What is Greece? Where is Greece? For us, the Greece we will mostly see is northern Greece, a region historically known as Macedonia (not to be confused, of course, with what in the English-speaking world we refer to as the Republic of Macedonia, founded in 1991). When we say Macedonia we are therefore referring to an ancient regional and identity marker that is still in use today, traced back to inhabitants of this region who founded what we today call the Kingdom of Macedon (in the 4th century BCE), of which Alexander III–also known as “the Great”–(356-323 BCE) is perhaps the most famous representative.
While spending most of our time in the city of Thessaloniki, students in REL Goes to Greece make several day trips to nearby archeological sites and museums. Among the destinations are: the ancient cities of Dion (at the base of Mount Olympos) and Pella (the onetime royal capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia); the tomb believed to be that of Philip II (father of Alexander the Great) at Vergina; as well as visiting Veria and the beautiful waterfalls at Edessa–not to mention a trip to the beach (on the second peninsula, or “leg” of Chalkidiki).
Unlike past years, the 2011 trip starts out and ends 
in Athens, where the group will spend two nights on either end of the trip (staying at Hotel Byron, at the base of the Acropolis [pictured to the left]), affording us the chance to visit to the new Acropolis Museum and, of course, the Parthenon. A four to five hour train trip land us at the Hotel Luxembourg (pictured to the right) in the heart of Thessaloniki and just a block from its famous Aristotle Square, our home base for much of the three weeks in Greece, and close to the campus of Aristotle University. (Find a street map of the city here.)
To learn more about the history of the trip (which has taken place in 2008 and 2009), visit this site.
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Thanks to the Department of Religious Studies and
the College of Arts & Sciences for their
generous support of the 2011 trip.