Yesterday, Saturday 20, Day 56, was another moving-on day. But this time we had our little Toyota to help us.

The weather forecast had proved sadly accurate. Thessaloniki was cold and windy when we set off, and it was clear that the "wet" bit of the equation would not be long in coming either.


Our ultimate goal today was Alexandropouli. This is not a famous destination, but when we (regretfully) rejigged our itinerary to exclude Plovdiv, we needed a staging-post between Thessaloniki and Istanbul, and this seemed ideal.

Having the car meant we avoided what would have been a pretty long bus journey, and also enabled us to stop off en route.

We basically spent the day following the Via Egnatia. I confess I'd not even heard of this until we were in Albania. But it's an old Roman route that started in Durres (linking up with the Via Appia across the sea in Italy), and eventually ran all the way to Constantinople. It was hugely important, facilitating the movement of goods and ideas of all sorts.

We've coincided with this route already. We, too, travelled via Elbasan (Albania) and Ohrid (North Macedonia), but whereas we carried on to Skopje, the Via Egnatia would have entered what is now Greece further west, taking in Florina and Edessa. Our Pella expedition put us back onto it, though. And today we were following it all day. Heck, even the motorway is called the Egnatia Way...



It is splendidly scenic, even when the weather is not doing its best:




The archaeological site of Philippi makes an ideal stopping-point on the route from Thessaloniki to Alexandroupoli.

It has a remarkably rich history. Founded in 360 BCE as a colony of Thassos (the huge blob of an island that lies just off the coast), it was conquered in 356 BC by our old friend Philip II, who renamed it (why not?), and used it as a base for controlling the neighbouring gold mines.

In 42 BCE it was the site of a battle pitting Mark Antony and Octavian against Brutus and Cassius (the killers of Julius Caesar). The first pair won (the second pair committed suicide), and Octavian (under the name Augustus) became emperor. Now called Colonia Iulia Philippensis, Philippi transitioned from a Greek settlement to a Roman colony, complete with amphitheatre and gladiators. Philippi became a significant stop on the Via Egnatia.

In 49/50 AD, the Apostle Paul preached here (and was briefly jailed, although almost certainly not in the place now designated as his prison). Philippi became an early Christian centre, with basilicas and an octagonal church.

We had the most awful weather for our visit. Rainy, cold, and windy: That dreaded trifecta. No lazy wandering from artefact to artefact today -- just a quick scuttle, snapping photos from under an umbrella.













We ate our lunchtime sandwiches sitting in the car in the carpark... No outdoor picnicking today...


The weather was really rough by now, and our little car got well and truly buffeted as the wind barrelled down the valleys, and hit us side-on. But the journey went smoothly, broken by stops every now and then to pay the tolls (fairly reasonable).

Just one more thing to recount about the journey, and it's really, really extraordinary. Up ahead of us, we suddenly saw a flock of birds. Thousands of them. COVERING the motorway. We had to slow right down, because they weren't showing any interest in moving:





Neither of us has ever seen anything like that...

Anyway, having reached the edge of town, we shopped, and then we sorted ourselves out in our latest abode, which has a balcony and a sea view:



We shared a nice bottle of wine from Drama, which lies just north of the route we'd travelled.

This morning was windy and fearsomely cold, but bright and sunny. Ideal photography weather, if you can keep your hands out of your pockets long enough to operate the camera.

As Matt Barrett puts it: "You won't find Alexandroupoli on the itinerary of many western tourists traveling to Greece, but travelers from the Balkans and Turkey know it well and the beautiful beaches, great restaurants and abundant wildlife may surprise you and make you wonder why nobody told you about this place before."

Alexandroupolis is not named after Alexander the Great, but after King Alexander of Greece who visited in 1920. It has had a really chequered past. Rebuilt by the Ottomans in the late 19th century (when it was called Dedeagac), it was occupied during the Russo-Turkish War by the Russians (who created its grid pattern). During the Balkan wars, it swapped backwards and forwards between the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Even as late as WWII, it reverted to Bulgaria for a while.

It's now the capital of the Greek region called Thrace. It's low-key, sea-oriented, and running in cafes...







We'll be very happy pottering around the city and region for a few days (we have the car until Wednesday). But it's kind of sad that this is our last stop...