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.
285 km from Sykiés to Sykiés, about 4 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu, Archaeological site of Dion and back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu. The line favours views over speed.
Ask a Thessalonian for the prettiest church in town and a fair number will name the Holy Apostles, a small building from about 1310 to 1314 near the old Roman and Byzantine heart of the city, a few steps from the Egnatia Street axis. It was built, according to tradition, by the patriarch Niphon, and it is a showpiece of the Palaiologan style: five domes, a ring of arches, and walls where bricks have been laid in bands, zigzags and little crosses until the whole surface looks embroidered. On the outside, the pattern is the thing. Inside, mosaics from the same decade have survived in the domes, showing the Pantokrator and groups of apostles in tiny cubes of glass.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Apostles write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Apostles 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 68 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 145 km into the recorded legs you reach 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 the Holy Apostles.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Apostles write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Church of the Holy Apostles. That is the ride.
Church of the Holy Apostles → Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 68 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 → 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 the Holy Apostles is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.