Vergina is a quiet farming village on the lower slopes of the Pieria mountains, in the plain of Imathia, and for most of its history nobody thought much about it. Then in 1977 the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos opened a tumulus and found an untouched royal tomb, with a gold chest, a gold wreath of oak leaves and the cremated bones of a middle-aged man, and the question was whose. The widely accepted answer is Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, who was murdered in the theatre of Aegae in 336 BC, and the find confirmed that Vergina is the old Macedonian capital Aegae, where kings were crowned and buried.
The site today is a remarkable piece of museum design. The Great Tumulus, a mound over a hundred metres across, has been left in place and a modern museum built inside it, so that you walk down in the dark and the tombs appear in front of you, one behind another, with their painted facades. The finds are astonishing: gold larnakes, silver vessels, ivory heads, armour and a small gold quiver. A painted frieze on Tomb II shows a lion hunt. Outside, the foundations of a palace with a huge courtyard stand on a terrace above the village, and the theatre where Philip died is nearby.
The country around is gentle and green. From Véroia, about eleven kilometres away, the road runs south through orchards of peach and cherry, and the Vermio mountains stand behind, often still white with snow in April. Roads here are good and not busy, with long, flat stretches across the plain and a few curves where they enter the foothills. Spring and early summer are lovely, with poppies and the smell of cut grass, while late summer is hot. Farm vehicles and the occasional dog are the only hazards.
Véroia, with over forty thousand people, has fuel, shops and a pleasant old quarter with Byzantine churches and a Jewish quarter along a river gorge, while Vergina itself has a few cafes and a bakery. Imathia is known for its peaches, and in season roadside stalls sell them by the crate. Do book some time inside the museum, because the lighting is dim and the displays reward patience. Check opening hours, as they change between summer and winter, and bring a light layer, since the tomb chambers are cool.