From Ioannina to Preveza

Following the highway through Filippiada and Nicopolis was an essential part of my trip to the closest international airport from campus, but far from ordinary. 

Lots of British holiday-makers make the long trip each year to reach Cornwall. On the way, they slow their speed to gaze in awe at the monumental stones which lie at a distance, Stonehenge. No matter how many times you pass it and how many years it has stood there in the same position, it never loses its appeal for those who drive by. One of the most common collision spots, the historical monument by the side of the road is a distraction, a fascination to the British eye. 

But here, as the windows fog up from the rain, visibility is not the best. The bus passes quickly to arrive on schedule at its destination. It may be a route that the driver does on repeat during his working week. 

I didn't pay for this archaeological tour yet I quickly spot an ancient Byzantine-looking church, the archway of what must have been an impressive imperial building, the ruins of a collection of ancient domestic spaces. Originally they must have all been part of the same settlement but now they are fragmented and intersected by the road we fly down. 

The bus passes too quickly for me to notice the details. The moment is simply caught in a series of below-average photos, blurred by the vibration of the vehicle and by the rain drops clinging to the glass. 

A Google search doesn't help to fill in any of the gaps on Filippiada but Nicopolis, as the name suggests, was a city founded to celebrate Octavian's victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. 

It's sad to think that a flourishing city, representative of an ancient Golden Age millennia ago, is now neglected by those who pass by and incorporated into the appearance of old cattle sheds and factories alongside it which have only recently been abandoned and destroyed.