Well, this is it, the last £1,000, which I am spending on a week in the north of Greece, the country I visited when I first went abroad, at the age of 19, and where I had so many adventures. Brenda at North-South Travel is just booking the tickets. For the first three days I will be in Thessaloniki, a city I have for a long time wanted to get to know, particularly after reading Mark Mazower's
Salonica: City of Ghosts, and from enjoying Rembetika music – how do I upload an audio clip? Then off to Thrace to see the Pomaks and the surrounding region, looking for signs of Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Finally to Ali Pasha's Ioannina, and the Pindos hills, where spring should look fantastic. A full report will follow on my return on May 4.
Meantime, this prize money has not only allowed our family to take holidays they have not had in years, it has let up pressure on work, and I have managed to get out a novel that has been in the making for a while. It's called
Burning Barcelona, and it is the most entertaining book in the whole world.
Thank you, Dorling Kindersley/Rough Guides. Long may your books travel far, too.
