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.