Pella: (2,272 inhab.) Catch the bus in Thessalonika early and head out to Pella, modern center of the praefecture of Pella, and the birthplace of Alexander the Great and served as the palace of Macedonia. The remains at The Archaeological Site at Pella are not that large but some very nice villas have been found with amazing mosaics. (The picture here shows the modern town in the upper right portion of the screen.
The site is the small, cleared out space almost halfway up the right side of the photo) The homes that are there now are extremely large and there is a fresh water system that runs under the street. There has been more discoveries a little distance from the site (possibly the palace on a small acropolis and some temples that aren’t ready for public viewing yet), but it will be a while till they are included with the site.
My visit was cut a little short when a pack of hungry looking stray dogs started to wander towards me, the only person at the site. There is a nice Archaeological Museum of Pella across the highway with some of the mosaics, but its best pieces have been taken out for an international exhibit (in Rome I think). The town in the picture is about two kilometers from the site. The landscape is vastly different than anything else you’ll see in Greece. There are no hills for as far as you can see, just flat, good farmland.
