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Greece, Drama, 2017. It's not a drama, I'm not talking about the economic crisis of Greece - but of the city that is called Drama. A small city in northeastern Greece near Kavala with a population of approximately 45.000 citizen. Small but dense. That's Drama.

A city where I spend all my childhood so that every time walk through the streets, buildings begin rising up high from the hot asphalt, up to the clear blue Greek sky – I indeed, feel like I'm home.
I'm walking through the Bazaar - we call it “Bazari” - noticing a scent of fish. I smell fish and herbs, then herbs and paprika, it goes from vegetables to freshly baked vanilla crème pastry we call “Bougatsa”. An old, yet muscular guy is shouting about his on-sale tomatoes: NO PESTICIDES. BEST ONES BIGGEST ONES GO GET THEM.
They're ugly. I'll get some.
Walking through this little, narrow street – so, so narrow but so dense! – I also feel like a stranger. I am a tourist since I am not a native Greek. While people are talking, walking past me, playing a board game – “Tavli” – in the middle of the Bazaar, I just stand by and take pictures of old wall cracks of the inhabitants’ houses of Drama. Big and edgy, old, grey, blue and yellow: a very weird mixture of monotone, not really exciting colors. And yet so perfectly matching, as if the entire appearance of this city was someone's idea. The beautiful architecture. Why should someone, ANYONE fall in love with the architecture? The sharp and high? Is this some unknown kind of a fetish?
I see a clan of dogs carefreely trotting towards the local butcher for a snack. All in different colors and shapes, harmless yet intimidating looking. “Don't touch them, they might bite you” is one common phrase you'll get to hear very often as a kid. Another dog, white and huge: he's just taking a nap right in front of an essential oil store. These animals share history with the human inhabitants. No one really notices them as they have become a natural surrounding just like the sound of birds, the sky or the loudness of the streets. So, nothing special here, just be careful (and wash your hands).
In this article I want to show you the less appreciated esthetics of a small city that is actually known for its huge park with ponds, its various animal inhabitants, its holy fountain “Agia Barbara”.
The beauty in destruction and antiqueness.

• Text and pictures @rottenlynx

• #Anastasia Michailidou
• #drama
• #greece