Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tying Up Loose Ends
We had a free day in Thessaloniki but we all pretty much spent the day working on finishing up our journals and studying for our final exams the next day. Oh and we also watched Hercules, the Disney movie (totally relevant to what we were doing) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Disney movie (we made it relevant to what we were doing). The next day we had our final exams (that was a twist that I bet no one saw coming) and we boarded the bus for the 6 hour ride back to Athens. Oh I don't think I mentioned it before but we left Athens right before the riots got really bad and we got back right after they calmed down. When we arrived back in Athens the students all went out for a final dinner (I didn't have a gyro but it was still very good). And on the metro back we decided for some reason to stop at Syntagma Square, which for those of you that haven't been to Athens is probably the most dangerous place in Athens right now. Why? Well Syntagma is where all of the riots take place. It is in the center of the city and more importantly in front of the Parliament building. I honestly think that an anthropological curiosity is what lead us there. Fun Fact about Greek protests: They don't throw eggs at people they dislike, they throw yogurt. There were places that we could see where columns had been knocked down and steps had been broken up for people to get chunks of marble to throw at the police during the riots. There were no riots when we were there but it felt like one could have started very quickly, so we did not spend much time there. We got back to the hotel and packed everything up for the flight the next morning. We got about 2 hours of sleep before we had to wake up at about 1:45 AM to leave for the airport at 2:30 for our 5 something flight. We then had about a 3 hour flight to Amsterdam. Then about a two hour layover, a 9 and a half hour flight to Dallas. Customs to go through and then about a 4 hour drive back to Houston. When I finally got home I had been traveling for about 24 hours straight. In any matter I am happy to be home but I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to go.
Last Stop (Practically)
The last stop of the trip is Thessaloniki. Some of you may recognize the name from the two books of the New Testament and where the apostle Paul visited. This is the second largest city in Greece (the first being Athens), it has basically played a major role in every empire that has controlled Greece, it is named after Alexander the Great's half sister, in the first half of last year it imported and exported 7.2 million tons of products (making it the second largest and most important ports in the Balkans), and it is the birth place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who is the founder of modern Turkey. So, it is an important place. We took a bus tour around the city and saw the walls of the Old City (medieval not ancient) and the White Tower, which has a very bloody history. We also drove past Aristotle University, which is the largest University in Greece. The patron saint of the city is St. Demetrius, who is said to have saved the city during a battle. We stopped by the St. Demetrius church, which was basically a larger version of the churches that we saw in Meteora. We got to go down into the crypt in the church. This isn't as spooky as it may seem seeing as the only body that it housed (the body of St. Demetrius) was moved into the main body of the church for all to enjoy. This church was interesting because there were old and new mosaics/frescoes juxtaposed.
That's pretty much all that we did in Thessaloniki.
That's pretty much all that we did in Thessaloniki.
Alexander, The Great (He's Kind of a Big Deal)
Our first stop of the day was in Verea, which we pronounce Berea in America, here they have these beautiful gold mosaics dedicated to Paul (apparently he passed through here). And they have these marble steps that he supposedly preached from. What I found most intriguing about this site was that there was a mosque right next to it. Now you don't see very many mosques in Greece and to have one so close to a clearly Christian site was strange but cool nonetheless. That's pretty much all we did in Verea except eat. I had a gyro and gelato (shocker right?).
Quick side note on Greek food. They don't only have gyros and gelato. And despite what it may seem like from my blog I did eat other things. Something weird about Greece is that it is about 6-8 euros cheaper to get food to go than to eat it in a restaurant, so most of the time for lunch we would just get gyros. The other food that we had would mostly be during dinner and I really haven't been blogging about dinners. In my opinion Greek food is a mix between Turkish food and Italian food, so it's all very good.
Next we went to Pella, which is the birth place of Alexander the Great. They really like this guy in Greece. There are myths about him being the son of Zeus and there is probably a statue of him in every Greece city. We weren't allowed to go to the site of Pella itself because it was recently discovered so it is still under excavation. But we did get to go to the museum. We saw these amazing floor mosaics and marbles that covered the walls of the wealthy's houses. We also saw the shop that would belong to a maker of pottery. There were also gold laurel wreaths, awarded to winners of games (like the Olympics). Needless to say it was the next best thing to the site itself.
Quick side note on Greek food. They don't only have gyros and gelato. And despite what it may seem like from my blog I did eat other things. Something weird about Greece is that it is about 6-8 euros cheaper to get food to go than to eat it in a restaurant, so most of the time for lunch we would just get gyros. The other food that we had would mostly be during dinner and I really haven't been blogging about dinners. In my opinion Greek food is a mix between Turkish food and Italian food, so it's all very good.
Next we went to Pella, which is the birth place of Alexander the Great. They really like this guy in Greece. There are myths about him being the son of Zeus and there is probably a statue of him in every Greece city. We weren't allowed to go to the site of Pella itself because it was recently discovered so it is still under excavation. But we did get to go to the museum. We saw these amazing floor mosaics and marbles that covered the walls of the wealthy's houses. We also saw the shop that would belong to a maker of pottery. There were also gold laurel wreaths, awarded to winners of games (like the Olympics). Needless to say it was the next best thing to the site itself.
This is Blasphemy, This is Maddness
If you didn't guess it from the title of this post then you really need to brush up on your pop culture. We saw the site where the 300 Spartans took a stand against the Persian army. There is a bronze statue of King Leonidas and though he is wearing a cape there is no metal speedo. For those who don't know the Persian army, lead by King Xerxes, was attacking Greece. OH NO! He sent a message to King Leonidas, king of the Spartans, telling him to lay down his weapons. Leonidas' response, "Come and get them." (This is engraved on his statue in Greek). The 300 Spartans stood and fought the enormous Persian army and were slaughtered. However, their stand gave the Athenians the time they needed and they were able to defeat the Persians in the end. WOO HOO! Our tour guide told us that everyone in Greece wanted the Spartans on their side in battle but no one actually wanted to be a Spartan. They are kind of intense about training for war. They leave their mothers and their home around the age of ten and they are thrown into the wilderness and told to fend for themselves for a bit. Sounds like a jolly good time right? (Sorry I've been watching a lot of British TV lately).
After this we went onto Meteora, where we saw these monasteries built on top of these huge gray rocks (think little houses on top of skinny mountains). These were really cool because they are virtual Byzantine museums containing manuscripts, frescoes, and Byzantine icons since the 14th century. They were really interesting and they gave us a look into the Greek Orthodox faith, which I really knew nothing about until this trip.
After this we went onto Meteora, where we saw these monasteries built on top of these huge gray rocks (think little houses on top of skinny mountains). These were really cool because they are virtual Byzantine museums containing manuscripts, frescoes, and Byzantine icons since the 14th century. They were really interesting and they gave us a look into the Greek Orthodox faith, which I really knew nothing about until this trip.
Wait I'm Getting Something . . .
We left Athens and headed for Delphi. For those of you that haven't been reading up on ancient texts or Greek Mythology. Let me give you some background information. Apollo is the son of Zeus, twin brother of the goddess Artemis, and he is the god of prophecy (he is the god of lots of other things, many of which are boring and irrelevant to my point). Apollo wanted a place to call his very own so he searched and searched until he found the beautiful spot of Delphi. And the story would end here if it weren't for the fact that the city of Delphi was already taken by one of the oldest gods the mother earth (I don't remember her name, but is it really that important?) The mother earth had a temple here and her son the snake (I don't remember if he was actually the god of anything or just a snake) guarded the temple. To claim the spot as his own Apollo fought and killed the snake (see it really doesn't matter what I know about him because he doesn't last very long in the story). This story is about how the old gods are replaced by the new gods and because Apollo had to do this cleansing thing for killing the snake it is also about the purification process mortals had to go through. (If you truly care about the gaps in the story google it) In any matter Delphi is Apollo's city. If you want to find Apollo looking here would be a good way to find him. Apollo is the god of prophecy and Delphi is his city, so who wants to guess what the city of Delphi was best known for. If you didn't guess oracles who deliver prophecies to those poor souls that travel from a long way away to seek help in their most important decisions, then you really haven't been paying attention.
We went to the museum for the site first. At the museum we saw the really cool ivory and gold pieces of statues of Apollo and his family, marble statues, friezes, bronze statues, pots, and various offerings to the god Apollo. Something I don't think I have mentioned about Greek statues is that all the men are naked. The Greeks believed that since we were made in the image of the gods we should revel in the human form. (Fun Fact: I don't know if its really that fun but the athletes would train in the gymnasiums and perform in the games, like the Olympics, naked for the aforementioned reason). The female statues are sometimes naked, sometimes fully covered and sometimes in this weird in between state where it looks like their clothes are just falling off. I don't know why there is the difference, it was not explained to me. Also, apparently Zeus told everyone that Delphi was the center of the world. I don't know what map he was looking at but in any case there are a bunch (and when I say a bunch I meant that we saw two) of egg shaped rocks in the site and at the museum.
The site itself was my favorite place in Greece. The first place in the site are the ruins of little shops where one could buy little statues to offer to Apollo (apparently he is more likely to give you a prophecy if you buy him something). Here we could see some stones that the archaeologists moved here so that we could see the Christian influence (there were giant stones with crosses on them) after they came into Greece. Then you walk up the sacred way. I don't know if I have ranted about this yet and if I have please feel free to skip on down but a bunch of these sites are built on hills, which makes the walking uphill and downhill, and that's all fine and good except the streets are made out of marble and they are really slippery. Did ancient people just have amazing balance? Needless to say I slipped on several occasions. Anywho, we walked up the sacred way, being extremely careful not to fall, and we saw an old temple to the mother earth (remember the story). We were also able to see the rebuilt bank of the Athenians. Bank? For those that are confused let me explain. When people would come with lavish and expensive offerings those offerings would be put into a bank, the city they were from would determine which bank (for those that are slow: if you're a wealthy Athenian and you bring an ivory and gold statue of the god Apollo, it would be put into the Athenian bank, got it?). The different cities would compete on who had the most expensive and lavish items in their banks. We kept walking up the path and we finally got to the temple where the oracle sat. People would come in and not see the oracle because they would be separated by a screen. They would pose their question and she would give them a riddle answer that they had to decipher to figure out the prophecy. For example, before the Persian War the Greeks asked the oracle how they could beat the massive Persian army. Her response was to built a wall of wood. A wall of wood? That would be easily burned down? What is she talking about? Anyone in the audience have an answer? If you guessed that the prophecy was to build a bunch of ships then you get a gold star! The Athenians defeated the Persians in a naval battle. Fun fact about the oracle. An American (USA, USA!) and Greek archaeologist found that because of some earthquakes the base of the temple had shifted and that the place where the oracle originally sat had a hole in the floor that allowed poisonous gases to leak in. So, basically she was high as a kite when she was giving prophecies. There would be more than one oracle and they would take turns giving prophecies but as you can imagine inhaling noxious fumes is not ideal for the health of these ladies, so they didn't exactly have long careers as oracles. Further up the hill is a theater, because there is always a theater at ancient sites. Past that is an arena. Tip for future travelers: If your tour guide tells you that there is something further uphill, gives you some information before you head up, and then tells you that she is going to wait at the bottom, it is pretty safe to assume that it is a long walk up.
After the site we checked into the hotel and that's about it for Delphi.
We went to the museum for the site first. At the museum we saw the really cool ivory and gold pieces of statues of Apollo and his family, marble statues, friezes, bronze statues, pots, and various offerings to the god Apollo. Something I don't think I have mentioned about Greek statues is that all the men are naked. The Greeks believed that since we were made in the image of the gods we should revel in the human form. (Fun Fact: I don't know if its really that fun but the athletes would train in the gymnasiums and perform in the games, like the Olympics, naked for the aforementioned reason). The female statues are sometimes naked, sometimes fully covered and sometimes in this weird in between state where it looks like their clothes are just falling off. I don't know why there is the difference, it was not explained to me. Also, apparently Zeus told everyone that Delphi was the center of the world. I don't know what map he was looking at but in any case there are a bunch (and when I say a bunch I meant that we saw two) of egg shaped rocks in the site and at the museum.
The site itself was my favorite place in Greece. The first place in the site are the ruins of little shops where one could buy little statues to offer to Apollo (apparently he is more likely to give you a prophecy if you buy him something). Here we could see some stones that the archaeologists moved here so that we could see the Christian influence (there were giant stones with crosses on them) after they came into Greece. Then you walk up the sacred way. I don't know if I have ranted about this yet and if I have please feel free to skip on down but a bunch of these sites are built on hills, which makes the walking uphill and downhill, and that's all fine and good except the streets are made out of marble and they are really slippery. Did ancient people just have amazing balance? Needless to say I slipped on several occasions. Anywho, we walked up the sacred way, being extremely careful not to fall, and we saw an old temple to the mother earth (remember the story). We were also able to see the rebuilt bank of the Athenians. Bank? For those that are confused let me explain. When people would come with lavish and expensive offerings those offerings would be put into a bank, the city they were from would determine which bank (for those that are slow: if you're a wealthy Athenian and you bring an ivory and gold statue of the god Apollo, it would be put into the Athenian bank, got it?). The different cities would compete on who had the most expensive and lavish items in their banks. We kept walking up the path and we finally got to the temple where the oracle sat. People would come in and not see the oracle because they would be separated by a screen. They would pose their question and she would give them a riddle answer that they had to decipher to figure out the prophecy. For example, before the Persian War the Greeks asked the oracle how they could beat the massive Persian army. Her response was to built a wall of wood. A wall of wood? That would be easily burned down? What is she talking about? Anyone in the audience have an answer? If you guessed that the prophecy was to build a bunch of ships then you get a gold star! The Athenians defeated the Persians in a naval battle. Fun fact about the oracle. An American (USA, USA!) and Greek archaeologist found that because of some earthquakes the base of the temple had shifted and that the place where the oracle originally sat had a hole in the floor that allowed poisonous gases to leak in. So, basically she was high as a kite when she was giving prophecies. There would be more than one oracle and they would take turns giving prophecies but as you can imagine inhaling noxious fumes is not ideal for the health of these ladies, so they didn't exactly have long careers as oracles. Further up the hill is a theater, because there is always a theater at ancient sites. Past that is an arena. Tip for future travelers: If your tour guide tells you that there is something further uphill, gives you some information before you head up, and then tells you that she is going to wait at the bottom, it is pretty safe to assume that it is a long walk up.
After the site we checked into the hotel and that's about it for Delphi.
One Day Cruise
We took a one day cruise to the islands on Poros, Hydra, and Aegina. Ben found this amazing spot at the front of the boat that had lounge chairs, which we had to defend as the day went on and more people found the spot as well. We didn't get to spend much time on Poros but we did get some gelato. We had lunch on the boat but it wasn't very good so Kara and I went back to enjoy our seats. Hydra was my favorite island because in my opinion it was the most beautiful. Kara and I finished walking around early so we decided to head back to the boat early. While we are sitting enjoying the sea breeze and the sunshine, Kara turns to me and asks "Is the boat moving?" It was. The island only had one port for the larger ships like the one we were on to come in and out of and another ship needed to come in. We did not know this. I check my watch to make sure that we were on time and that everyone else wasn't late for the boat and I check around me to make sure that we were on the right boat. We had a little moment of panic because neither of us had any means of contacting the rest of our group. But luckily the boat came back and everyone else got on. I had forgotten to put on sunscreen that morning so by the time we had gotten to Aegina I was a little burnt. So, Kara, Linh, and I found a place to get food and we walked around instead of going to the beach.
When we got back to the hotel we again had to rush to get ready because we were going to a concert by the Milan symphony with a special guest Joshua Bell (he plays the violin). It was beautiful and a really nice treat.
When we got back to the hotel we again had to rush to get ready because we were going to a concert by the Milan symphony with a special guest Joshua Bell (he plays the violin). It was beautiful and a really nice treat.
Cape Sounion
We had a free morning in Athens. Kara, Linh, and I thought that we saw most of the sites the day before on the panoramic tour and decided to use the morning to catch up on sleep and work. In the afternoon we drove out to Cape Sounion. The highway we took was along the coast and it was so hard to concentrate on the class we were having on the bus because I was too busy looking out the window. We visited Poseidon's temple, which has the most amazing views of the ocean and the mainland. It is amazingly beautiful.
The next day we went to Corinth and Mycenae. Corinth was long and hot. It was very interesting to be there because of all of the history that I have gotten from Bible classes and of course all of the stories from Paul's travels. We met with Ben's classical architecture professor who works at the site. Everything he had to say was all very interesting. I don't understand why we had to stand in the heat while he talked and no offense to any architects out there but I found that bit to be a little boring. Mycenae was really cool. We had just finished reading Agamemnon's stories in one of my classes to it was interesting to see one of the places we were reading about. We visited a site called Agamemnon's tomb. It is called this not because there is any definite proof about Agamemnon being laid to rest here but because he is the most prominent regent of the region. I feel bad for the king, who actually belonged to the tomb. We also saw an owl inside the tomb. That was really cool, we hear so much about them (being Athena's symbol). Then we went to Agamemnon's palace (again no proof that it is his just the most prominent regent). This was the first ancient palace that I have really ever seen. We went down to the bottom of the cistern. It was cold, dark, and wet. Not the best place for someone who is clumsy like me to be venturing into. We had to use the light from our cell phones to be able to make it down to the bottom.
When we got back to the hotel Linh, David, and I had to rush to get ready because the three of us were going to the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics. Everyone else thought that 40 euros was too much to spend but we thought that it was worth it to see this while we were in Athens. We decided that I would save the seats (it was open seating) and David and Linh would go find food. We had to sneak some gyros and chips in because they do not allow food in the stadium. The ceremony was amazing. Stevie Wonder was there and he performed. It was definitely an unforgettable night.
The next day we went to Corinth and Mycenae. Corinth was long and hot. It was very interesting to be there because of all of the history that I have gotten from Bible classes and of course all of the stories from Paul's travels. We met with Ben's classical architecture professor who works at the site. Everything he had to say was all very interesting. I don't understand why we had to stand in the heat while he talked and no offense to any architects out there but I found that bit to be a little boring. Mycenae was really cool. We had just finished reading Agamemnon's stories in one of my classes to it was interesting to see one of the places we were reading about. We visited a site called Agamemnon's tomb. It is called this not because there is any definite proof about Agamemnon being laid to rest here but because he is the most prominent regent of the region. I feel bad for the king, who actually belonged to the tomb. We also saw an owl inside the tomb. That was really cool, we hear so much about them (being Athena's symbol). Then we went to Agamemnon's palace (again no proof that it is his just the most prominent regent). This was the first ancient palace that I have really ever seen. We went down to the bottom of the cistern. It was cold, dark, and wet. Not the best place for someone who is clumsy like me to be venturing into. We had to use the light from our cell phones to be able to make it down to the bottom.
When we got back to the hotel Linh, David, and I had to rush to get ready because the three of us were going to the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics. Everyone else thought that 40 euros was too much to spend but we thought that it was worth it to see this while we were in Athens. We decided that I would save the seats (it was open seating) and David and Linh would go find food. We had to sneak some gyros and chips in because they do not allow food in the stadium. The ceremony was amazing. Stevie Wonder was there and he performed. It was definitely an unforgettable night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)