In case you think that a ‘marquise’ is the wife of a marquis, I have to tell you that you are very wrong! Wrong in the same way in which, who knows why, everybody outside my hometown of Dobrich in Northeast Bulgaria believes that a ‘kavarma’ is a dish of meat stew with some onions and stuff. While every average Dobrich-born will tell you that is a pastry with milk and end of story. However, we shall come to the marquise in a minute; what I actually like to show you today is the Old Town of Xanthi in Northeast Greece. The connection with Dobrich is not immediately evident but it is there, you’ll see. To start with, the Old Town of Xanthi is a very pleasant place but I recommend you don’t visit it early in the morning – as I did – especially if you have spent the night in the company of the Last Mosquito of the Season and now your eyes are closing just like shown on the image above. Secondly, the shadows are such that it is almost impossible to make a normal photo, see here:
This wonderful little house is in fact, as a sign tells me, the mansion of someone called – give me a minute to read it – Kougioumtzoglou-Kaloudi. Built in 1877 by the tobacco merchant Vasilios Kou..oglu with rich decorations inside and out. A very beautiful house by the way, despite my bad photo. Another impressive building is the Folklore and Historical Museum of Xanthi, naturally closed early in the morning but you can visit it in its working hours. A banner on the house tells us that what we can see inside includes wonderful wood-carvings, wall-paintings and ceiling-paintings, as well as a portrayal of urban life in the early 20th century. It is quite worth from the outside too:
As a whole, there are many beautiful buildings in the Old Town, in mixed styles and different stages of maintenance. We can see houses that have been renovated for new life and others which have obviously been forgotten by their owners – or have none / too many owners. Colours are always a matter of personal choice but I like the colour mixtures in Xanthi.
And finally, at the very end of my walk, there it is – something I haven’t seen since my childhood but it was so usual for every house in Dobrich when I was little. A glass-wrapped landing in front of the main door to the house, to which there is a flight of steps leading. In other words – a Marquise. I have absolutely no idea why this installation was so called but it was a local phenomenon. With the substitution of houses by blocks of flats, the marquises disappeared from Dobrich but there I am, traveling all the way to Xanthi to find one. I share it with you with greatest pleasure –
If you’d like to see more of Greece, you may read my posts of Thessaloniki and Crete Island.
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