VERIA, MACEDONIA, GREECE

Veria (officially transliterated as Veroia, Greek Βέροια or Βέρροια - Véria) is a city in Greece. It is a commercial center of Greek Macedonia, the capital of the prefecture of Imathia, the province of Imathia and the seat of a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. Veria is on the site of the ancient city of Beroea (called Berea in some translations of the Bible), which was prominent from the 4th century BC and part of the Kingdom of Macedon. Part of Rome from 168 BC, both Paul and Silas preached there in AD 54 or 55 (see Bereans). Diocletian made the large and populous city one of two capitals of the Roman Province of Macedonia, and it was one of the earliest cities to become the seat of a bishop. Invaded by Slavs, it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1361, who named it Kara Ferye. It was incorporated into the Greek state in 1912.
Veria since the 1980s is bypassed and is linked by the superhighway linking to GR-1. GR-4/Via Egnatia runs through Veria and also the road to Edessa. It is located NE of Kozani, S of Edessa, SW of Thessaloniki, NW of Katerini, WNW of Athens and N of Larissa.( Copyright Photos Pantelidis Vasilios )http://www.veria.gr/

VIA EGNATIA (MODERN ROAD)

Egnatia Odos (Greek Εγνατία Οδός) is a major highway, still under construction, that runs 670 km (416 miles) from the Greek-Turkish border on the Evros river to the western Greek port of Igoumenitsa. The project to build the road began in the 1990s and as of 2007 it is about 68% complete[citation needed]. Its present route comprises most of Greek National Road 2.
The route traverses the mountainous Greek regions of Epirus and Macedonia, crossing the Pindos and Vermion mountains, which have posed formidable engineering challenges. When completed, its full length will include 76 tunnels (with a combined length of 99 km / 61.5 miles) and 1,650 bridges. It is a closed highway with sophisticated electronic surveillance measures, SCADA controls for the lighting/tunnel ventilation and advanced vehicle collision absorption measures
Part of its length, a section of about 360 km (223 miles) from Evros to Thessaloniki, parallels the ancient Roman Via Egnatia, which ran from modern Durrës in Albania to Theassaloniki and thence to Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey). The project has therefore been dubbed a modern Via Egnatia (in Greek, Egnatia Odos / Εγνατία Οδός). However, the parallel is not exact; the original Via Egnatia was much longer (1,120 km / 696 miles) and its western section, from Thessaloniki to the Adriatic Sea, ran much further north than the modern road.
The project has raised concerns for the survival of nearby sites of ecological and archaeological significance. The construction of the Pindos stretch (i.e. from Grevena to Ioannina) was delayed due to environmental concerns about the destruction of the habitat of the endangered brown bear. However, a new routing was proposed in 2003, and now this part is expected to be complete in 2008.
In addition to the main highway, three perpendicular auxiliary highways are under construction connecting the highway to important cities, ports and airports of Macedonia.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be about 5.9 billion euros by the time of its completion in 2009, making it probably the most ambitious and expensive public project ever to have taken place in modern Greece. It is a key route in the trans-European road network and forms part of European route E90.http://www.egnatia.gr/flash/en/index.html

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR IN ATHENS

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Introduced in 1970, it highlights the political and interpersonal struggles of Judas Iscariot and Jesus. The action largely follows the canonical gospels' accounts of the last weeks of Jesus's life, beginning with Jesus and his followers arriving in Jerusalem and ending with the Crucifixion. Twentieth-century attitude and sensibilities as well and contemporary slang pervade the lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the political depiction of the events. Stage and film productions accordingly feature many intentional anachronisms.A large part of the plot focuses on the character of Judas who is depicted as a secular socialist, a conflicted, tragic figure who is not satisfied with what he views as Jesus's lack of planning, and with relatively recent claims of his divinity.

http://www.jcs.pair.com/