Again, marching in the full sun.

DAY 162

05.06.2017, Mani - Orestiada, Greece. The Civil March For Aleppo marched closer and closer to the border with Turkey. In the morning the group (9 people) was left by Jordi and Juan, great guys from Catalonia. We decided to visit the biggest city of the region - Orestiada and organise an improvised event on the main market. The day was hot and long, 24km route took us more than 5 hours. The way was mainly through the green fields and small villages. We had a nice meeting, with obligatory refreshing cafe frappe. GPS Tracking: https://www.endomondo.com/users/13828223/workouts/948945921

Camping in a garden behind private house in Mani. A perfect accomodation place!
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation greece
Early morning in Mani, the march is preparing to leave.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation logistics malika ismahan flag jordi greece
Juan and Jordi, two extraordinary guys that were marching with CMFA in Macedonia and Greece. Let me use the occasion to say how grateful I am for all the positive energy you contributed! Jordi, especially for expressing his sincere opinions and motivations, pursue for clarity and truth, and Juan, for sharing his valuable experience in civil movements and search for reaching consensus. Not mentioning your everyday smile and support as well as all the tasty dishes you cooked!
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation denis alex jordi juan greece
A warm goodbye with Juan and Jordi.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation logistics malika goodbye jordi juan greece
Last group photo with Jordi and Juan.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation malika denis alex ismahan lisar flag jordi juan greece
One of the craziest stories of the march. There were some people that couldn't get along with the CMFA movement. Some of them couldn't stand mistakes, frustrations and group conflicts that we experiened on a daily basis. Some of us (marchers) felt that the march betreyed its ideals. Some left it to start their own journeys. Some of them behaved in such manner that, they had to be disciplinary removed (yes, that happend!). This is a postcard for Krystian,, who couldn't stand the "crazyness" of CMFA. March's "qeen" Malika, dressed as a child, watched by the greedy eyes of the horny cameraman. Well, don't hesitate to ask me for more details.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 accomodation logistics malika krystian greece
Malika (France), "Qeen of the March", greets passing cars near Mani, Greece.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika greece
Leaving Mani (Evros).
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika ismahan flag greece
Famous Greek cafe frappe! Saved us many times from heat and toil. Passing through small Greek villages and towns we were many times offered a rest, frappe and nic talks. It was good to have Germans on board since Greeks usually don't speak English; but they do speak fluent German.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 food hospitality greece
CMFA On the way to Orestiáda, Evros, Greece.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika alex greece
Alex, Anna and Ismahan marching in Greece.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 alex greece
Ismahan (France) goes with her own tempo. Somewhere between Mani and Orestiada, Greece.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 ismahan greece
24km in 5 hours! Marching in the hot, we finally reached the city of Orestiada. After a short lunch break we started to distribute leaflets, inviting people for a meeting on the main city square.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika flag orestiada greece
Hugging the logistics team!
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika ismahan orestiada lisar greece
Ismahan and Malika discussing during the lunch break.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika ismahan orestiada greece
Anna (Poland), the founder of the CMFA was indefatiguable in inviting people to meet and talk. Nobody can count how many thousends CMFA leaflets did she distributed during the journey.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 flag orestiada greece
Lisa (Germany) distributing leaflets and invites locals to the CMFA circle.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 lisar orestiada greece
Alex (Germany) waves the flag of CMFA, during inviting the citizens of Orestiada to the march's meeting on the main market square.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 alex orestiada flag greece
Civil March For Aleppo circle on the main market square in Orestiáda.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika alex flag circle orestiada greece
Civil March For Aleppo circle on the main market square in Orestiáda.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 flag circle orestiada greece
Anna (Poland), founder of the CMFA posing with a flag of the movement in front of the militray parade of taking the Greece national flag. We saw many of these parades in Greece, country that, despite economy crisis, has the second highest rate in defense spending within the NATO after the USA - 2,38 GDP in 2016 (keeptalkinggreece.com). At the same time the German budget noticed 1,34 bln net profit from Grecces "help" programme.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 flag orestiada greece
CMFA woman proudly marching along a grafitti wall at the Orestiáda, Evros, Greece main market square. There was quite a lot of people but it wasnt easy at all to invite them to take part in symbolic cirlces and conversations about peace.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 malika lisar flag orestiada greece
Spend half of the day looking the accomodation place for the march. Organising it on a sunday afternoon was almost impossible and finally we stayed outside the city.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 logistics denis orestiada greece
Malika (France), the "Queen of the march", holding the CMFA flag and the leaflets, waiting for the accomodation update.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 logistics malika flag orestiada greece
Looking like a scene from the Mozart's "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberflöte)? Alex (Germany) is followed by a group of local girls, interested in the CMFA event.
cmfa civilmarchforaleppo june 162 alex orestiada greece

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