After exploring the ancient Macedonian city of Aigai, I drove a couple of hours to my next stop, the beautiful coastal city of Kavala. I’ve heard this is true of Greece in general, but the first thing I notice in Kavala is that there are cats everywhere! I won’t bore you with a thousand photos of felines, but trust me, they are on every street and walkway, hiding in every fence, on every motorcycle, under every car, and circling your chair when you sit down to eat. The best part is the people all seem to be patient with them and treat them very kindly.

I first took a drive up the hills for about ten miles to the ancient city of Philippi. This place was first settled in the fourth century BC as a Macedonian city and eventually passed through the Romans and then the Byzantines. There was a lot to see here, but my favorite was probably the Roman theatre.

The theatre looked like some parts had been partially restored, but it still had that interesting feel of an ancient forgotten place.

There were I think four Byzantine churches here. One in particular, the Octogonal church dedicated to St Paul had some amazing mosaics still intact.

Philippi is perhaps most famous due to the visit St Paul made in the first century AD. After casting out the demon from a slave girl that gave her the incredible ability to see into the future and made her owner a lot of money, Paul was promptly thrown into the local jail. This is apparently where he wrote his most significant work and perhaps my personal favorite Bible book, Corinthians. According to the signage, this is also the site of the very first Christian settlement in Europe, thanks to Paul’s visit.

The other highlight of Philippi was the Roman Agora. This would have been the main hub of the city. There’s not much left standing, but it’s not hard to imagine the grandeur this place must have once had.

On the way back to Kavala is another important Roman site, but first how about a birds eye view of the city. On top of the hill in the center of the pic you can see the Ottoman castle. And just to the left of that on the other side of the pine needles, you can make out the Roman aqueduct. More on those in a bit.

Up in the hills above Kavala, which was originally called Neopolis, is a section of the Via Egnatia. This 2100 year old Roman road once stretched from somewhere in modern day Turkey, across the entire northeastern length of Greece, and all the way to the Albanian coast. Wow! How does this road survive over two millenia while most of our modern roads can’t even last a decade?

After a quick stop at Kavalas mediocre archeology museum, it was time to explore that castle. I went up there the first day but it was closed. I got to see it on day two, but I had to walk up that steep bloody hill twice to do it.

The castle was built by the Ottomans over some Byzantine ruins in the 17th century. It looks a lot bigger from below, but it was still impressive.

The best part of visiting the castle was the views from the walls and especially from the top of that tower. In the pic below looking out over the Aegean Sea you can see the Island of Thasos fairly clearly, even though Thasos looks very cloudy.

And looking the other way, a very different view of Kavala. There’s a small stage on the castle grounds and just beyond the wall you can see the Roman aqueduct running away.

Here’s some closer shots of the aqueduct. I’m always impressed with Roman architecture, but imagine what they could’ve done with modern technology and equipment! Anyway, this is pretty much the center of town and I ate in this area every night. Lots of good Greek restaurants in this part of the city. Yummm!

Since Kavala and this next stop are relatively short, I’m gonna make this post a twofer one, so…

Holy Crap… I’m in Samothraki!!!

From Kavala I drove about as far east as one can go in Greece, to Alexandroupoli, where I drove my tiny little rental car onto a very big ferry.

Sometimes it can be very confusing where one sea ends and another begins, but this part of the sea is apparently the Thracian Sea, not the Aegean. Anyway, almost two hours later I was on the tiny island of Samothraki. It’s roughly only thirteen miles long and it’s my first Greek isle. Yay!

Samothraki is sedate to say the least. There’s not a whole lot going on here and only a couple of small villages with minimal services. So why did I come here? To visit the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, of course. This is the place where the super famous Nike, winged victory, statue was found. The French pilfered it and it now resides in the Louvre in Paris. Samothraki gets instead, this 3D mapped marble copy seen below left. There was also another Nike statue that didn’t get stolen, however, in the small on site museum, seen below right. Apparently there were four total. No mention of where the other two might be though.

The museum was actually pretty well done and very informative. I especially liked the remnants of the eves that once went all the way around the Hall of Choral Dancers. There’s not much more than a foundation left of the building itself, but these chunks of the past are really cool!

As informative as the museum was, there’s not a lot known about what went on here. Very early Greeks, known as Thracians, in the 2nd century BC built the place as a sort of headquarters for their “mystery cult”. Not much is known about the Great Gods either, except that they weren’t the well known Greek Gods we know today. There were lots of rituals and different levels to the cult, all shrouded in mystery, and the primary benefit seemed to be protection at sea.

Around the site are all these remnants with writing on them. They are Greek letters, but it’s a different language that apparently no one can read.

The Hieron is the only building left “standing”, though it looks like somebody gave it some help along the way. It’s apparently where the highest level of the cult took place. This part of the temple grounds is very eery and atmospheric, especially considering that I was completely alone here.

Finally, up on the hill is the Theatral Circle where the first initiation into the cult took place. The end of the circle was destroyed in an earthquake in the 2nd century AD. The square building is dedicated to Alexander IV and Philip III, the infant son and the mentally ill half brother of Alexander the Great. Alexander IV succeeded his father and Philip III acted as regent for the infant king. Both of them were murdered in short order. I guess the Macedonians didn’t want a baby and a mental patient on the throne. Go figure!

The history of Samothraki isn’t limited to the ancient. Elsewhere around the island there are a couple of medieval towers built in the 15th century by the Genoese Gattilusi family who owned the island back then. There was another tower east of here, but it was still being restored after being toppled by a flood in 2017. I went and saw it but it was surrounded by construction equipment.

After exploring ruins I went and checked into my little apartment in the main village of Kamariotissa. My next day was strictly a hiking day. The highest point on Samothraki is Fengari Peak, seen below. I didn’t climb it, though I did think about it for a good long minute. Instead, I stuck with my original plan to hike Phonia’s Gorge.

Phonia’s Gorge turned out to be a really spectacular hike. There’s a reason why this is considered the prettiest part of the island. The gorge follows the Phonia’s stream up the mountain passing by beautiful cascades and three amazing waterfalls.

The first waterfall, Katarraktes Phonias, was around a bend in the rocks. No way to see it from below without going for a swim, but once I hiked higher up I got the birds eye view instead.

The weather was perfect, not too cold, not too hot, but unfortunately, too cold for swimming. I’ll have to stick with walking today. After lots of climbing I finally reached the second waterfall, Katarraktes Gerania.

After relaxing for a long while at Gerania I climbed the rest of the way to the final waterfall, Katarraktes tes Kleidosi. This one was the best one of the bunch. The trail ended at the cliff overlooking this super tall waterfall that seemed to originate directly out of the rock. I sat on the cliff, ate a snack, and took it all in. It struck me how unique this experience is. Hiking this incredible gorge and gazing at these beautiful waterfalls, on a tiny little island, in the middle of the Thracian Sea, and I had it all to myself. I didn’t see another human being all day. Fantastic!

On the way down I realized the other benefit of hiking up here, the tremendous views out over the Sea. Mainland Greece is about twenty five or so miles thataway.

The road that follows the coastline around the island only goes so far. My time here has been spent on the northern part of the island. If you want to visit the southern shores, you have to take a boat or walk up and over Fengari Peak. Just for fun I drove out as far as I could to the southeastern corner, the end of the line. There I got a pretty good view of Gökçeada (not pictured), the nearest island which belongs to Turkey.

In addition to the two Gattilusi towers, they also built a castle high up in the village of Samothraki. Awesome! I got there too late and the castle was closed, but it’s pretty small and I got enough pictures through the fence and around the village.

Finally, it was back to Kamariotissa for a shower and some food. I have a very early ferry to catch back to the mainland and then a long drive to my next stop. Oh, and there are a LOT of goats on Samothraki, everywhere! Perhaps more goats than people, I can’t be sure though.

Well, that wraps up this leg of the journey. Tomorrow I head out to enjoy some big city vibes for a few days. Stay tuned kids…