two claims by Americans that they reached the north pole Robert Perry from Canada and Frederick Cook from Greenland. Both claims were controversial. Amundsen at 53, having reached the South Pole at 39, led a Norwegian expedition on the dirigible The Norge, designed by an Italian, Nobel. They left from Svalbard. That too was controversial because Amundsen, as expedition leader took all the credit, while Nobel and the Italian government, having designed and built the airship, thought it should be shared.  Later it was determined that neither Perry nor Cook had a credible claims to reaching the North Pole, Amundsen is now credited with being the first to reach both poles. 

Newspaper of Amundsen reaching North Pole of Norge dirigible.

Note: the newspaper is from Mount Vernon, WA, a half hour from our house.  

Denied credit for reaching the pole with Amundsen, Nobel, now a General, planned another flight to the pole. Upon reaching it the crew dropped a cross and Italian Flag from the hovering ship. However, rather than lowering a team to the surface he decided to immediately return as the weather deteriorated. On the flight back the ship iced up and could not maintain altitude. It crashed onto the ice sheet between the pole and Svalbard shearing off the cabin and most crew. With the weight and controls ripped away, the airship and remaining crew rapidly ascended and were never found.  A massive International search and rescue attempt was made, including by Amundsen in an airplane. In the storm, his plane crashed as well and was never found either.  He was 59. Eventually, Nobel and the crew were found on an ice-sheet by a search airplane and he was rescued, and later the crew was rescued by a Russian ice breaker. It too was controversial as the General was accused of abandoning his crew and saving himself first. There is a 1960s Russian movie, with English subtitles, that's fairly accurate about the tragedy called, The Red Tent, with Sean Connery, Peter Finch, and Claudia Cardinale.  

Russian movie with English subtitles

The history museum was excellent with many exhibits of geography, exploration, trappers, wildlife, mining, and climate change.

Exhibit of arctic sea-ice loss. Red outline from 1979

Temperature changes from 1975

Permafrost preserved artifacts from nineteenth century trappers 

Fossilized footprint of dinosaur 

The last morning before heading to the airport, Jan and I went to a mining museum in an abandoned mine.  

In coal seams only 24" high, miners drilled multiple holes for dynamite with a 50 lb drill in 28 degree temperature.

Other crew would install 200, 80 lbs jacks every 4' every day to hold up ceilings, 

while others hauled away shattered coal, and they were glad to have a job.  

2' thick coal seam in mine.

One shaft was converted to microfilm storage.  

Anyone can pay to store their documents on microfilm for thousands of years. 

The also had the original Seed Vault.

On taxiing at airport to depart Longyearbyen I glimpsed the Global Seed Vault entry where thousands of ancient and modern seeds are stored in the permafrost in case of an apocalyptic event. No public access is allowed. 

Close up view of Seed Vault entry into the mountain.

This is my final post.  Thank you for reading.

Poles Apart, Part One - Antarctica

First slide of presentation (Link below)

In 2003, long time friend Thom wanted to do something adventurous to jointly celebrate our fiftieth birthday. He suggested a trip to Antarctica, and I readily agreed. We found an Australian adventure company, Peregrine, that leased a former USSR spy and polar research vessel. Since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991 Russia needed hard currency and repurposed the ship.  It accommodated only about 75 guests and the ship's crew was entirely Russian. There were polar scientists giving lectures each night, kayak guides, the daughter of famed Antarctic photographer Frank Hurley, from the Shackleton Expedition, and an artist in residence to paint the scenery.  

Our itinerary was to fly southeast across the North American continent from Seattle to Miami and take a longer flight south of the equator to Buenos Aries.  Thom and I spent several days in this Latin American city with a European feel.  Then south again along the east coast of Argentina to the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia, capital of Terra del Fuego. The city is known as the historic and current departure port for exploration of the southern continent.  When we boarded our ship we headed east out the Beagle Channel of Darwin fame before heading south for a two-day crossing of the infamous Drake Passage, known for the Furious Fifties (latitude) winds, directly to the Antarctic Circle at 66.56 degrees south.  After, we cruised back north through the various mountains, islands and channels of the peninsula, stopping at many sites of historic exploration, wildlife colonies, and kayak destinations.  

Our trip was before Antarctica became a major tourist destination of large vessels plying the peninsula with first class gourmet service and sanitized experience. The summer season of 2002 - 2003 there were a total of only 13,263 visitors to the peninsula with 10,271 that actually left their ship to set foot on the snow covered land. By the 2024 - 2025 summer season the number of visitors to Antarctica had jumped almost eight fold to 124,000 visitors and 80,000 getting off the ship.

Besides our intimate vessel and frequent lectures while crossing the Drake, they also provided the opportunity for kayaking among ice bergs and sea life in the bays and channels, and an overnight camp on shore under the midnight sun.

Upon my return I gave a PowerPoint presentation of our trip to employees at our firm, Callison. Over a decade later in 2016, Robin and I went to the Galápagos Islands on the equator, where Darwin sailed after transiting the Beagle Channel, and developed his theory on The Origin of Species. On return I mentioned to a professor of biology at UW, and fellow board member at The Center for Wooden Boats, that I thought the equatorial islands were similar to the Antarctica peninsula. She could not see the forest for the trees, but was curious. I modified my Callison presentation to include an Epilogue comparing the two.  

This post is different than all my others because the technology can't imbed the PPT  directly into the blog.  Instead, below is a link to a pdf of the presentation stored on Microsoft Onedrive.  (You don't need an account to view.) Be patient after clicking the link as it takes about a minute to load.  Then just scroll through each slide.  While there are more images than usual, there is comparatively very little written material besides this introduction.  Stick with it because I think you’ll find it insightful, informative, and visually interesting.  If you have difficulties opening let me know.

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=%2Fpersonal%2F7c2ff540008dc605%2FDocuments%2FThe%20Tail%20of%20the%20Southern%20Continent%2Epdf&parent=%2Fpersonal%2F7c2ff540008dc605%2FDocuments

Next and Final Post:  Poles Apart, Part Two - Svalbard and the Arctic

The Balkans, Part Seven - Thessaloniki and Northern Greece

Left of center at the top of the map below is Skopje, where we started our Balkan trip in North Macedonia.  After meeting friends in Sofia, Bulgaria we drove clockwise through Veliko Tarnovo (both off top of the map) and Plovdiv, shown right of center at top.  We left Melnik, Bulgaria at the border with Greece, where we hired a car and driver to take us a couple hours south to Thessaloniki, Greece (A) on the map below.  After a three enjoyable days in this major city we rented a car and drove west to Pella (B), the former capital of ancient Macedonia, then to Vergina (C) and the tomb of Phillip II, King of Macedonia, and then spent a couple nights in the lakeside town of Kastoria (D).  From there we drove south to Kastraki and the remarkable cliff monasteries of Meteoria (E). We ended our stay in Greek Macedonia at Ioannina (F) before our friends flew to Athens and on to Crete while we drove the rental car back to Thessaloniki to return home. 

Regional map of mainland Greece showing driving route.

Thessaloniki, located on the Thermaic Gulf at the NW corner of the Agean, is the second largest city in Greece. We found it more real and interesting than Athens (located at bottom center of map above). Of course, Athens has the should-not-miss Acropolis, Agora, and a new excellent museum (elegantly reminding all that the British Museum has the Parthenon "Elgins").  But outside the tourist attractions the city is gritty, and the attractions don't feel like a part of it, but set museum pieces. Thessaloniki is well-used with the historic artifacts interwoven into the layers of the city and part of everyday life.  

Our stay was northeast of Haigh Sofia, the large church image above the green center park. 

Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BCE by the Cassandra of Macedon and named for his wife, the sister of Alexander the Great and daughter of Philip II, King of Macedonia, who, as previously noted, united the various tribes into Hellas.  While the province of Greek Macedonia has several Classical Greece remnants, the majority in Thessaloniki are Roman and Byzantine.

View from our hotel in Thessaloniki  

UNESCO site Hagia Sofia (holy wisdom) Byzantine church, 

only a few blocks from our hotel, built in the 7th century CE.

Classic Orthodox church interiors with Iconostasis altar

We again signed up for a food tour.  Our guide is a local chef who worked throughout Europe and took us to a variety of his favorite places to sample local food and drink. We started at a coffee bar for espresso, and moved through cheeses, salads, meats, pastries, and finally wine.  

Kate, Robin, Aaron, slavic guest and Chef on food tour of Thessaloniki.  

Dishing up salads with local olive oil

Couple that made wonderful flakey pastries for decades

When my friend Thom and I went to Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia in 2016 we learned to read Cyrillic after a while. I always cracked up when we'd see signs that said in Pectopah. Many words are similar, they just use different letters for the same sound.  Once you understand that a P is an R, and C is an S, H is an N; you realize Pectopah is a sign for Restaran(t). They are everywhere. Likewise, I never understood in the sixties how CCCP on Soviet Union rockets could represent the Soviet Union.  I've since learned it stood for Soyuz (Union) Soviet Socialist Republic. 

Below is the local beer we drank in Thessaloniki. Translate if you can: (B is a V, P is an R, upsidedown L is a G. We're going to that town in a couple of days.  

Vergina Beer

For our second day we took a historic walking tour with a company we've used in many cities. GURU is a free walking tour co., and their guides are entertaining and highly informed.  After the tour you pay what you want.  They've always been excellent and we highly recommend them. We learned on our tour that a great way to see museum quality artifacts in Thessaloniki is to take the subway.  

Our guide was an engineer and archeologist on the recently completed Metro underground in 2015.  The route of the Metro through the city center follows the main arterial Egnatia St., which was about 35' above the historic Roman Via Egnatia that connected Rome to Constantinople (remember that from a previous posts about Albania and Macedonia). Although they knew of its existence, hence the current name, they didn't know what they'd find. When Metro administrators discovered many Roman, Christian and Byzantine remains, they wanted to move them to another location. After much controversy, and expense, the city sided with the archeologist and adjusted the depth of the subway to preserve and expose the remains in stations.  

Byzantine market place at Agia Sofia Station exposed to sidewalk above.

Called the Byzantine Pompey, this covered paved street with shops is adjacent to a subway station.

Our tour ended at the iconic White Tower, the emblem of the city.  The tower was built in the fifteenth century by the Ottomans, replacing an earlier twelfth century tower.  Originally, it had a chemise (skirt) surrounding the keep.  In the early nineteenth century is was referred to as the Blood Tower or Red Tower due to the massacre of Janissaries by the Ottomans imprisoned there.  It was named the White Tower in the late nineteenth century after the prisoners white washed the original brick construction.

White Tower

Our third day we wandered the neighborhoods on our own. We took a bus to the fortress above the town.  (On the city map above you can find it at the top).  The structure is a former Byzantine/Ottoman fortress named Heptapyrgion in Greek or Yedi Kule in Turkish.

Wave of crowds swelled and dispersed from arriving busses.

Commanding view of the city, Thermaic Gulf, and surrounding neighborhoods.

Rather than take the bus back, we decided to walk down the hill through residential neighborhoods and their local businesses.  

Descent from the fortress

Through residential streets

Lunch at local restaurant

Along the way, we saw the cannibalized Greek ruins as building material in Roman ruins.

At the bottom of the hill we came across the Roman Rotunda, and the start the impressive Galerian Complex which extended through the city to the sea.  This is the most important ruin in Thessaloniki built from the 4th century CE, and is the transition between pagan Roman era and Christian Byzantine.  It was built by Caesar Galerious, and occupied by subsequent Caesars who used Thessaloniki as their administrative center.  It includes a Rotunda, Palace with Octagon hall, Basilica, Hippodrome, Baths, Residence, and Apsidal Hall covering over 120,000 sm or  over 1.2 million sf.

Rotunda at far end at base of hill with Basilica in center and Hippodrome on right.

The Rotunda, built for Galerious' mausoleum, converted to a basilica, then mosque, and now a UNESCO world heritage site.

Part of the Palace

Arch of Galerious on Egnatia St.

On our last evening our traveling companions and we went our separate ways.  We went back to the Jewish quarter, then walked along the waterfront promenade for dinner with a view.  

Waterfront with White tower at end of Galerious complex in distance

Seaside restaurant with locals enjoying themselves by the water. 

The following day we picked up our rental care and drove to our next destination, Kastoria.  Along the way we stopped at a couple historic sites from pre Classical Greece. Our first was the ancient capital of Macedonia, Pella, established by King Archelaus I, before King Philip II, in 4th century BCE.

Fragmentary remains of the ancient capital, Pella

Beautiful depictions of life in floor mosaics.

After Pella, and prior to visiting the archeological site in Vergina, we stopped for lunch in this small town.  In the summer you can tell it is quite busy as there are parking lots for busses and cars, but in October the location was virtually empty.  After lunch we visited the historic site of the entombment of King Philip II and his several princes.  The site is unassuming with only low burial mounds visible.  However, upon entry through a tunnel underground into the chamber your breath is taken away.  Though obviously we knew of the site, we had no idea what it contained.  It was reverential in its dark quietude and lighting. Here we were in the burial chamber of one of the most influential kings of ancient times and, like the artifacts found in King Tut's tomb millennia before, his people prepared him for his journey in afterlife. Like so many religions, its purpose was to provide comfort for the living and preparation for the afterlife. 

Burial mound of King Philip II and princes

Carved statuary and reliefs of prominent people

Silver artifacts for the afterlife

Battle garb left in the tomb for the warrior king.

Spear points still deadly

Entrance to the tomb of Philip II beneath the earthen mound.

After our much too short stay at the tomb, we ended our day in Kastoria. The city is known for its beautiful setting at the end of Lake Orestiada and surrounding limestone mountains.  Kastoria toponym means place of beavers, reflecting its main economy over the centuries.  It is also known for a collection of Byzantine churches.  However, after being on the go for several weeks, and having our fill of churches, we mostly relaxed in the beautiful setting.   

Start of our peninsula walk near town and fall colors emerging. 

Approaching the isthmus and town at end of the peninsula walk on bay side.

The only Byzantine church we saw as we passed on our walk to dinner.

After a couple days relaxing we left Kastoria and headed south to Kastraki and home of the Monasteries of Meteora perched on towering rock formations. 

Arriving in Kastraki

Mountaieers "friction" climbing on face of sandstone

The monasteries were built by monks in the 14th century atop 400' high rock sandstone pillars.  Meteora means "suspended in air" and they are truly breathtaking, and even more so when built.  The monks had to rock climb the faces to the pillar top, level the site, and haul all building materials up via a man powered windlass system.  After the monasteries were functional they hauled each monk up the rock face in nets.  Today, the six remaining monasteries are a UNESCO site accessed by a road along a back plateau and can be access them by pathways carved into the rock. 

I'll let the photos speak for themselves in this stunning setting.

The village at left is Kastraki, where we stayed, and at right is Karbala. 

From top of Plateau one can see the six monasteries.  

The modern approach is carved into the hillside

Or cut into rock

Kate and Aaron's view from below

On the top of the pillar are religious complexes of plazas, chapels, living quarters and community areas

Hand powered windlass to haul supples and monks.

Netting to haul people and goods (need have faith in fellow man in addition to God)

They are still functioning as religious sites.

Hitchhiking to heaven as a thunderstorm passed with "God Beams" of light

View across pillars and chasms to other monasteries

Perched for isolated reflection

Town of Karbala below. 

Our final destination in Greece was further west to the city of Ioannina, near the border of Albania. For centuries under both Ottoman and Orthodox rule, this city has been a center of education.  When ruled by the Ottomans the population nevertheless remained Orthodox, and the city became the pivotal in the Greek War of Independence in 1828.  Like any city with a strong university presence, there are plenty of youth, and the main city street is quite vibrant with cafes and restaurants. 

Main pedestrian street Georgiou Averof with cafes and restaurants.

Robin loves cows so I photoed this art inside a restaurant.

The City is at the end of the largest lake in the administrative unit, Lake Pamvotida and surrounded by the Mitsikeli Mountains.

Early morning fog on lake with fisherman.

Similar view but in late afternoon

Besides the cafes, lakefront and university, a main attraction is the Ioannina Castle.  Early foundations indicate it's been occupied since Hellenistic Greece, with various constructions from Roman, Byzantine, Crusaders, and Ottoman periods.  The structure was built and destroyed many times over the course of invasions.  The most recent structure is from around the 14th century. 

Ioannina Castle 

Former mosque is now the Museum of Arslan Pasha, build in the 17th century

One of the reasons for going to this far corner of mainland Greece was their national park, Vikos Gorge, in the Pindus Mountains.  

View back to switch back road to the village of Aristi and entry to the park. 

Village square of Aristi

Overlook at top of gorge up to 1,350 m deep (4,500') running 32 km (20 miles)

Lunch break in small hamlet Monodendri returning on mountain back roads.

View back to Ioannina valley

Our final day we dropped Kate and Aaron off at the Ioannina airport for their flight to Athens then to Crete the following day.  With our six week trip to London, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Northern Greece coming to an end we drove back straight for five hours to Thessaloniki.  We arrived in time for a late lunch so went back to one of our favorite places, the waterfront.  But before we ate we admired one more time their main plaza and pedestrian area. After lunch and walking it off, we stayed at the airport hotel and the car company picked up the returned car.  A delightful end to a rewarding trip to the last of our Balkan countries.  

Aristotelous Square and Avenue looking toward the Roman Forum and Turkish fortress on the hill. 

Robin with waiter who made clear they still like Americans... their enemy are the Turks.  

History continues to be lived by the past.

Thanks for reading these seven blogs on travels to the Balkans.