Philippi

Philippi is famous not as a town but as the site of the final battle between Octavian and Anthony on one side, and Brutus and Cassius on the other. It was here that the fate of the Republic was decided. This was a major battle with around 100,000 men on either side. The battle was actually two battles fought on the same plain several days apart. On the first day Marc Antony took Cassius' camp while Brutus took Octavian's, but due to the confusion of battle Cassius thought that all was lost and killed himself leaving Brutus to lead the troops in the next confrontation. He wasn't up to it. Apparently the Liberators were in front of the town while the Caesarean forces formed up further out. It would be really difficult to overstate the importance of these battles. Because of this the Republican cause died for good. Cicero was already murdered, Cato had killed himself a few years before, and now Cassius and Brutus joined him. The only major figure left for the Republicans to form up with was Sextus Pompeius. At this point Antony and Octavian were the unquestioned masters of Rome.

Brutus: Why comest thou?
Ghost: To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

 

At Philippi our luck ran out. These guys intended to honor the strike and they were manning the place to make sure that nobody snuck in anyway. But although we may not have gotten to go into the site we could still see most of it from the roads.Still unfortunate given that its two hours east of Thessaloniki.

Pompeii

COMING SOON

Marine Gate

Jerash

Having arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday I began to work out my plans for the trip. I had a list of places that I wanted to see but I had kept my schedule intentionally free. That was a good thing because the Middle East is a very religious place (Surprise Surprise). Strangely enough, Israel seems to be more religious than its immediate neighbors. It has a hint of theocracy about it and what that means in practical terms is that everything shuts down on the Sabbath. Most businesses including many restaurants and stores are included in this, as well as all the buses and museums. So being in Israel on a Saturday is pretty dull.The Christian, Armenian, and Arab quarters of the Old City (where I was staying) didn't all keep to this but it would have seriously hampered my movements to remain. So I took my trip across the border to Jordan a little sooner than planned. While I did get a chance to see a bit of Jerusalem that night I'm leaving that 'till the Jerusalem section later because I saw most of the city during the day after I got back from Jordan.

Getting there wasn't as easy as I'd have liked. First of the there are three border crossings to Jordan. The Sheikh Hussein one is in the north below the Sea of Galilee and the Eilat/Aqaba one is at the far south border of both countries. The third one is the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge which is near Jericho just north of the Deas Sea and is a real oddity for several reasons. Firstly they don't issue visas which means that you have to get one from the Jordanian embassy in advance. Second, it's in occupied Palestine which means that there is a mass of legal loopholes concerning it. For example, as far as Jordan is concerned people using the bridge are going into Palestine and not Israel which is good for all those people who don't want an Israeli stamp on their passport (ie. if they're traveling into any other country in the area apart from Egypt. Those are the only states that recognize Israel as a nation). Israel doesn't see things that way but are content to let in the visitors using that loophole provided that they go through a typically rigorous security check. The other strange thing about the border is that you can't take your vehicle across. That wasn't a problem for me since I was taking buses, but it must be annoying for anyone else. Fortunately, I was aiming for the Sheikh Hussein crossing in the north. My plan was to make a 2-3 day trip of it starting in the north and working my way down to the Aqaba crossing.

Crossing borders in the Middle East (or at least Israel) is a long and sometimes complicated procedure. Anyone who doesn't realize that Israel has security concerns should really not be visiting since they are probably suffering from a severe brain injury. The Sheikh Hussein Crossing consists of two different checkpoints and about a mile of no-man's land in between. You go through the Israeli side, get your passport stamped to certify you're exiting the country, pay the visa fee, and then you pay for a bus to go to the other side of the border. Once there the Jordanian authorities will ask you the same questions and charge for them to stamp your passport. They do issue visas on the spot, but the whole process takes about an hour and a half to two hours. Unfortunately for me that meant I missed one of the main attractions at my first stop, Jarash.

Athens

Athens has some really wonderful sights and some really seedy areas. I find that a lot of foreign cities are like that, but what separates Athens (and Greece) is how difficult it is to tell when you're passing from one to the other. The difference between a nice safe section and a dangerous section can often be only a few feet. First off, Greek cities look really run down. Greeks don't put as much effort into maintaining cities as the Americans and British do. Even street cleaning and trash disposal is largely neglected. Areas like the Parthenon are different because of the number of tourists visiting but even there you can expect to see trash lying around on the ground. I don't think that this is a money issue. Even the areas that have money don't look fancy. Presentation is not a strong feature of Greek culture. It just isn't a big deal for them. While it becomes easier to tell the areas apart after spending some time there you should still expect to see druggies passed out on the street, homeless people, and random gangs of people wandering the streets. At least until you figure out which areas to avoid. Generally, the areas around the Acropolis are pretty safe but if you go north too far past Omonia Square you're on your own. Again, the lack of care means that all Athens looks pretty seedy, but unless you stay in your hotel room you're gonna have to face it sooner or later.