Athens to Thessaloniki Great Continental Railway Journeys

I'm embarking on a railway adventure that will take me

to the cradle of European civilisation.

I'll be using this,

my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913,

which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

for the British tourist.

It told travellers where to go, what to see, and how to navigate

the thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossing the continent.

Now, a century later,

I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,

where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe that in 1913 couldn't know

that its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.

On this journey, my guidebook takes me to Greece,

the Kingdom of the Hellas.

In 1913, modern Greece was less than a century old,

a fledgling sea power of strategic interest

to the great powers of Europe.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottomans,

Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Germans, French and British

vied for influence and control over this new nation.

About 80 years before this guidebook was published,

Greeks, who for centuries had been ruled from Istanbul,

as part of the Ottoman Empire, established an independent state.

They did so with military help from the British who,

in a Romantic age, admired the Ancient Greece

of Pericles and Plato.

Some Greeks hoped that they could have a great future

to match their great past.

But only if they could expand their tiny kingdom northwards

and take in the millions of Greeks

still stranded in the decaying Ottoman Empire.

Bradshaw's tells me that the population of Greece is 2.7 million

but by late 1913, it had almost doubled as Greek troops

captured territory,

making it one of the most auspicious 12 months in modern Greek history.

My journey following the expansion of Greece's northern border

starts at the port of Piraeus, from where it's a short ride

to the Greek capital, Athens, and the Acropolis.

I'll then head west

to pass through the Corinth canal,

a challenge of engineering that confounded man

for 2,500 years,

before I strike north to Levadia

for a Bradshaw's recommended excursion to Delphi,

home of the famous oracle.

I'll continue north to the port of Volos

and on to the mountain village of Milies.

I'll finish my journey in the city of Thessaloniki.

Along the way, I'll find out about the surprisingly ancient

origins of our modern railways at the spectacular Corinth Canal.

So this is incredible - 600 years BC, two parallel lines of stones,

logs running between them and on top of the logs, the ships?

Yes.

'I trade the train seat for a saddle.'

I'm having to hoof it through these beautiful olive groves.

'And show strength that would rival Hercules.'

HE SHOUTS

Done.

'I'm arriving in Greece

'as the traveller would have just over 100 years ago.'

In 1913, war raged to the north of here as Greece,

and its Balkan allies,

sought to evict the Muslim Ottomans from Europe

and to expand their own states.

The only half-safe way to approach was by ship,

to Athens' port of Piraeus.

In October 1863,

Piraeus had been the site of a very significant moment

in modern Greek history.

The newly elected George I,

brother-in-law of British King Edward VII,

and grandfather to the current Duke of Edinburgh,

came ashore here

declaring himself King of the Hellenes,

ruler not just of Greece but of all Greeks.

Today, Piraeus is the largest passenger port in Europe.

Up to 20 million pass through here every year.

What a delightful railway station!

It stands on the site of Greece's very first railway,

opened in 1869, having been built with the help of British engineers.

In 1904, it became the Hellenic Electric Railway Company

and today it's been absorbed into Athens' metro system.

According to Bradshaw's, "Athens, as it exists, is quite a modern city.

"After centuries of degradation and neglect it was, in 1834,

"little better than an impoverished village

"of about 12,000 inhabitants".

By 1913, that number had grown to 175,000.

Today, close to four million people live here,

around a third of the population of Greece.

In this lively metropolis, Bradshaw's is reassuring.

"The stranger has no difficulty in finding his way about,

"as the Acropolis is clearly seen in view all around,

"and serves as a landmark."

-Hello, Haris.

-Hello Michael. Welcome to the Acropolis.

-The cradle of Western civilisation.

-Exactly.

Wonderful!

'And it's where I'm meeting academic and poet Haris Vlavianos.'

I don't know whether to look at the Acropolis

or whether to look at Athens.

It's an absolutely wonderful view from here, isn't it?

Yeah, very impressive.

The Parthenon, Greece's most famous ancient monument,

was constructed in the fifth century BC by Pericles,

during Athens' Golden Age.

Back in 1913, it was very attractive to tourists visiting Athens

as the home of Plato, Socrates and democracy.

The Parthenon is an extraordinary building, I think without any

parallel and would be recognisable to anyone, anywhere in the world.

What's your assessment of it?

I think that Pericles wanted to build something that would

symbolise the extraordinary culture

and power that Athens had at the time and he was extremely

successful because in 2,500 years, we are standing here

and we know that the Parthenon hasn't lost any significance,

any of its value, for western civilisation.

Wouldn't you say the same?

I would. It's absolutely the heart of it all.

But astonishingly, the ruins

of Greece's classical pre-Christian past

lay neglected and buried for centuries.

Greece had 400 years of Ottoman rule, which makes Greece

a country of the Orient. Before that, we had the Byzantine Empire,

which stressed the identity of the Christian Orthodox.

If you asked Greeks at the time of the Ottoman occupation

to define themselves, they would say

they were are Christians, Orthodox, I mean, and they are Muslims.

And in fact if you look at memoirs of people who fought in the Greek

War of Independence they talk about this war, it's a kind of Jihad, it's

we, the Orthodox Christians against the infidels, against the Muslims.

It was only at the end of the 18th century,

with the advent of European Romanticism,

that Greece's classical culture was once again revered,

by Philhellenes, or lovers of Greece, like the poet Lord Byron.

When he arrived in Athens, he fell in love with a Greek lady.

He wrote a few poems, the Maiden of Athens, for example.

But Lord Byron was interested in politics

as well as Athenian maidens.

On March 25th 1821,

the Greeks began their decade-long struggle for independence.

And Byron came to join their war.

Byron, the poet, was not just a dilettante, was he?

He was a man who actually made a difference

to the issue of Greek independence.

Absolutely - he's one of the most important

figures in this in this movement. His presence here was catalytic.

Byron was also instrumental in bringing money to Greece.

I mean, the first London loan was raised through his assistance.

In 1824, the London Greek Committee

loaned Greece around £350,000 for the War of Independence.

Similar loans were raised from Philhellenic Committees

across Europe.

Despite these efforts,

Byron didn't live to see the Greeks achieve independence.

Just months later, in April 1824, he fell ill

and died in the village of Missolonghi.

To this day, this aristocratic English poet is still

considered a Greek national hero.

The fact he actually died here, I mean,

it made such an impression to the whole world

that this man, you know, comes from England

and dies in this obscure village for this great cause.

The Greek struggle for independence

had become an international cause celebre, and in 1832,

Greece was formally recognised by Britain, France and Russia.

But the entire population of the new Greek state was smaller than

the number of ethnic Greeks who lived under Ottoman rule.

And so the Great Idea was born -

a desire to bring all Greeks into the Greek state, establish a

capital at Constantinople and relive the glories of the Byzantine Empire.

What changes?

Why do the Greeks take an interest in their antiquity?

There was a lot of interest in Greece.

Great classicists came to Greece,

people who wanted to do excavations, they actually said to the Greeks,

this is part of their heritage and they have to invest in it.

And so in 1913, there's no doubt by then that the Greek government,

the Greek people, value their antiquity?

Absolutely, I mean, we have 80 years between 1834 and 1913

so there was a lot of excavation work.

The Parthenon had been restored.

People who arrived here probably saw something more spectacular

than we see today because you had no scaffolding and no cranes

and not too many tourists around so they felt a sense of awe

when they were standing here.

-I feel it today. Shall we find some shade?

-Yeah.

Along with just a few

of the millions of tourists who visit the Parthenon every year,

I'm descending to explore the city.

In 1913, Athens was still a new European capital,

chosen after great national debate

and proclaimed in 1834 by the first King of Greece, Otto.

The 17-year-old second son of the king of Bavaria had been crowned

ruler of the newly formed Kingdom of Greece two years earlier.

He was appointed not by the Greek people,

nor by their government, but by Britain, France

and Russia in order to cement their influence over Greece.

And, in what was becoming a recurring theme,

the German king arrived with a loan

equivalent to over £100 million today.

This is Syntagma Square,

which Bradshaw's refers to as "Place de la Constitution".

Constitution Square. "This is the strangers' quarter.

"Here, or close by, are the principal hotels and cafes."

And behind me is the Palace

that was built for the first king of Greece, King Otto,

which for many years now has been the Greek parliament.

Quite recently, it became famous all over the world

during the Greek Euro crisis.

And between the square and the parliament building march a symbol

of Greece's historic struggles for independence - the Evzones.

The Evzones are traditionally the elite soldiers of Greece.

They're now used for ceremonial duties such as, here, guarding

the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

The uniform they're wearing now in the summer

represents the Balkan wars of 1912 to 1913.

One of their other uniforms involves a kilt which has 400 pleats,

each representing a year of the Ottoman occupation of Greece.

So that Greek nationalism is literally

sewn into the fabric of the regiment.

'And over 100 years later, it seems the Balkan Wars still resonate.'

Hello, sir. You're a Greek, aren't you?

-Yes, yes.

-But you still come to see the Evzones?

Yes.

I come from time to time because I feel proud about that.

Also because my grandfathers, they fought in the Balkan War

and I feel as a tribute to them,

and to all the people who fought for our independence.

It represents one of our highest moments.

In the shadow of the Acropolis is the oldest part of Athens - Plaka.

It's hard to believe that this small cluster of streets

was almost all that existed when Athens was declared the capital.

-Hello!

-Hello.

Would you like to join us for some coffee or lunch?

-Lunch, please. A table for one.

-For one. Here.

-Thank you very much.

-Here you go.

-Thank you. Something traditional and Greek?

Moussaka. It's the most famous.

Moussaka. The most famous. And what's in that?

Minced beef, aubergine, potato, bechamel. It's delicious.

It sounds great. I'll have moussaka. Thank you.

-Wow! That's huge!

-Moussaka. Enjoy!

-I'm not going to be hungry, am I!

-No. For two days! For sure!

Thank you!

Bechamel.

It's a French word, it's a French food.

So obviously at some point,

the traditional Eastern ingredients

of minced beef and aubergine and potato were married together

with a French product - bechamel.

So even in the most famous of all Greek dishes, East meets West.

I'm stepping back into antiquity

across the city at the Panathenaic Stadium.

Also known as Kallimarmaro,

meaning "the beautifully marbled",

it's where I'm meeting Spyros Capralos,

the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

Spyros, this is the most beautiful, the most spectacular stadium.

What is the origin?

Well, this stadium was built 2,500 years ago,

in 338 Before Christ by Lycurgus.

Lycurgus was a pupil of Plato,

who had the idea to construct this stadium in the most beautiful

part of Athens in order to host the Panathenian Games.

Panathenian Games were games where people competed nude

and they were part of a bigger celebration of the city of Athens.

Now, the stadium was obviously rebuilt at some time. When was that?

The stadium was rebuilt for the first modern Olympic Games.

That's when Greece was awarded in 1894 the Olympic Games.

Greece at that time was bankrupt.

The government was afraid to take over and do the games.

However, there were lots of private people who put their own money

to rebuild the stadium and host the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

The revival of the ancient Olympic Games was

brought about by Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France.

And the Greeks were more than happy to host,

keen to promote themselves on the world stage as heirs

to their newly rediscovered classical heritage.

The opening ceremony was steeped in symbolism. On March 25th, 1896,

the anniversary of Greek independence,

at the foot of the Acropolis, the reigning monarch, King George I,

declared: "Long live the Nation. Long live the Greek people."

What was the scale of the 1896 games?

The scale has nothing to do with today's scale of the games.

There were only 311 athletes participating,

from 13 different countries, in nine different sports.

So it was athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting,

wrestling that were all held in this stadium.

Was Greece successful in the games?

Oh, Greece was very successful

because obviously the majority of the athletes came from Greece.

The marathon, so steeped in ancient history,

was THE event the entire nation wanted a Greek to win.

A shepherd's son, Spyros Louis, came in first

and the whole stadium was standing

and was thrilled about this victory.

And I suspect Spyros Louis was pretty thrilled too.

It's said that in celebration of his victory,

he was offered free rail travel for life,

with space for his bicycle in the goods van.

Lucky fellow.

I wonder how he felt, all those years ago,

in this extraordinary place?

MUSIC: Chariots Of Fire theme by Vangelis

Exhausted by the extreme summer heat of Athens,

I feel it's time to find somewhere for the night.

Bradshaw's recommends a "first-class house" -

Hotel de la Grande Bretagne.

Thank you very much indeed.

Bradshaw's promised me a hotel in a good situation

and, really, my view of the Parthenon is unbeatable.

I can also look down here on the Greek parliament.

So I'm looking up to democracy classical style

and looking down on modern Greek democracy.

Today, my route takes me 50 miles west of Athens,

to the city of Corinth in the Peloponnese,

and one of the great wonders of 19th-century engineering.

Now, if you imagine Greece like that,

with the Peloponnese down here and northern Greece here,

the two are just joined by a little piece of land here.

And for many centuries man has been tantalised by the idea

that if you could just cut a canal through this little isthmus,

you could travel from the Ionian Sea to Athens

without having to go all the way round the bottom.

The Corinth Canal, Bradshaw's tells me,

is nearly four miles long, cutting the Isthmus where it is narrowest,

and it's used mainly by Greek coasting vessels.

'Theodora Filandra,

'who works for the company which operates the canal today,

'has kindly offered to take me through it.

'It's not the first time I've been here.'

When I was 20 years old, I was on a cruise ship

and we came through the Corinth Canal.

And it was so exciting cos,

of course, the ship is higher up by the cliffs,

you fill the entire canal from side to side,

it was easily most the most exciting part of the voyage.

It's quite exciting and I'm really happy that you enjoyed it.

When was there first the idea of making a canal?

We're talking about 2,500 years ago

when Periander, the tyrant of Corinth,

one of the Seven Sages of antiquity,

first perceives the idea of cutting through the isthmus of Corinth.

Periander failed to build the canal

because the engineers were unequipped to perform the task.

Instead he built Diolkos.

Diolkos is the...origin of the modern railway.

-The origin of the modern railway?

-Yes.

-600 BC?

-Yes.

-Tell me about it.

-Well, he constructed a road parallel to

the canal that we are transiting now

and it was built with big blocks of stones.

So the vessels, they were stopping on the one side of one bay,

they were unloading the cargos,

which was transported by carriages and slaves,

and the vessels were lifted on logs, tree logs,

and they would slide through the isthmus.

So this is incredible, 600 BC,

two parallel lines of stones,

-logs running between them, and on top of the logs the ships?

-Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

That's even more extraordinary than the canal, I think.

Despite the ingenious Diolkos,

over the following centuries Roman Emperors, ancient Macedonian kings,

and Venetians would all try and fail

to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth.

Just looking up at these enormous cliffs,

this was a huge construction task.

Give me an idea of the scale.

The excavations began in 1882 and the work completed in 1893.

More than 2,000 workers were employed here.

The most modern equipment and mechanics were used.

It was one of the first projects that nitroglycerine was used.

And imagine it was more

than 12 million cubic metres of earth that has been removed,

been excavated during the 11 years of the works.

'And the result was as revolutionary as it is spectacular.'

Well, it saves vessels approximately more than 150 nautical miles,

otherwise they circumnavigate the Peloponnese,

-saving in fuel and time.

-How extraordinary.

I'm ready to carry on my journey north-east via Athens.

Road improvements have taken priority in Greece

and left the rail network today even smaller than it was in 1913.

Trains no longer service the station

that my guidebook recommends for my next excursion.

I'm making my way instead to what Bradshaw's describes

as the "delightfully situated town" of Livadia.

HORN SOUNDS

This train to Livadia has been climbing steadily,

soon it will be running through the valley alongside Parnassus,

the sacred mountain of Orpheus and Apollo.

I'm travelling into Greek mythology.

HORN

My destination was declared by the god Zeus

to be the centre of the world.

According to myth, to locate that centre

the Father of the Gods released two

eagles from opposite ends of the world,

and they crossed here in these very mountains at Delphi.

And so one of the most sacred ancient sites was built.

From the end of the eighth century BC,

people from all over the ancient world

would come to Delphi to consult the famous Oracle.

In truth, there's no railway station

very near to my destination of Delphi.

And, indeed, Bradshaw's recommends

taking a ferry and then continuing by carriage or on horseback.

In the village, I couldn't find a carriage

and so I'm having to hoof it

through these beautiful olive groves, serenaded by cicadas.

CICADAS CHIRRUP

'Today, I'm guided by Christina Stolis.'

Christina, my first time in Delphi and what a stunning place!

Very special indeed!

Bradshaw's says, "On the site of Delphi stood the village of Kastri,

"which was removed to another spot

"in order that the necessary excavations could be made".

-So a whole village was taken away?

-Completely moved.

A whole village as of 1892 was relocated to round the corner,

a new modern village was built and the site is excavated.

And how did the villagers feel about it at the time?

-Not very happy to start with.

-SHE LAUGHS

Can you imagine, people who essentially were goatherds,

who lived and died and were born in these houses,

not quite having the necessary education as well

to understand what it meant to live on top of Delphi.

'Once the modern village of Kastri had been moved works could begin.

'Train tracks were laid crisscrossing the site

'to take away thousands of wagonloads of earth.'

I'm trying to think, what would it have been like

for a 1913 traveller coming to Delphi, do you think?

Just imagine, Delphi's only been open to the public for ten years,

it's a brand-new site,

and all the scholars would be

willing to travel in the wilderness on mules

to get up here to see what they've

spent a lifetime, essentially, learning about.

'One intrepid British lady did exactly that.'

Agnes Conway visited Delphi in 1913,

which would be the same year that your book was written of course.

-It was indeed.

-She's a British archaeologist.

'Agnes Conway came to study Greece's ancient sites

'and travelled widely throughout the Balkans,

'keeping an account of her experiences.'

She describes Delphi.

"At Delphi Greek history becomes intensely alive."

And her own description of the days in Delphi is pure bliss.

It is true that it makes the history come intensely alive.

What are the other constructions?

Obviously, I can see a theatre, but what were the other main buildings?

Well, other than the theatre and the stadium,

they created the oracle dedicated to Apollo, Zeus' favourite son,

the god of light, the god who can

best understand the will of his father,

therefore advise you on what to do.

I'm not sure I know what an oracle is.

Is it a person or a thing?

The Oracle of Delphi is essentially the whole site.

And at the centre of this site, the sanctuary, the Temple of Apollo.

And inside the temple once a month a local woman, the Pythia,

would go into the basement to inhale the spirit of the god,

which came out the ground in the form of vapours,

and in doing so she would become enthusiastic.

Divinely inspired, basically.

The Pythia possessed by a god,

or enthous in Greek,

would then answer people's questions.

Was there any scientific basis for this?

Well, nowadays geologists and geochemists will talk about

how fault lines intersect under the Temple of Apollo.

And gases seeped out the ground. Methane, ethane,

ethylene is what they've identified.

And that for the ancient Greeks would be divine manifestations

and so the oracle was built.

-And so a really very, very special place.

-Very special.

The world, the Mediterranean came and met here in Delphi.

I'm making my way back to Livadia station

to catch my next train along the Athens-Thessaloniki line

bound for the port of Volos.

-Ah! A lovely, cool train.

-Yes.

-Thank goodness!

Joining me for the journey is Panagiotis Kakavas

from the Friends of the Greek Railway Association.

Panagiotis, the railways came quite late to Greece.

Tell me about the early developments in Greece.

We discover railway in...after 1885.

And from that year until 1916

there was a...railway explosion,

a railway revolution.

In every single part of Greece there was a line.

What was driving that railway revolution?

Greece was...wanted to be a modern country like the West,

so only with railways this can be done.

Kharilaos Trikoupis, the Prime Minister at that time,

said, "We need railways."

Trikoupis began a far-reaching modernisation programme

to prepare the way for the absorption of the Greeks who

remained under Ottoman rule.

During this time, the Greek railway network

expanded from seven to around 700 miles of track.

Tell me about this railway,

the main railway from Athens to the north of Greece,

a spectacular railway, when was this built?

This line we're on now, 1890-1916.

Now that's a very important period politically speaking,

because, of course, the cities to the north

that this train is travelling to

-were not part of Greece until 1912, 1913.

-Yes, yes.

Greece was getting bigger and bigger.

-And so the railways followed those borders.

-Yes, exactly.

The Ottomans had always refused to

allow a rail connection between Athens and their empire.

So at the time of my Bradshaw's,

travelling all the way to the newly reconquered Thessaloniki by train

would not have been possible.

So when did a train first run between Thessaloniki and Athens?

The first train was the famous Simplon-Orient Express in 1920.

One and a half years after the connection.

The connection was completed in...1919.

And one year later, we had the first train.

In 1922, a new route for the Orient Express

was opened via the Simplon Tunnel

through the Alps between Switzerland and Italy.

Now Greece was connected physically,

as well as culturally and politically, to Western Europe.

How did Greece afford all these railways?

Actually, we didn't afford it,

we had our first bankruptcy...caused by the railway.

-The country actually went bust?

-Yes.

All the companies building the railway ran out of money.

The Greek government had no money, so bankrupt.

-It sounds a bit like a modern story of Greece.

-Yes.

The history...repeats itself.

'It soon becomes clear why building this railway proved so costly.'

Ah!

That is extraordinary! That is extraordinary!

This is the Gorgopotamos Viaduct.

At over 100m, it's one of the highest railway bridges in Greece.

After a change at Larissa,

I continue on the branch line east to Volos.

I've arrived in Volos,

which Bradshaw's tells me is the chief seaport of Thessaly,

with a thriving population.

This is one of the loveliest railway stations I've come across in Greece.

After this province became part of Greece in 1881,

it was a playground for foreign railway builders.

And here the Germans laid the tracks

and so they constructed a Bavarian-style railway station.

And what I find a bit of a joke

is that here we have a kind of alpine chalet

with palm trees outside it.

Modern Volos is built on the site of three ancient cities,

including the homeland of the mythological hero Jason

and his band of Argonauts.

And, luckily for me, I've arrived at dinner time.

The little harbour here is full of fishing boats,

so I'm very willing to believe

that this lovely seafood is entirely fresh.

So...let's try a little squid.

Ooh! Look at that, all those little tentacles.

Delicious.

TRADITIONAL GREEK MUSIC

And Volos has another traditional treat in store for me.

-Bravo!

-Thank you, guys. APPLAUSE

As you may have noticed, I don't find it easy to ab-Zorba the Greek.

Today, my journey continues 16 miles south-east of Volos

at the station of Lehonia.

I'm catching the Little Train of Pelion to the village of Milies,

before travelling the final 150 miles of my Greek railway journey

to the city of Thessaloniki.

I want to visit the mountain top village of Milies.

And according to Bradshaw's there's a train from Volos.

But, no, the line has been discontinued,

so I've come to the station of the Lehonia.

And in 1913 the journey time was one hour and 15 minutes.

But judging by the age of this wonderful vintage rolling stock,

I think I'll be lucky to do it in that time today.

This line is only one foot, 11 and 5/8 of an inch wide,

making it one of the narrowest gauges in the world.

It was extended to my destination, Milies, in 1903.

I don't want to say that this train is slow, but a lame dog is faster.

Although it looks old, this locomotive is a disguised diesel,

installed after the coal-fired locomotives

caused numerous fires along the track.

It's called Moudzouris, which means 'smudger' in Greek,

a reference to the smoky engines of the past.

Our little narrow-gauge train has been winding through olive groves

and the passengers have been leaning out and seizing the fruit.

We've been passing streams and valleys, over bridges and viaducts.

This is the wonderful Kalorema viaduct.

We have fantastic views of the sea

and now we're winding up into the mountains.

Our little train has climbed a long way towards Mount Pelion.

This was the summer residence

of the 12 gods of Olympus in Greek mythology.

This was also the playground of the centaurs,

those mythological beasts that were half man and half horse.

We've arrived at Milies station,

but my ride isn't quite over yet.

MEN SHOUT IN GREEK

A single track means that everyone

must help to turn the engine around for its descent.

MEN SHOUT IN GREEK

MAN SHOUTS IN GREEK

Done!

HORN SOUNDS

Hello.

TRADITIONAL GREEK MUSIC

THEY TOAST IN GREEK

Have you lived here all your life?

I live all my life here.

My home is behind the church

and I was born in this church...

-76 years ago.

-HE LAUGHS

The church is a big part of your life?

I like this, because I forget my problems.

If I am in the church, I leave more happy.

If I go out of the church, I am very unhappy

because I have many problems,

for my family, for my economic and everything.

It gives me...hope.

And Michalis is not alone.

Modern Greece's national identity

was defined by the Orthodox Church.

Today, about 97% of Greece's population

are still practising Orthodox Christians.

Your church is extraordinarily beautiful. It's wonderful.

Beautiful and very interesting.

In the time of the building of the church 400 years ago,

the Greek state live under the Turkish state.

So they made the church very, very secret from outside.

Not look like church from outside.

First without windows down, no windows down,

only small and high, nobody can see easy inside.

-Second without bang-bang.

-Bell?

Bell and cross on the roof of the church. Nothing.

When constructing this clandestine church,

its builders were able to create another special thing,

a unique acoustic.

SOFT THUDDING

That's extraordinary!

Because there is not echo inside of the church.

If sing five person, hearing five different voices.

Oh, beautiful!

MICHALIS SINGS IN GREEK

-I am not singer.

-MICHALIS LAUGHS

Bravo!

I do...I do only for the church.

MICHALIS LAUGHS

Thank you. Bye-bye.

I join the railway line back at Volos

to continue my journey north to the city of Thessaloniki.

I can't help noticing that I'm the only person on this train

over the age of 25 and not carrying a rucksack.

And I'm just wondering what is going on.

Excuse me. May I ask you, there are a lot of young people on this train,

a lot of young people with rucksacks. Why?

Where are you coming from or where are you going to?

We are coming from a festival

and we're returning back to our home city, Thessaloniki.

-So did you all have a good time?

-Yes!

-Amazing time, yes.

Is that a Bible?

No, this is not a Bible,

this is a 1913 guidebook.

-Original?

-Absolutely original. Look.

We have all the timetables of the trains of 100 years ago.

And here we have all the hotels of 100 years ago.

And in the middle we have all the text

about the different countries of Europe including Greece,

but there's no mention of any festivals.

Oh.

-There's also a lot of dust in there.

-There is.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

I don't envy the editor of Bradshaw's Guide 1913.

There was war in the Balkans

and international frontiers were changing fast.

Of the city of Thessaloniki, listed here under Turkey,

Bradshaw's says that it's been

captured by the Greeks since November 9th, 1912.

But in the year of publication, the Turks were mounting

an effective counterattack and seizing back territory in Europe.

Where would the border between Christendom

and the Islamic world end up?

'I shall find out tomorrow, after a night's rest in Thessaloniki.'

-Good morning!

-Hello, how are you?

'I've reached the final stop on my railway journey

'across Greece, on the northern shores of the Aegean Sea.'

A beach-side breakfast in Thessaloniki.

It's said that when British 19th-century Romantics,

who were full of this notion that Classical Greece was

the cradle of Western civilisation, actually came to modern Greece,

they were shocked to find the local people performing dances that

were clearly Ottoman in origin, and smoking hookahs.

And here is the typical Greek breakfast - yoghurt and honey,

much as you might be served in Istanbul or Damascus or Beirut.

And here is Greek coffee...

Thick and grainy

because actually it's Turkish coffee.

So whilst the Greeks resented the occupation by a foreign power,

they actually absorbed Ottoman customs.

Thessaloniki, or Salonika in Bradshaw's,

is now Greece's second city.

But in 1913, fewer than a third of its inhabitants were Greek.

In fact, my guidebook notes - "About half the population are Jews,

"descendants of those driven out of Spain."

Bulgarians, Serbs, Albanians and Turks also lived here,

making turn-of-the-century Thessaloniki

a most extraordinarily diverse society.

Mr Hatzis, how nice to see you.

Hello. You're welcome.

And one clue to this fascinating past can be

found in Chousein Hatzis' pastry shop.

Wow! This is absolutely a beautiful shop.

-You have an astonishing variety...

-Yeah!

..of different sweets here.

What are these?

This is typical baklava with walnuts.

What really is baklava?

Baklava is a typical Ottoman sweet.

We make it with pastry, with eggs, milk, sugar, butter.

And in Greece we eat it with walnuts, not with pistachio.

With almost all the peoples of the

Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans, and Central Asia

claiming baklava as their national dessert,

its history is hotly contested.

But there is evidence that its current form was

developed in the kitchens of the Ottoman Sultan's palace.

I want to see for myself how this dish, so loved in Greece, is made.

Take up the rolling pin, right.

'First, roll out your filo pastry.'

No comment from the lady, so I think that may be OK.

SHE SPEAKS GREEK

Keep doing it all the way round, I've got the general idea.

Oh, my goodness! A bigger weapon, altogether!

Ah...

'Be sure to flour liberally between each

'sheet of pastry, to prevent sticking.'

I really think I've got the hang of this.

I'm on a roll!

The pastry is so thin, I can see my hand through it.

And every time they put another layer into the baking dish,

they put yet more butter into it.

Here go the walnuts.

Seems like pretty large quantities of walnuts, too.

More?

'And here's one I made earlier...'

That looks wonderful!

'Now, while it's warm, add the all-important sugar syrup.'

This much?

Oh, my goodness! All this on top?!

'To give our baklava its distinctive sticky texture.'

Huge quantities of syrup going on top now.

I've got to cover each one as I go.

More? More?!

More!

I always knew baklava was sweet,

but I had no idea it had this quantity of syrup in it.

Here we go. More!

And now to see whether my efforts would be fit for an Ottoman emperor.

I'm about to ingest an insane amount of sugar...

which will provide me

with a very sweet reminder of a happy day spent in Thessaloniki.

Wow!

But back in 1913, things weren't so agreeable.

I'm meeting local historian Anastasia Gaitanou,

better to understand the city's history.

Anastasia, at the time of my guidebook there are wars going on.

What are they about?

Well, this war, er, wars, are the so-called Balkan Wars.

They took place on the Balkan Peninsula.

This is where we are.

We are the south tip of the Balkan Peninsula.

And they were wars led mainly by the new countries that were being

established and formed on the Balkan Peninsula,

trying to get as much as they could from the decaying Ottoman Empire...

that was referred to as the "sick man of Europe".

Of course, they were trying to get access to the Aegean Sea,

trying to get as many of the ports as they could,

as much territory as they could, but also establish national states.

And was Thessaloniki an important strategic objective?

Absolutely.

It was considered, already in the Ottoman Empire,

the third most

important port after Constantinople, Istanbul today, and Izmir.

It is in the south tip of the Balkan Peninsula,

connecting, practically, Europe to Asia, to Africa.

At the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Greece pushed north.

In an unexpectedly rapid campaign, on the 26th October, 1912,

under the heir to the throne, Prince Constantine, the Greek army

rode into Thessaloniki claiming this all-important city for Greece.

Did the king manage to visit the city after it was liberated?

He came to Thessaloniki three days after it was liberated,

to show royal presence and to make it clear to everybody that this is

a Greek city now, because everybody wanted to have it and it was a huge

competition with the Bulgarians, who arrived only a few hours later.

He loved the city.

He loved the promenade of Thessaloniki and the seafront,

and he would walk many times along this promenade.

And usually he would walk without really that many escorts,

or bodyguards, just one or two which, of course,

at the end proved to be quite fatal.

Less than six months after the annexation of this city,

a horrific event would unexpectedly throw Greece into turmoil.

On these streets,

the reign of the beloved King George I of the Hellas

came to a tragic end.

Well, this is the very spot where he was assassinated in March of 1913.

He was shot through the heart by a teacher who was

jobless at the time, who was called a socialist and an anarchist,

and it was not a good thing to be called that in 1913.

And it was said that he had asked for financial support

by the king. It was not given to him, so he wanted revenge.

What were the political consequences of the assassination?

Well, the worst thing that happened afterwards

was the so-called National Schism.

Greece divided. Half of the population were supporting the ideas

of George I, who was a supporter of Russia, England and France.

He had ties to the British royal house,

his sister, Alexandra, was the wife of King Edward VII.

While his son and successor, King Constantine I,

was a supporter of Austria-Hungary and Germany.

His wife was the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm at the time.

So, two completely different approaches

and two completely different ideas that really tore Greece in two.

After nearly of century of nation-building under

the influence of the European powers, it was the breakdown

in their relationships that would ultimately divide Greek society.

A division that would have repercussions for Greek politics

up to the Second World War and beyond.

Greek history is steeped in blood.

Assassinations and numerous battles to gain

independence from the Ottoman Empire.

And after my Bradshaw's Guide, two world wars and civil war.

Modern Greece has suffered from inflated expectations.

For example, some British Romantics hoped for a reincarnation

of Classical Greek virtues and perfection.

No nation could live up to such an inflated ideal.

On my next journey, I'll hear how Black Forest fairytales

unified the Germans.

The forests came to stand for German-ness,

so they were really, really important in building up

this common heritage.

CLOCK CUCKOOS

'I'll try for a place amongst Germany's master carvers.

Not quite as clean as yours, but...'

But not too bad for the first one.

'And I'll get wind of an early-20th-century innovation

'still shaping German transport today.'

HE GROANS

Oh, blow me down!

Three, two, one...