Center of the (Greek) world

Γειά!

I haven't written in over 2 (almost 3) weeks, so I figured this would be a good time for an update!

On Wednesday, January 27, we visited the acropolis museum here in Athens. The museum has a modern design that works with natural light and is situated at the base of the acropolis. Essentially, the museum is designed on the actual features of the acropolis, with the third floored entirely modeled on the Parthenon itself. It is a pretty neat museum, which only just recently opened. We didn't have time to explore the acropolis, but I am waiting for the day when we do.

Thursday, January 28, we took a field trip to the National Archaeological museum with our Aegean class. We only explored one room of the museum for an hour and a half! But, it was really cool to see a lot of the ancient pieces that I have studied before coming to Athens like the mask of Agamemnon.

We took our first weekend field trip was during the last weekend of January. We left on Friday and stopped at Chaeroneia before getting to Osios Loukas and Delphi. Chaeroneia was a battle in the 4th century BC between Philip of Macedon and the Greeks. Phililp won. We then stopped at a beautiful monastery called Osios Loukas or St Luke. The view of the valley below and the monastery itself was just absolutely gorgeous. Then, we finally arrived at Delphi and had the entire afternoon to ourselves. That night, I and my other roommates celebrated Mary's 21st birthday.

Saturday was the day we went to the famous oracle of Delphi and the surrounding area. We walked through the ancient road in Delphi, but we could not go into the actual temple where the oracles were made. We also saw a stone that was shaped like a navel. Apparently in the ancient Greek world, Delphi was considered to be the navel or center of the world. After our time in Delphi, we made our way to Kalambaka, the village close to Meteora. Since it was officially Mary's birthday on Saturday, we had a program dinner celebrating it.

On Sunday, we drove up the long hill to Meteora. There, we visited two monasteries and one nunnery. We first visited Great Meteora, the largest monastery in Meteora, then went to Varlam, and ended with the nunnery. At each one, all the ladies had to wear skirts, even though our legs were already covered by our pants. Oh, well. I am truly amazed and just how those monks were able to climb those mountains and subsequently build monasteries on top of them. Just, WOW. After our visit, we got back on the bus and made the 6-hour trek back to Athens.

I know I am a bit late, but Happy February, everyone!

On Thursday the 4th, we went to the agora, which is at the base of the acropolis. A beautiful and mostly intact temple was located there called the Hephaestion, which was dedicated to the god Hephaestus. The view from the agora of the acropolis and of the city of Athens was spectacular. The weather was nice and we had blue skies.

This past weekend, we went on our second field trip and went to the Argolid. The Argolid is a small part of the Peloponnse on the eastern side. It is just west of Attica, the state where Athens is located. We first stopped at Mycenae, the "home" of Agamemnon. There we visited several tombs, including the most famous one called the Treasury of Atreus. We then hiked up to the old city itself and it was really neat to be there. Not much remains (obviously) but the view from it of the surrounding plain is wicked pretty. That afternoon, we made our way to Nauplion (also spelled Nafplion). It is this gorgeous little town near the harbor that has Venetian and Turkish fortresses. It is a more modern city compared to those that we saw in the Argolid, but it has the BEST gelateria in Greece. We went several times during the two days we were there.

On Saturday, we made our way to Epidaurus and Franchthi Cave (when pronounced fast, sounds like Frank the Cave). Epidaurus was an ancient healing site that was attributed to the god of healing, Asklepius. Also there at Epidaurus was a cool theatre that awesome acoustics and could seat many people. From there we made our way to Franchthi Cave, which was an old cave that housed people way back in the day. First we had a picnic of bread, cheese, and wine, then hiked to the cave. It was super awesome and we also did a little bit of rock climbing inside the cave. We then returned back to Nauplion.

Sunday, we visited the Nauplion Museum, then left for Lerna and Tiryns. Lerna is famous for the House of Tiles, which was two-storied and had tiles covering the roof. Tiryns was another Mycenaean-period settlement. Unfortunately, we didn't spend too much time at Tiryns because it was raining heavily. Then we made our way back to Athens in the rain. Boo. Also, Sunday was the 1-month anniversary of being in Athens. I can't believe a month and some has already gone by. Jeez.

This week has been different from the other weeks. On Monday, we learned to learn to dance Greek dances in Greek class. It was super fun. Additionally, we only had Byzantine history once and won't have it for a few weeks. Today, Wednesday, we only had one class and it was our Trojan War class. So, that means we have Greek tomorrow. It is just a weird week.

On Friday, also Monica's 24th birthday, we are doing a day trip to Corinth and Acrocorinth. I am excited, but I hope we have time to visit the farmers' market before we leave, since it was been several weeks the last time I was there. I miss my cheap and fresh veggies and fruit.

I spoke to my parents this past weekend on ichat and learned about the massive snow storm that is hounding the east coast. I am glad that I am not there right now. :)

In less than 4 weeks, my mum and oldest sister will be spending spring break with me here in Greece! I cannot wait to see them! Although, I wish my dad and Monica could spend it with us as well.

Oh, and pitchers and catchers report in a week!

I think that is about it, folks. So, until I blog again,

έχουν μια καλή ημέρα (Have a good day)