A Taste of Ancient Greece

After the ordeal that was Athens, Jon let us sleep in a few hours before we got into the trusty steed and headed to Nemea. Nemea used to be one of the sites of the Panhellenic games, so people would travel there from all over. The main buildings there are the Greek Bath/gymnasium, which is a bit of a rare find, the remains of an Early Christian Church, a semi-restored Temple to Zeus, and a nearby stadium where they held the games. It was really interesting to see all of the ancient plumbing and ingenuity that went into the bath. There were sinks that used to be fed with water as well as a pool for bathing.

Us in the sinks of the old Greek Bath

The temple was an interesting site as well. Only three of the columns had been originally standing since around 5 BC, and the rest were re-erected under the direction of an American archaeologist a few years ago. From the columns, you can get a pretty good sense of what the temple used to look like (with a little bit of imagination, that is...). We also met a lizard friend, who we decided was probably Zeus in lizard form keeping an eye on us. The dude was always doing that sort of thing...

The temple to Zeus in Nemea

Zeus in lizard form

Jon told us that in order to get the real Greek experience, we had to lick the columns...pretty sure he made that up off of the top of his head, but we did it anyways. Because we were in Greece, and who cares? Besides, we made Jon do it after us, so fair's fair, I guess.

Tasting the antiquities

We hopped back into the van for about a two minute drive and ended up at the ancient stadium of Nemea. The entrance to the stadium is through a cool old tunnel which has a lot of ancient graffiti carved into it by people who were competing in the games. The stadium itself was very well-preserved. Along the side, there were channels made of stone that used to carry water down the sides of the track. The starting line was made of stone and had two notches in which the athletes would stick their toes. Robert and Tyler decided to do a trial of how a race would have gone. Robert won, but not by much.

Tyler and Robert on their marks, Ancient Greek style

From there, we drove up a mountain to see a little monastery. The monastery was unique in that it used to be run by only one lady, who lived alone at the top of the mountain like a hermit. According to the story, she had a dream one night that if she dug at the top of the mountain, she would find a treasure. Sure enough, when a few villagers followed her instructions, they found a few early Christian graves and a pair of gold earrings. The lady then asked her family to build her a small church and place to live, and she stayed there until her death in the 1980's. The church was beautiful on the inside, and it was obviously still being taken care of by someone. Inside a very small sanctuary, we found the exhumed bones that the villagers had dug up sitting in a box. Katie even used the top of a skull to identify one of the bodies as a female. Archaeologists...

The church at the top of the mountain run by one woman

Inside of the church

We went from the top of one mountain to another to see a monument to Theodorous something-or-other, who was basically a bandit who took the side of Greek revolutionaries in the war of Greek Independence. The valley the monument overlooks is the site of a battle he led against the Turks in which over 17,000 members of the Turkish Army died. Apparently, the Greeks hated the Turks so much that they didn't even bother to bury the bodies. Jon told us he heard there was one man in town who made a living selling the teeth he pulled from Turkish skeletons to dentists. Who knows if it's true or not...I'm kind of hoping not. In the evening, we went into Corinth for a somewhat belated welcome dinner full of delicious food like fresh baked bread, tzatziki, a spicy cheese, Greek salad, feta, grape leaves, a pasta dish with nutmeg in it, souvlaki, and chicken and potatoes baked in the oven. The meal (and the wine) was delicious, and we were all quite full by the end. We also managed to make friends with one of the stray cats wandering around the restaurant (it happens, and I'm not complaining). In fact, there are a lot of stray dogs and cats all over Greece. Apparently the Greeks, being huge proponents of freedom, don't believe in spaying and neutering their animals, which only increases the population. At least all of the strays seem to be well-fed and taken care of by the locals.

A stray cat resting on a column

Acropolicious

We spent today in Athens enjoying the city. At 6 am, we all piled into the van in order to catch the 6:40 train from Corinth to Athens. Then we headed up to the Acropolis, which literally just means "city on a hill". The one in Athens is the most famous, with the Parthenon and whatnot. It was kind of surreal to actually be in a place that has been so well known throughout the world for so long. Since we arrived relatively early on a Sunday morning, there weren't a ton of other tourists there, which made the experience much nicer. Since the guides there are unionized, Jon wasn't allowed to give us the sort of tour he usually would there. Instead we headed out to have our own Acropolis experience. 

Temple to Athena Nike, the goddess of victory

The Erechthion with caryatid porch

The Parthenon (temple to Athena) 

Even though it was amazing and fascinating to be at the Acropolis, I almost preferred Acrocorinth because there were fewer people and more access to the monuments. After the Acropolis, we went down the mountain a bit to the Rock of Ares, which is where they supposedly held all of the murder trials in Ancient Athens.

Me on top of the Rock of Ares

Next, we went down from the mountain and into the Ancient marketplace of Athens which is called the Agora. Near the Agora is the Temple to Hephestus, the bronzeworking god. It's the only known temple that was dedicated to him. The temple is remarkably well-preserved, and has a lot of beautiful flora surrounding it, which makes it quite beautiful.

The temple to Hephestus

After all of that, it was time for some lunch. We ended up at this small cafe-type place where I got a spinach pie and a glorified juicebox. We did some quick shopping and then headed off to see the National museum...which we found to be closed after a subway ride and some misdirected wandering. We ended up going to see constitution square instead, which is the site of the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Capitol Building as well as a lot of the recent protests, which, luckily, weren't happening that day. After our failed attempt at the National Museum, we decided to give the new Acropolis museum a try instead. On the way, we stopped in a small shop and bought a few souvenirs from a very friendly Greek lady who told us she liked Americans because we are the most like Greeks, and fed us baclava which her mom supposedly made (although we were suspicious when we saw that it came from plastic packaging...). The new museum has a bit of an interesting backstory; it was basically built as a statement to the British, who have a good deal of the sculpture from the Parthenon. A few years ago, when the Greeks asked that the sculpture from the pediment be returned, the British Museum refused, claiming that the Greeks didn't have a sufficient space to keep it. In response, the Greeks spent a ton of money to build a beautiful new museum, only to have the British blow them off again. So it goes. Anyways, the museum was magnificent, and had several interesting displays such as the use of color in Greek sculpture, an often overlooked concept. I also appreciated that you could easily see the Acropolis from the museum, which gave the artifacts a better sense of context.

Some of the pediment sculpture in the new Acropolis museum (some are casts)

There were very few things to be critical about concerning the museum, they really did a good job. However I disliked the fact that the sculpture they had displayed faced the opposite direction from the windows looking out onto the Acropolis, so you couldn't see both at once. Also, what little technology they were using was not doing any good things for them. The only thing I saw was a little computer screen with the same information that was on the signs. And the one almost unforgivable thing I saw was this sign...in COMIC SANS OF ALL THINGS. I'm appalled that there is even a Greek version of comic sans. Appalled.

Museum sign in Greek Comic Sans...sigh

The entire group was pretty exhausted after all of this (except for Jon, who somehow never seems to get tired...), so we got back on the suburban rail and headed home to Loutro Elenis. By the time we got back it was around 8 pm, so we had been gone for about 14 hours or so. Everyone was happy to see that Anastasia had a delicious spaghetti-like dinner waiting for us with a lemony cake for dessert. It was a long, but rewarding day.

Pegasus Crossing

Today we awoke to find that Greece is much more beautiful by day. Our hotel is right on the Aegean sea, and the view is spectacular. We had a lovely Greek breakfast cooked by Anastasia, the lady who owns the hotel. Then we headed off to see Acrocorinth, which is about a 15 minute drive from Loutro Elenis, where we're staying. The site is on top of a mountain, which we drove up about 80% of and walked the rest. It was built to be a fortress in case of invasion (which happened often), and was occupied from the bronze age until about the Greek war of Independence. It was particularly important because of its location near the isthmus, which connects North and South Greece. You can see for miles in both directions when you're at the top, which makes it militarily ideal.

The front gates at Acrocorinth

A view from the top of the mountain

Because it was occupied for so long by so many different people, there are a ton of different structures here, plenty that haven't even been excavated yet. They are currently in the process of excavating the two towers that flank the gates. We were surprised to see the large pile of material which they removed and aren't further cataloging. It was strange to see pieces of pottery from thousands of years ago lying in the discard pile. Not to mention a surprising amount of bones (none human, no worries). I understand that they have a lot of material, and that it would take forever to go through it all, but it just seems like such a waste.

Glazed pottery sherd in the discard pile

We climbed in just about every nook and cranny we could find. There were a few different cisterns on the mountain, which are underground natural reservoirs of water. In order to get a better look at one of the cisterns, we climbed down a somewhat questionable looking shaft. Later we learned that cistern was supposedly the first place Pegasus touched the ground with his hooves when he came to earth. Needless to say, I was pretty geeked. I'm a pretty big fan of all mythological horses. 

The cistern which was supposedly the first place Pegasus touched the earth

Eventually we made it to the top of the mountain, where we saw the ruins of the temple to Aphrodite, where they actually used to practice ritualized prostitution. The hike was exhausting, but the views were worth it. 

The crew posing epically on the top of the mountain

Next, we hit up one of the old mosques, which was still in pretty sound condition. Almost all of it's corbeled dome roof was still intact, which was very cool to see. After that we visited an old church which is still in use today, and decided to call it a day.

Gates leading to the inside of the Mosque

Candle holder inside the small church

After an only somewhat treacherous descent, we headed into the town of Corinth for late  lunch. We ate at Jon's friend Nico's restaurant, and had gyros, greek salad, and watermelon. At the restaurant, we sat on a verandah that overlooked the site of ancient Corinth, which I'm excited to go back and explore later. Then we went to see the canal that divides North and South Greece and connects the two seas at the isthmus. It was impressive, but slightly terrifying. We also spent a good amount of time watching a bridge that lowered into the water so boats could drive over it. 

The canal at the isthmus

Bridge in canal lowered for boat to drive across

In the evening, we went to our first Greek supermarket and got pizza at a local restaurant where we were unsure of the protocol...and realized we should probably learn at least a few words in Greek at some point. Tomorrow we are headed to Athens on the 6:30 am train, so I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about then.

Get Us to the Greece, Or: How Airplanes Suck

Finally in Greece with some WiFi access (believe me, you don't know how much you appreciate that until it's gone). Travel was...not ideal, to say the least. I left Grand Rapids to meet Katie and Tyler in East Lansing at 6:30 am on Thursday. From there we drove to Chicago, where our flight was delayed for about two hours due to storms and other general airplane nonsense. We did meet some French Canadians who were very concerned that we were going to miss our flight. Friendly people, those Canadians. Also, I decided to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding on the plane. You know, as preparation. Anyways, we got into Montreal two hours later than intended and were gearing up to spend the night on Canadian soil when we found out our flight to Geneva was also delayed two hours. There was much rejoicing. And also a little bit of customs confusion. But we powered through. On this flight, I found out the most fascinating thing about non-US airlines: they give you all sorts of free food and drinks! Magical. Arrived in Geneva just in time to miss our flight to Athens. Rebooked to Athens through Munich, bought a cheese tart, a glass of wine, and 20 bucks worth of Swiss chocolate. After some debate, I decided to say no to the gallon of nutella.

Our flight to Munich was, of course, delayed. There was much napping in airports.

 Finally landed in Munich about 15 minutes before our flight to Athens was about to take off. Sprinted through Munich airport (Katie in her bare feet) only to be told they had switched gates and we were about 20 gates off. Finally made in on the plane to Athens, got more free plane food including awesome German chocolate (I'm telling you, they know how to do it right over there), and landed at about 11:30 Athens time which is 4:30 pm back home in Michigan. Jon picked us up at the airport, we drove through Athens (in the dark, it looked surprisingly like Grand Rapids...), we stopped once to stand on a bridge over a ridiculously deep canal, and finally made it to the hotel. Total travel time was about 37 hours. I thought about not even posting this so I'd just forget about it in years to come, but I guess that would be disingenuous. Plus it's part of my grade. And besides, it was definitely an adventure of some sort.

The Basics

The Blog

This is a blog to keep track of my (hopefully) amazing adventures in Greece from May 30-June 28 2013. I'm keeping this blog as an assignment for the class I'm taking while over in Greece, but if you're interested (mom), by all means, read on. I'll try to keep things at least semi-amusing. 

The Project

We're going to be working at the archaeological site of Isthmia which is on the mainland near Corinth. The dig is through Ohio State University, and their website, which can be found here will tell you everything you want to know and more. Along with working with artifacts and doing general diggy things (not entirely sure what that entails yet, but my guess is possibly some ancient curse fighting and almost certainly some weed pulling), my project specifically is to work on creating a virtual tour for the site that can be downloaded and used as an app. Needless to say, I'm pretty geeked about this. Location-based apps and I are becoming very good friends. I already have visions of augmented reality swirling in my head and am pretty excited to get to the site and see what I'll be working with.

The Trip

In addition to working at Isthmia five days a week, on weekends we will be traveling to other historical/generally awesome places. So fair warning, plenty of this will be pictures of beaches and delicious foods. Except olives. Olive oil maybe, but never olives. Sorry, Greeks.

So there you have it...stay tuned for more, I guess.