Santorini

Ok. Other than the fact that my trip here proved trecherous due to a nationwide strike on May Day which NOBODY told me about AND they sold tickets for that day even though they KNEW they'd strike...it was amazing. I could have spent a lot longer here. Everything about this island is amazing. The views, the people, the cool towns, everything.

So i took the high speed ferry to get to Santorini, which for about 20 euros more halves the travel time (4 hours!). Totally worth it. The way back I took a normal ferry which took 10 hours and got VERY tedious. Regardless, when i first saw the island, i was in shock. Santorini is, for all intensive purposes, a volcano. About 2,000 years ago (1600 BCE) there was an ENORMOUS erruption which wiped out the local inhabitants and literally destroyed the island for the most part. If you look at a map of the island, it's roughly a circle with the middle blown out. This middle is the caldera where the volcano used to be. Now, it's just a big hole filled in with water, making for truly spectacular views.

The new port is not the best place to be. It is incredibly crowded when boats dock, as hotels provide free transfers to the hotel which causes a great amount of traffic. Additionally, the cafes/resturants, as you can imagine, overcharge like crazy. I met the guy who owned my hostel and he took me to the hotel. It was a nice place with a pool in a fairly good location. The guy (Stavros) could not have been nicer. I put my bag down, changed into some shorts (it was HOT) and walked into the main town, Fira, which took about 20 minutes.

On my way, i found the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, which is where they house a lot of the famous things that they've found while digging on the island, especially from Akrotiri, an important village which got wiped out with that erruption. It's called the "Pompeii of the Aegean," which i think is accurate. There's quite a bit that has been found here, though sadly the main site is closed. The museum makes up for this by housing a lot of the pots and some of the wall paintings from the excavations. I enjoyed the exhibit, as it was simple but interesting.

I then went on to just meander around for a bit, though i quickly found myself looking at the caldera from the top of the cliff in the town. Amazing does not even begin to describe what i saw. The view was simply unbelievable. I just sat there for a few minutes taking the view in. I proceeded then to walk along the streets, looking into shops and in general being a tourist. The town clearly lives off tourism and nearly every shop was touristy, though i didn't mind, the town was still charming.

After a little while, i went on to see a reproduction of the famous Akrotiri wall paintings, which i'd seen in my art class so didn't take too long to admire. I then decided to walk from Fira to Ia, the other famous town on Santorini. This walk is about 6 miles along a combination of car roads and footpaths. While it was a bit difficult at times (there were 2 hills in the way), the views of the caldera more then made up for the issues. While i had to stop frequently to drink water and rest, i had to conciously stop myself from looking at the caldera and move on. Every new spot was a new view, more beautiful then before. The sad thing was that nobody does this walk. I did not see a single other person walking it. Instead, everybody drives or takes a taxi/bus, which is really depressing. Oh well, their loss.

Arriving in Ia, i was obviously tired, so i sat for a little bit and again meandered around the town. After meeting up with a friend, we went to dinner which was very yummy (mmm...garlic dip!) and then went to see the sunset. Sadly, it wasn't the best day for it as the clouds/haze made it less then spectacular, but it was still worth going to see. My friend had rented a car, so we drove back to my hotel, whereupon i simply passed out.

Waking up the next morning, my friend picked me up and we went on to see Ancient Thira, which is on top of a huge mountain. Word of warning...the drive up was very steep and while not trecherous, it wasn't easy. The site itself was not that interesting either. Other then the spectacular view, there's not a lot of famous buildings or other such things to make the trip that worthwhile. Also, some of the sections were closed off, which may have had the cooler things.

We then drove down, and proceeded to go to the southern tip of the island. Here, we saw the Pharos lighthouse (named after the one in Alexandria) and the Red Beach. Both were very cool, the Red Beach was amazing with the colors. You have to hike a bit to get here, so as a beach it's not that impressive, but walking part way just to see it most certainly is.

After this, we had to return the car and wait for a bus to take us to the other famous beaches, either Perissa or Kamari. The buses, however, were not running at their full schedule, so we waited for a while, then after an hour we decided to walk. We got most of the way, then a bus came so we hoped out. The beaches of Perissa and Kamari are composed of black sand and divided by the mountain on which Ancient Thira is built. We went to Perissa, which was fabulous. The beach was nice, and what was interesting was that the bedrock began after only a few feet into the water. The water was fairly warm and actually a lot of fun to play in. I proved my dorkiness by building a sand castle in immitation of Helms Deep (yes, there are pictures) and we had a lot of fun.

The bus again didn't come, so we called a taxi back to Fira. We had dinner, enjoyed the tail end of the sunset, then i went back to my hotel and passed out again. Woke up the next morning, packed my bags, hoped on the ferry and came home. Long trip on the ferry on a not-so-nice boat and got dropped off as far from the metro as possible...not fun. In any case, i made it home and had a really fantastic time. Santorini is the kind of place where you can spend a long time and not get bored. I prob. only did a few things and could easily have done a lot more!

Mykonos/Delos

Last weekend was my first trip to a Cycladic island. The Cyclades are a major chain of islands in Greece, (their shape forms a rough circle, hence Cyclades) famous for their beaches and parties mostly, but also for simple, beautiful towns. Mykonos is no exception. When i first arrived in the main town, i was struck with how different a feel the town was. No cars (with the exception of taxis and the delivery bikes) are allowed in the town, making it a strollers paradise. The streets are so narrow i can hardly think of how cars could even fit through. There were a lot of small shops, mostly selling touristy stuff, but a handful of private jewlery and such shops existed. Walking around, shopping in these shops was an easy way to spend an afternoon/entire day. There were enough coffee shops and bars and tavernas and all sorts of food places to keep one well fed and occupied for a long time.

The most interesting part of town is known as Little Venice. Here, the buildings jut out over the water and a number of expensive resturants/bars have opened up shop. I didn't eat here due to the fairly high prices, but i can imagine watching a gorgeous sunset over the water from here would be spectacular. Another fun place to watch from is where the old windmills are located. I can't remember what this is called, but there are about 5 old windwills still standing on a promentory looking out over the water. From here you can see some of the nearby islands and it's really impressive.

Our hotel was located next to one of the famous beaches on Mykonos, Paradise Beach. The hotel itself wasn't bad for the price, but sadly it was low season so nothing in the area was open. The place was getting ready to fully open, but wasn't quite there yet. One could easily go back into town and bar hop all night, but considering the public transportation wasn't fully operating, doing so was expensive. I therefore remained in my room reading, but did make it out onto the beach at night, which was pretty cool.

On Saturday, we went to Delos. Wow. If you are ANYWHERE near there, go. The amount of ruins and things to see is spectacular. Sadly, i was limited to only 4 hours given the boat schedule, but i could have easily spent another 2 or 3 hours without a problem. The nicest thing about the site is that there are practically no guards, meaning you can go anywhere on the island, and as nobody can stay here but guards/excavators, the island is empty. This provides for a really cool experience of walking around in hallways and rooms that the ancient Greeks and Romans did.

The site map wasn't much use as practically nothing was labelled. It did provide a good overview of the remains which was extremely necessary. My best bet is just go and get lost. Meander around, you'll discover some really neat things. Like in the public bathhouse, i found a toliet still intact with the cistern beneath it. You don't see that every day. Also, the number of mosaics is truly extraordinary. I love mosaics, so i was in heaven!

The museum was pretty cool, though some of it was roped off for some reason. It's definetly worth a detour through, with some more mosaics and wall paintings. My personal favorite was one of Hermes and Athena. Truly exceptional work. Another fun place is the theater on the south side of the island. I really wish i'd gone here first, as by the time i got here i had to rush through. Behind the theater is the ancient cistern which is uncovered now and a number of houses with more mosaics. You literally could get lost around here very easily and quickly. On the way up the big hill, there are temples to the goddess Hera and the "foreign" gods, not quite sure what that meant. At the very top was a shrine to Zeus. I managed to sprint my way up to this in about 10 minutes, so climbing it would prob. take about 30 or so. It's worth it though. The view of both the site and the nearby islands is magnificent. I loved it, totally worth the hot and sweatiness that ensued. Plus, the breeze was nice :-). On the way down, i went hunting very quickly for the Grotto of Heracles (Hercules), but couldn't find it. The grotto is inside the mountain a bit, with the doorway formed naturally by stalagmites/stalagtites. Wish i'd found it, but alas, the ferry was about to leave. You see why i could have spent a great deal more time here.

After some more wanderings around Mykonos Town, we went back to the hotel, slept, woke up the next morning, enjoyed the beach (which was very nice), then caught our ferry home. Long trip (5 hour ferry ride) but it could have been worse. The weather was at least nice. On the whole, a very very very good weekend, a nice change from Athens.

Aegina

Aegina. It's the closest island to Athens and is the first island that i visited here in Greece. It's very easy to get to, you just take one of the many ferries they have per day to there and it's lots of fun. There's not a lot to do, making it really only worth a day trip in my opinion.

You arrive in the main port and you immediately you see that the feel of the town is much different then Athens. There's no cars running by at high speeds, no honking, not as many motorbikes, making it fairly quiet. It's a nice little town, aptly named Aegina town. Those clever Greeks, they're so original :-). On the island there are two main places to go. One is the Temple of Apollo, the other, the Temple of Aphaia. Both are really impressive. Aphaia was my favorite personally. The bus station hardly deserves the name. It's literally a shack with a guy selling tickets. They barely spoke any english, making it difficult to figure out where to go/what to do. Not my idea of fun. We ended up having to take a taxi to Aphaia, which only cost 15 Euros, which isn't bad split 2 ways, but more expensive then the bus which was 1.20 Euros. Oh well.

The Temple of Aphaia was built by the Aeginatians (sp? the people of Aegina) around the 480's BCE. This temple is remarkable as it has two stories of columns, which i've never seen before in a Greek temple. You start to see it later when the Romans develop the arch, but not at this time. It was a beautiful temple, heavily restored to give vistiors an idea of the temple. The museum houses a large number of the finds, including some very helpful historical information on Aphaia/the area and the excavations. While some of the building was carted off by a guy from Bavaria (i think it was Bavaria), it was actually a good thing, as the locals were using the limestone in their kilns to make paint. So he in fact saved the temple, or at least the important stuff. Not bad.

The Temple of Apollo is in a far less well preserved state. Instead of a number of columns, there is only one. This one column is badly damaged, the rest were all melted down (again i think) by the locals. There are also remains of a Byzantine church built in the same area which is always cool, but all the signs were in German/Greek which made figuring out what things were a little difficult. Seeing as it's so close, it's not a bad idea to visit, but it's certainly not the most spectacular place in Greece.

The rest of the time we wandered around the town, visiting shops (most of which were tourist oriented) and enjoying the town. I wasn't overly impressed with the town or island, to be perfectly honest, but it's certainly worth a day trip. It also would work well as a jumping off point to get to other islands.

I'm almost caught up with my trips. Myknonos/Delos were this past weekend, and then i'll be caught up, till my next trip :-).

Delphi

Alright, so now that i've atoned for my sin of forgetting about Thessaloniki, here's my opinon/rant about Delphi.

Delphi was amazing. Hands down. No questions asked. If you even have a small chance to go, go. It's not only a breathtaking site, as it's perched on the side of a valley about 1,000 feet in the air, the ruins are equally impressive. There's so much history here that i could go on for hours, but i'll keep it brief.

So, other than the fact that the site closed insanely earlier than it was supposed to (2:45 when it was supposed to be open till 5:00...Greece....), we spent the first afternoon admiring the lower site from up high. The lower site was mainly comprised of the gymnasium for practicing athletic events, and there was a temple to Athena lower down on the site. I went and saw this the next day, and it was pretty cool. Worth the half hour of meandering around that i did. We also looked at the Kastalian Spring, the holy spring that those who wished to see the oracle bathed themselves in before going into to see her. Sadly, it's been blocked off and now runs down modern pipes, but part of it was exposed so i got to use the water to wash myself a bit. Pretty cool if you ask me (but i'm just a big dork).

Afterwards, a few friends and i decided to climb to the top of a hill (a couple hundred feet or so) to watch the sunset. This was pretty fantastic. Yes it was cold, and we decided in our brilliance to leave the path and climb straight up through the middle of a briar patch, but it was still pretty cool. I at least enjoyed it. The climb down was a little treacherous as we waited a bit too long so we were climbing down in darkness, but the stars were REALLY clear and it was very worth it. I recommend sticking to the path though ;-). We could also see Mt. Parnassus, one of Greece's more famous mountains, behind us. The sunset was pretty amazing to watch as well.

The next day, we did the upper site of Delphi and the museum. So...amazingly...cool!!! There were ruins from the Greeks, the Romans, and the Byzantines, pretty impressive. My favorite (little bit of sarcasm) ancient author, Pausanias, provides a brief description of the path up the Sacred Way to reach the temple. In in, he tells us of all the large and impressive statues, dedications, and treasuries that city states from around the Ancient Greek world had dedicated. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have looked like. On the way up, you can see a reconstruction of the Treasury of the Athenians. Pretty cool, but def. lacking in what it would have looked like in ages past.

The highlight was next, the Temple of Apollo. Here is where the famous Pythian Apollo priestess who was an oracle, would deliver the oracles. There's not a lot left of the temple, but it's foundation is impressive. It was a large terrace that had to be extended to allow for the temple to be constructed. It's believed that the Oracle would wait inside in the middle and deliver the answers to questions from either individuals or city states. What's interesting about her is this. She was most likely high and competely out of her mind. Scholars/scientists have discovered that there is a fault line running underneat the temple which released noxious fumes which can make a person in an enclosed space have an out of body experience. Crazy, huh? So, what's likely is that the oracle would say something completely crazy and the priests would "interpret" what she said into an answer (predetermined, of course) and give that to the person who asked the question. Or, she might have NOT been high, and the answer would be given to her in advance to tell. If you read some of the oracles we have, they are SO vague that they can fit almost any circumstance. My favorite is this one.

Before the Persian Wars, the Persian Empire was trying to seize Greek city states along Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). One of the kingdoms in the area, Lydia, had a famous king named Croesus. He was fabulously wealthy and tried to oppose the Persians. He was trying to decide whether or not to attack the Persians, so he sent a messanger to the Oracle at Delphi. The response he got was "If you go to war, a great nation will fall." Croesus figured that this great nation would be Persia, so he launched his attack and was soundly defeated by the Persians. Having been captured, he asked permission to send another messanger, and this messanger told the oracle that she was wrong. Her response was that he had misinterpreted the oracle. This just shows how vague and funny some of the oracles are.

There's a lot more about the oracle, but i'll just stop there. The 2 other major buildings at the site were the theater and the stadium. The theater was large and impressive, providing a great view of the area and it also was well preserved. The stadium unfortunetly you were not allowed to go into due to the "chance" of a "mudslide." Pah. in any case, it's a fair hike up the hill (takes about 10 minutes) but it's definetly worth it. You get a realllllly nice view, and then the stadium is also not half bad.

We then got on the bus, drove to a town called Arachova, which is famous for its wool (sadly it was low season so not much was open) and then straight home to Athens. All in all, combined with Olympia, this was a spectacular trip!!

Thessaloniki/Northern Greece (Macedonia)

Ok, well, oversight aside, Thessaloniki was pretty cool. It was worth the trip, as i would have gone anyway, but in truth it wasn't fabulous. The city is definetly different and has a unique feel compared with Athens, and the harbor is also very interesting. What's more is that there is a lot more in the way of Roman and Byzantine ruins instead of Classical Greek, which is mostly what Athens is, providing a nice change.

So, the trip up to Thessaloniki was LONG, and i mean LONG with pitstops at Platea, Leuctra, and Chaeronea. Each of these is a battle site from three distinct periods in Greek history. Platea is the famous site where the Greeks in the Persian Wars defeated the Persians for the final time on Greek soil (see the end of 300 if you want more details, it's all there). I'll spare you the long and dry account that the historian Herodotus gives us, because honestly that actually puts me to sleep (i've tried reading it 3 times now). There's not much there, but it's a cool place to look at and think that the Greeks won their freedom at that spot. The next place was Leuctra. A cool battlefield for historian geeks, but otherwise not much there. There's a reconstruction of the monument built by the Thebans afterwards, but that's it. Leuctra basically was where Sparta was defeated (yes, Sparta wasn't invincible) by the Thebans, who took over control of Greece. After the Peloponnesian War (the one with Sparta v. Athens), Sparta had power throughout the Greek world, but this was unpopular and the Thebans threw off this Hegemony and replaced it with their own brief Hegemony. Basically, the Spartans were drunk at the battle and got defeated quite soundly. The final battlefield, Chaeronea, is where Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) defeated the Thebans and Athenians and essentially took control of Greece. A pretty cool place, there's a monument dedicated to the Theban Sacred Band (elite troops) who were killed to the man at the place where the monument stands. Not bad.

We then continued our sojourn up to Thessaloniki, finally arriving around 6pm (we left at 7am). The hotel wasn't bad, minus being on the 7th floor and the 2 elevators only able to take 3 people at a time. I went out to dinner and pretty much passed out afterwards. The next day, we went on to Pella and the birthplace of Aristotle. Pella was disappointing. It was the capital of Macedonia and supposedly one of the greatest cities during the time after the death of Alexander the Great. They were excavating, so there wasn't much to see. This left you with little idea of how large and impressive the site was. There were some very impressive mosaics left on site which were remarkable, but that was it. The palace was closed due to the excavations, so that may have made it more impressive, who knows. The museum had a lot of material in a very small space, with some more impressive mosaics and a number of statues in bronze and marble. In the end though, not very exciting if you're not a history person. The birthplace of Aristotle was pretty fun though. It's a trek to get there, but it has a bunch of hands-on models of some of the ideas that Aristotle came up with, like the tornado tubes and sundials.

When we got back, i went to dinner and had a gyro with not tsatsiki, the cucumber/dill yoghurt that is normal, but ketchup and mustard. An interesting combo to say the least. I then walked along the waterfront of the entire port, which is long, but also very pretty at night. The next morning we did a walking tour of Thessaloniki. We went in and saw the Palace of Galatin, one of the Roman Emperors in the 4th century CE (AD), as well as his Victory Arch and a building known as the Rotunda. They were all pretty cool. The palace had a lot of bricks still standing, and some of the original flooring, and the arch had a lot of detailing, despite it's poor state of preservation. The Rotunda was being rennovated/restored, so it was hard to tell how impressive it would be, but it seemed nice. It got turned into a church, then a mosque, then later a church again. That happens a lot around Greece.

The last day (i think i may be missing something or have done this all incorrectly, but i think you get the idea) we went to Vergina, Dion, Nymphaeon, and Thermopylae. Vergina was the site of the ancient capital (before Pella) of Macedonia. Here were a number of tombs of the kings of Macedonia, as well as another palace/theater. Unfortunetly, both the palace and theater were closed. The theater is famous as it was the place where Philip II was assasinated, leading to the rise of Alexander the Great to the Macedonian throne. The tombs/museum were the highlight in my mind of the trip. There was a large number of cases housing a lot of the artifacts, and the coolest part was the tombs themselves. They were all in-situ (in location), so you walked down a flight of stairs to see them. There are 2 really good ones, one believed to be of Philip II himself, the other of Alexander IV, the son of Alexander the Great. Both of these are in doubt for reasons i won't go into, as they are still pretty impressive regardless. There's a lot of impressive stuff in here and it's well worth the trip.

Nymphaeon was another site with some famous tombs. These were very pretty and interesting to look at, but again, unless you're a history person, they just aren't that impressive and worth the trip. There was another site that i can't remember the name of which had more tombs, but again, not worth it really unless you have a love/passion for such things.

Dion was the last major site we visited. This was a sprawling site at the foothills of Mt. Olympus with a number of Roman and Greek buildings. The theater was well preserved and i think performances are still done every now and then. The rest of the site was enormous, full of ruins of all shapes and sizes. The best preserved sections are Roman, with impressive baths and houses at one end and some temple foundations in another. I really don't remember too much because the weather got so bad trees were falling and it was very very very cold.

Thermopylae wsa the final site. This was little more than a truck stop. The shape of the region has changed dramatically since the 5th century BCE, so there is little to see and you can't get an idea of how the battle took place. The only monuments are a recent one built in honor of Leonidas, the king of Sparta who died there, and the burial mound of the Spartans who died. Not very much for such a cool spot. The battlefield took on a symbolic role in the coming centuries, as other groups have made last stands there. In the 3rd century BCE, the king of the Seluccid Empire, Antiochus III, stood here against the Romans, but was defeated in EXACTLY the same way as the Greeks were 2 centuries earlier (they found a path leading around the pass and attacked the Seluccids from behind). Even in the modern day, during WWII when the Germans invaded Greece, the British made their last stand at Thermopylae, and got utterly creamed. So, Thermopylae has a record of no wins and many losses for those who stand there. I wonder why people keep fighting here??

Anway, we got back to Athens, and I passed out from exhaustion. A long weekend with a number of disappointments, but some highlights. Overall, I'd say that unless you truly enjoy/know Greek history and have a LOT of time on your hands, Thessaloniki is prob. not worth someone's time. Better off going to the Islands or some of the more famous, closer ancient Greek sites.

Olympia/Pylos

So the final school sponsored trip that i went on was to Olympia, Pylos (just my class) and Delphi. I'm going to cover Olympia/Pylos first, then Delphi seperately. There's just so much to cover!

So the bus ride to Olympia took about 5 hours. Not the worst ever, when compared with the trip to Thessaloniki. Which whoops, i forgot to talk about!!! Yikes. Next thing to get done! So we arrived and the weather looked downright grim, all weekend. But thankfully it didn't rain for much of the time. We checked into the hotel, which was verrrrry nice, but the staff was soooo mean/inpolite, it wasn't even funny. They always gave us this cold stare of...not hatred, but annoyance. But we weren't even doing anything wrong! Whatever.

So we went to the Olympia site that afternoon and quickly went through the site. There's mostly ruins here, but it's a rather large site with a lot of buildings. Many of them are gyms, where the atheletes would train to compete in the games. To compete, a person had to be the son of free parents, meaning that he was free, be a Greek (though this would change), and come to Olympia one month before the games began to train/learn how to properly take part in the games. Once their training was complete and the games began, people from ALL over Greece (and i mean ALL over) came to Olympia. Crowds of 100,000 people were not out of the realm of possibility. There were no hotels, so people lived in tents on marshy fields for about a week while the games took place.

All these buildings were built outside of the Sanctuary wall. What's important to know is that the Olympic games were considered to be a sacred tradition. There was a peace imposed two weeks before and after the games to allow travellers safe passage to and from the games. This peace (over the course of close to 1,000 years) was only broken a few times, so highly did the Greeks view the Olympics. The gyms were not the only type of buildings at Olympia. There were also a number of temples dedicated to the various deities. The most famous was that of the Temple of Zeus.

This temple was a massive Dorian (simple column type) temple constructed around 470-450 BCE was a predecessor to the Parthenon. The same guy, Praxidalis (don't worry, you don't have to remember his name, i'm just enlightening you with facts you can pull out at dinner conversations :-)) later went on to build the Parthenon itself. The temple was massive, the column drums easily were as tall as I was (so 6-7 feet wide and tall), so you get an idea of how big they were. The friezes above depicted famous scenes from Greek mythology which i won't bore you with. The highlight of the temple was the famous statue of Zeus. It was one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World. The statue itself was over 20 meters (65 feet) tall SITTING DOWN, and supposedly if it stood up, it would break a hole through the roof! It was covered with ivory and gold, but was not solid. Instead, it had a wooden structure around which the ivory and gold were inlaid. Below was a pool of olive oil which reflected light up up onto the statue, making it a truly impressive sight.

Sadly nothing remains of this statue, and the temple itself was destroyed in the 5th Century CE (AD) by the dirty-good-for-nothing Theodosius II, a Christian emperor of Rome (rather Constantinople at the time) who ordered all Pagan practices to end and all Pagan temples/relics to be destroyed. Hence, all the columns of the temple were pushed/pulled down and much of what was there was destroyed. Thankfully not everything was destroyed, but he sure caused a lot of headaches for modern historians.

The final building we went to see was the Stadium. This was where most of the action during the Olympic Games took place. The most famous races consisted of foot and chariot races, though there was also discus, javelin, wrestling, and my personal favorite, the pankration. Here, the only rules were, 1) no poking of the eyes, and 2) no biting. Other than that, anything went, from breaking arms to choking, whatever you needed to do to get your opponent to submit. There were no built seats at Olympia, rather you sat on the slope. The highlight of the games was the stade, which was a sprinting race similar to the 100 meter dash in today's games. This race varied in length, as the runner ran the length of the stadium once. Some were longer, some were shorter, Olympia's was 200 meters. After running that, let me tell you from personal experience...not fun. You get about 100 meters in and realize you're only halfway there.

Once you won your event, you recieved a laurel crown and made sacrifices to Zeus in the temple. When you returned to your city-state, that was when the real celebration began. A section of the citiy's wall was ripped down for the victor to endter through and he recieved free meals...for life. That, and a lot of attention. Not bad.

On the next day, we went to Pylos. Pylos is best remembered for it's Mycenaean (remember them?) palace that appears to have been a immensely important palace. it controlled a large area and had many of it's remains preserved due to the fire which destroyed the complex. I won't bore you with another long summary of the Mycenaeans, but what's notable was that some of the original painting/carvings were still visible, an impressive fact considering it's about 3,000 years old.

We then went down in Pylos town to have lunch. There was a cool Venetian castle on top of the hill which provided an excellent view of the town. It also provided a nice view of Sphacteria, the island off the coast which creates a nice sheltered port. Without going much into detail, Sphacteria was the location of major engagements in two sepearate time periods. During the Peloponnesian War, some Spartan hoplites got trapped on the island by the Athenians. They managed to hold out for a while on the island on very meager rations while the Sparatans back home sued for peace. It's a long section in Thucydides, our source on the war, but i won't go more into detail. Essentially, the Spartans surrendered in the end. The other major engagement was during the Greek war of Independence. Here, the British, French, and Russian navies met the Ottoman and Egyptian fleets in the last major battle of the Age of Sail. The Ottomans and Egyptians were SOUNDLY defeated by the others, leaving the door open for Greek independence to begin. Kinda crazy.

On our last day in Olympia, we went to the museum, which had a lot of bronzes and sculptures and such, which again i won't bore you with. I couldn't do half of it justice, but essentially it houses the remains of the pedimental sculpture of the Temple of Zeus. The other major work was the sculpture by Praxidaleis of Hermes and Dionysus, which is supposed to be the most perfect representation of the human form (sorry David, not quite realistic there ;-)). I had my problems with it, but it was overlal pretty impressive.

We then went on to Delphi, after passing over a cool bridge between the Pelopenesse and Central Greece which is designed to withstand a tsunami, yup, a tsunami, and to expand as the tectonic plates seperate in the region.

On to Delphi, after i post about Thessaloniki (d'oh!)

Istanbul

Ok, well, minus the whole getting a major stomach virus thing and not sleeping on Friday night, Istanbul was pretty amazing. Here's what i did.

We arrived on Thursday night. The ride to the hostel was not bad, nor were the accomidations. We were right next to all the major sites, which was pretty sweet, and it was inexpensive, making it a real bonus. We checked in and then walked up to see the Agia Sophia and Blue Mosque at night. They were gorgeous, and made me excited for seeing them in the light the next day.

Friday, we woke up early and did the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, and Agia Sophia before lunch. The Blue Mosque was my favorite. It it a really impressive building inside. The architectural style is nothing like the Roman or Greek stuff I've seen while i've been here, but i can see the influences. There were arches and columns, and instead of mosaics or paintings, it was all simply decorated with floral designs. But they were EVERYWHERE! The columns themselves were equally enormous, dwarfing anything i have yet seen. And to think this was a place of prayer blew my mind. The next stop was the Cistern. This was built by the Byzantines to supply Byzantium (as it was called then) with a water supply. i believe it was fed by an aqueduct nearby. In any case, it was an gigantic underground structure. I think there were something like 400 columns supporting the roof. There wasn't much light, but you got the impression of how big the place was immediately. There were even fish swimming around in the water. There also were some colums with interesting designs, one with circular spirals and another with 2 Medussa heads (why, i just don't know).

The final stop of the morning was the Agia Sophia. This building i found to be a bit disappointing. I've heard so much about it, how amazing and immense and grand, and maybe it was the fact that it was being restored, but i wasn't that impressed. I'm not saying that it wasn't worth the trip, but it was a let down given how built up it was. Parts of the paint were pealing and the dome was being repaired, (and there were pigeons flying around) which is not a good sign. Other than that, i enjoyed it. The architecture was superb, and seeing a Christian church/Islamic mosque rolled up into one was interesting. A lot of both survived.

After lunch/wandering around a bit, we went on the Palace of the Sultan. This was the highlight. We could have easily spent another full day in here without any problem. There were several small collections within the Palace structure itself. Each one was interesting in its own right, but the obvious highlights were the jewels and treaure. Holy cow was this stuff impressive!! Remember how i didn't like the Habsburg crown jewels? Well, the Sultan's put the Hapsburgs to shame. Ornate swords, immense diamonds/gems, and huge golden thrones, to name a few. There also was an interesting collection on the religious iconography of Islam, such as the footprint of i think John the Baptist and Moses' staff. I doubt the veracity of these items, but they were still interesting to look at.

The last place inside the palace we went was the Harem. Unfortunetly, you have to pay another 10 Turkish Lira (about $7) to enter, but it's totally worth it. The architectural detailing and simplicity of it all was unbelievable. The Sultan and his harem women sure lived well. It's good to be the Sultan :-).

This was when i got sick, unfortunetly. So Friday night and most of Saturday i spent recovering. I did manage to get up and do a cruise along the Bosphorus, which if i hadn't fallen asleep during i think would have been pretty cool. Oh well, what i did see was pretty awesome. Then on Sunday, we went to the nearby Aqueduct (which i've never seen one that i can remember, gasp) and then just wandered around the Sultanplatz for a little bit, through the Hippodrome and such. We did see the Tripod which the names of all the Greek city-states who opposed the Persians in the Persian Wars were inscribed, which was pretty awesome. Too bad the names have worn away. It was still cool.

We flew back into Athens on Sunday, and found out the number of people who had been sick. Then it was off to classes on Monday.

Next up, Olympia/Pylos/Delphi...yay!

Berlin/Dresden

Well, seeing as i'm in Istanbul at the moment and feel sick, why not post about Berlin? I've got nothing better to do.

So, Berlin. We arrived with little problem despite the threatened strike on the long-distance trains. As we soon learned though, the local metro and bus workers were striking. So we had to walk everywhere or pay for cabs, neither proposition seemed like fun. We decided to walk, so we struck out for the main highlights down past Alexanderplatz to the Unter den Linden and saw some of the shops and such. We then walked past/through the Bradenburg Gate. This was pretty cool. It's an enormous gate with a large bronze statue on top. There wasn't much to do other than read a bit about its history, then move on.

Next stop was the Reichstag, another drive-by. Again, a very large, impressive building, but not much else to it. I may have just been exhausted, but none of it was all that impressive. We then walked through the Tiergarten a bit to get to the art museums to the south. We visited the Gemaldgallerie, which houses a lot of great works of art. I'm not a huge fan of art for the most part, but i did like most of it. The audioguide was helpful, but oftentimes it went into too much detail about the past and really slowed me down when all I really was looking for was who painted it, why, and what's depicted. So I ended up skipping most of the info and giving a lot of what was in there a cursory look. But overall, I really enjoyed it. It was certainly worth a trip, even if you're not a big fan of art.

At this point, I wanted to go and see the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial, which was a few miles away, so i left the others and proceeded on. On the whole, it was not likely worth the trip, but it was still interesting. If the metro had been running it would have been more worthwhile, but walking 4 miles or so round trip didn't make it appealing. I did however find a Dunkin Doughnuts (shush, I needed something American and i've been craving doughnuts for a while) which made for a good lunch. On my way back to the hostel, i passed by Checkpoint Charlie, which was pretty cool. They had both sides of the street lined with information about Berlin and the Cold War. I didn't know most of it, so it was reall interesting. A bit too much at times, but overall pretty good. I almost missed the actual checkpoint itself, but I saw it across the street. It was about to rain, so i almost ran back to my hostel. I did stop at what i think was Book Burning Square, but it wasn't really marked. Overall, I walked about 13 miles that day. Ouchie.

On Wed. we travelled to Dresden. This was an expensive train ride, but worth it. I knew basically nothing about the city other than it was firebombed and burned pretty much to the ground. But it was a gorgeous city. Perfect for walking around in and looking at pretty buildings. The Zwinger was our first stop which was an art gallery inside of one of the most amazing buildings i've seen. The gallery was equally impressive with several Peter Paul Rubins and even an El Greco. There was an armory exhibit next door which I saw, along with other galleries like porcelain and sculpture. I didn't go to these, but they looked cool. We then proceeded to walk around the city, walking into the churches and such. The Albertium was closed, but it wasn't a problem. We were pretty tired, so took the train and got back to Berlin around 10.

On the last day, we went to Museum Island. Mainly the Pergammon and the Altes Museums. Both were pretty cool. The Pergammon had a lot of Islamic and Middle-Eastern art, which was a major change for me, and the famous Pergammon Altar. I'll admit, I didn't see it on my way in. I had no clue what it looked like or what it was. Upon figuring it out, i thought it was pretty cool. There were depictions of all the gods and goddesses which for me were cool. There were some fun sculptures and pottery. There was a wierd exhibit upstairs on museums in the 21st century which i breezed through. It was then on to the Altes. This museum had a lot of Greek pottery and sculpture on one floor and Egyptian on the next. They had the famous Bust of Nefretiti (spelling?) and some really cool statues. All in all, i actually learned a lot about cultures i didn't know much about before, so all in all, a very good trip.

We left on Thursday afternoon, flew back into Athens, whereupon i quickly went to sleep. I woke up and picked up Emily from the airport, then went on to Nafplion. All in all, a good Spring Break.

Next up, Istanbul (puking aside).

Salzburg

Next on my itinerary over Spring Break was the city of Salzburg. As i said before, i took the train from Vienna to Salzburg, which was not a bad trip. However, upon arriving in Salzburg, it was pretty late (around 7 or 8 if i remember correctly) and we were fairly hungry. So we went out in search of a bite to eat, but horribly failed. Then, when we tried to decipher the bus system, we failed again. So we ended up taking a cab to our hotel, which turned out to way out in the middle of nowhere near the airport. It wasn't a bad hotel at all, 3 stars and all that and the owners were REALLY nice. We had dinner at the chinese (yes, sadly chinese) resturant next door to the hotel and then went to bed. We watched some TV, but the majority of it was in German (the funniest part was seeing Troy dubbed in German...oh boy).

Next morning, we got up and checked out. We got a map and figured out the bus system, so we took a bus in after getting a Salzburg Card. This was an extremely good deal, as for 24 hours you get free access on all the buses and free admission to most of the sites. All for 21 euros! So the first site we went to was the Hohensalzburg, the major fortress on top of the hill next to the city. This is the best preserved castle in all Europe as it was never captured. Used by the Archbishop Princes of Salzburg to defend the area from the Germanic princes, the castle was impressive. There was a great deal of fabulous artwork and design, and several fun exhibits, like the Torture museum or the marianette museum. The highlight was the guided tour around the main rooms, but if you didn't know what you were looking for or just stumbled across it, you'd never really know. We only came upon it by chance. It was free though so well worth it. There is a SPECTACULAR view of the area from up on top and a few other fun things.

Aftewards, we went down into the old town and walked through St. Peter's Cemetary and the church. Very elegant and beautiful with baroque detailing. We then walked down the Getreidegasse which is this very narrow street with buildings of 5 stories surrounding it. It was a very cool street with lots of little stores and cafes. We finished up here and then had to go to the trainstation to make sure our train was running (long story, but very quickly, German train workers threatened to strike, so we almost didn't make it to Berlin) which it was. So we then went on to see the Cathedral in the old town, which was drop dead gorgeous. Everything was highly ornate and detailed, with several areas for prayer/communion and the central altar. My favorite feature was that part of the organ was placed at the front of the church along the 4 main columns, which must make an amazing accoustic sound.

Then we grabbed lunch, then proceeded to meander around for a little bit in search of Mozart's birthplace, which we saw but did not go into. Next was the Residenz, where the Archbishop of Salzburg lived, but sadly they were closed for some reason or another. Very sad, as I hear they are spectacular. Instead, we found Mozart's statue in a square and visited an internet cafe. We then crossed the river and went to see the Mirabell Gardens, which were starting to come into bloom, so it was fairly nice. After meandering through, we went in search of Mozart's home, which i confused for the concert hall (EVERYTHING in Salzburg was named for him, i swear). We did finally find the house, but it was a real disappointment. Virtually NOTHING was original. It was all replicas and reproductions, so while it was cool to see how things looked, it was defintely lacking in terms of impressivness.

At this point, we decided we were done seeing all the sights, we went around looking for any last minute gifts we wanted, then made our way back to the hotel, got our bags, came back into the old town to get dinner (I had a good German beer :-) ) then it was off to the trainstation to go to Berlin! We stopped in Munich for about 40 minutes, then got on the train to Berlin. It was a good trip, the couchlette was not that uncomfortable and the ride was quick and smooth. I got up around 7am, woke myself up, then upon arriving in Berlin made our way to the hostel in Berlin, despite the fact that the Berlin metro and buses were not functioning. Which leads me to Berlin and my amazing day of walking. Next time :-)

Vienna

So, the first stop on my trek around Austria and Germany was Vienna. Quite possibly one of my favorite cities that i've ever seen. It was filled with tasteful and simple buildings, but never lacking in elegance. Unlike France and places like Versaille, the Hapsburgs seemed to rather hold true to the idea that a simple, tasteful style of architecture was better than a gaudy, ornate style. None of the buildings screamed extreme wealth, but it was clear which buildings were built by the monarchy and which were not. There was a great deal of Roman-styled architecture, and the Baroque style was clearly prefered.

On the first day, we got off the plane (which reminds me to talk about Swiss Airlines. Incredible. Extremely efficent, well mannered, clean flights, quick, everything was exceptional) and made our way to the hostel. There is a bus that connects the airport to the two main trainstations in Vienna for a fairly cheap price (12 euro). Upon arriving at the hostel, we put our bags down and decided to explore the old city a bit. We got on the metro (which is expensive compared with Athens, 1.70 euros for a trip compared to .80 in Athens) and got to St. Stephen's Cathedral. This cathedral, while lacking the immensity of St. Peters and St. Pauls, it is nevertheless extraordinary. The main spire is 445 ft tall, dwarfing all the others. We were only able to get to the top of the northern tower, but still managed to get an impressive view of the city. The catherdal itself was gorgeous, built in the 12th century CE in the Gothic style. There were several small altars which were relatively ornate. My favorite part was the pulpit, which was carved with the reliefs of several saints. I was impressed with the detailing on each.

After leaving St. Stephen's, we walked around the main street, Kaerntner Strasse, and saw a large number of American/chain stores, which was refreshing after traveling around in Athens where there are virtually none of these. We also made our way into St. Peter's Church, which was incredible. The style was clearly baroque, with ornate gold stucco and designs on the ceiling. The organ even was insanely decorated, black with gold leafing. I could have spent hours in here, for while it's a small church, it really is beautiful. Following some more meandering, where we found the Opera house and the Hoffburg (more later), we went to a Viennese wine tavern, where we had wine and Burenwurst, which was very good. We soon fell asleep back in our hostel as we had been going for over 18 hours.

The next morning, we got up and went to the Spanish Riding School. This was truly impressive. While the tickets were expensive, even for standing room, the building was very gorgeous and the horses were truly worth the price. The ability of these horses was remarkable. How they manage to rear up on their two legs and keep their rider on is beyond me. They also do a wide variety of other moves, such as jumping and clicking their rear feet together. The discipline of both the horse and rider was clear, and totally worth the trip (I may have a slightly biased view because of Emily, but they were still impressive).

Afterwards, we went to a Viennese coffee house where i had goulash, which was REALLY good. After our feet recovered, we went on to the Hoffburg apartments, which was pretty, but not spectacular. The apartments house the Imperial china, the Sisi Museum, and then the actual apartments. I liked the simplicity of many of the plates and dishes used, but there were clearly some table settings and dishes which were designed to show off the wealth of the Hapsburgs. Many of the dishes were for everyday use, and unlike with other monarchies (*cough*French*coughcough*) they weren't ridiculous. There were clearly some that were simple. Beyond the china was the Sisi Museum, which sadly I knew nothing about. So therefore I was confused at first as to who Sisi was (she was the wife of Franz Joseph, the emperor of Austria just before WWI) so I did not get much out of the exhibit. Much of what was there was replicas, so i felt the exhibit was sort of a flop overall. The apartments were,again, suprisingly bare and simple. Franz Joseph apparently liked to live a Spartan lifestyle so there is not much to see. Overall, the apartments were worth a trip, but only just.

I have to say the biggest disappointment on the trip was the Imperial Treasury. I will admit that i have seen the Russian and British Crown Jewels, but these were wimpy in comparison. I was very much disappointed by the lack of jewels and gold. In addition, all the signs were in GERMAN, so i couldn't READ any of it. So therefore, i knew what NONE of it was! Very frustrating when you spent 7.50 euro (and while there was a free audio guide, i didn't want to take up a great deal of time listening to a long winded explanation of what something was). The exhibit should have been accessible to people without the guide, or they should have said "we highly recommned the audio guide." Whatever.

That night we went to go see the opera "La Forza de Destiny" by Verdi. I really liked it, but sadly we had really bad standing room seats (but they were only 2.50 euro) so i couldn't stand for more than an act. The opera house itself was spectacular and well worth a trip. We then went bar hopping in the Bermuda Triangle where there are 25 bars within 3 blocks, which was really fun.

The next morning, we got up and went to the Schonborn Palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburgs. Really nice outside, but simple inside. There was not a whole lot here other than some replica furniture. I know i shouldn't expect everything to be real, so i'll cut them some slack. Overall, I really liked it. There were some REALLY fabulous rooms at the end of the tour which again, where not ostentatious but rather a refined elegance which i admired greatly. The outside palace gardens were not in bloom yet sadly, but i can imagine what they were like in the spring bloom. The Roman victory arch on top of the hill was also pretty cool, but it was turned into a cafe, major bummer. You could see people running through the park, as it's open to the public for free. Afterwards, there was an Easter (i think) open market in the grounds outside, where we got some food (i got a pizza pretzel, suprisingly good).

Finally, we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which houses a large number of Greek and Egyptian artworks, and even more works of art from the Rennaisannce. I'm not a big fan of art but i found it to be all facinating and worth a visit. There were some famous works of art (don't ask, i don't remember) and overall it was pretty cool. You guys know me and art, it's more of a i walk through and see a pretty picture and like it then admiring the positioning of the figures and such. Sorry :-)

Afterwards, we got back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and got on the train to Salzburg, which was a pleasant trip as Austrian railroads were suprisingly efficent, but fairly expensive. Upon arriving in Salzburg, we made our way to our hotel by cab, which now gets me to Salzburg, which is an entirely seperate entry. More later I promise!

Spring Break

I know, I know it's been a while since I last posted. My computer's death makes it difficult to post long blogs, but I promise I will soon update you all as to what I did over Spring Break. I promise, the wait will be worth it. I plan to do an entry on each place I went to, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin and Dresden. Look for these entries in the days to come! There won't be pictures sadly till i get back home, so you'll just have to use your imaginations for all that i'm describing. Sorry!! Blame my computer!

Sparta

So this weekend was the class trip to Sparta. I knew from the start that there wasn't going to be much, as the Spartans were not known for their great engineering talents, but rather their amazing abilities at war (See 300) if you need to know more. As the writer Thucydides wrote in the 5th Century BCE (that's BC, it's a history thing), "Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples and the ground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that the power of the Lacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame." After developing into the powerful city-state that beat Athens near the end of the 5th century BCE and establishing a hegemony throughout Greece, Sparta wound up losing power fairly quickly. It had a brief resurgence during the Roman period, but soon, very few people lived there. With the building of the city of Mystra in the Renaissance, the Eurotas Valley became completely abandoned. Therefore, when King Otto I, the first king of Greece, came to power, he ordered the construction of a city on top of the ancient site. This has led to a major headache for archaeologists, as the ancient ruins are now located under people's personal property.

Anyway, enough of my history tirade. As i have said, there wasn't much, and none of the sites were developed in any way. However, that doesn't mean that the sites were not impressive. While they lacked the refinement of the Acropolis, each ruin possessed its own charm. Our first visit was to the Menelaion, which was the ancient temple dedicated to Menelaus, the first king of Sparta and his wife Helen (of Helen of Troy fame). This was a rather simple temple, but as it was built during the 8th century BCE, it demonstrated some impressive architetural knowledge with its large, well-fitted stones. Also, from here we got our first view of the modern Spartan city, and the infamous Mt. Taygetus. This mountain range rose out of nowhere to be as high as the clouds. The river Eurotas is one of the few rivers in Greece which runs 365 days a year, making the valley incredibly fertile. Also near the Menealion was a Mycenaean villa, basically a large house which was fairly well reconstructed and impressive in its own right.

After lunch and a hike back, we checked into the hotel, then went for a hike to the Temple of Artemis Orthia and the Acropolis. The Temple of Artemis Orthia is fairly well known throughout the ancient world. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it, I hadn't until i became a history dork. But you may remember it as the temple where the Spartan youths were divided into two groups, one in front of the main altar holding whips, and the other group in front. The boys with whips were to keep the other boys from grabbing pieces of cheese off the altar. The ceremony would not end until blood was spilled on the altar. Kinda bloody and unnerving, but better than later on when it became an endurance contest with the last man standing after a whipping winning the "contest."

The Acropolis is especially impressive. It's now part park, part private property. There were a number of ruins on the hill (Acropolis doesn't refer to just the one in Athens, an Acropolis is a large hill), namely a Roman era theater. This theater rivals that of Epidaurus in my opinion, and is going to be excavated again soon. With a view of the Eurotas Valley and Mt. Taygetus, you'd be hard pressed to find a more gorgeous view. There were remnants of a Roman bath and a number of inscriptions. After a long day, we went back to the hotel, went to dinner, had some fun, and went to sleep.

In the morning, we visited the Sparta museum, which was in sore need of restoration and repair. Nevertheless, it still contained a number of important works of art from Sparta, including some impressive lead and bronze figurines. After this, we went on to the the Amyklaion, a temple to Apollo. This temple lacked any remains pretty much at all, and the only highlight was finding some cool pottery shards which sadly i could not keep. Sadly, we had to kill time here, so many of us just sat back and enjoyed the sunshine. Our final visit to the Caidas, the great pit where the Spartans would throw their prisoners, a somewhat recent cave in/earthquake made the site unsafe, so we were unable to travel inside. A somewhat big disappointment.

On the whole, what we saw was impressive, but there was not much beyond what you could see in a day or two. The modern city itself was even disappointing, with many dilapidated buildings and run down streets. I don't recommend Sparta for those who have no knowledge of ancient history, as you'd be terribly lost and confused without it, and even then, you still may be disappointed and confused.

Argolid and snow in Athens

This weekend was the first of the school field trips I'm going to have over the next few weeks. This one was to the region of the Peloponnese known as the Argolid. It's the region that is in the northeastern section of the peninsula. This region has been settled since the beginning of history, with settlements dating from the Bronze Age all the way to the modern day. It's a fairly agriculturally rich area with mountains, plains, rivers, and a gorgeous ocean view.

While I was there, I went to Mycenae, Tiryns, Epidaurus, and Nafplion. Essentially, I saw settlements dating from all the major periods in Greek history. Mycenae and Tiryns date from the Mycenaean period, Epidarurus from the Classical and Roman, and Nafplion is mostly a modern/17th century and beyond. Each place had it's own individual character and each was gorgeous in it's own right.

The first stop was the Corinth Canal. Minus the horribly overpriced market there, the actual canal itself was pretty spectacular. Unlike with the Panama Canal with it's locks, this one is just a straight shot, carved about two hundred or so feet down. It's quite imposing/scary. The water was fairly blue and it was certainly worth a stop.

After the pit stop, we pressed on to Mycenae. In mythology, Agamemnon called Mycenae home (he's the guy that attacked Troy). Discovered/excavated by Henriech Schliemann in the late 1800's, Mycenae was an impressive citadel which controlled the surrounding area. Today, it's still a daunting sight with it's tremendously large stone walls and gorgeous view. The first thing we looked at was a tholos tomb. Essentially, the Mycenaeans built a large stone structure, then covered it all with dirt. The most incredible fact is that, given the design, if they were off by more than a MILLIMETER, the entire thing would collapse. Just think about that. It's a hard feat to pull off even today, and these were built around 1400 BC!! The other remarkable feature was the relieving triangle in the front. It was remarkably similar to the Roman arch, but again, that would not be invented for another 1000 years at least! As we walked towards the actual citadel, the walls began to tower over me. The stones were enormous (some as big as me), and the walls themselves were several times as tall as i am. The Lion Gate guarded the entrance, at one point holding a massive door. Minus the grave circles which i'll skip, there wasn't much else. There was most def. a gorgeous view, and some other things that don't really excite non-dorky history majors. The only other notable thing was the large cistern that was carved down 3 long flights of stairs and could contain enough water for 3 months. Tiryns was pretty much the same, some very large (bigger than Mycenae) walls and some cisterns and a meeting hall.

After Mycenae, we traveled on to Nafplion, the original capital of independent Greece. The city has a long history, stretching all the way back to the Mycenaean era. The Venetians and Ottomans fought heavily for this area, as it is a very good natural harbor. As such, it has several impressive fortifications on top of some large hills. The most impressive was the Palamidi, which was built by the Venetians, but quickly taken by the Ottomans due to a traitor. The castle was enormous, with 900 some odd (i counted 902, but other people got different tallies) and several bastions within the walls. You literally could get lost for hours, and it would make the ultimate site for a game of hide and go seek. I climbed up the night before we actually went there and got an gorgeous view of the harbor. The other amazing castle was the Bourtsi in the middle of the harbor. At a good sunset, it creates a beautiful picture. There were some really good tavernas and one exceptional gellato place with really good Italian ice cream. I also went to a wine tasting and learned about Greek wines. If you're ever here, for a red, get one from Nemea, for a white, go for one from Mantinea.

The final stop on the trip was at Epidaurus, home to the sanctuary of Aesciplus, the god of healing, and the best preserved ancient theater in the world. It probably has the best acoustics anywhere, even today. Even in the last row, you could hear a coin dropped on the stage or a person scuffing their feet on the ground. Performances are still done today in that space, unfortunately in the summer, so i can't see one, but i hear they are spectacular. The backdrop behind the actors was equally impressive, with large mountains rising up, green trees and plains. The sanctuary of Aesciplus was where people came to be healed. This was a major site with hotels in the area to provide for visitors. Apparently, a person came to be healed had to perform the proper rituals and provide payment before treatment. Treatment consisted of being knocked out with drugs, while the priests cured what was wrong with you as best they could. The idea however was that Aesciplus came to the patient in their dreams and healed them there. There were some pretty funny stories told to us by my professor of cases that came to the sanctuary. After treatment, the patient had to provide a sacrifice within a year. Overall, there was not much left at the site, mostly ruins. There was a stadium for athletics and the actual sanctuary itself, but all were in ruins. The Greek gov't is testing out new ways of preservation by rebuilding much of the site using modern materials to differentiate from the ancient. In my opinion, the end result is an ugly blend of classic and ancient. But who am i to judge?

The other major development was it snowed here in Athens! Yes, snowed! And not just a little bit, a legitimate 3-5 inches. I had a snow day in fact because of the weather which was an unexpected bonus. It's quite the sight. Sadly it won't last for very long, with temperatures expected to reach 60 by Wednesday. Everything is pretty much shut down, but it's not bad. It's an experience that is not soon forgotten.

Athens (Sorta) Weekend

So this weekend, I was lame/exhausted, so I stayed in Athens. Yea yea i know, I fail at providing amazing new pictures, but the weather was sooooo bad here it wouldn't have made much difference. It was very windy (the balcony doors almost blew open a few times), cloudy, and somewhat rainy. So I stayed in Athens and watched some DVDs and slept.

I did manage to get some things done on Friday. I went to the local farmers market which is quite a sight. The entire street gets closed down weekly and local vendors come in to sell their produce. Some of it they buy and then resell, but some of it is grown locally. Chefs from the area buy all their weekly produce here. As you walk down the street, vendors shout out the goods they are selling and try and get you to buy from them. I was very impressed. The food I got was in pretty good shape, and pretty cheap. Now i really can't wait until spring when the strawberries come into season, because they look amazing.

I also managed this weekend to go to two museums (yes, me in a museum...it's a amazing thing). These weren't your typical museums however. The first was the Numismatics Museum. Numismatics is a big fancy word for the study of coins. The collection apparently houses over 600,000 coins from all ages, all the way from the ancient Greeks and Persia all the way to the modern day with the Euro and Dollar. Some were quite impressive in their detailing, even the ancient coins. The display was not the most easy to follow, as i apparently went backwards at times. If i didn't know what i was looking at, i wouldn't have known what was going on in the ancient coins. The very first gallery is made up of collections from individuals, so there is no order to them. Once you get to the second floor, there is a lot more of organization. The most fantastic part of this museum is that it was the house of Heinrich Schliemann. For those of you who are not ancient historians (I only know this because i'm a history dork), he was the man who in the 19th century discovered Troy and Mycenae. He discovered these by using Homer, so is a bit of a crackpot, but overall he contributed greatly to our understanding of ancient Greek history. His house is in Athens, built in the Neoclassical style, and is rather impressive. Unfortunately i got there about an hour before it closed, so i had to rush through, but i plan on going back.

The other museum i visited was also a former house, but this time for a wealthy family named the Benaki's. This is truly an impressive museum. It contains art starting from the early Minoan and Cycladic civilizations all the way to the late Byzantine and Ottoman. Best of all, it was free for students, so the price was most certainly right. I enjoyed the first two floors, but was getting tired, so i rushed through by the end. There were 2 more floors, but they did not interest me very much (they were from the more recent era). Who knows, maybe I'll go back and visit. The museum does contain several impressive pieces of art, and is most certainly worth a visit.

Next weekend, I'm traveling on a school field trip to the Argolid, which is the northeastern part of the Peloponnese. Not quite sure what the itinerary is, but Nafplion, Corinth, Tiryns, Mycenae, and Epidarus are in the area, so I'm sure i'll be going to some of them! Plus, spring break is going to be in Austria and Germany, so you KNOW there will be good pictures!

Meteora

So, this weekend with a bunch of friends, we went up to Meteora. I personally had never heard of this place before, but it got 3 out of 3 stars in my Frommers guide, and let me tell you, it was totally worth it.

To get up there, we took a train from Larissa Station to Kalambaka, which took about 5 hours, give or take. The train ride was remarkably smooth and relaxing, despite it's length. It wasn't even that expensive, costing 30 euros round trip, or about 45 dollars. Upon arriving, we got off the train and went exploring for a hotel. The one we found was no Hilton or Sheraton, but it did the job for a night.

I guess i should explain what Meteora is, because i for one knew next to nothing about it before a friend suggested that we take a trip up. Meteora is best known (and famous for) the enormous rocks/mountains which dominate the landscape. Easily rising 500, if not more, feet in the air, Eastern Orthodox Christian monks/nuns have constructed several monasteries over the past 1000 years. Some are abandoned, but 6 are still in use. I visited 3 of them which were open, but walked by 2 more which were closed, so i saw most of them. The artwork was exquisite, the view extraordinary, and the building incredible. How people managed to build anything on top of these peaks is mind boggling.

Some of the monasteries were run by the monks/nuns, each charged a few euros for entrance. The churches were all the same though, having a similar layout and structure, with similar paintings and designs. That didn't detract from how spectacular and unique each one was. The Great Meteron was certainly the most fantastic, with both a gorgeous view, large building, and several museums/relics on display. Sadly, i didn't see any monks at this one, as it was run by others. Very sad. The same was true for Varlaam, which there was not much to see. The first one, run by nuns, called St. Stephens, was prob. my favorite, as you could talk to the nuns, and there was a great deal of room to walk around in.

How these mountains formed was another question. Apparently, the plain of Thessaly was once an ocean, so the mountains formed through geological/volcanic activity, then were left when the ocean emptied out. There was no method or plan, they were all different shapes and sizes. The pictures I took were sadly not the same as the actual view. You needed to take a taxi in order to reach anywhere, as it was a long walk to reach anywhere.

The town itself was simple and quaint, a major change from Athens. There were small shops, many geared towards tourists, but i wasn't complaining. Most were closed for the season, as high season is in the summer, but there was enough to provide a view of a small town in Greece. We found a taverna where the owner was waiter/chef, and cooked the food right in front of us in a fireplace. It was an amazing experience. The souvlaki was delicious, as were the appetizers and the atmosphere/company.

All in all, a fantastic trip, well worth the cost, and the time it took to travel to!

Professor Marblestone

On Tuesday, a great man died, Howard Marblestone. He was my classics teacher at Lafayette, and in all honesty the man who started me on my path towards studying ancient history. Always kind and gentle, he always came to class with tales of ancient history or mythology and a smile. He was a great professor not because his teaching style was so unique or amazing, but rather because he was more concerned that you learned what he taught. His syllabi were more of a guideline then a rule. If a certain era took him longer to teach, it was fine. If you or the class had a problem with an exam or paper due date, he was flexible. He made learning not a tedious, difficult challenge, but rather something enjoyable. While his lectures were not always exciting, they were full of information and he was able to keep them interesting with fun anecdotes of ancient history.

My first class with him was in Ancient Greece, where I grew to enjoy and look forward to. He spent the time and effort to learn everyone’s name in the class (a remarkable achievement with a class of 45 students). I didn’t really know him that well at that time, but I decided to take his class on Ancient Rome the following year. This was the beginning of my relationship with him. He remembered me from the previous year, and we often would joke about some of the ancient history we were discussing while in class. When I saw he was teaching a class in Classical Mythology, I jumped. While I knew a lot of mythology already, I got the chance to take a class on the subject and learn more about how the Greeks used religion as the basis for their society. Looking back now, I wish I had taken the chance to take either Latin or Greek from him, as languages were his true passion. I regret not getting closer to him, but what I learned from him I shall always treasure.

Upon hearing of his death, I was shocked. I went out on the balcony outside the Academic Center here in Athens and I stared for a while at the scenery, and the Acropolis. He sent me an email about a week ago telling me about his first trip to Athens and seeing the Acropolis. He said “In a way, that feeling of wonder and awe never ceases, only intensifies.” I have come to realize he is right. He dedicated himself to all things ancient, and while his focus was mostly on linguistics, he willingly taught the history classes which eventually brought me here to Athens. He was even willing to help me on thesis next year in any way he could, despite his retirement. To this end, I’m dedicating this blog and all my experiences and memories I make here in Greece to his memory. I shall always remember him, and what he taught me. RIP.

Acropolis/Agora/Temple of Olympian Zeus

So, this was a somewhat busy weekend.

I went on Saturday to Mt. Perneli (see my last entry) and on Sunday I woke up early and went to the Acropolis in order to try and beat out the smog. I was quite successful, as it was a gorgeous day full of sun and warmth. After a brisk but short walk (it's amazing how close everything is around here) I made it to the Acropolis's southern face. Throughout the trip, my awe continually increased. As I approached the hill, it kept getting taller and taller, and seemed impenetrable. How the Persians in 490 BCE managed to attack the Acropolis and sack it is a mystery to me. It seems literally impenetrable to me.

Moving beyond my awe, there are literally ruins every way you look. It reminded me of the Roman Forum in that there are columns and blocks scattered throughout the area. Seeing this place when everything was still standing must have truly been a sight. The most important ruins on the southern slope are the two theaters, the Theater of Dionysus and the Theater of Herodes Atticus. The Theater of Dionysus was sadly in poor shape, with it mostly being covered in grass, but the the Theater of Herodes Atticus was truly a sight. Built in the Roman period, it was stunningly rebuilt in 1951 and is STILL used today. I can't even begin to imagine what a show is like in that space. I'm dying to know what the acoustics are like, but sadly I couldn't get on the stage :-(. Oh well, I imagine they are excellent.

I don't think i came up the main entrance, because on the way down there was more. But walking through the Propylaia was insane. Sadly, they're still restoring it and everything else on the Acropolis (stupid 20th century historians/archaeologists doing a bad job...) But it's still an impressive sight. The Temple of Athenian Nike also is missing as it's restored off site. Again, it was a truly spectacular view entering into the Acropolis. It's amazing thinking that this is how the ancient Greeks entered into the Acropolis. People like Pericles, Themistocles, Demosthenes, and so many others walked where I walked. The marble is so worn from everyone walking over it, it's slippery, but to me that just shows you how amazing the site is that millions of people have traveled to here.

The first thing I actually saw when i got into the Acropolis was the Parthenon obviously. It's a remarkable building, massively rising overhead, looming. Sadly, it is covered in scaffoldings to continue the repairs, and while it definitely detracts from the sight, it's still so worth it. The next amazing building was the Erectheium and Caryatids. The Caryatids are replicas, but you'd never know it. They look so simple and elegant, but are masterfully carved and placed. The rest of the Erecthium is an interesting building. Not quite as spectacular as the Parthenon, it is still a large and massive structure. Interestingly, it has 3 solid walls and then a side open with columns. What appears to be the main entrance is in fact on the side opposite the Parthenon. As I turned back to look at the Parthenon, I was struck at how amazing it must have been with a roof. Considering how imposing it looks now, it's hard to imagine. Stupid Veneitians putting an artillery shell through it, and even more stupid Ottomans for storing gunpowder in there.

As I walked out, I first climbed up on the hill to the west of the Acropolis, and it was quite a view. I took a panorama which can be seen in my album. After climbing down, I went into the Ancient Agora. This really reminded me of the Roman Forum with few rebuilt buildings, mostly things in ruin. The one truly exceptional building was the rebuilt Stoa, which now serves as a museum as well, housing several relics. My favorite of these was the Ostraka used to exile Themistocles. Ostraka were used as a means to prevent a dictator, as if the Athenian people voted in a majority using ostraka (pieces of clay with the name of the person they wanted to exile), the person being exiled was forced to leave Attica for 10 years. Pretty cool that they found them. The Stoa itself was incredible, as it provided an representation of what the building must have looked like, which was, to me, interesting.

I also passed by the Roman Forum, as it was small and largely unimpressive. It's worth a walk-by though, as there are several standing columns, and the Tower of the Wind on the eastern corner. Plaka (the area to the North of the Acropolis) is certainly tourist-center of Athens, but an interesting neighborhood, full of shops and tavernas (none of them good from what i hear). It was a pedestrian area though, which was a nice change compared with all the busy streets around Athens.

Finally, I went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This building took 700 years to build due to lack of funds. It is an immense building, making you feel small and insignificant. While only a small corner remains, it's enough to allow you to imagine what it would have looked like if it was still standing. I was barely taller than the base (if even that) of the columns.

After all this walking...I went back and took a nap.

Mt. Perneli

This weekend we climbed Mt. Perneli, which is to the north of Athens. It provides a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside, all the way from Marathon to Piraeus. When we climbed to the top, it was extremely cold and windy, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. The hike was fairly easy, with there being a very slight incline for most of the trip up. It didn't take long either, about an hour to get to the mountain, an hour or so up, then matching times going down.

The view was what made the trip worth it. Even on a cloudy, windy, cold day, the sights were gorgeous. Being able to see Marathon for the first time, and even all the way to the Piraeus was a fantastic sight. The pictures I took don't even do them credit. The wind was truly fun as it could almost support you at times. It almost blew my contacts out as well. Getting a perspective on Attica and how large and beautiful an area it is was well worth the cold. Areas like this don't exist back in the States. On the one hand, there's a big, large, sprawling city, then pretty quickly there's beautiful, green farmland.

The mountain is protected by the EU against development, so thankfully it will remain the way it is for years to come. However, it is not immune to disasters. There were clear signs of fires which devastated parts of the mountain, leaving little but charred rock. I hope it all grows back, as it was truly a sight to see.

Tomorrow (or maybe tonight) i'll post about the Acropolis, which i also visited this weekend and that TRULY was fantastic!

Tavernas

Last night, CYA arranged for all those who signed up to go to a taverna with a faculty member. For 15 Euro it was not the cheapest meal possible, but it was certainly worth the price. The food was fantastic. I can't even remember all that I had (and certainly can't remember the names) but it was all delicious. There was bread, feta cheese, some meatballs with herbs in them, fried zucchini (yes i know, i had zucchini!), and a stewed beef on top of french fries with some vegetables as well. All in all, i walked away stuffed. I have to find out what i had last night, because it was all very good. I was a bit worried about Greek food, but if last night was any indication of what's available...i don't think i'm going to have a problem. Greek food gets two thumbs up!

This weekend i'm hiking up Mt. Pendeli and hopefully going to the Acropolis/Agora/everything i can get to that surrounds the Acropolis. Look for pics then!

Lycabettus Hill

I woke up somewhat early this morning because i'm still adjusting to the timezone i guess, but decided i'd try and get up Lycabettus Hill. Also known as the "Hill of the Wolves," the hill provides a spectacular view of the city. However, you have to get up there very early otherwise you run into conflict with the Athenian smog, which is not so bad as some places i have been to, but it certainly ruined a spectacular view. I wasn't really in the mood to climb the hill (though i may go back later and try and beat the smog by going earlier) so i rode the funicular to the top. All in all, it was a very short trip, with taking pictures and seeing the small church at the top taking all of 30 minutes. It was certainly worth it as the view gave me a perspective of the city. It is immense to say the least. It extends for miles in every direction, very similar to LA. There is a theater built up on top of the hill as well, but it is only open in the summer (very disappointing). The church was small and simple, but worth going into and viewing some of the religious iconography of the Easter Orthodox faith. All in all, a short but interesting trip. Tonight, I'm off to a taverna for some classic Greek food and atmosphere.

Day 1

Arriving in Athens was simply spectacular. Flying in over the snow capped mountains and hills while the sun began to rise was a sight beyond words. It's truly a beautiful country. Getting to Athens was another story. I found the CYA people and got in a cab with another student (one who i had met before while at the consulate), and proceeded on a fast cab ride. I've never seen drivers drive so fast or change lanes so often, but i made it here in one piece. Making my way up to my apartment, I found out that none of my roomates were in yet, so i had my pick of room. Having made plans to meet up with the guy from the taxi ride and walk to the Academic Center, i soon left the apartment and made my way down. When i finally got here, i was impressed. The building is fairly modern with several floors and spacious areas perfect for study. It was a whirlwind of meeting people, talking, trying to figure out all i needed to do, going out and finding an ATM, it was absolute chaos. I finally got it all taken care of and headed back to my apartment. Having picked up my laptop and did a little more unpacking, i decided to come back down to the Academic Center to send out emails and meet more people. I got my new phone number for Greece and called home to a few people. That's about as far as i've gotten today, and tonight looks like it's going to be a meet the roomates/get some dinner/relax night. More tomorrow i'm sure.

Till later.

P.S. I had my first view of the Acropolis today. It's simply STUNNING. Words cannot describe it. I can see it from where i'm sitting right now while the sun sets, which is truly outstanding. I have pictures which i'll post soon.