Greece & Italy Day 4b: Bereans, Macedonians, Cakes, and Carnival!

We were up and at ‘em early today, loading our bus and leaving Thessaloniki behind.  After driving through snow (have I mentioned it’s been colder than we expected?) we reached Veria, which today is a ski resort but during Paul’s second missionary journey was known as Berea (see Acts 17).  We stopped at a shrine (built in the 60s – as in 1960s) where I delivered my site presentation (blogged it here).  We then visited the city’s synagogue, which is likely in the same location as the synagogue Paul visited. I’m not sure whether it’s an active synagogue — there are very few Jews left in Greece, a heinous legacy of the Holocaust.

Synagogue in Veria (formerly Berea)

We next swung by a coffee shop before heading out again.  Heather and I sampled this chocolate-covered cake thing that was delicious.  This was the second time (we would soon experience a third) where we had a cake thing that was soaked in a sweet syrup.  I finally asked our guide about the syrup – it’s apparently just water, honey, lemon, and sugar, but apparently the secret is to drizzle warm cake with cold syrup, otherwise the cake will turn to mush.  I just may have to try that at home.

Heather & the chocolate-covered, syrup-soaked cake thing

At the instigation of our professor, en route to our next destination our guide told of us the controversy over the use of the name “Macedonia.”  Macedonia is a province of modern-day Greece and our guide gave many reasons why the ancient Macedonians (such as Alexander the Great) were in fact Greek, including the fact that they were allowed to participate in the ancient Olympic games, which only Greeks could participate in.  So why is this controversial?  Just google “Macedonia” and you’ll find out – the first result is the Republic of Macedonia, one of the countries that resulted from the fracture of Yugoslavia.  Greeks such as our guide believe they are Slavic people trying to lay claim to a heritage that isn’t theirs.

This became somewhat relevant at our next stop: the town of Vergina, which wasn’t especially notable until they discovered that it was the first capital of ancient Macedonia and unearthed the tomb of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.  We got to visit the tumulus (mound of earth) which covered his tomb and a couple others.  It was incredibly awesome seeing the front of his very tomb, as well as the grave goods they discovered inside the tomb.  We couldn’t take any photos because many of the items haven’t yet been published (which kind of just adds to the coolness factor).  We then ate a delicious lunch (more syrup-soaked cake!) and headed out again for a lengthy trek (on the bus) through the mountains of northern Greece.

Tumulus hiding incredible tombs

More syrup-soaked cake thing!

Mountains viewed from the bus

We passed through Nicopolis (which we’ll visit tomorrow) before arriving at our hotel in Preveza on the western coast of Greece.  Blaring music outside our hotel alerted us that something was going on and we soon learned that there would be a parade of the ladies of the city in costume tonight.  Carnival!  It’s their pre-Lent version of Mardi Gras.  We had dinner at our hotel and then watched the parade from our balcony.  Afterwards, we wandered the city for a bit and ran across the parade once again.

Tomorrow:  Nicopolis.  Then on to Corinth!

P.S. Heather’s got video!