Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu and Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of starting at Vergína

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu

   Vergina is a small village at the foot of the Pierian mountains in northern Greece, and for most of history nobody outside the region knew its name. That changed in 1977, when the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos opened a great burial mound here and found royal tombs with astonishing grave goods. The site is ancient Aigai, the first capital of the Macedonian kingdom, and one of the tombs is widely attributed to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. The prehistoric settlement and the large cemetery of burial mounds nearby show that people had been living and burying their dead here for a very long time before the Macedonian kings.

   Read the complete Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological site of Dion.

2. 2. Archaeological site of Dion

   Mount Olympus rises straight out of the plain behind Dion, and on a clear morning its snow-streaked summit seems close enough to touch. The ancient Macedonians built their most sacred city here, at the foot of the home of the gods, and the kings came to sacrifice to Zeus before going to war. Philip II celebrated victories here, and Alexander the Great is said to have held a great festival at Dion before setting out to conquer Persia. Walking among the ruins, you can see why they chose the place: water bubbles up everywhere, the plain is fertile, and the mountain looms like a living presence.

   Read the complete Archaeological site of Dion write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Archaeological site of Dion comes up about 76 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of.

3. 3. Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of

   Thessaloniki has the odd distinction of being a Roman city, a Byzantine city, an Ottoman city and a Greek city, all at once, and the churches that UNESCO listed in 1988 tell the earliest part of the story. The Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments include the Rotunda, a huge round brick building put up around AD 300 as a mausoleum for the emperor Galerius, and later converted into a church. Its walls are about six metres thick, and it stands beside the remains of Galerius's palace and triumphal arch. A minaret from the Ottoman period still rises beside it.

   Read the complete Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of. Next is back through Archaeological site of Dion.

4. 4. back through Archaeological site of Dion

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Archaeological site of Dion write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Archaeological site of Dion, late in the day. Next is Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu.

5. 5. Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu. That is the ride.