Refugees love nature. They observe through the telescope’s eye the perfect accurate flying of a hawk and the calm movement of the flamingos establishing the conviction  that nature is the best coach.

Where join the river Axios, Loudias and Aliakmon are formed lagoons, consisting one of the largest wetland systems in the country. There today we arrived and talked about  the migratory birds, walking on the shores of the lake and we visited the observatory of Agathoupolis. The sun had cleared the atmosphere and the view through the telescope’s eye was satisfactory. Hundreds of green-headed ducks, pelicans, storks, and black-headed gulls are moving into the water struggling to secure their food. Over them a hawk weighs his movements in order  to grab a rodent …! We could observe for many hours the birds and so many others walk to find the rare sea lilies (Pancratium maritimum).

We continued our journey westward. We passed from the port of Agathoupolis, where two seagulls struggled to steal from three pelicans the fishes, who had been entangled in the cannons of a small boat. The Archaeological Site of Pydna taught us that people worshiped their gods where the landscape is imposed on the human senses. In that place Cassander killed Olympiada and in the same place through a battle the Roman Empire conquered the northern Greece.

A little further white salt mountains distract our interest. The Salt Lake, one of the seven salt pits in Greece, with production reaching  40,000 tons of salt per year, consists our next stop. After touring the production areas, we all together saw the crystalline glow of salt. We got in our hands, we tried and admired that natural treasure away from our kitchen.

2000 pink flamingos were waiting for us in the salt pond lagoon. Cautiously and patiently under the autumn sunlight became another color miracle, one that can only live with … binoculars ..!

Anna Magdalini Argyri