Veria and the tomb of Phillip II

Thursday, March 22nd I probably should have started all my blogs with the date, but I didn't think of that until now. I guess that's what happens to you when you type the blogs late at night after a long day of travel. Today we woke up again in Thessaloniki and I decided to not even attempt going into the breakfast area. I sat in the lobby and got on my computer. I have to take advantage of the wifi when I can. My breakfast consists of Colorado bought granola bar. We leave and head north for Veria (Biblica Berea). We arrive in this cute little town, with narrow streets and little parking and Christos parks the bus on the sidewalk! We were all laughing at where he parked. He pulled right up to the wall. I got a picture of his parking spot. We walked towards the ancient city and saw some remains of the former city. We walked down the streets and saw a Jewish Synagogue that was re-finished. Rick made a great joke at this point. Rick said, "I want to share something with you all here that you probably don't know. Even you, Coastes, you probably didn't know that Bigfoot made an appearance here about 4 century AD." And then he pointed to a spot of the side of a building where the paint had chipped away into the shape of huge footprint. It was hilarious. As Rick began talking, I was thinking to myself, "What in the world is Rick going to tell Coastes that he doesn't know?" We then walked to another monument in the city. On the way we passed fruit markets and street vendors. We stopped to look at the fruit and couldn't pass up the basket of nice, ripe strawberries for 2.50 Euros. Rick bought a big pastry to share with the group to share. I was trying to find food wherever I could, so the strawberries were really great! At the next monument I spotted another picture of Jesus and one of Paul. At this point, I noticed again many of the same symbols around Jesus that I saw in previous places, such as the monasteries, the Church of St. Demetrius, etc. The question I kept forming in my mind was how people from so many different places, years paint Jesus relatively the same and with the same symbols. For symbols I mean, how he held his hand, the Greek letters around his head - meaning I am or The Being. So I was finally able to ask Coastes about it. He said that it was because of the time period, I think the Bezeytinne time period. Those were identifying marks that people did to know it was Jesus. Coastes said he knows who both the men are, simply because of the symbols. Paul was holding scrolls which stood for the gospel and a sword. I can't remember what the sword stood for. After this brief stop, we went further into the city and stopped at Phillip II tomb. What's interesting about a group tour is that because I didn't really pay too much of attention to the internary now that I'm here, it's always a surprise when I step off the bus. Showing up at Phillip's tomb was a nice surprise to me. We pulled up to hill mound and a gated area. Of course, some impromptu vendors were set up across the street. I visited the bathrooms or water closets before the tour. On my way back I spotted a little cafe that sold slushies. I spied an orange slushy and had to have one. For only 3 Euro I was sold. Before I begin explaining what the tomb was all about, it's important to note that the discovery of the tomb is the greatest discovery of Greek Antiquity in the 20th century. Our next stop was actually going in to the museum or tomb area. I didn't know we were going into a museum next and I had hardly drank any of the slushy. I couldn't throw it away already, so I did what any starving person would do - hide it behind my purse. Thank you Vera Bradley! I am proud to say that I hid my slushy from all the museum guards throughout the whole tour and I even drank the rest of it! I am like James Bond! Hiding a slushy in a museum that had treasures in it that probably ranked as some of the most valuable in the world is quite an accomplishment. Ok, back the history stuff. There were three tombs that were found. I'd have to read my book again to remember how they were found, because everything was buried so much it just appeared to be a hill. One of the tomb's belonged to Phillip II - the most famous one. Phillip was the son of Alexander the Great. The museum was underground in the hill, so everything was dark (part of the reason why I could hide my drink). We couldn't take any pictures at all, so I bought a book afterwards because the artifacts and tombs were amazing! We saw a diagram of the hill and how they cut away the hill and found the tombs. When the archeologists found the tombs, they climbed in the top of the tomb so they only had to remove one stone. At the end of the tour, we saw a picture of the archeologist that found the tombs and a few quotes about how he felt. It was amazing reading about what he was thinking - it was a real Indiana Jones moment. There were little diagrams of what the tombs looked like when they were found and then all those artifacts were on display. The tombs were in perfect condition as were the artifacts. Since they were underground, nothing could destroy them. Unlike many other ruins where cities were built on cities, this place was completely untouched for thousands of years. We saw silver pots that were still silver, they looked completely new. But the most amazing artifacts were gold crowns! The details on the crowns were so detailed. One had little lady bugs on them. And the gold crowns looked again brand new, like nothing had ever touched them. The crowns were all gold leaves that were made to look like an olive leaf crown, similar to the ones given to winners of Olympic races in Athens Games. Once I saw these gold crowns, I began to realize the magnitude of this archeological discovery and then noticed the thick, fortified doors. Keep in mind, I snuck an orange slushy through the Fort Knox of Greece. (hehe) :-) When we finished touring the museum, I went to the bathroom again, which cut into my shopping time at the gift shops across the street. I went in to the shops with Echo and found a nice book about Paul and then a book on Veria so I would have pictures of all the artifacts from the museum. I debated about buying a nice golden replica crown that was framed, but then Rick said, "You have two minutes." Pressure! He said every minute that we spend longer in Veria makes our time in Athens shorter. I was looking forward to getting back to Athens, since we really hadn't seen much yet, but I wanted to shop too! Shopping is part of the travel experience, but Rick's a guy; he doesn't understand that. So instead of buying the 80 Euro golden crown, I decided on a gold bracelet that looked very Greek for only 12 Euros. I needed more time to decide to make a purchase that big. I wanted to buy something gold in this place, since gold was so prominent in the tombs. So then I get in line. This is where the frustration really set in. My pastor is standing outside the store, willing us to get through the line. I am the last in line behind Don. Rick sent Echo on ahead so she could slowly walk up the hill to the bus. During this time a school field trip of 4-5 graders come in and they start buying magnets and postcards. But remember I was already in line. Well........that didn't exactly matter. A girl started out behind me, than in front of me, than in front of Don, then to the front. She did all of this very deliberately and could care less about the line. I tapped her on the shoulder when she passed me and told her there was a line, but she ignored me. When she was standing in front of Don, he asked me, "Where did she come from?" So now, I'm getting further and further back in the line and Rick can't wait to go, like an eager husband wanting to leave the mall and watch the basketball game. I was feeling the pressure. I didn't want to make Rick made, but I needed to buy these souvenirs. Ahhh the dilemma. Eventually the whole school group was buying their souvenirs with one cashier and us Americans were left to another sloooooooooww cashier. Once I made it through the line, I quickly walked up the hill and caught up with Echo. All was well again. Now we settled in for our long bus ride. From Veria to Athens, we rode for about 7 hours. At this point in the typing, I really don't remember what I did those 7 hours. I'm sure I slept for some time, which was the only good thing about the long bus rides, was that I could always get in a nice nap. We stopped for lunch along the way. We stopped at a restaurant that was deserted, but then both of our groups showed up and there were 80 people in there. The food again was not exactly what I felt like eating. I ate some sort of pasta/lasagna looking stuff. It was weird, but I ate it. Of course I also ate the bread. We sat with Jim and Cindy, and Diane. Most of our lunch conversation was around Diane's scuba diving adventures. She's been to Asia to scuba dive! What amazing stories. Let's just say the conversation was way better than the food. We got to Athens at about 7:15pm. Traffic was a little slow in the city, but we arrived about on time. We decided to spend the evening, first, not eating the buffet at the hotel and second, taking a tour of the new Acropolis Museum. We asked Coastes if we'd be visiting it and he said we weren't. He said the museum was fabulous and it has the most extensive collection of classical art, but it was only open until 8pm. So we hurried to our room and put our bags down. We made it to the museum at about 7:25 (it's a close walk from our hotel). We were hoping that the museum was open later than 8, but Coastes is not wrong very often (or ever that we know). We had to pay full price of 5 Euros each and then we practically ran through the exhibits. We started on the third floor and saw the frieze designs that were around the museum. The Acropolis Museum is new and built on the exact same scale and parallel lines as the real Parthenon. There are even columns in the museum where there are columns and there was an inner section that went around the inside just like on the Parthenon. On either end were what's left of the pediment statues. The statues were huge and amazing! They had them placed where they believe them to be in the pediment. We were racing through at this point, taking as many pictures as we could. We went down another floor and then finally the first floor. Dad took a picture of scale model with a flash and a security guard came over. We apologized for the flash, but then he said there's no pictures on the first floor. We thought it was weird how we could take pictures on the third floor but not the first. Well come to think of it, maybe we weren't allowed pictures on the third floor but no one caught us. So since the guard was next to us, scolding us about the pictures, he then said, "It's time to leave, the museum is closing." But we still had ten minutes. Arrrggggh! I'm not getting time at any place today. No time to shop, no time to view the museum for the entire time we paid for. We expected at least 30 minutes of viewing, but we actually got around 20 for full price. What a bummer. But at least we were able to get in and see the artifacts. We were really glad that we went but bummed we didn't get to see too much. So we slowly walked about of the museum and then spent some time at the front, before we walked up to the Plaka where we literally ran in to Gary, Christine, Michelle and Marv and Don and Echo. What great timing! I guess it was ok that we got kicked out early. So we joined them and went to find some dinner. We walked down a few streets until we found some gyros, which is what the group was looking for. A guy on the street said, "Come up to our roof top dining with view of the Acropolis." Sold! And then had gyros. The view was spectacular. We had a nice dinner on the top of the building and enjoyed the conversation. The NCAA basketball games were going on and Dad was checking the scores on his phone. We asked if they could get the games on the bar TV, but the waiter had no idea what we were talking about. After dinner we walked up the street a little more until we found a nice gift shop. Most of the shops were open until 11pm, so we had a little more time to do some shopping. Dad and I found a lot of nice stuff in there. Stuff for Jonathan, Dad, my friends, and family. The workers in the store were really nice. We were looking at a Sparta shirt for Jonathan since he likes that movie, 300, which then struck up a conversation with the store clerk about American movies. He said he mostly watches American movies, since Greece doesn't really make many movies and they don't compare to the American ones. All the movies have subtitles, but most can understand English over there. Spartan souvenirs are really popular with the movie 300, which I still haven't seen. We also were able to visit with the owner who told us a little history of Greece and some neat stories. He was nice. The rest of the group then joined us and judging by the noise level, they had a little bit to to drink. Echo was practically giggling and she was a hoot in the store. There were some very 'inappropriate' male shaped bottles of Uzo that Echo picked right up and decided to needed to buy it. She said she was putting it in her bathroom. We were all laughing like elementary kids. Everyone did a bunch of shopping and found great gifts in the store. Echo was even picking through Christine's basket taking stuff out of it, until I told her that wasn't a display, but Christine's shopping basket. Echo said she picked out all the good stuff and then she can pick out from her stuff. It was funny. As we left the store under strings of flags, someone reminded Don what he said about the store. He told Echo not to go in there, that she won't find anything. Don was carrying a full bag in each hand. That was great night with friends in Athens, even with the limited amount of time there. When we got back to our room, it was really hot! The thermostat was working, so Dad went down to the lobby to get some help, but not being taking a picture of the thermostat so he could accurately explain the problem. He was going to draw a picture, but realized that a picture would be quicker. At least he was using technology! The bellman came up to our room, right away and just opened the balcony door. He said the air conditioner isn't on yet. The weather seemed to be unseasonably warm, so as a result so was the room. When the bellman opened the door, then we saw the view! We were facing the Acropolis! Amazing! We were shocked. Since we went to our room so quickly and then left for the museum, we never looked out the window. And since we were getting to our room late, we might not of even looked out the window and might have missed this beautiful site. So that was a blessing. I worked on the blog a bit and then went to bed. We board the cruise boat in the morning.