Memoir Setting in Thessaloniki 

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The sun rises over a beautiful ribbon of land that hugs Thermaikos Bay and rests in the shadow of Mount Hortiatis. There sits Thessaloniki, an ancient city, cosmopolitan, bustling: my birth home. Its downtown is laced with wide streets that repeat the amphitheatrical shape of the Bay for several blocks. Then they wind uphill in irregular, snaky shapes that fade as they climb the hillsides. They ultimately lead to the Byzantine walls on the west and to the slopes of Mount Hortiatis on the east. Thick with its million residents, the city brims with activity. Rushing cars crowd traffic near the Bay while further out, the ring roads ease the asphyxiation of rush hour.

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