Samothrace
— — the island the gods watched from.
Not only on a wall.
“A small mountain rising straight out of the sea, three hours by ferry from Alexandroupoli. The Sanctuary of the Great Gods sits in a wooded valley above the north coast, the same ground where the Winged Victory was found in 1863 and shipped to the Louvre. The streams off Mount Saos run cold all summer, dropping through granite into clear pools called the Vathres.
Samothrace, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Samothrace is a Greek island of roughly 178 square kilometres in the northeastern Aegean, about 40 kilometres south of the Thracian mainland. Its centre is Mount Saos, also called Fengari, rising to 1,611 metres, the highest summit on any Aegean island. The island is reached by ferry from Alexandroupoli, a crossing of about two hours in summer that runs less reliably in winter. Most visitors stay in Kamariotissa, the small port, or in Therma, the spa village on the north coast nearest the sanctuary and the waterfalls.
The Sanctuary of the Great Gods sits in a wooded ravine above Palaeopoli on the north coast. The cult of the Kabeiroi was active from at least the 7th century BC; initiates included Philip II of Macedon. In 1863 the French vice-consul Charles Champoiseau uncovered the marble Nike of Samothrace among the ruins of the Hieron; she now stands at the head of the Daru staircase in the Louvre. A small museum on the grounds holds inscriptions, votive fragments, and architectural pieces from the Stoa and the Arsinoeion.
The Vathres are a series of natural rock pools fed by streams running off Mount Saos through the Fonias gorge. The water stays cold through July and August because the mountain holds snow into early summer. The walk begins near the medieval Fonias Tower on the north coast and climbs gently; the first pool is about 45 minutes in, the larger ones farther up. The granite has been polished smooth by centuries of meltwater. Local guidance asks visitors not to swim with soap or sunscreen, since the streams supply Therma village.