Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 
 

Geoff explores Thessalonica,
Bruce goes to Pella and Vergina
 
Wednesday 15th October 2014
  
After yesterday's relaxing day at sea, today was a completely different story, with a full day shore excursion and lots of sights to see!
After sailing quite some distance eastward across the Aegean sea, we arrived early in the morning to a rather grey looking Thessalonica.
 

Bruce's priority was to get ashore as soon as we docked, find an ATM and get some Euros, because we had run out of them and we owed Angela and John some money for our lunch two days ago in Nessebur!

 

We knew that as we had a very full day ahead, we needed to get moving, so we had a very light breakfast and were the first people ashore.

 

The city map at the port wasn't that much use in finding an ATM, but luckily it only took about ten minutes before we had found one, got our money and were back at the port.
 

The prospect of a nine hour excursion into the Macedonian countryside suddenly hit home for Geoff. He hadn't been feeling too well and didn't think it would be wise to venture too far from the ship. He made a spur of the moment decision not to go. This worked out quite well in the end, because, as we only had one day here, Geoff was able to explore the local sights and tell Bruce what he had missed, while Bruce was on the tour taking (lots!) of photos for Geoff.
 
Here are Geoff's photos, taken during his walking tour of the city of Thessalonica.
Aristotelous Square
 
The White Tower
 
 
 
The Rotunda of St. George, also known as the Church of Agios Georgios.
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios.
 
 
 
 
 
Roman Forum and Odeon

 
Church of Panagia Chalkeon
 
 
The food market, not dissimilar from the one in Athens.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
An interesting attachment to the main church building, with some lovely tiles.
 
Geoff went back to the ship for lunch and a relaxing afternoon on board.

Bruce, in the meantime, was half way through his excursion into the Macedonian countryside,
visiting some amazing sites. Here are his memories of the day...
This is the route we took (more or less), covering almost 200km and lasting all day. We went first to Pella (the archaeological site and the museum nearby), then drove through some interesting countryside to Vergina for lunch, followed by a visit to the ancient royal tombs in an underground museum. Finally, another scenic drive before arriving back at the port in Thessalonica, just in time to re-board our ship before it sailed.
This is the route we took (more or less), covering almost 200km and lasting all day. We went first to Pella (the archealogical site and the museum nearby), then drove through some interesting countryside to Vergina for lunch, followed by a visit to the ancient royal tombs in an underground museum. Finally, another scenic drive before arriving back at the port in Thessalonica, just in time to re-board our ship before it sailed.
Our first stop was at Pella. We began with the achaeological site, then went on to visit the museum nearby.
 
 
The House of Dionysus, built in 325-300 BC...
 
...this video gives some idea of how it might once have looked.
 
 
The most important group of mosaics in Macedonia was found here and date to the end of the 4th century BC. They were found mainly in two houses of the city, the "House of Dionysus" and the "House of the Abduction of Helen" where they adorned the floors of the formal rooms.
 
 
 
Original location of the "Griffin attacking the Deer" Mosaic (right of photo) in the House of Dionysus
(click here to see an image taken later, in the museum)
 
Original location of the "Dionysus on a Panther" mosaic (click here to see an image taken later, in the museum)
 
 
Archaeological work is still in progress at the site.
 
More apparently stray dogs; these four were particularly frisky!
 
The Helen House, otherwise known as "House of the Abduction of Helen" or even "House of the Rape of Helen"
 
The Stag Hunt mosaic (c. 300 BC) by Gnosis

Depiction of the "Abduction of Helen by Theseus". I read somewhere online (so it must be true!) that it is the largest floor mosaic in Europe and that the main panel measures 8.25m x 2.75m. (Here is a replica of it, as seen in the museum later.)
 
Mosaic floor depicting a battle of Greeks and Amazons (Amazonomachy) on the east side of the Helen house.
 
A last look across the site from the coach, as we drove the short distance to the museum.
 
The Archaeological Museum of Pella, completed in 2009. We were given another, by now familiar, tail-wagging welcome.
 
The mosaics, discovered at the site of ancient Pella, are the highlight of the museum...
 
 
..., but there are also a surprisingly large number of artefacts depicting daily life as it was then.
 

The world of women...

 

 

...and the world of men.
 
Banqueting vessels of the Hellenistic age (late 4th - early 1st c. BC)
 
Banqueting vessels of the late classical age (4th c. BC)
 
 
Stone slab of a Hellenistic table. A luxurious piece of furniture found in the shrine of the Poseidon house.
 
 
Griffin attacking the Deer mosaic from the House of Dionysus, built in 325-300 BC
(click here to see an image taken earlier at the site where it was originally located - at the right of the image)
 
Terracotta figurines from the Agora
Terracotta figurine heads from the Agora, incl. Eros and Psyche
 
Eros and Psyche
Rhyton in the form of a phallus (drinking and libation vessel)
 
Vessels from a well in the Agora (3rd c. BC)
 
Votive offerings from the sanctuary of the mother of the gods and Aphrodite (late 4th - early 1st c. BC)
Golden leaves with the names Philoxena and Henesiska, from burials in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC.
 
 
An unexpected bonus was visiting the temporary exhibition of Macedonian treasures upstairs.
The exhibition comprised more than 500 treasures from archaeological finds over the past quarter of a century, including gold crowns, gold masks, brocaded weapons, unique sculptures, metalwork, alabaster and clay pottery. Also on display were many more finds from the necropolis of the Aigai and Archontiko, which was the predecessor of Pella in the period 7th-6th century BC.
 
From the Archontiko Necropolis
 
   
 
It was quite amazing to think that everything on dispay was only discovered within the past 25 years!
 
 
 
From the royal necropolis of Aigai
 
Looking down at the Pella mosaics from upstairs
 
 
Reproduction of the very large mosaic "Abduction of Helen by Theseus" (looking down at it from upstairs)
(Click here to see another image of it in its original location)
 
It was time to leave. Just as well... my head was spinning from trying to take it all in!
 
Luckily we could just sit back and relax for an hour and a half before our arrival (and lunch!) at Vergina.
 
 
 
Vergina. The restaurant was located within easy walking distance of the museum of the royal tombs of Aigai. The lunch was OK... nothing special, but edible, however the poor staff struggled to serve so many people all at once.
 
 
There was time to stroll around the quiet little place... it must have come as a big shock to the locals when the archaeological finds were made not that long ago and tourists like us came flooding in!
 
 
 
 
 
 
The is one entrance point (left) and one exit point (right) (plus an emergency exit) to the underground museum.
 
 
 

The underground museum was excellent, but no photography was permitted inside, however it is well described, with images, like the two below, at this site:

http://www.aigai.gr/en/explore/necropolis/royal/grave/of/philip/aiges/vergina
 
The golden larnax (ash-chest) of Philip II
 
The tomb of Philip II, 336 BC
 
Diana and Doug, looking very relaxed. We sailed with them on a previous cruise (from Venice to Cannes in 2013) and enjoyed their company very much, so it was lovely to see them again on this trip.
 
 
 
 
I had some free time at the end of the visit, so I did some more exploring on my own. I don't know what I was expecting the landscape and vegetation to be like in this part of the world, but somehow I wasn't expecting this. Perhaps I thought it would be a harsher, drier climate, instead it seemed quite green and gentle.
 
 
 
After a very full and satisfying day, it was time to drive back to the port and to our ship.
 
Bruce's excursion finished at 5:30pm when the coach arrived back at the port.
A half an hour after that, with all passengers and crew aboard, we sailed.
 
 
 
The sun finally put in an appearance, giving us a beautiful, balmy end to the day as we sailed.
 
 
 
 
Tomorrow, we were going to sail past Mount Athos on our way to our next stop, Kavala.
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble