This weekend, I checked off the last item on my international travel bucket list for the semester! I knew it wasn't realistic (time wise or economically) to try and visit everywhere I wanted this semester, so I chose two places that I really wanted to go: Italy and Greece. As you probably know, Hallie and I went to Italy for Spring Break, and then Will, Akshata, Amy and I finally got to Greece last Thursday! It was a short, hot(!), two-day trip, but we packed in a lot. The first day (Friday, as we arrived around 11pm on Thursday) we headed straight to the Acropolis and spent most of the day there. Here it is from the top of the Acropolis Museum.
As you climb up to the top, there are tons of ruins that you walk through. However, they're all dwarfed by the Parthenon and temples found at the summit. Here's the view of Athens from the top.
Here's the classic, touristy Parthenon photo!
These are the goddesses (there's a name for them but I can't quite remember it) that watch over the city. There's another set of them on the other side of the temple.
After you reach the top, you wind your way back down through the Ancient Agora (market), which is now essentially an olive grove with some rocks in it. The olive trees were beautiful, however. Here's one:
Also in the Agora were tons of little creatures. We found a cat and a turtle. Here they are:
Here's the cat with Will, who's trying to coax it over to play. It wouldn't oblige, but was happy to tease him a bit.
There were also thousands of wild Poppies, which always make me think of my grandmother. They were gorgeous and everywhere - I wish there were more like this at home!
After we finished at the Acropolis, we stopped for lunch and then headed to the Acropolis Museum. It is new and absolutely amazing - the best museum I've visited hands-down. It's built on top of uncovered ruins, and has glass floors so that you can see them below the galleries. They've also recreated the relief that ran all the way around the Parthenon from fragments that have been recovered as well as reproductions. It was beautiful! There were no photos allowed, sorry! After, we were off to the remains of the Temple of Zeus. Apparently many of the pillars were overturned during a huge storm many years ago, so this is all that remains.
It was now about 6pm, so we headed back to the hotel to shower, relax for a bit, and figure out the plan for the rest of the day and Saturday. We ended up going to dinner at this cafe called Commerce in the newer part of Athens. It was wonderful, we stayed way too long, but the waiter ended up giving us this whopping piece of cake to split on the house. It was amazingly delicious!
When they starting closing down, we decided it was time to leave, and headed back to the hotel. The next morning was an early one! We caught a 7:30 bus to Delphi for the day, and the bus station was across town. We had a bit of a scare because we rode the metro in, then hopped on a city bus, intending to stop at the bus station stop. However, we missed it, and ended up having to run back from the next station. Luckily we got there just in time, boarded the bus, and quickly fell asleep for the 3 hour ride. We had debated whether or not to make the hike to Delphi, but it was absolutely, unequivocally worth it! Athens is a neat city, but only really for its ruins and history. There isn't much else there, and it isn't a particularly beautiful or clean city. Delphi was the absolute opposite. Everyone we met was nice and willing to help, the area and views were amazing, as evidenced by the photo below:
We spent the day climbing through the temple, gymnasium and city ruins on the cliffside. Here's Amy, Akshata, me and Will:
I can't imagine how difficult it was to originally build these structures. Much like Perugia, you are literally on a mountain side, and these buildings were erected long before the evolution of machinery that could do the work for you.
We arrived back in Athens late that afternoon. Amy and I had to be back to school by Sunday afternoon, so we went online to check in for our flight that was scheduled for early the next morning. However, we logged on to find out that our flight had been cancelled, and we'd been put on a flight Sunday evening. So, we frantically called Turkish Airlines, who easily put us on a flight Saturday night at 9:50... giving us about 4 hours to pack and head to the airport. We arrived with little problem, although we were a little upset that our trip had been cut short. Overall, I would probably not go back to Athens in a hurry, but I'm anxious to go back to Greece and explore the rural areas more! I'd love to make a trip to one of the islands, too - we simply didn't have enough time this trip.
I've loved seeing so many places, but I'm really excited to be on campus for a while. I'm only in Turkey for 24 more days, and I want to enjoy Istanbul and Sarıyer a bit more before I leave!
As you climb up to the top, there are tons of ruins that you walk through. However, they're all dwarfed by the Parthenon and temples found at the summit. Here's the view of Athens from the top.
Here's the classic, touristy Parthenon photo!
These are the goddesses (there's a name for them but I can't quite remember it) that watch over the city. There's another set of them on the other side of the temple.
After you reach the top, you wind your way back down through the Ancient Agora (market), which is now essentially an olive grove with some rocks in it. The olive trees were beautiful, however. Here's one:
Also in the Agora were tons of little creatures. We found a cat and a turtle. Here they are:
Here's the cat with Will, who's trying to coax it over to play. It wouldn't oblige, but was happy to tease him a bit.
There were also thousands of wild Poppies, which always make me think of my grandmother. They were gorgeous and everywhere - I wish there were more like this at home!
After we finished at the Acropolis, we stopped for lunch and then headed to the Acropolis Museum. It is new and absolutely amazing - the best museum I've visited hands-down. It's built on top of uncovered ruins, and has glass floors so that you can see them below the galleries. They've also recreated the relief that ran all the way around the Parthenon from fragments that have been recovered as well as reproductions. It was beautiful! There were no photos allowed, sorry! After, we were off to the remains of the Temple of Zeus. Apparently many of the pillars were overturned during a huge storm many years ago, so this is all that remains.
It was now about 6pm, so we headed back to the hotel to shower, relax for a bit, and figure out the plan for the rest of the day and Saturday. We ended up going to dinner at this cafe called Commerce in the newer part of Athens. It was wonderful, we stayed way too long, but the waiter ended up giving us this whopping piece of cake to split on the house. It was amazingly delicious!
When they starting closing down, we decided it was time to leave, and headed back to the hotel. The next morning was an early one! We caught a 7:30 bus to Delphi for the day, and the bus station was across town. We had a bit of a scare because we rode the metro in, then hopped on a city bus, intending to stop at the bus station stop. However, we missed it, and ended up having to run back from the next station. Luckily we got there just in time, boarded the bus, and quickly fell asleep for the 3 hour ride. We had debated whether or not to make the hike to Delphi, but it was absolutely, unequivocally worth it! Athens is a neat city, but only really for its ruins and history. There isn't much else there, and it isn't a particularly beautiful or clean city. Delphi was the absolute opposite. Everyone we met was nice and willing to help, the area and views were amazing, as evidenced by the photo below:
We spent the day climbing through the temple, gymnasium and city ruins on the cliffside. Here's Amy, Akshata, me and Will:
I can't imagine how difficult it was to originally build these structures. Much like Perugia, you are literally on a mountain side, and these buildings were erected long before the evolution of machinery that could do the work for you.
We arrived back in Athens late that afternoon. Amy and I had to be back to school by Sunday afternoon, so we went online to check in for our flight that was scheduled for early the next morning. However, we logged on to find out that our flight had been cancelled, and we'd been put on a flight Sunday evening. So, we frantically called Turkish Airlines, who easily put us on a flight Saturday night at 9:50... giving us about 4 hours to pack and head to the airport. We arrived with little problem, although we were a little upset that our trip had been cut short. Overall, I would probably not go back to Athens in a hurry, but I'm anxious to go back to Greece and explore the rural areas more! I'd love to make a trip to one of the islands, too - we simply didn't have enough time this trip.
I've loved seeing so many places, but I'm really excited to be on campus for a while. I'm only in Turkey for 24 more days, and I want to enjoy Istanbul and Sarıyer a bit more before I leave!
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