Gods, tombs and a fall from power

The one figure who dominates this part of Greece is Alexander the Great. We had spent the night close to the ruins of ancient Pella where Alexander was born in 356 BC. It was a wet Sunday morning walk for the spaniels before we drove to the archaeological museum which houses the artefacts found when the old city was uncovered. The most stunning items were the grave goods. The Ancient Greeks believed the dead needed possessions to take with them to use in the underworld and these ranged from household items to perfume pots and weapons and, in the case of the really well off, armour covered in gold leaf. We may think Alexander the Great lived a very long time ago, 2,400 years to be precise, but the museum had pottery that dated from 7,000 BC. It was a sobering thought that Alexander was closer in time to us, than he was to the earliest items on display at his birthplace.

Some of ancient Pella survives

Statues of Alexander are everywhere

From the museum it was a short step to the ruins of the old city itself. Not a lot remains apart from the foundations of the walls and a few restored columns. However under a layer of plastic sheeting, covered in sand were beautiful mosaics which had formed the floors of several of the houses. Luckily the museum had reproductions so we had seen what they looked like. They included one picturing the abduction of Helen of Troy, an event that led to the launching of a thousand ships and the Trojan Wars. All in all we were very impressed with the efforts being made by to preserve artefacts that are of interest world wide.

The Abduction of Helen of Troy

The rain was getting heavier as our travels took us further west to the town of Edessa where we arrived late on a Sunday afternoon. The place was busy with day trippers and the car park was full. We therefore took ourselves up the hill and parked under the trees, by which time the rain was bucketing down. The following morning, having run out of bread, we walked the spaniels back down to the town, heading straight back to the van afterwards to dry out both spaniels and humans. We spent the day in the van with the lights and heating on which used quite a bit of our battery power. Just how much we found out the next morning when we awoke to find the electrical system had shut itself down to protect the, by now, very low leisure batteries.

The rain has boosted the falls a bit

On the plus side it had stopped raining so after a short walk with the pups we drove down to the now empty car park in the town, visited the supermarket and had a trundle around the streets. We were amused to discover from notices in shop windows that the nonsense of Black Friday has reached Greece. We also spent time at the spectacular waterfalls, swollen by the recent rain, that had once powered the mills that produced hemp. 

Impossible to avoid

Obviously our electric, or lack of it, was going to be a problem, so we decided to drive back to Thessaloniki and visit the motorhome dealer where we had stopped off previously. Luckily they offer the facility for an overnight stay and the option to plug into the mains. It turned out that one of our leisure batteries had failed so we got them to install two new ones. There were eight or nine other motorhomes staying there, including two British ones and it was good to share travelling experiences with them. Most travellers in winter tend to be long-termers like us and we discovered the couple from the Midlands in the next van were on a trip lasting seven years. They very kindly invited us in while Florence was having her        batteries done. 

Behind the falls

The following morning, two new batteries installed and 460 euros poorer,  the sun was back which gave us an opportunity to pop into the truck wash next door and give Florence her first clean since Estonia. Thus it was that, in a sparkling shiny van, we set off back around the Thessaloniki ring road, which we have come to know so well, and headed south. Having spent our time with Alexander it was only fair to visit his dad so we were on our way to  the town of  Vergina  (no smutty remarks please) which houses a number of royal tombs, notably that of Philip II. 

We were not disappointed. The authorities have built a museum inside the huge mound that houses the tombs of Philip and other notable figures of his time. He was murdered while attending a performance at a theatre, which you might have thought would have been a warning to Abraham Lincoln. 

The entrance to the tomb of Philip II

We were able to see marble grave stones. more than 2,400 years old, with the names of the deceased still clear. The Ancient Greeks were fans of cremation, Philip's body being burnt on a pyre before it was put into an elaborate tomb. The museum has displays of the various grave goods including fabulous gold tiaras and armour. But the high point was walking down wooden steps to the tomb itself with its huge portico and locked iron door. It reminded me of the Indiana Jones films. 

Names 2,000 years old were perfectly legible

This gold box held the remains of Phillip II

Tonight sees us on the edge of an almost empty car park on the outskirts of the village, which we are sharing with a French couple whose van is parked just below us. For a time the rain has ceased, the sun has been out and temperatures are back into the late teens and early twenties. Next week promises colder weather as we head further south to our eventual Christmas destination in the Peloponnese. 

A painting from the tomb showing the abduction of Persephone by Hades

This man was commemorated along with an image of his dog