Skopia
A train from Athens to Thessalonica was an event in itself. The first train to Florina didn't run because: well nobody knows they just didn't feel like it.
Finally we arrive in Florina a destination much anticipated. From here we walked to Skopia a small village in Northern Greece, known as the Macedonian region. We were chasing Shelle's roots, the village in which her grandparents, babba, daddo and mum had lived before migrating to Australia in the early 60s.
So many stories had been told, and pictures had been painted in our minds. We knew that her aunty lived there, but did not know where, or how to contact her. We had come to see and feel the village that we had heard so much about and is such a big part of Shelle's ancestry.
It was a short walk from Florina, a small village in which we were able to walk around and discover in no time at all. Our time was made more fruitful by our experience with a horde of men sitting in the shade of a central park, drinking, eating wild roast boar on a spit and playing music.
They spotted us a couple of hundred metres away and inviting us to join them. Shelle is able to understand Macedonian thanks to her babba. But the village now has Greek predominantly as their first language. So our communication skills were tested. Luckily there was a local boy who had learnt a little English at school and was able to interpret enough for us to come and participate!
The people reminded me of the warmth of Shelle's family as they welcomed us in with open arms, put food in our mouths and a drink in our hand. They played us some music, sang songs, laughed and joked, a celebration that would have continued well into the night. unfortunately we had to catch the last train back to Thessalonica.
The village was very special, not because of the surroundings, but because of the people that were there, and had been there in the past, it was moving and helped us to understand what a big thing it was for Shelle's family to pack up and leave Skopia forever. They left for a strange country thousands of miles away; a foreign language, a foreign custom, in hope for a better life.
