Two Gems of Northern Greece

Meteora: St. Barbara

Whenever friends or family come to stay with us they give us the opportunity to take them to see some interesting and unique places in Northern Greece.  This year, during Easter Week, we took friends from England to Meteora and Aigai at Vergina.  These are two of the many gems of northern Greece that are not visited by most tourists who are more interested in the islands of Greece or the Athens area and the Peloponnese.





Meteora: St. Varlaam

 Meteora which is just above the nearby town of Kalambaka is a collection of monasteries which sit upon the tops of shear cliff rocks pock marked with holes in them.  Because they are in such a seemingly inaccessible place positioned on the very tops of the cliffs, when seen for the first time people usually wonder how these monasteries were built.  Most of the monasteries have many steps to climb before entering their grounds and buildings, but each climb is well worth the effort for the views and experience.

Hill Housing the Royal Tombs

Vergina is a town in northern Greece and is also the site of the ancient city of Aigai; "The first city of Macedon" declares the brochure that you get when you pay to see the ruins of the ancient city and the tomb of Philip II father of Alexander the Great.  The actual tomb of Philip II is part of a small museum of the finds of the area and those artifacts that were discovered during the excavation of the artificial hill that buried the royal tombs.  The small museum is within the reconstructed hill, and it is an excellent example of the museums that have been built in recent years which are dedicated to exhibiting the specific finds of an area.