Thessaloniki
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2008
1
19
23
Trip End
Jun 30, 2008
Thessaloniki,
Macedonia Region,
Greece
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Speaking of our hotel, the Varosi is one of the most unique in Greece. It's located very near the cliffs and waterfalls of Edessa on a road that is cobbled with large stones
Building the new museum at Pella
. The buildings here are hardly more than a car's width apart n places and are all several hundred years old. Several of them are falling down but the family who runs the Varosi decided ten years ago that they would restore their building and turn it into a "modern" but traditional hotel. The result is comfortable and very "homey". Karen observed that it was like staying at someone's house. All the more so because the family makes and serves you breakfast, including fried eggs. Other than the fact than some of the closest buildings are crumbling or in the process of restoration, the location is lovely, close to the waterfalls and to restaurants, near an Internet café and shopping and an archaeological excavation is going on at the end of the road. Moreover, the woman and her daughters who run the place are friendly, helpful and warm. One of the daughters was quite happy to help me practice speaking Greek.And if you do stay at the Varosi, be sure to dine at Tzinos (Geno's). Don't get tricked into eating at the baraki on the square with the fountain, which is bigger and easier to find. Tzinos has the best food and good prices.
We wished we could have stayed longer in Edessa but our schedule sent us back to Lefkadia and Naousa. Most of the finds, especially the famous tombs, are Hellenic in date and because of the fugitive colors, you can't take photos
Carnie themed facade of the Ouzou Melathron
. But they were definitely worth a quick visit. If you go, watch for bees and wasps; the tombs are located in the middle of fruit orchards and there are nests and hives everywhere. The guard who admitted us to the General's tomb was stung as we left, with no provocation.We discovered that the ancient theatre, which is also mostly Hellenistic, is undergoing significant restoration but will be open next summer, and it will be a treat. Nearby you'll be able to see a Classical Temple to Asklepios and likely Asklepeion. The woman archaeologist overseeing the restoration of the amphitheatre told us that the School of Aristotle was closed but could be seen through a fence. So we drove on towards Naousa and stumbled upon it. Yes, the guardhouse was closed, but nothing kept us from going in. Or, as Karen summed it up, it was the most open closed site we've seen to date. Unlike the Cybernet Café in Edessa, it really is open 24 hours a day. I saw flood lights, too, which maybe get turned on at night.
Karen was thrilled by the school, which was very important in the life of Alexander, and I was fascinated by the buildings and grounds. Not only was the school very beautiful at its prime, decorated royally by Philip with sculpture and rich appointments, it was also build in harmony with the stone of the site and it incorporated natural features like caves and springs (called the Nymphaion; all springs in antiquity were associated with Nymphs). You can still see how the rock itself was grooved, cut and carved to accommodate posts, beams and roofs. And apparently, some of the cave entrances were elaborately enhanced. Possibly, the caves were involved in cult practice, but it would be lovely to know more. I was inspired: I'd love to live in a house so congruent with rock and nature
Edessa waterfall
!Eventually, we had to leave Lefkadia and move on to our next destination: Pella, another important site for Karen since it was the capital of ancient Macedonia and the hometown of Alexander. When we arrived, I was delighted to discover how much work has been done on this site since I was last here, in 2006. Yes, two main roads still run through an important part of the town SE of the ancient agora, but no new construction or farming has been allowed for hectares on every side. The excavators have now closed the museum parking lot and have excavated under it. I pointed out to Karen the place where the ASCSA bus had sat two years ago: now, the pavement has been removed and you can see the main road of the ancient city running under the modern road as well as a couple of new house foundations.
Moreover, the Macedonians have continued to excavate every part of the site and, even better for the visitor, to place old stones back in situ and to supplement with new "stone" (special blocks of concrete moulded to resemble the ancient blocks) so that you can clearly see where house foundations, doorways, roads and shops lie. They've continued restoration work in the agora, too, removing more of the overburden in the middle and restoring the shops along the east side of the agora. We saw that they were continuing to delineate the stoa, too, previously shown only on the east end of the north wall. How lovely it would be if they could actually rebuild an entire stoa, like the Stoa of Attalos in Athens, because the large open expanse can be very hot, as we discovered; the temperature was 35-37C when we walked it between 5 and 6 pm. But at least they're planting some new trees that will eventually provide shade, and the new construction really makes the plan of the city clear
Famous pebble mosaic floor at Pella
. You can still see the pebble mosaic floors of the ancient dining rooms, some of them still on the ground.We also took some time to drive through the modern town of Pella and located the new museum. The walls are up but the building is probably a year or two away from opening. Still, when it does, it will be much larger and will have more display and curatorial space. Plus, visitors will be able to walk into the ancient city and the palace without risking their lives crossing the Edessa-Thessaloniki highway. I suppose that, at that point, it will no longer be necessary to make an appointment with the guard to see the palace. And I suspect even more interpretive signs will go up. Very exciting!
I wonder whether, at some point, they will construct some sort of pedestrian path under the highway to the new finds under the old museum. It would be really great if an overpass could be built for the highway and city road, so that the excavation can be carried out under the road. The main obstacle to doing this is, of course, the cost. The museum alone is estimated to cost 13,165,957 Euros and 45 lepta, don't forget the 45 lepta. Still, this is a must-see site in Greece and is becoming more so every day.
How could I resist this one?
We also drove up a bit farther to see the palace, which was locked, of course, but then it was almost 7 pm, closing time. We at least got a sense of its size (massive) and confirmed that the view to the south, east and west is "commanding", as one of our books described it. We want to come back and go inside some time.
Eventually, we drove into Thessaloniki, which is apparently in the middle of constructing a metro along the main street (Egnatia), generating a traffic chaos that is all but inconceivable until you see it. The main road was narrow from four lanes to barely two and, if these were clogged before, now they're also impacted. I don't know how people manage to avoid death on a daily basis. The density of traffic spills over onto every side road, too, and tempers are short, horns blare immediately, even after rush hour. The swarms of vespas-worst of any city we've seen-whose drivers figure any traffic law is meant to be broken-makes driving even more hazardous and heart-stopping. Thank goodness Karen was willing to take it on. This was a good idea anyway since I know the city a bit and can navigate more knowledgably. Mind you, all the construction barriers made it hard to recognize even the turns I did know. But our teamwork got us to our street with almost no errors and that one easily rectified
Karen checks out new excavation at Pella
. We unloaded our suitcases and parked in an underground lot where the Amalia has an agreement. Well, the parking will cost us 16 Euro a night but unlike our last few places, there is absolutely nowhere else to put a car right now.Once in our room, we washed off the sweat and yellow archaeology dust and discovered a problem: Karen had left her passport at the Varosi! We soon learned that the courier couldn't get the passport here until Saturday 9:30 in the morning, but we both were worried that he might arrive 4:30 Saturday afternoon, so we decided to drive back to the Varosi after we check out Saturday morning. It could be worse: driving to the Varosi will take us only about an hour and we might actually stop again in Pella on the way. The biggest difficulty is in passing all the top-heavy fruit trucks. And since our destination for Saturday was also only a short distance away, at Dion near Mt. Olympos, we didn't have far to travel anyway. On previous segments of the trip, we'd have been faced with four or five-hour drives to go back to retrieve a passport, so we consider ourselves lucky.
Having settled the issue of the passport, we finally went to dinner, fashionably late again, at a place near the Amalia called the Ouzou Melathron. This restaurant has the most entertaining menu I've ever seen and a whimsical décor with carnie-like figures on the outside, second floor. Prices are good, too.
Tomorrow, the Archaeological Museum!
