Walk like an Egyptian

I still can't really believe that I just spent a weekend in Egypt, but I did. When I came to Greece I never thought I would be traveling to Africa, especially being able to go in just a weekend! It was incredible I don't really know how else to describe it. My pictures look fake and photo shopped but I swear they aren't :)

So I'll just start at the beginning, bear with me this might get long. We flew out very early Friday morning, 6am, and had a short layover in Athens which is now my favorite airport. Having been there about 6 times now I am quite familiar with it. We got to Egypt at noon so as far as flying time is was just about 3 hours which isn't bad at all. When we got to Cairo we were met by someone from the tour who helped us get our entry visa (very cool looking!) and then through customs. It turned out to be very good we had him there because the hotel that we were staying at had recently changed names, so the guard almost didn't let us through because he said it did not exist. He only let us go when we called our guide over and he was able to explain it to him. We had no idea that it changed names, all we had was what the tour had sent us with the name. Once we got through we met our tour coordinator and discovered that it was not exactly the tour we expected, it was better. We asked how many people were in the group and he said it was just us! A private tour! Did not see that coming. It was great because we got to go at our own pace and had a personal guide the whole time.

Our coordinator, Mohamed took us to the hotel and gave us some pointers on the way about getting around and dealing with the locals. We stayed in Giza which is pretty much Cairo but not because it is on the opposite side of the Nile River. It took over an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel and we got our first look at Egyptian driving! Mostly there is just mass amounts of traffic. We thought the driving here in Greece was bad but we were way wrong. The rule in Egypt is that there are no rules. People drive where ever and however they want to. There was three lanes painted on the road but probably about 4 or 5 lanes of cars and not really an easy way to distinguish which direction they were trying to go. Trying to cross the street is like playing Frogger; no joke. You have to just start walking and make it by one lane then hope you can get a break before another car comes. It is amazing too because I did not see a single accident the whole time we were there. There were a few close calls but that was it they were always just really close and would then go back to being very aggressive drivers.

All the women are completely covered almost head to toe since they are primarily Muslims so we stuck out like sore thumbs. The men stared and smiled at us where ever we would go. The good thing was that they do like Americans there unlike in Greece where they don't like us because of our government. The Egyptians say leave the politics to the government and therefore they don't hold that us against us. There are also tourism police everywhere and they are there to protect us and ensure our safety. Our hotel had security at the entrance that we had to go through each time we went in, and whenever we left the hotel the police needed to know where we were going, when we were coming back, and took down the contact info of our tour coordinator, Mohamed, only the most common name on the planet, he told us to just call him Mo. All the security worked at making us feel safe, but we still avoided going out on our own too much. When we did go out we just had to make sure that we didn't answer everyone that would try and talk to us, and certainly not follow them anywhere.

At the airport, we had changed a bit of money while purchasing our entry visa. They use the Egyptian pound there but will pretty much accept anything you give them. Everyone expects to be tipped, even in the bathroom where they don't provide toilet paper or paper towels. A woman will offer you some but expects a tip in return. Even if she doesn't do anything for you because your brought your handy dandy Charmin to go! (probably the best thing I packed). The whole weekend we were thinking in three currencies, Dollars, Euros and Pounds. Talk about a headache. The conversions got pretty confusing. Mo would tell us what the price was in Dollars but then we would try and pay him in pounds by converting enough Euros. Ugh. I'm glad to be back to just Dollars and Euros.

When we got to the hotel and checked in we were offered a complementary drink (this was a 5 star hotel mind you...we really hit the jackpot with this tour) of hibiscus juice which is really big there. It was really good and we got to have it a few times over the weekend. Since it was only about 2:30 we asked for suggestions on things we could do that night before the tour started the next morning. Mo offered to take us out to dinner and a boat ride on the Nile. It was not really easy to get around from where we were by just walking so we accepted his offer and decided to meet him in the lobby at 9. We took a nap and settled in and then got ready for our first taste of night life in Egypt. He got us a cab and took us to a restaurant for some authentic Egyptian food. It was really good. I ended up being the brave one of the group and tried everything to let them know if it was good or not. The only name that I remember of what they gave us was the felafel which was on thing that we all liked. They gave us so much food, the picture here is just the appetizers and then we got a main meal which was various meats and french fries. There was even dessert! A custard and very delicious.

After dinner we made our way to downtown Cairo and the Nile river. We walked along for a while and got a taste of the craziness going on over the big soccer match the next day against Algeria. Egypt is still in the running to qualify for the World Cup and they needed to win 3-0 on Saturday. Everyone was outside with drums and flags cheering and honking. Kids were selling flags everywhere and cars would driver by with it hanging off the back or out the door of the bus. It was a great show of national pride and Mo kept telling us how great a time it was to come and be able to see this. Saturday night when we were back in our hotel we heard the crowd outside celebrating the win!! They only won 2-0 though so there will be another match today to break the tie. In fact it may already have taken place, I will have to look it up.

We got onto our own little boat and went for a short ride along the Nile. All the boats are lit up with ridiculous neon colors blinking all sorts of ways. It was really fun and the boat played music so naturally dancing ensued! When we got back to the shore Mo wanted to give us a gift and took us on a short horse and buggy ride over the bridge again where we were meeting our cab to take us back. As we were getting into the buggy, a group of young guys cheering with tambourines and drums noticed us and started cheering to us. Mohamed translated and said that they were appreciating our beauty, saying how sweet like milk we are, and how lucky he is to be with us. As soon as they made any advancement in our direction a tourist police officer came and pulled them away. It was so unexpected to see such a quick reaction. Then when we got off on the other side of the bridge, we stopped to take a few pictures and low and behold they same group was right behind us and came over singing more. Our driver and Mohamed got in an argument with them and we thought for a minute there might be a fight. They finally continued on their way and we made our way back to the hotel to rest up for the Pyramids in the morning!

Saturday morning we woke up and had a nice breakfast at the hotel before meeting our tour guide, Dahlia. She was going to be with us for the 2 days and was very knowledgeable and friendly. When we needed to pay for an extra ticket or the camel ride and all we had were large bills she covered it for us so we could pay her later. We started at the Pyramids of Giza which were really close to our hotel. I don't know how to describe it to you because there aren't really words. It was breathtaking to stand next to them and we even got to climb up a bit. The blocks were bigger than us and then you look up and see how many there are and you're even more amazed. We spent some time at the Great pyramid and then went over to the second one where we were able to go in. The passage way is really small so you have to crouch over the whole way down till you get to a long passage where you can stand for a min. Then its back to crouching as you make the final steps to the room inside where the king would have been buried. These pyramids are all empty because the thieves looted them well before we came around but it was still really cool to see what the room looked like. it had a high ceiling and was pretty plain looking but then we stopped and thought hey, we're in a Pyramid right now! Very cool.

Then we went up to the plateau where we got a view of all three of the Pyramids, including the smaller one. Our guide helped us get a camel ride. Its a lot higher than riding a horse and much calming. The camel man, as they are called, lead us around towards the pyramids and took a few pictures for us and then led us back to where we started. It was really fun and something totally different, just like the donkey in Santorini. The last stop in Giza was the Sphinx. We spent some time taking our pictures and making our way through the temple to get closer to it. It was really crowded around there but still impressive.

Next stop was Memphis, an outdoor museum which was pretty small but it has the second largest sphinx. But on the way we stopped at a shop to see how papyrus was made. One of the men in the store showed us the different steps from the full plant to peeling it apart, then soaking it in water, laying it in a woven pattern and finally pressing it and leaving it to dry in the sun. It was really impressive because the paper is re-usable and can hold water. It doesn't rip and the papyrus has a lot of starch in it so you can peel off a strip then just wet it and let it dry back in place and it will be good as new. After the demonstration we browsed the store to see all the different paintings they had made of ancient scenes or symbols. A lot of them you can even have names written on in hieroglyphics. We spent more time than expected in that store because they were quite the aggressive salesmen but we finally made it out and back to our guide to continue on to Memphis. Besides the Sphinx, Memphis also has a giant statue of Ramses II that was found standing straight up in the ground which leads them to believed that there is still more undiscovered there. Our guide explained to us about why they showed him the way they did, not just for this sculpture but for all their statues. The beard, if it is straight means that it was created while the person reflected was still alive. If it is curled then it was made after their death. Also the fingers were believed to be very fragile so they would always be shown with their hand holding something to keep their fingers curled and protected. This also meant that the arm would be flexed and showing the muscles. Also displayed somewhere on the statue are his names as a prince and as a king. The cobra on the headdress is meant to signify royalty because it was believed it would protect them.

After Memphis we drove out a bit more to Sakkara to see the step pyramid there. The temple there is also still mostly together. It was cool to see a different kind of pyramid but unfortunately this one is really crumbling so they are doing a lot of restoration work to keep it from falling apart anymore. There was hardly anyone around it either so we took the opportunity to take a few shots, I mean, when in Egypt right? Sakkara was the last main stop of the day and we headed back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped again but this time at a store that makes the perfume oils from the lotus flowers and other flowers. We got to try a bunch of different scents and learned how they used the oil to fragrance the whole home. Since the oil will never evaporate, jars of it have been found in many of the tombs. We may have made a few purchases there as well, who knows. After a quick stop to grab our jackets from the hotel we went to the sound and lights show at the pyramids. It sounded like it would be really cool, but it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, seeing them at night was really amazing and I'm glad we got to go, but the show itself was really cheesy and overly dramatic. So much so that we had to try to keep from laughing out loud. I think they just tried way to hard and it showed. Oh well, at least the pyramids still looked as impressive as ever. As we turned in for the night we heard all the cheers of the people out in the streets celebrating Egypt's win!

Sunday morning Jamie work up feeling really sick, probably from something she ate the day before but we weren't sure what because we all had the same things. She took some medication she had brought with her from home and decided to stick it out not wanting to miss anything. Dahlia, our tour guide, told her that anything from the states wouldn't work for her so she went to a pharmacy and bought her something that is specifically for travelers to Egypt. Told you she was nice :) We started at the Cairo museum, no cameras allowed past the garden unfortunately. The garden was really pretty, papyrus and lotus plants right in the middle and a lot of statues all around. It was a really nice day too so that just made it better. The Museum was amazing! 60% of the treasure from King Tuts tomb from the valley of the kings is on display and it is some of the coolest things I've ever seen. During the mummification process the body is put on three different beds all of which were completely together and looked like they had been made a week ago. One of the small beds even had metal hinges that looked like they were from Home Depot. There was also a display of jewelery and then two mummy rooms. I saw 25 mummies including Ramses II. I'm still amazed.

After the museum we went to the Muhammad Ali Mosque in the Citadel. It's not the most famous mosque in Cairo but it is the most beautifully decorated one. We made sure that we were dressed appropriately so all we had to do was take off our shoes to go inside. It was really crowded but once we got our free time we just sat on the carpets and looked up and the beautiful ceiling. Outside the mosque you got a nice view of the city as well. From there we made our last stop of the day at the market. Dahlia had warned us that the attention we already experienced would be worse in the market and that we might not want to stay too long. She offered to take us for a drink in a small cafe toward the center of the market in honor of the Egyptian's win the previous night so we followed her lead and sat for an hour having some nice conversation. She was able to answer a lot of our questions about life in Egypt and the Muslim culture. The topic of arranged marriage came up and she informed us that she had attempted marriage 34 times so far! Either she has said no or he has. But apparently that is fine and that's the whole idea of it, you aren't really forced, you get to say yes or no.

We headed out into the market with what was left of our money and her predictions were correct. We pretty much just walked straight through only stopping at one place. Most of the men would just hold out things for just to look at like scarves or replicas of the Sphinx. But then there were the ones that told us we broke his heart, or that today he would call us his wife. They also asked “how many camels for her?” in reference to a dowry and trading camels for one of us. By the time we made it out again we were quite happy to head back to the bus and the hotel. We planned on taking an extra excursion for a dinner cruise on the Nile with traditional dancing but since Jamie was still not feeling well we decided against it to not leave her alone. It was a quiet and relaxing night resting up for another day of traveling. I was actually happy to come back to Greece, back to something at least somewhat familiar. It was a lot to do in just one weekend but I would love to go back and see more than just Cairo. Maybe someday.

There has been a lot going on in Thessaloniki this week as well. Tuesday was Polytechnic day so schools were closed and we were advised to stay indoors to avoid being caught in the riots. Its a day in remembrance of events in the 40's in Athens when students protested the government at the time and it turned into a rather bloody affair. Every year on the 17^th of November though, students will continue the protests. We did venture out later in the evening to try and go see a movie because till Sunday there is and International Film festival! One of my friends here has a volunteer position there through and independent study he is doing so he has kept is up to date on whats going on. Most of the movies that are premiering the director and main actors have been present. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to any of the big ones because of classes but we are going to one tomorrow and another on Friday. I don't remember the names off hand but I'll write about that later.

Anyway, the movie we tried to see was already sold out, so we started walking back to our building and on the way passed through the remnants of tear gas and wound up at a police barricade a block from our dorm. They were all dressed in their riot gear waiting for the students to come out of Aristotle University, the main college here. We didn't stick around too long because nothing was actually going on because it happened earlier in the day. Our RA told us that this year was pretty calm compared to others in the past which is good.

Last thing! I hope you enjoyed the little quiz I left you last week. As promised here are the answers. Hope you did well, and if not, don't feel too bad its not like it counts for anything :)

1. C
2. A

For the pictures you can follow the links to see them on Facebook. I'll add a few to this post tomorrow. Album 1 Album 2

How do you order a Greek Salad in Greece?

I always wondered, if you order a salad in Greece do you get what we know as a Greek salad? Or do you have ask for it specifically as a Greek salad? If you have ever wondered the same thing, let me clarify for you. Even in Greece, a Greek salad is called a Greek Salad. Just asking for a salad actually gets you cucumber and tomatoes with the oil and vinegar dressing and seasoning. To get the best salad there is with the feta, olives, peppers, and onions you still have to say Greek salad; just a fun factoid for you!

My midterms are done finally, and I think they went really well. Just in time because I am off to Egypt tomorrow morning! I'm traveling with Jamie and Diana again, and when we get there we are joining a tour so we will have a guide with us. We fly back Monday evening and are off of classes Tuesday for a Greek national holiday.

This past weekend was the ACT trip to Athens. With 3 buses and 150 students we made it through safely. Despite the traveling in large group pains that I expected, the trip turned out really well. The only thing I didn't really see when I was in Athens before was the new Acropolis museum and we got to take a tour of that on Saturday.

The museum just opened up this year and has gotten a lot of good reviews. The building itself is really well designed to represent how the monument itself was built. The floors are all clear and you can see the ruins below you because it was built over an archaeological site. The only way to enter the Acropolis is up a steep slope, so the museum slopes up as well. The top floor is the most impressive. It is the exact dimensions of the Parthenon, and from the outside the museum it looks like it is even positioned parallel too it, but I don't know that for sure. The frieze that runs all around the Parthenon is now in mostly pieces but they are shown in their original locations. The pieces that are still at other museums, mostly the British museum, are shown in casts. On the Parthenon itself the frieze is replicated and you can see it on the inside just past the columns.


The Pediments, what filled the triangular shape under the roof cornice on the front and the back of the building, are also displayed. Many of these pieces are fragmented or are not in the museum because they have not been returned. The best part of that collection was getting a feel for the size of the Parthenon, and being able to have a view of it while you walk around because the walls are all glass.

My favorite part of the museum, and my favorite part of the Acropolis is the Erechtheion. It is a smaller temple with multiple purposes and honored multiple gods. The South porch is the most well known because of the six maidens, the Korai, that support the roof. The ones that you see at on the acropolis are only replicas. The museum has the original 5, the 6th is unfortunately at the British museum. The Greeks hoped that if they had the museum, dedicated to only the Acropolis they would be able to gather all of the pieces back together, unfortunately that has not happened. Still, it was really nice to see the real ones, they are still in really good condition too. I would have taken pictures but it wasn't allowed. Here is what it looks like on the Acropolis.

The south porch.

The north porch.
The front of the Parthenon.

After seeing the museum and the Acropolis we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We spent most of the time enjoying the flea market and shopping. The weather stayed nice and the rain stayed away. It was a lot warmer than it is in Thessaloniki, it was like we were back to the end of summer weather. I still find it strange to be this warm in November.

Sunday we saw the changing of the guard at the Parliament building in the morning and then had more free time until the bus left at 4. After another 8 hour drive we were back in Thessaloniki and ready for another week of school. On the ride back, we had a small quiz given to us by our guide to see how well we had been listening to him. The best scores would get a prize. I was one of 6 that got the highest score but there were only 3 prizes so they randomly picked names and I won! It was pretty exciting because I usually don't have good luck with that. I thank my history class because that is really how I knew the answers. So, lets see how much you know about Athens! I don't have a prize for you so you'll just have to do it for fun. I'll put the questions at the end here and give you the answers next week.
Until next time!


Quiz!!
1. Athens was named after the goddess Athena because of her gift of an olive branch. What other god presented a gift to the city that they declined in favor of Athena?
a. Apollo
b. Hermes
c. Poseidon

2. Who was the Parthenon built to worship?
a. Athena the patron of the city.
b. Zeus the lord of the gods.
c. Aphrodite the goddess of beauty.

Shouldn't be too hard, and do me a favor...try not to just Google it, that's just cheating.

it's Thursday again

Another week has gone by and it is time for an update. I was just thinking that I did not have anything too exciting that has happened and then realized that I never got to write about going to the soccer game! Last Saturday, also Halloween, I went to see a professional soccer game here in Thessaloniki. It was a local team that apparently isn't the best but has a great fan base. Turns out our sources were correct, they do have great fans and it made for an exciting game. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor and it was cold and rainy the whole time, but it really made me feel like I was back home in Foxboro watching the Revs. The game was pretty good, stayed tied at 0-0 till stoppage time of the second half. Finally after keeping the pressure on pretty much the entire game our home team scored!! The crowd went nuts, people even jumped up on the fence that surrounded the field. Probably the biggest difference between this and a game in the States was the fact that they were lighting flares and fireworks from the stands. Yeah, it was crazy, but so much fun.

After the game we made our way back to the dorm to get ready for our own Halloween celebration, Greek style. Greeks don't celebrate it but we decided that shouldn't stop us, so we had a toga party in the basement laundry room. We even got it approved by our RA. I spent almost two hours with Jamie looking up how to wrap togas on You-tube and after much trial and error and no internet assistance, we figured it out. Did I mention we were using the sheets from our beds? Here is a group shot of a bunch of us, huddled around our lovely washing machine. To make the best use of our time, someone was even doing laundry while the party was going on, quality multi-tasking. All in all it was a fun day but it just wasn't the same as Halloween with candy corn and carving pumpkins. Guess I will have to double up on everything next year.

This week of classes was mostly busy. It's midterms time and I lucked out with only two this week and two more next week. This week was Greek language and Modern Art. I feel really good about the Greek one, I came out feeling really confident but the Art one, not so much. I did what I could but Art is really not my strong suit, I think Allie hogged all those genes, which I guess is only fair because I took all the music ones :)

Tomorrow we get excused from our classes and the school is taking us to Athens! By taking us I mean that we have already paid for the trip they are just pretending we didn't. I'm not too excited about it mostly because it is going to be 3 full buses of students which means lots of logistical complications along with sitting around and waiting. I am glad that I already toured Athens when I was with Allie because we are only going to see the Acropolis and the new museum with the school, so I would have missed out on everything else. They did leave us plenty of time for shopping so I hope to find some good Christmas presents! Not to mention it should be fun just to get away for the weekend, because really when do I ever go anywhere?! Just kidding.

Until next week!

Crete and the Peloponnese

It has been a very long but very amazing week. (side note, Happy Birthday to my Mom! last Saturday) I got home to Thessaloniki, or as we so fondly call it Thess, late Wednesday night after traveling for 6 days. There is so much to tell, I will try to condense it for you, but this will be a rather long post. Hang in there, it shouldn't be too boring!

We started our adventure in Crete, the southern most island of Greece and the biggest as well. With only 3 days there we could not see everything. Jamie, Diana and I met up with Jamie's friend from home that is studying in London and she joined for the week. The first night in Crete we went on a dinner excursion to see traditional Cretean and Greek dancing. It was so much fun. They gave us dinner and free wine while we watched and eventually participated in the dancing. We have a few videos of it as well that I can share when I get back. It was more than just dancing, they balanced on bottles of wine, lit the stage on fire, and held a table in their teeth. In other words it was an unforgettable night!



The next morning we got up and went on an excursion to Agios Nikolaos, a town about 30 minutes east of our hotel. From there we took a boat tour to a small beach and then to the island of Spinalonga, where the lepers were once exiled to. The beach was beautiful, it had the bluest water I've ever seen and the castle was also great despite its purpose. We also saw an octopus on a bush, it was really random but apparently a local that lives there was leaving it out in the sun for the day so that when he cooked it later it would be tender. I really never know what I'm going to see here.



After Spinalonga we went back and took a nap at our hotel, and got some much needed sleep from traveling and the late night. There were 6 other girls from our school that were also in Crete for a few days so we made plans to meet up with them at a local taverna for dinner. It was delicious. On this trip I have made an effort to try all the Greek dishes that I haven't had yet sine I don't eat out in Thess much. I stared with Dakos, which is toasted bread with tomatoes, spices, feta, olives on top, and of course some olive oil. Delicious.

On Saturday we went to see the ruins of the Palace at Knossos, which was the center of Minoan culture. I found this part really interesting because I just learned about the Minoan people in my history class. This is the place from the legend of the Minotaur, the half bull half man, who was said to be kept in a Labyrinth near Knossos. Now some believe that the labyrinth they spoke of was actually the palace itself because it was so large and the passages were as complex as a labyrinth. After the palace we had some time to explore the city of Heraklion, the largest city in Crete and fifth largest in Greece. We saw some street performers and walked around the local market, it was very much like being in Thessaloniki.

When we got back to our hostel we relaxed for a while and got ready to walk down to the little town we drove though on the way from the airport. It was only a few meters up the street and it was a nice night. The village streets were really narrow and it had such pretty buildings and shops. We wandered into this small naturals shop and met the nicest Greek man, at least the nicest so far. He offered us some greek candy and after we said no a few times we had some. It was a little odd at first but then it was really really good. He showed us around the store and gave us shots of Greek liquor. He taught us all about olive oil, what the different kinds are and how you should cook with it so that the nutrients are still there at the end. It was amazing. We all bought a few things from him and then he gave us a suggestion on where to eat dinner. The taverna was so good, I had veal with onions, red sauce, and rice. While we were eating we kept talking about all the things we wish we had bought from Apostolos, the man from the naturals shop. All of us had brought only a carry-on bag so we could not bring liquids back over 100ml which limited our purchases. So what did we do? We bought another suitcase! We bargained for it to get it a lot cheaper. It was cheap and as my luck with suitcases goes it was a piece of crap and hardly rolls straight. But, it served its purpose, we were able to go back to him and buy more! We even got a picture with him to send him to put up on his wall in the store. It was really a fun night.

Sunday we got up at 4am to catch a flight to Athens for the second leg of the trip. We did gain an extra hour from daylight savings, and now I'm only 6 hours ahead the states. Well at least until this weekend, but it helped for a few days. The flight to Athens was probably the worst flight I've ever had. There were thunderstorms in Crete that morning and we saw lightning as we were going to the airport and thought for sure we were going to be delayed and have a hard time getting out, but no we left on time. There was so much turbulence I was gripping the seat the whole time. Thankfully it was only a 40 minute flight and we landed safely in Athens. When we got out we were picked up by our driver Spiros! We weren't sure if he was actually going to show so it was nice to see that he came through for us. He was our guide for the tour of the Peloponnese and drove us around in his brand new 2009 yellow Mercedes, he was very proud of his car. He was really a nice guy and had lived in New York for over 20 years so he has a New York accent even when he speaks Greek which was rather amusing.

On Sunday we went to 6 different sites before getting to our hotel and calling it a night. It rained the whole day but Spiros had umbrellas for us to use so we only got...mostly wet. We started at the Corinth Canal, where there wasn't much to see and we got soaked from all the cars driving through the puddles on the side of the road. Next was Ancient Corinth to see the Temple of Apollo which is the most notable landmark in Corinth.
Then we went to Nemea to see the Temple of Zeus. I really liked that temple, there was still a lot of the original structure. The site also included a bathhouse that was still in good shape so that we could make out the sinks and different rooms. The museum had slabs of stone that were used as starting blocks for running races. There was a small hole that you would put your toes in. We have come a long way from the originals I can tell you that much.

We then went to Mycenae which is where Agamemnon was from and was the center of Greek civilization from 1600 BC to 1100 BC. The entrance is famous for the Lions Gate which is almost completely intact. This was one of my favorites sites (I'm probably going to say that a lot!) because I just learned about this in class. There is nothing like making the classroom come to life. It was too bad the weather was so crappy, we didn't stay too long. I also got to see Grave circle A which was a very important discovery made by Schliemann and the museum had some replicas of the famous gold death masks that were found in the graves.


After Mycenae we went to Nafplion which was the capital of Greece before it was moved to Athens. It was a beautiful city and after lunch Spiros took us up the hill to the castle above the city. We spent a while exploring it because it was so well preserved, granted it as not as old as many of the other sites we visited. It was used during the Turkish occupation of Greece and one of the Greek heroes, Kolokotrones, was imprisoned there. We stayed in Nafplion that night but before going to the hotel we made one more stop to see the Epidaurus theater that was not too far away. It is supposed to be the birthplace of Apollo's son Asclepius and the temple there in his honor was the healing center of the Classical world. It was an impressive site and a lot of fun. We realized that it was actually really great that there were not many people around, we pretty much had the sites to ourselves. Finally we got to the hotel and had a chance to relax. Since it was still really bad weather and we were tired from a long day we brought some crepes back to the room for dinner and see if there was anything on TV. It was the first time since we got here that we have even had a TV to watch. To our great excitement Titanic was on one of the channels and in English with Greek subtitles. So we settled in with Kate and Leo and went to bed.

Monday morning we headed further south for a day of more driving and not as many sites. We started in Sparta, or Sparti as it is known in Greece. Now, if you've seen the movie 300 like we have you would have been just as excited as we were, and therefore slightly disappointed. There isn't anything to really see other than a statue of Leonidas and his tomb. The museum was closed because it was Monday so we did not stay too long. I guess it does make sense that there was nothing left, the Spartan culture was based on military and defense so they did not build many temples or buildings.
My camera had run out of memory the day before because I had taken so much video from the dancing the first night so I tried to buy a memory card at a camera shop. I had already deleted a lot of the videos that I didn't really want so that I could keep taking pictures so I didn't need to put it in right away. When I finally did use it, it did not work in my camera. I was pretty upset because it was expensive and pretty much a waste, not to mention it worked in Diana's camera just fine. So I'll save it and maybe be able to use it for something else. Rest assured, I was able to make it through the rest of the trip and still take plenty of pictures by getting rid of most of the video.

Next stop was the monasteries at Mystras. This was also really beautiful, sorry I keep saying that, it was just all beautiful. There were over 10 monasteries, and a castle to see. We started with the castle because we tend to like those a lot, like in Nafplion. We spent so much time there we had to rush through the end but it was still great. He dropped us at the top because they are all built into the side of the mountain and we slowly made our way down to the bottom where he picked us up. There was a large group of older folks that had just started when we got there so there were more people at this place. They were all Greek and for some reason they were all on their cell phones. I don't really know why, but I don't think I've ever seen so many people over 60 on cell phones in one day. It was odd and not something we have seen in other parts of Greece.

After the monasteries we drove up through some beautiful mountains and when we had climbed to about 6,000 feet we stopped pretty much in the middle of nowhere for lunch at this restaurant Spiros knows of. Spiros knows everyone by the way. Everywhere we went he knew all the locals because he has been doing these tours for so long he has made a lot of friends. It came in handy for us because his friends would give us discounts. Lunch was amazing. Spiros kept talking about the bean soup on the way there and none of us are particularly fond of beans but we figured we would give it a go. Then he mentioned that this woman also makes delicious goat and spaghetti! Well, I tried goat for the first time this summer when Dan tricked me into eating it and it was pretty good so Diana and I decided to go for that instead. Greek mountain goat seemed appropriate since we were up in the Greek mountains! It was amazing, everything we had was delicious and made to order.

With full stomachs we made our way down the mountain again and made our way to Ancient Messene, a site that he said we probably wouldn't have known about but was one of his favorites. I was very impressed by it, it was probably one of my top three from this trip. The place was breathtaking and we were the only people there which just made it more impressive. It had finally stopped raining and there was sunshine. There was a full stadium that we just sat in for almost and hour continually amazed by our surroundings. It was the last stop for the day and we got back in the car to drive to Ancient Olympia where we would spend the night. It was a nice drive all along the coast on the western side of the Peloponnese at sunset.

When we got to the hotel in Olympia we got pretty excited because there was a taverna right at the bottom of it and we could hear singing. However, we got our hopes up too soon. There was a problem with our reservation and we had to stay at a different hotel closer to the center of town. We were a little bummed that we didn't go to the singing taverna, but this new place meant that we got to walk around in town instead. Also, the hotel we ended up staying at was really nice and a lot cheaper. I'd say it worked out for the best. Spiros took us to a small place he knew of in town for dinner and we only had a snack being still full from lunch. On our way back we shopped around a little and made friends with the man at the T-Shirt store. Its the end of the tourist season so all the stores are really happy to get any more business. We usually get bombarded if we even step into a store.

For our final day we saw just the one site, Ancient Olympia. Spiros gave us 4 hours to spend there which we thought sounded like too much, but turns out it was just enough. We saw the original Olympic stadium. Naturally we made a video of us walking in and having a short race to the middle of the field. Now I can say I have actually run in the Olympic Stadium! The site was the most crowded that we had been too and that got a little frustrating. I can only imagine what it is like in the summer time. After going through the ruins we went to the two museums, one that was just a general account of the artifacts that were found. It had a lot of amazing statues and pottery. The second museum was about the history of the Olympics and talked about all the sports they played, when they added more, and what the women got to do since they couldn't be part of it. The best thing I got was a book that talked about the history and shows drawings of what all the temples and buildings would have looked like, and what they are now. That afternoon we got back in the car to go into town for lunch and a little more shopping before heading back to Athens. On the ride back Spiros stopped at a winery just outside Patras. We were going to try and take a tour of it because he knew that was something we were interested in, but it was closed for the day. We did get to taste some local and very delicious sweet red wine and buy some to take home.


Finally we were back in Athens at our hostel which happened to be right at the foot of the Acropolis. Very convenient. Jamie and her friend Rebecca were going to spend time in Athens on Wednesday before their flights back in the afternoon. Diana and I left early in the morning to take a bus out to Delphi. The site has had some rocks falling and other "technical difficulties" as they call it, so half of it is closed off. Mostly the best part, the Temple of Apollo and the stadium are blocked. However, from the people we have talked to it sounds like it wont be opening back up before we leave in December so it was see half of it now or none of it, we decided to go for half. I'm really glad we did because it is such an amazing place even without seeing the actual location of the oracle. paper I just wrote for one of my classes was on Delphi so I enjoyed the trip. We also got to go into the museum which was really nice. So after another 3 hour ride back to Athens, we made our way to the airport and flew home to Thess.

It was really the trip of a lifetime and worth all the trouble it was to plan it. We saw so much of Greece and so much great history. I'm staying in Thess this weekend to relax and celebrate Halloween by going to a soccer game! Not to mention I have some studying to catch up on before midterms. That was a long post but I'm really done now. Thanks for reading if you made it all the way through. There are plenty more pictures and stories I can share with you some other time. I hope if you ever get a chance to come to Greece you will check out some of these sites. Best wishes to you all.

only 2 months left

Well it was another relaxing weekend here in Thessaloniki. The weather was better than it was during the week at least on Saturday and Sunday which made it nice to head out and walk around. Friday night was pouring rain so a bunch of us stayed in and watched a movie. Now I am not big into scary movies, but I am proud to say that I made it through The Shinning without a big problem, I even slept that night!

Saturday morning Jamie Diana and I went on a shopping mission down to Aristotle square which turned out to be fairly successful. We found a lot of cool shops and after making some exciting purchases (not on my part) we went to the open market for some fresh food! It really was a meat market, where at times we even felt like the meat. I ended up not taking any pictures, I was too busy making sure I held onto my purse. Anyway, the food was fantastic, Diana bought some salmon and I finally got chicken! It is really expensive here in the supermarkets, about 8-9 EURO just for two chicken breasts, but I got a huge one for only 2 at the market. We just learned the numbers in Greek class which helped a little bit when I was trying to buy some potatoes. I tried telling him that I wanted 4 but he thought that I meant 4 EURO worth and grabbed this bucket and started filling it. I said no no, just 4 and started counting in Greek. After a few tries of that and some hand signals he laughed and understood, and I got my 4 potatoes!

With heavy bags and empty wallets we made our way back to the dorm to take a nap before heading out to celebrate our friend Alexis' birthday. A group of about 20 of us went out to a traditional taverna for dinner and then dancing. It was a lot of fun and we had some great food and laughs. They messed up our orders and took a lot time to bring us the food so we got free dessert! We aren't sure what it was but it was delicious.

This Thursday is the 2 month mark, only 2 months left till I come home. Again it is exciting and sad all at the same time. I also leave on Thursday to go to Crete and the Peloponnese. We just got informed of a change in our return flight Tuesday night, and just found out that we don't have class on Thursday like we originally though. So we are going to try and take advantage of that. Diana and I hopefully will stay in Athens an extra night and make a day trip to Delphi which is about 3 hours away. It is a trip we were planning on taking later in the semester but it is so much easier to do from Athens and now we have the extra time. Assuming that works out I will be back on Thursday and ready to fill you in on the trip!

Best wishes to you all.

Classes just keep getting in the way...

...of my blogging that is. I mean I am here to take class right? Not travel around spending all my money? Right. I haven't gotten a chance to post in a while because I actually have been doing a lot of class work and haven't had a chance to just sit down and write.

I've created a small research proposal for my Ancient Greek History class about the oracle of Delphi. There has been research done on whether of not the priestess was actually having a communication with the Gods or if the visions they had were due to inhaling gases coming up from the ground. Turns out the temple is built on an active fault line. Pretty interesting to say the least, although I don't really enjoy the scientists taking the all the magic and mystery out of the place. From what I have read I still don't believe that theory either because the amount that the gasses leak out is not enough to cause such intense hallucinations as described in the ancient texts. I haven't had a chance to visit Delphi yet but it is on my list.

My European Union class is really intriguing because it is the history of how it was started, but at the same time we are learning about how it functions today. I can now list all 27 member states, the year that they joined, as well as the treaties that created the EU as we know it today. It wasn't actually called the EU till 1992, something I did not know before. Our professor has had experience working in the EU and has been able to share some stories of her time in Brussels.

So far in Greek I can introduce myself by name, tell you where I am from with several greetings. On top of that we know lots of random vocabulary that is helping us as we try and live here in Thessaloniki. We're making progress, slowly, but progress is still progress.

My Art class is going well too. On Saturday she took us to the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum to give us a tour. It was really great to have a guide take us around and give us a better understand of what we were looking at. Not to mention we didn't have to pay. It is always better when it's free. Here are a few pictures I took at the museum, everything there is from Thessaloniki or right around it.







After the museum I took a walk down to the white tower with a few friends and we went in to get to the top (also free with student ID). Its not very high but we walk by the place all the time, it was about time we see the view. There are a lot of exhibits inside along the way, but unfortunately it was all in Greek, so we could only look at the pictures and guess what they were saying.




a nice fountain outside the museum



statue of Alexander the Great by the Tower.



View from the top



looking the other way.

After that we went to a taverna near by for some lunch, had delicious Greek food obviously. From there we were on a mission to go shopping and find the open market that we were told is by Aristotle Square. We got to the square and stopped in a few places around there before splitting up because not everyone wanted to keep walking. Diana, Scotty, and I walked a while longer and finally at about 5 pm we found the market! Unfortunately it was closing so we didn't get to buy much or see it in action. Now that we know where it is we are planing on going back tomorrow morning before our classes to get some fresh fish, meat, and fruit.



Aristotle Square!

It was a pretty relaxing weekend, not traveling and just staying in the city. I was glad that I went out and got to see some new places. I was planning on taking a trip with the school this weekend to two small villages further south from Thessaloniki, but not enough students signed up so it's not going to run. Looks like I'll have the chance to see some more this weekend. I was just saying how it is still warm here, in the 80s most days which is strange since it is October. Well it would be strange in Boston, but it is not strange here. This week though it was 80 one day and 67 the next. It was a big jump and we want the warm to come back but it probably won't. It might be a little warmer again this weekend so that is nice.

Exactly a week from today is the start of Fall Break at ACT. Technically it is the Monday after but we are taking of two days early to make it a 6 day break. I'm heading to Crete for three days and then taking a tour of the Peloponnese for the next three and flying back to Thessaloniki from Athens on Tuesday the 27th. I'm really excited about the trip, there is a lot of great sights to see.

Hope everything is great with all of you, I wish you well.

Oh, hey Zeus

The climb up Mt. Olympus was amazing, and so beautiful. However, it has been a little hard to walk the past two days. I’ve never been on a hike with such breathtaking views. (I think it may have been above a 10 on the Katahdin scale as far as the difficulty) My pictures just don’t do it justice, but you can find the whole album here.

Looking back on the hiking itself, the first day was much worse than the second day when I was expecting it to be the other way around. It was probably because we started off really fast with the excitement and energy we had for the trip. The trail was pretty steep the whole way and wasn’t just a slope but large steps up all the time. It was the steps that really got you tired fast. We stopped occasionally to rest and catch our breath but we still made it up to the lodge in 2 hrs 15 minutes. When we started getting close, I was with Jamie and a few others, and we started hearing these bells. We had just heard from another hiker that we were only a short distance away so we assumed that it was the group in front of us ringing a bell to mark that they had reached the lodge. We got really excited till we realized that was not it at all. It was just mules that were making their way down! We moved off to the side, laughing, and let them pass. After continuing up the path another few meters we ran into a 4^th mule that was off to the side munching on some grass, as soon as we came around the corner it jumped up and started charging down the path causing all of us to quickly jump out of the way. Definitely kept us on our toes!

The lodge we stayed at was a lot nicer than I had expected with the way our guides had been talking about it. It was a lot of fun too because after we got there at like 3 or so we had the whole day to just relax and hang out. At night we all got into the room around 8 and played some name games and just talked for a few hours. Sunday morning we work up bright and early (6am) and got ready to leave for the top. We were up for the sunrise which was amazing, watching it peak over the mountains. After breakfast we gathered our things, smaller packs since we would be coming back to the lodge before going back down to the bus. We hiked up for another 45 minutes or so before stopping and breaking off into groups. The pace was much better because a guide was leading the way and keeping the pace slow. It was pretty much straight up and we were soon above the tree line where it was just us and the rocks. With such a large group it meant that we would go a few steps and then slow then pick up again and then slow etc. Not to mention there was some slipping since most everyone had only sneakers on.

We broke off into two groups, where some people went on an easier trail to a plateau where there is another refuge and beautiful views, while the rest of us went in the direction of Skala peak. I wasn’t one of the 9 to make it to the highest peek Mytikas (2,918 meters) because it was a more technical climb with ropes and harnesses so about 2-3 people could go with each guide. I was one of the 32 to make it to the second highest peek, Skolio (2,912 meters) only 6 meters lower than the top. We’re still calling it the top; we had the same view as them and could see the peek from where we were. There isn’t a Zeus statue or monument at the top (as some had expected) but we certainly felt the presence of the gods. Ok, not really, but we did thank them for letting us get to the top! We even got to write our names in a book to document that we made it. It was decent weather, changing quickly from sun to clouds and back again. We attempted to wait for the group that went to Mytikas before heading back to the lodge but it got to be too cold so we started the descent.

After a lunch back at the lodge we started the rest of the way down, making it in about the same time it took us to go up. Finally back on the bus, we slept the whole way home and got ready for classes Monday. All in all a very good weekend and an amazing experience.

In other news, it has now been a whole month since I left home! Amazing how the time flies. I’m still enjoying myself and I have much more to look forward to, including coming home again :)

On the way up.

Sunrise at the lodge.

Me at the top, with Mytikas behind me.