New Kids on the Block

Tuesday was our first day on the site at Isthmia! Yay! We were all excited to finally see what we had come to work on. Once again, we got up early and had another delicious Greek breakfast prepared by Anastasia, then went to the store to get some lunch, and headed to the dig. In order to get the guards to let us in, Jon stood at the gate and whistled until Canela, the stray dog who has adopted the site, barked enough that the guards got annoyed and came down to open the gate. Once inside, we saw the different buildings where they store artifacts and records from the site and do research. When Tim, the director of the dig, arrived, he took us on a tour and showed us the sights. We went down to the Roman Baths and were shocked to see a beautiful mosaic on the floor. Apparently it is the largest of its kind in all of Greece. After explaining about the mosaic, we got our first taste of work when he pulled out 5 brooms and a hose and told us to clean off the floor. It was actually strangely exciting to see the mosaic wet, as it was meant to be seen. 

The mosaic on the floor of the Roman Bath (I'll take a better picture soon)

The heating system under the floor of the bath

After a quick lunch, we had to pack up and leave for the day. In Greece, most archaeological sites close at 3:00, as dictated by the government, so we have to make sure we get out before then every day, or we'll get in big trouble with the guards. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home and stocked up. I even got myself a briki, a type of pot they use to make Greek coffee, for five euro so I can impress my friends and family back in the states with my oh so cultured ways. Also so I won't go into withdrawal without the amazing coffee they have here. In the late afternoon, we headed down to the small beach at our hotel. The sea is an absolutely beautiful shade of blue, and if you add in the mountains, it's really quite the view. I even found a ton of sea glass.

Sea glass I found at the beach

The water was still a bit too cold for swimming, but we walked along the shore a bit and saw the different sea critters like urchins and anemones. Then it was back up to the hotel for ratatouille and sausage prepared by Jon, and what is becoming our tradition of sitting on the patio and talking about life and Archaeology.