The historical importance of this region goes back many centuries. When you've had a good dose of sun and sea, you might want to get into your car, as I did, and start exploring some extraordinary sites that are often as sparsely visited as the beaches.

It's a quick drive from anywhere on the peninsula to Vergina, once Aigai, the first capital of the Macedonians. Although not much has yet been found in the way of architecture, the graves of Vergina—and, in particular, the treasure-filled tomb that possibly belongs to Philip II, Alexander the Great's father—rank among the mighty discoveries in the history of archaeology.

Without the achievements of his father, Alexander would surely have been less great. Philip, a polygamist who married seven or eight women, in large part to enforce his ties with the powers of the region, reigned as king of Macedonia from 359 to 336 B.C.

Legend has it that the kingdom of Macedonia was founded a millennium before Christ by one of the descendants of King Temenos of Argos, great-great-grandson of Hercules and great-great-great-grandson of Zeus, no less. When Philip II came to power after the Macedonians had been defeated by the Illyrians, his realm was in disarray. Philip fought the Illyrians and beat them, and then set about uniting the area with masterful political skill. His great military achievement was in defeating a much superior force of Athenians and Thebans at Chaeronea in 338 B.C. After that, Sparta was the only Greek state that Macedonia did not control. On the day of his daughter's wedding, Philip was stabbed to death in the theater of Aigai in what is believed to have been a combination of court intrigue and gay jealousy. He was forty-six.

The glory of Philip's Macedonia is embodied at the site that Greek archaeologists consider to be his tomb, unearthed in 1977, miraculously intact after two thousand years. I'm not someone who thrills at poking around the broken stones of an architectural site for a long time, trying to re-create in my imagination what it was like in its heyday. The treasures of the tombs of Vergina offer another kind of story for the eyes.

Whether this great royal tumulus was indeed the tomb of Philip or that of the son is a question that the experts still dispute. The sumptuousness of their find is incontestable. The huge gold and ivory shield believed to be the ceremonial object of a king is like nothing else anywhere. The wreath in the pattern of leaves and acorns found in the adjoining grave—said to be that of Kleopatra, the queen assassinated right after Philip's murder—was achieved by goldsmiths with a level of artistry unmatched since.

Some of the oldest examples of Greek painting form the fresco above the entrance to the main tomb. The traces of the theater where Philip II was stabbed to death, the remnants of a palace, and houses with paintings and workshops all reveal a rich, sophisticated metropolis that was thriving in 400 B.C. But the gold, silver, and ivory objects of the tombs embody best the aesthetic refinement and the wealth that made this fallen, bloody kingdom one of the most awesome in history.