Luxe Beat Magazine NOVEMBER 2014 | Page 29

Travel White Tower locations to reside in their traditional religious environments. World War II brought a brutal Nazi invasion of Greece. Although there was fierce resistance, Nazis always responded with executions and torture. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki, some 60000+ strong, compared to about 40,000 Orthodox Greeks and 40,000 Muslims nearby, was wiped out except for about 3,000 survivors. After the War, Soviet Russia took over eastern and central Europe. Acting through its then satellite, Yugoslavia, it fomented an attempted Communist takeover of Greece (sometimes this is referred to as a “civil war”). With American aid, the Greek government put down this revolt. A sore point with many Greeks today stems from one breakaway nation in the original Yugoslavia. The southernmost country here calls itself “Macedonia.” However, it is not populated by Greeks and is considerably north of the original Macedonians of Philip II and Alexander. Greeks refer to the country as “Skopje.” In the current century, amid a worldwide recession, the Greek economy was hit especially hard. Today, many Greek citizens we talked to said that independent small businessmen, as well as tourism, are keeping the economy afloat. Tours Our base for touring was Thessaloniki, the second city of the nation after Athens. This city of somewhat over one million inhabitants was once, along with Constantinople, the co-capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The city claims to have more bars and cafés per capita than any other European city. In 2015, there will be direct flights to Thessaloniki from the U.S. We started with a walk to the White Tower, going down a long promenade along the sea. Since Thessaloniki is a college town, students make good use of this lovely walkway. The White Tower was constructed by the Ottoman Turks. Originally, it was used for executions and general intimidation of the populace, but sometimes served as a prison. Now, it is a museum that brings history to life. 29