A shot, among others

While we stood admiring the varieties of stonework of the Heptapyrgion high above Thessaloniki this morning, a local came up and told us that this Byzantine and Ottoman fort used to be the city’s prison and that we were standing next to the wall where those convicted of capital offences were shot by firing squad. The last execution here was in 1966, of a man who turned out to be wrongly convicted.

It was strange, standing among the cabbage whites flitting around our feet enjoying the flowering weeds, to think that it was only 25 years ago that this peaceful place stopped being a prison.




Some of you will notice something unusual about this image: I do not blip domestic animals. It’s an unspoken rule of my own so while I’ve broken it, here’s another. It won’t happen again.

Here is a more predictable view from the UNESCO-World-Heritage-Site tower.

Sorry to be so behind with comments - I will catch up.