CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 433 km round trip from Ágios Pávlos - roughly 6 h 59 in the saddle. It goes by way of Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu, Archaeological site of Dion, Archaeological Site of Aigai and back through Archaeological site of Dion. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The name of this church means not made by hands, and it refers to an icon of the Virgin that was believed to have appeared miraculously. The building itself is an early Christian basilica from about the middle of the fifth century, one of the oldest surviving churches in Thessaloniki and one of the best examples of its type in the Mediterranean. Inside you find a long nave with a double row of green and red marble columns, topped by carved capitals, and above them a gallery where the women sat. Light falls through the arched windows in a bright, even way, and the proportions are easy and noble. A few fragments of mosaic, with plants and birds, survive on the arches.
Read the complete Church of Acheiropoietos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Acheiropoietos is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 147 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological site of Dion. Next is Archaeological Site of Aigai.
In 1977 the Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos lifted the stone slab of a vaulted tomb under a huge mound near the village of Vergina and found a gold casket holding the cremated bones of a man in his forties, with a golden wreath beside them. Most scholars now accept that it was Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, murdered in the theatre of the old capital in 336 BC. The mound, the Great Tumulus, is the centrepiece of Aigai, the first capital of Macedon, and today the royal tombs are displayed underground in a museum built inside the tumulus itself, in a half-light that makes the gold glow.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Aigai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Aigai, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological site of Dion.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological site of Dion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological site of Dion sits at 239 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu comes up about 364 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of Acheiropoietos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Acheiropoietos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Acheiropoietos closes the day.
Church of Acheiropoietos → Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu → Archaeological site of Dion is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological site of Dion → Archaeological Site of Aigai is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Site of Aigai → back through Archaeological site of Dion is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological site of Dion → back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu → Church of Acheiropoietos is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.