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 521 km round trip from Sykiés - roughly 7 h in the saddle. The stops in between: Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu, Archaeological site of Dion, The wider area of Mount Olympus and Archaeological Site of Aigai. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
In the upper town of Thessaloniki, just above the busy streets of Sykiés, stands the Church of Saint Catherine, a late Byzantine building of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, with brick and stone patterns in its walls and a cluster of domes and apses that give it a lively outline. It is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, who was said to have been tortured on a wheel for her faith, and the cult was strong in the eastern Mediterranean. The church was originally larger and had a covered walkway, and like its neighbours it spent centuries as a mosque after the Ottoman conquest. Today it is a church again, a quiet place among the houses.
Read the complete Church of St. Catherine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St. Catherine 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 69 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 140 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological site of Dion. Next is The wider area of Mount Olympus.
The gods chose well. Mount Olympus rises almost straight out of the Aegean, from sea level near Litochoro to 2,918 metres at Mytikas, its highest summit, in barely twenty kilometres, so that from the coast road it looks less like a mountain than a wall of grey rock and dark forest with clouds snagged on top. The ancient Greeks put their twelve Olympians up there, and on a stormy afternoon with thunder rolling around the peaks you can see why.
Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The wider area of Mount Olympus, about halfway. 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 sits at 203 km, about halfway. Next is back through The wider area of Mount Olympus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The wider area of Mount Olympus comes up about 352 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 379 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Archaeological site of Dion. 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, late in the day. Next is Church of St. Catherine, 51 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St. Catherine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 521 km.
Church of St. Catherine → Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 69 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 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological site of Dion → The wider area of Mount Olympus is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The wider area of Mount Olympus → Archaeological Site of Aigai is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Site of Aigai → back through The wider area of Mount Olympus is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The wider area of Mount Olympus → back through Archaeological site of Dion is 27 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 St. Catherine is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.