February 3

So yesterday just ended up being a travel day. The site we had planned to see was closed on Mondays, not a huge shock for Greece, so we just headed to the hotel in Thessaloniki and called it a day. The best part about yesterday was the delicious tiramisu gelato we found while walking around downtown. It was so good that I didn’t care that it was freezing cold outside. Something else about yesterday: laundry. Doing laundry in the sink gets a bit tedious after a while, but you have to do it well, otherwise other people will begin to notice. Another feature of laundry I didn’t expect is the importance of doing your laundry first, esp. if you’re in a triple. Being first means you get to hang all your clothes in the best spots: like on the radiator, on chairs and on top of doors. Unfortunately, I was second to do my laundry this time and missed out on the primo radiator spot. I had to take the second-rate sling your socks over the tv spot (they never dry very well here). The best hotels for washing your laundry are those that have balconies, but there is a legitimate fear that your clothes will blow away.
I’ve also turned into a bit of an early bird in this trip. I like to be the first one up, so I can get the shower first and then have sufficient time in the bathroom. Also, getting downstairs for breakfast early means getting the best of the coffee and the freshest breakfast items. After breakfast is when I like to get some of my pleasure reading in. Right now I am reading The Yacoubian Building. It’s set in Cairo and so far is the number one best-selling fiction written in Arabic. I bought a translation.
This morning we left the hotel at 8:30 and first went to the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. This was another incredibly beautiful museums, even better than the one at Delphi. The best feature of this museum was how they displayed some of the finds from the various Macedonian tombs. In this room they had very dim lighting and then bright spot lights on the pieces, many of which were gold and shimmered in the intense lighting. The best piece was the item that Sarabeth did her report and presentation on: the Dervini Crater. This Macedonian vessel was originally intended as a container in which to mix the wine and water (Greeks drank their wine mixed), but was discovered in a tomb and was functioning as a sepulcher, holding the cremated remain of a 30 to 50 year old man. This beautiful and amazingly intricate piece probably took 5 to 6 artists 18 months to finish. The average thickness for this tin and bronze alloy crater is 1 millimeter! The crater looks gold because of the mixture of tin and bronze and then it is accented with copper and silver. The crater is GORGEOUS!
We drove to Vergina next and had lunch at a little tavern which only had pork, chicken and salad on the menu. I, of course, got a salad. It wasn’t as good as others I’ve had, but it got the job done.
Next we went to the tomb of Phillip II (well, there is a debate – of course – as to whether is actually is Phillip II, but it is definitely a royal tomb) and the design of the exhibit inside was the same as my favorite room from the earlier museum. This was basically that room, with way more to see. The cook thing was that this exhibit was constructed around the underground tomb. This particular type of tomb is called a “tumulus” and is dug into the ground, constructed with a vaulted roof, and then covered with dirt to create a mound. The tomb of the (possibly) King Phillip has not been plundered and the finds inside were incredible, including a suit or armor, an entire set of tableware, golden crowns, weaponry, and bathing items, and then his wife’s tomb and all her accoutrements well.
The bus ride to and from Vergina is a little over an hour, so on the way to the site I got my reading done for tomorrow and on the way back I took a nice nap.
When we got back to the hotel I was groggy from the nap and decided to join the group of girls who were intending to scope out the shopping district of Thessaloniki. One girl has her heart set on getting a dress for Spring Break, so we set out with high hopes. I had my heart set on a nice cup of coffee and some free internet, so I packed up my laptop in hopes of the latter. And yes, I did find internet!
After having spent several hours in the café and closing the place down, I left full of coffee, salad, and satisfied. Now I am back in the hotel room, where the internet is still busted.
Tomorrow we head to Xanthe, which will serve as a base from which to visit Amphilos and Olynthos. More to come soon!