Travelogue: A short two months in Greece

This is the first installment of Edmonds resident Nathaniel Brown’s recent travels to Greece.

Greece always draws me back. I have read Greek history and studied its art for as long as I can remember, though the first serious book I read that got its teeth into me was Edith Hamilton’s The Greek Way, from which I’ve never really recovered. Bits of it are still as fresh in my mind as they were half a century or more ago.  I have also spent four years trying to gain some small grip on the modern language – which inevitably leaves me the moment I step off the plane. But I am no scholar – just an enthusiast who can stare at a statue or contemplate a ruin, or breathe the herb-loaded air of a breezy hillside with endless fascination and content.

So: this is my fifth visit to Greece, a sort of mopping-up expedition during which I planned to catch up on the sights and sites I’d missed before, as well as revisit a few favorites. Now, almost two months later, I’m aware that more mopping up will be needed after this trip – rather like Harry Lauder’s “Annual farewell Tour.”  I can’t imagine becoming un-fascinated by Greece!

I flew into Athens after a longish trip via Reykjavik and London, with an overnight in the latter to rest from the flying. In Athens I stayed at the Athens Gate Hotel, which has been my homebase on every trip. I stayed for two days, with an exhilarating walk around the Acropolis, working off the worst of the jetlag. Travel weighs on me more than it did 30 or 40 years ago, alas. Then off to Thessaloniki by train, to begin the mopping up.

The train — there are few in Greece — was very modern, clean and on time, and as always, a train is a wonderful way to see a lot of country while getting where you want to go. Much, or most of the way, was through level or slightly rolling farmland. Not exciting, but good to have seen.

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki, as near as I can tell, has little to offer other than access to the Royal Macedonian tombs and an excellent archeological museum. The town itself feels rather tired and seems run down, though Sophocles Square — on the waterfront — is impressive and offers not only a great sea view but some quite nice restaurants.

The Thessaloniki Archeological museum was well worth the visit – a modern, well-lit building containing finds from the surrounding area. The small shop had what looked like some good guidebooks, but none in English. As is customary in all museums, there was a contingent of very bored teenagers, some lurking in the darker corners texting away – probably about how bored they were. Amid such riches!

The Royal Macedonian tombs at Aigai (ancient name, also spelled Aegae – now Vergina) richly reward the roughly one-hour drive to see them, and it’s impossible to over emphasize the value of hiring a guide if you want to get the most from these sites. The guides I have had from Tours By Locals (www.toursbylocals.com) have invariably been outstanding: on time, clean vehicles, informed and informative. (A reassuring note: To obtain a Greek guide certification, stringent training and testing is required, and many of the guides are also academically trained.)

The Royal tombs are special, but the area around them is dotted with tumuli — tomb mounds — everywhere you look.

You enter the mound of the Royal Tombs down a passage that becomes increasingly dark. The interior is so dark that you need to take a few minutes to let the eyes adjust, and photography is challenging. At any rate, as these are tombs, I opted not to take pictures at all.

There are three tombs under the same mound. The main one is of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and la Gloire and Mary Renault aside (but read her books!) a far more deeply complex and interesting ruler.

According to Wikipedia, the tombs are as follows:

Tomb I: Philip II (Alexander the Great’s father)

Tomb II: Philip III of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s half-brother)

Tomb III: Alexander IV of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s son)

Tomb I also contained the remains of a woman and a baby, identified by Antonis Bartsiokas as Philip II’s young wife Cleopatra Eurydice and their newborn child. Cleopatra Eurydice was assassinated along with her newborn child.

None of these people died in bed; being of the Macedonian royal family seems to have been a pretty sure guarantee of an early departure.

Philip’s tomb and its contents is the most often shown.  What most of the articles do not mention is that the great doors have never been opened since they were shut, presumably after Alexander performed the last funeral rites and left, leaving the light burning on the bronze lamp stand. When the lamp guttered out, the tomb slept in darkness for 23 centuries. The archeologists came in through the roof.

Alexander IV’s tomb shows every sign of hurried construction, probably owing to the need to solidify Cassander’s rule. Alexander the Great’s posthumous son, Alexander IV was murdered at the age of 14 in order to clear the way for Cassandar to seize power, and thus the royal line of Philip and Alexander ended. The poor boy never had a chance in the bloody struggle that since time immemorial marked the assumption of power in Macedon.

To reach the tombs, archaeologists removed the mound; once the tombs had been examined, the mound was rebuilt, and that is what we see today.

Next: Part 2 — on to Patra and Olympia

Nathaniel Brown taught and coached cross-country running and skiing for 16 years before joining the US Biathlon Team as wax technician, switching to the US Cross-Country team in 1989. He was the first American to take over technical services for a foreign team (Slovenia) and worked also for Germany and Sweden. He coached at three Olympics and 14 World Championships, edited Nordic Update for nine years and Cross-Country Skier for two. He has written three books on skiing and training; the latest was The Complete Guide to Cross-Country Ski Preparation (Mountaineers Books) which has gone through two editions and a Russian translation. He owned and operated Nordic UltraTune, an international freelance ski tuning service, until retirement.