Day Trips from Stobi

Part of Field School were weekend excursions, which showed us some of the sites in Macedonia and northern Greece.

First, we went to Lake Ohrid, on the west side of the country.  The water was beautiful and great for swimming (once you got past the snakes!).  We started with a walking tour of the city and then ended up down by the shore.  We had a great lunch and then got some time in town too.  All in all, it was a great day.  The lake was really beautiful and I could have spent a lot more time there.

Another trip took us to Bitola, another Roman ruin. We got to see some of the work from previous years of Balkan Heritage work at the site.  We also toured the museum and had a lunch of traditional Macedonian food.  There was a great eggplant condiment and not so good grape leaves.  I wish I liked them more but can't get past the bitter.  We then had free time to walk around.  I bought the most delicious blueberries in the supermarket.  Good times.

The next weekend we had two trips.  On Saturday we went to Skopje.  I'd seen a lot of the sites when I arrived in Macedonia, but it was fun to walk through again.  We went into the Archaeology Museum, which was fantastic. The building itself had some cool architecture, and we got to see some artifacts that our supervisors had found at Stobi. That was amazing.  After lunch we had free time, so I went to find a knock-off Gucci track suit with one girl, and then ate ice cream in the old bazaar neighborhood.

Sunday we crossed into Greece to see Pella and Vergina, the two capitals of the Ancient Macedonian Empire.  The museums at both were pretty phenomenal and had some remarkable artifacts.  The walk through Pella was a little hot.  Very hot.  Broiling.  Some good mosaics, but so hot.  I much preferred the cool dark of the Mausoleum museum at Vergina.  The grave goods on display there included some really fancy carved benches and a golden box with the sun of the Alexander's Empire.  The site held the tombs of Alexander's father and son. No one yet knows where Alexander the Great is buried.  If he was at all.  But that's a mystery for another day.   After the museums we ate Greek food, and of course, Oregano Chips, the best thing in Greece.