Macedonia s first capital was here, about 10 miles southwest of Thessaloniki. Delicate wreaths of hammered gold and a wooden funeral bier inlaid with ivory from the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, are among the amazing finds. Combine this trip with a visit to Veria, just a few miles away, where Jews lived for 2,000 years. It was to Veria that the Apostle Paul fled when the Jews of Thessaloniki drove him out. A plaza near Ta Evraica, the ancient Jewish quarter, commemorates his preaching here.
Hebrew inscriptions are still visible on some of the houses.
The synagogue, now unused, is on Merarchias Street, to the right of the quarter s entrance, near a creek whose waters served the mikve. Kastoria, about 125 miles northwest of Thessaloniki, is another must. Greeks consider it their most beautiful town, and rightly so. Kastoria lies on an isthmus and the serene lake around it is almost never out of sight. Though Kastoria had a Jewish community at least from the sixth century, it was in the sixteenth century that Jews became leading furriers and gained fame worldwide.