Just a week or so ago, Nigel read that the renovated palace of Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander III, aka Alexander the Great) had been formally opened to the public, after 16 years of excavation, restoration, and careful cataloguing.

We'd encountered Philip in Skopje, of course:


So, as the palace is located in what is now Vergina, which is not at all far from Thessaloniki, the idea of doing a bit more of the Philip trail was very appealing.

His dates are 382-336 BCE (his famous son's are 356-323 BCE); his palace covers an area of approximately 15,000 square metres (making it three times the size of the Parthenon); and it towered over the ancient city of Aigai, the first capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia.

It has been described as "a unique building, utterly revolutionary and avant-garde for its time", outstripping its contemporaries both aesthetically and technologically.

Bowling along in our little Toyota, we were quickly in Vergina:


Finding the palace, however, was a bit more tricky... After a few bum steers from Ms G. Maps, we abandoned the car, and set out on foot.



Then up a hill, on an unmade track that filled the treads of our boots with sticky clay.


On again. And just as you're about to give up, you turn the corner, and there's the palace...

When the reports said "opened to the public", what they must have meant was one of those soft openings that signal things are happening, but there's still a way to go... They're clearly still working on this site, and there's no visitor infrastructure -- just an overworked custodian who's trying to supervise the reno-people while also trying to make sure the steady trickle of visitors stays in the designated areas.

But never mind. Entry is free; the palace is super-impressive; and you get fabulous views of the surrounding countryside:








After a coffee and a souvlaki sandwich back down in Vergina, we headed off to the nearby Royal Tombs. You do pay to see these. In the winter period, the price is EUR 8 per person, but this also includes entry to other sites.

Don't choose to economize, because the opportunity to see this place is worth every cent. You go down into the heart of the tumulus that formerly covered the graves, and in the dim light, you see not only the entrances to the tombs of Philip II and various other dignitaries, but also a formidable display of recovered grave offerings, and the remnants of what must have been a truly fearsome funeral pyre.








A little further down the road is the Central Museum Building:


Again, the quality of the presentation is quite stunning. Not only does the collection contain some really beautiful exhibits, but the showcases are also laid out in a way that makes them little works of art in their own right:






Today, following up on all this, we went to Pella (a later capital of Macedon, and the birthplace both of Philip II and Alexander III). From the 5th to the 3rd centuries BCE, Pella was a large and prosperous city. And it was on the sea... Well, strictly speaking, on a lake with a navigable river linking it to the sea, which comes down to the same thing. We'd remarked, as we covered the distance from Thessaloniki to Vergina yesterday and Pella today, on how flat the land was. Well, that's because it's a massive silt plain...


Entry to the Pella Museum costs EUR 4 per person (that's the winter price), and a ticket also entitles you to visit the massive archaeological site which is literally where the city stood.

Like yesterday's, today's museum was outstanding, with the exhibits beautifully lit and positioned:







After a coffee and a couple of melomakarona (Greek Christmas honey cookies) -- because we always like to support museum cafes -- we headed for the archaeological site.






The sophistication of this city immediately impresses. It boasted water and drainage networks, which provisioned a multitude of fountains, wells, and cisterns; some of the houses must have been truly palatial (many featuring architectural and decorative elements that were later popularized and named by the Rommans); and the agora would have offered pottery, metal goods, and perfume, as well as food and wine.

Pella declined when the Romans made Thessaloniki the capital of their province of Macedonia. And of course there was all that silt...

It's always sobering to walk through such very old built landscapes. On the one hand, you're reminded of how fragile our civilizations are, and how everything inevitably ends; on the other hand, you're awed by what does -- despite all odds -- survive.