Sept. 6

Photo: Temple of Apollo at Delfi as seen from the theater

Day 10 September 6

We spent most of the day on the bus. We were supposed to have stayed last night in Olympia, but because of the damage by the fires we stayed an extra night in Sparta. Along the way to Delfi [or Delphi] we stopped by the Trikoupis Bridge which is one of the biggest cable bridges in the world. Don’t ask me what that means, but our architecture majors were really impressed. Delfi itself is a very small town that seemed to have more tourists than residents. The Delfi museum is second only to the National Museum according to Prof. It is very big and very well explained. Some of the statues and monuments that were housed there are huge. Since Delfi was thought to be the center of the world, a lot of different cultures sent great gifts to the temple there. The temple itself is very big, but their theater is average sized from what I’ve seen. Sports were considered an art back in Ancient Greece and included in the large competitions that Delfi held every four years in the Pythian Games. Four cities rotated these games every year: Delfi, Athens, Corinth, and Olympia. Somehow along the way the poetry and theater got dropped and we are left with the Olympics as we know them. It was a long climb up to the top of the stadium, and when we got there we couldn't even get into the seats! We just had to walk around on the main level. Understandable because it's so old, but it still would have been nice to sit down after the climb.

Sept. 5

Photo: Monemevasia

Day 09 September 5

We went to the sparse Sparta Archeological Museum this morning. Lots of really good statues. Then we went to the Olive and Olive Oil Museum that resides in Sparta. I actually learned how to make soap out of olive oil. We spent the afternoon on an island called Monemvasia. The town is still inhabited even though it was built during the Byzantine Empire. We went to the ‘beach’ on the island aka the rocks with a ladder into the water. The Aegean is the most beautiful blue. It’s incredible.

Sept. 4

Photo: Me at the Convent at Mystras

Day 08 September 4

Today we arrived in Sparta. We stopped by at Tiryns, a prehistorical site, and Mystras which was a thriving town in the middle ages. Mystras was very cool. There are four or five churches in the site along with two working monasteries. I stumbled into one of the monasteries on accident. It was so beautiful. I got seperated from the group because I wanted to check out the churches and they wanted to check out the fortress. Then I couldn't find my way out. I kept going downhill thinking that eventually I would find the exit. I was a bit late to get onto the bus. We checked into our hotel in Sparta and then went to the ancient acropolis of Sparta. There’s not much there. There looked like there was a large portion of the acropolis that was still buried. We spent a long time talking about the reasons why Sparta hasn’t been excavated as much as some other sites. It’s very sad. The modern Sparta is surprisingly small.

Sept. 3

Photo: Nafplion Beach

Day 07

Today we visited a medieval castle near Nafplion named Palamidi Fortress. It has a long and complex history. It has been controlled by the Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, Ottomans, and Greeks. It was the first truly medieval structure that I have had the privilege to interact with. Some of it was difficult to get around in because the fortress is built into the side of a mountain. Then we visited Epidaurus which was the center for the cult of the Greek god of healing. It was also the first school of medicine. It also has the best preserved ancient theater in all of Greece. A couple of us performed there so the rest of the group could hear the acoustics. Our journal assignment was to reconstruct the site in writing and sketches back to its former glory. We learned some interesting things like in order to be treated by the doctors, a patient would be bitten by the sacred snakes and only treated when comatose. [that’s one way to do it] After an afternoon break at the beach the group met our Prof in the Syntagma Square of Nafplion. The Square is the heart of the city. We spent two hours figuring out why it was so important and describing the flow of traffic and various other things. Prof thinks the Square is a perfect example of an “Urban Room”.

Sept. 2

Photo: Corinth ruins

Day 06 September 2, 2007 10:00 pm local time Nafplio

Our bus was not at our Athens Hotel at 9 am this morning. There was a small snafu. We eventually got on the road, but we had to cut everything really short in order to get into Nafplio at a decent hour. We went to Corinth which was really interesting. Most of the recreation in the city is of the Roman Corinth and not the Greek one. And yes, there is a big difference especially when you’re expecting Greek statues and you get togas. The ruins were very extensive. Of course you couldn’t get anywhere near the most interesting parts because it was roped off. Then we headed to Mycenae which was the home of one of the most famous prehistorical societies. After the fantastic museum which included short explanations of the famous myths associated with the city [Perseus, Troy, etc] I hiked up the hill to the famous lion gates. Unfortunately, it started raining. It rained really hard. Then it began to hail. I was still underneath the gates with some other students and Prof. After I think a half hour of some people going out to test how wet they got, we decided to call it a day. We got ran and got back on the bus and came to our hotel in Nafplio. This city used to be the capital of the modern Greek state. The person who made that decision was assassinated about a year after that and his replacement changed the capital to Athens. The city is surrounded by ancient fortresses for us to see tomorrow, but for tonight we just had dinner and walked around the modern town. In the main square of the town we watched children play soccer for probably two hours. Good times. I had some really good pizza, too.

September One

Day 04 Sept. 1^st

Today is our last day in Athens. I feel so close to this city even though I’ve never been here before. I wish I could live here. Some things are strange, but almost all the experiences that I’ve had here have been positive. Since today was the hottest day of the month, we spent the morning in the National Archeological Museum. I saw statues that I had only seen in documentaries as well as plenty I could never imagine. It was so nice to finally see a good timeline of Greek art. The Museum is arranged in chronological order. I had been confused about that because sometimes Greek statues seem to be more Egyptian [that’s when they’re very old] and more Roman [because Romans ripped off the Late Classical stuff]. One of my favorite pieces I couldn’t take a picture of because the researchers haven’t published on it. I think my favorite piece was of the goddess Aphrodite about to whack Pan with her shoe. For lunch we went to a shopping mall. I prefer the Greek cafes. Prof was worried about the heat. We then went to the new Olympic Stadium. Very big. I preferred the museum. Of everywhere I’ve gone this week, I’m not sure what my favorite place was. Filopappos Hill, I think. I could really see how [hi]story effects me and how I effect it. Tonight all the students are headed to an Athenian microbrewery for dinner. Might be interesting. Tomorrow we’re headed off at 8 am to the Peloponnese. Whoo!

August 31st

Day 03 Aug. 31^st

Today we went to St. George Church which was built on the highest hill in Athens. From the top of it you could see everything in the entire city. It was an awesome sight. The café up there also charged five euro for a frappe which was a rip off, but it was nice to sit in the shade and sketch in my journal. After lunch everyone split off to go see another one of the Seven Hills of Athens. I went to Filopappos Hill which is right near the Acropolis except just higher. I had an incredible experience on that hill. It was the first time I had broken away from the group. I found the Prison of Socrates and several other monuments. I took a video of myself explaining everything that was going on. I’m going to upload that to YouTube and put the link up.