We started off the 6-8 hour ride north with pretty much everyone sleeping on the bus until we reached Ambelakia, a small town where we got lunch and saw a church dedicated to St. George interestingly enough because that is the supposed spot where St. George slew the dragon. I watched Disney's Hercules as we were going to drive past Mount Olympus (very cool) and when we arrived in Thessaloniki we had time for an orientation walk to give us an idea of where we were relative to the waterfront, and show us how different the city was from Athens. It is much more of a college town, and much less tourist-y.
Day 2 was all Macedonia! We went to the Pella Museum where I got to see mosaics I have studied in person - the famous lion hunt mosaic, and the famous Dionysus riding a leopard were incredibly detailed and I was in awe to see them in person. We followed this with a trip to the actual site of Pella - the capital Philip and Alexander once lived, breathed, and walked within. We did not get to go to the ruins of the Palace, but we walked through the areas where the houses that contained the mosaics were to get an idea of the mosaics in context. Even though some parts of the site did not have much left, just the idea of being there, and envisioning what once was gives an incredible experience - I felt like I was standing just inches away from history with just a thin pane of fogged glass separating me from it. (Below is a photo of Mariah and I - Tufts in Pella!)
After that we went to Lefkadia Tomb, the tomb of a Macedonian soldier, most likely the 8th special guard of Alexander the Great, a man who bore the king's shield. There were four main frescoes that still had fine detail, and the size of the tomb, as the first in situ full scale tomb I have seen, made me think that things like this are the reason I study archaeology.
We rounded off the day with a trip to a winery for a wine tasting, and a quick trip to Mieza, where Aristotle taught Alexander. It was an incredibly wonderful day.
Day 3 we stayed in the city - Professor Karavas took us on a walk through the Byzantine side of Thessaloniki, starting with the Rotunda, and seeing the churches of St. Dimitrios and the Roman Bath remains underneath it (pictured below with a shrine to the saint), Aghia Sofia, the Archeiropoiitos Church, and the agora before going back to the Galerius complex to see the Arch. For the afternoon we got northern style gyros (which have ketchup and mustard in them but trust me it still tastes great) and explored some.
Day 4 was Byzantium and Macedonia - we went through the Museum of Byzantine Culture which has some amazing tomb frescoes set into the walls so that you can see how it would have looked in its actual setting, and a large floor mosaic from a villa set with frescoes from the same villa, and much more before we went to the White Tower for a view of the beautiful sea.
We visited the archaeological museum to see the Macedonian gold exhibit (highly recommend it, it's one of my favorite exhibits I've been to, beautiful craftsmanship) where I got to see the amazingly detailed and gorgeous Derveni Krater, as well as Macedonian crowns.
After a quick spanikopita for lunch we were off to Macedonian Amphipolis! We went to the museum and saw more Macedonian tomb artifacts, visited the very well preserved site of Argilos, and despite rain stopped by the Lion of Amphipolis monument. As a break from Greek food we found an Indonesian restaurant and had fun trying something new (it was very good).
For our last day we started the drive back to Athens, with two stops along the way. Our first was Vergina, where we got to see the Vergina Museum that is built around four famous tombs, with beautiful fresco paintings (unfortunately no photos allowed, but you can google Vergina Tomb B to see what I'm talking about), and the beautiful gold larnax (cremation burial box) that has the famous Macedonian 16 pointed star on it. Outside of the museum we went to the site of the theater where Philip II, Alexander the Great's father, was assassinated and reenacted the assassination with our Professor as Philip, one student "stabbing" him, another chasing the assassin down, another proclaiming the tragedy, and another one of my friends proclaiming "Alexander" (me) the new king. It was immensely entertaining - history came alive! Or rather was assassinated.
Our second stop was Thermopylae, where we saw the famous plaque of the Spartans, pointed out where the pass was in the mountains, and walked the battlefield at sunset before a quick photo with the monument and heading out, back to Athens.
Fantastic trip, I enjoyed every minute of it!
Day 2 was all Macedonia! We went to the Pella Museum where I got to see mosaics I have studied in person - the famous lion hunt mosaic, and the famous Dionysus riding a leopard were incredibly detailed and I was in awe to see them in person. We followed this with a trip to the actual site of Pella - the capital Philip and Alexander once lived, breathed, and walked within. We did not get to go to the ruins of the Palace, but we walked through the areas where the houses that contained the mosaics were to get an idea of the mosaics in context. Even though some parts of the site did not have much left, just the idea of being there, and envisioning what once was gives an incredible experience - I felt like I was standing just inches away from history with just a thin pane of fogged glass separating me from it. (Below is a photo of Mariah and I - Tufts in Pella!)
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| Class in Pella! |
After that we went to Lefkadia Tomb, the tomb of a Macedonian soldier, most likely the 8th special guard of Alexander the Great, a man who bore the king's shield. There were four main frescoes that still had fine detail, and the size of the tomb, as the first in situ full scale tomb I have seen, made me think that things like this are the reason I study archaeology.
We rounded off the day with a trip to a winery for a wine tasting, and a quick trip to Mieza, where Aristotle taught Alexander. It was an incredibly wonderful day.
Day 3 we stayed in the city - Professor Karavas took us on a walk through the Byzantine side of Thessaloniki, starting with the Rotunda, and seeing the churches of St. Dimitrios and the Roman Bath remains underneath it (pictured below with a shrine to the saint), Aghia Sofia, the Archeiropoiitos Church, and the agora before going back to the Galerius complex to see the Arch. For the afternoon we got northern style gyros (which have ketchup and mustard in them but trust me it still tastes great) and explored some.
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| This chandelier was made of griffin! |
We visited the archaeological museum to see the Macedonian gold exhibit (highly recommend it, it's one of my favorite exhibits I've been to, beautiful craftsmanship) where I got to see the amazingly detailed and gorgeous Derveni Krater, as well as Macedonian crowns.
Our second stop was Thermopylae, where we saw the famous plaque of the Spartans, pointed out where the pass was in the mountains, and walked the battlefield at sunset before a quick photo with the monument and heading out, back to Athens.
Fantastic trip, I enjoyed every minute of it!
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