Philippi has a spot in the history books for two reasons. First, it was on the fields of Philippi that the Roman Republic ended when the final battle was lost to forces of Octavian and Markus Antonius. Then, it’s listed in the bible as the place Christianity came to Europe. Both events show in the ruins of Philippi. The city was remodelled by Octavian. And several early Christian churches were built here. Both have left there mark in the ruins you will get to see.

I spend roughly 1.5h on site which includes a nice museum. And while these ruins are great, Greece already has many sites listed from the period. I do wonder how many more Greek ruins should be inscribed?

Getting There

Coming in from Thessaloniki I followed Stanislaw’s description and it worked to a point. There are regular busses (normal, express) running more or less hourly from the main bus station in Thessaloniki to Kavala (2-2.5h). As far as I could tell the first bus runs at 8 a.m.

From Kavala jump on any bus to Drama and get off at Krinides. Important: There is also a town named Philippi, but the archeological site is in Krinides.

From Philippi you could connect eastwards towards Turkey. As much as I want to see the Hagia Sophia, given the current political situation I did not invest any time in researching this option.

Another interesting option is going North to Banska for Pirin National Park. There is one mini bus each day at 4 p.m. from Kavala Bus Station via Drama. I found this one at rome2rio.com and confirmed it here with a little help from google translate. The bus also goes the other way. Tickets are bought at the Kavala bus station.

If you are continuing onwards you can leave the luggage at the post office at the bus station. Just ask them. It’s not really a locker, more a place where they hopefully watch for your luggage and you tip them for it.

While You Are There

Again, following Stanislaw’s comments: You should spend some time in the old town of Kavala. It’s fairly nice with an aqueduct, an acropolis and views of Thassos. It’s also a nice distraction from the concrete jungle that is Thessaloniki. While I don’t feel it must be Kavala, I do feel a nice Ottoman city would be a good addition to the Greek list.