Balkan Bourgeois Style

Soufli is a small town in North Eastern Greece in the area of Thrace very close to the Turkish and Bulgarian borders. Renowed for its silk manufacturing, Soufli flourished as a small but dynamic centre in the late 19th c. and early 20th c. when it was still part of the Ottoman Empire.
This building, painted in bold yellow, manifests the days of wealth gone by. It stands as a reminiscence of the provincial bourgeoisie that sprung up in many towns in the Balkans more than a hundred years ago. Photo taken in May 2006.