Greece

Let me first apologize for my lack of recent posts; life has been busy.

But for those of you dedicated fans-here is a brand spanking new post, all about my recent trip to Greece. I would also like to add that since our tour guide spoke only in Croatia-I often didn't find out the significance of the sites we visited until two days later...It would also be impossible to describe the past week in less then a 500 page book, so here is the much abbreviated version.

The trip began with a twelve hour bus ride (I kid you not) from Zagreb to Ancona, Italy. Our boat departed from Ancona, and was more or less a twenty four hour trip to Greece. Since we traveled at night, it was difficult to appreciate the lovely scenery I am sure we passed.

Upon arrival in Greece, we boarded the bus once again, and traveled to Kalampaka. First impressions of the Greek landscape proved it to be hilly and dry, the bus winding up and down a seemingly endless path. Along the highways, about every twenty feet are tiny little shrines, small boxes shaped like churches with religious icons inside. I was surprised by the amount of trash on the road, and not surprised by the high number of stray cats and dogs. There are hundreds of olive groves, along with tangerines and almonds, and herds of goats and sheep who saunter slowly across the road. You can feel the age of the land, one feels as though they are in a different world completely. The Greek language helps feed this notion, as it look like complete and utter gibberish. For someone who loves Greek mythology, being in Odysseus's' homeland was a fulfilling and exhilarating experience.

From Kalampaka we traveled to Delphi, to see the remains of the Oracle. The site is built on a steep hillside, and looks out to the mountains, you feel almost as if you are in the bottom of a well, the sheer size of the mountains is overwhelming. The site consists of mostly run down temples, snaking up the hillside. At the top there is an amphitheatre which is still mostly intact. The town of Delphi was like a postcard, complete with white houses and winding cobblestone streets.

From Delphi we journeyed to Glyfada, a town outside of Athens. The next morning we went to The Acropolis. I wasn't prepared for the mob scene we were met with, I think I heard a language from every corner of the earth. In my Western Humanities class this year, there were several pictures of the Acropolis in my textbook which I use to stare at longingly. It was mind blowing to see it all in the first person. The view of Athens from The Acropolis is incredible, one can see the entire city of Athens, and all the way to the sea.

That night I went swimming in the sea, this was my favorite part of the entire trip. The water was warm, incredibly salty, and a bit dirty. (I swam into a whole tomato?) I was assured time and time again by the patriotic Croats that the Adriatic is a thousand times more beautiful then Greece's coastline, though I wasn't about to complain.

I should add somewhere that the entire week was punctuated by the raucous singing of Croatian songs, sung increasingly louder as the week progressed. I am impressed that we didn't get kicked out of Athens, seeing as there were about 50 of us parading down the streets of Athens at two in the morning, singing and clapping and causing a general disturbance. Croatian love their country, and want everyone to know it.

My other favorite part of the trip was traveling to the cliff from which King Aegeus allegedly threw himself into the ocean (so named the Aegean Sea) after thinking his son Theseus was dead. The day seemed to match the somber mood of the story, the wind was blowing wildly and the sky was black. The cliff is the most southern point in all of Europe.

We also went to a great museum with the original statues from all over Greece. We visited a monastery which is built on top of a cliff. We went to Mycenae, to see Agamemnon's Palace, and the Treasury of Artemus. We saw the Korinthian Canal. On the journey home we traveled through the day, and I was able to watch Greece disappear while sitting in the sun.