Every time I go on vacation in Greece by car, I use the crowd at the border crossing Evzoni, between northern Macedonia and Greece, to take a short walk between the vehicles that move little by little in a column.
By stretching my legs a little from the long drive, I "kill" the waiting time a little.
This time it was not like that.
There was no crowd at all and I crossed the border in 10 minutes.
Such a quick passage opened the question, where will I take a break and walk a bit, so that I can wake up for the further drive to the desired destination?
Every previous time, when I wasted a lot of time at the border waiting in line, when I go to Greece, I drove fast and always the sign on the road with the inscription "Monument, World War I" caught my eye late.
Today I needed a break and a short walk, so I slowed down and noticed in time the narrow winding road that leads to the extension next to the Memorial Complex for the Victims of World War I.
I parked car on the extension by the side of the road and headed towards the stone fence and the gate.
At the entrance there is a plaque stating which family gave the land on which the complex was built:
The land of the internally fallen memorials was offered free of charge by the family of Karathodoros Christos in 1975.
The memorial complex is dedicated to the victims of the allied soldiers who gave their lives in the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front and in the battle of Kaymakchalan in the period from 1916 to 1918.
From the entrance gate, uphill, a steep path with steps leads to the plateau, where the monument is located.
A five-sided obelisk made of white marble, where on each side there is a message to the fallen soldiers, in the language of the country from which the soldiers came: Serbia, Italy, Greece, France and Great Britain.
TO THE HEROIC SONS OF SERBIA, FRANCE, ITALY, GREAT BRITAIN AND GREECE, WHO, FAITHFUL TO THE LEGACY OF THEIR ANCESTORS, FIGHTED IN THESE PLACES AND FELL FOR FREEDOM AND FOR WORLD PEACE 1916-1918
Soldiers, allies who fought together and died in these areas, received their own monument as a sign of gratitude and remembrance from their countries.
Right next to the monument to fallen soldiers, there are flagpoles that are erected during ceremonies, as well as busts of politicians and prime ministers, who at that time were representatives of their countries at various gatherings of allies:
Armstrong Briand, France
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Italy
Eleftherios Venizelos, Greece
Nikola Pašić, Serbia I
David Lloyd George, Great Britain.
Next to the plateau with the monument and busts, there is a nicely arranged, quadrangular park, with a row of trees and benches where you can rest.
I didn't need a rest and I headed further up the hill to reach the small church on top of the hill.
The church, which seems small from the road, is actually not so small. In it, memorials are held for soldiers who died during the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front, as well as memorials for all soldiers who died in the First World War. Now the church was closed and I could not enter the chapel.
But from that height, I had a fantastic view of the plains of Macedonia, where terrible battles were fought more than a century ago and where the blood of our ancestors was shed.
I headed down the path, encountering in this oasis of peace and tranquility fallen pine cones, as well as dried thistle stalks.
I took another short walk around the park, took a few pictures and headed back to the car.
This short #Wednesdaywalk was a great success, because in addition to stretching my legs, which I needed to safely continue my journey, I saw something new on the route that I have passed so many j , and most importantly, I learned something about the history of this place and the suffering of my people.
I hope that this short break and walk around the memorial park was interesting for you too.
Until the next walk, I salute you.