So this is Sparta...

It's been a while since I last updated...

After we left Olympia, we went to Pylos. On the way to Pylos we stopped at the ruins of an ancient palace which is thought to be the palace of Nestor, who is a famous character in the Illiad and the Trojan War. The archaeologist who found the palace found it on his first day of digging and was pulling up tablets by lunchtime!

Pylos was a quiet non-touristy town. It was situated on the sea and some of the rooms at the hotel had large balconies right on the sea. I had quite an experience the first night at the hotel. At about 2 in the morning, my rommmate gets out of bed turns on the light and says "Stephanos, we've got huge rats in our room!" I'm like still half asleep, and say something like your crazy go back to sleep. Then he tells me how he's been hearing them and thought he saw one on the window ledge. He goes to talk to the hotel desk and i'm still in bed not completely convinced he knows what's going on. Then someone from the hotel comes in, Clay points at where he thought it was. And a giant rat runs out from behind the closet across the ledge and leaps onto the floor and under the bed!!! Hahaha. Somehow I managed to get all my stuff out of the room and into a new one the hotel gave us; it was just too much to deal with...

In Pylos there was a nice square in the middle of town that some of the group hung out in often especially lunches and desserts. The sights we saw were large fortresses. The first was a Venetian fortress where people lived when under attack by the Turks. It was a massive complex and it was fun to explore the whole thing from top to bottom. The other fortress was more modern but was used for the same purposes, defense, and weathering seiges. It wasn't as big but it had a very nice view of the sea, and we saw several nearby islands.

After Pylos we made our way to Sparta. The impressive thing about Sparta is Sparta is separated from the peoples it ruled by a huge mountain range. But with the incredible power of the Spartan army they were still able to control these lands. We made a random stop in the mountains to see a cave. This cave is where Spartans would throw their enemies, or weak children. We explored it some but we couldnt go too far back because of the giant dropoff of death... The archaeologists who have explored it have found so many bones; it was obviously a place many people died.

As for Sparta itself much of the modern city is built over the ancient city. The spartan acropolis still stands but is not near as impressive as the Athenian acropolis and parthenon. However, even an ancient writer recognized that 'if Sparta were ever deserted, it would be hard to recognize it for the incredible power it was.' We hiked up a small mountain to get a view of the entire city and see the reamins of a temple to Menelaus and Helen (more Trojan war characters). The city nowadays is not too impressive, but still nice.

The 300 quotes have been endless, and we've deperately been searching for a giant well to reenact Leonidas' dramatic kick of the Persian messanger but no luck so far...

We've been assigning Greek gods to people on the trip based on their personality and what they offer to the group. I have been deemed Helios because of my ability of brighten the day and my ability to run (Helios would run across the sky). Tomorrow we are leaving for Nafplion our last stop before our last three days in Athens. I'm caught in between being ready to be home and not ready to leave yet... I'm hoping this last week goes slowly, I definitely will be enjoying the little time I have left.

Olympia - and the Peloponnese

After we left Delphi we went to Olympia. Olympia was similar to Delphi in that there was only one attraction, and it makes a lot of money from tourism. The sight I'm referring to is the sight of the original Olympics. At Delphi we saw a stadium but were only allowed to look in from the outside. At the stadium in Olympia we were allowed to walk all over the stadium. We even got to race down the length of the stadium!! Soo much fun, especially when you win :)


Also on this sight were the remains of the Temple of Zeus, which housed one of the seven wonders of the world, a giant ivory a gold statue of Zeus. As part of the class and my grade I had to give a presentation on this part of the sight. It went fine, and the professors I did a good job.

After Olympia I traveled toward the coast of Southwest Greece, on the way we stopped at the palace of Nestor, a famous character in the Illiad. It's interesting how archaeologists and historians try so hard to tie sights into literature and mythology. If a palace shows similarities to a description or a myth, everyone wants to think that they've made an important mythological discovery. I've seen this several times but especially the palaces of Nestor and Minos (and the labyrinth).

Now we are in city of Pylos. I dont know anything about it yet. Though we saw an amazing Venetian complex, and it's on the sea again :)

Consulting the Oracle

Today we visited the remains of the oracle at Delphi. It is really the only attraction of the city, but one of my favorites so far. There was a lot more than just a temple. There was also a gymnasium, a stadium, treasuries from all the Greek city states, and a museum which had some of the coolest things I've seen on the trip.

Everyone is starting to get a little sick. I've woken up the last two nights with a bad cough. Lauren had to go to the local emergency room for a virus she's been fighting, but she's is ok now though she is stuck on an awful diet.

Some people went on a hike this afternoon but I stayed behind and rested. It's been slow the last couple days with some random things happening...

• Someone found a huge 5 inch spider in their room but it was dead
• I won an hour long game of ERS, got out, left, came back later, slapped in, won haha
• My roommate is getting up at 3 to watch the Stanley Cup
• A woman on the last boat we were on had her passport stolen
• The day I left I missed the season finale of LOST, and cant watch it online here in Greece
• The next hotel we are staying in is a Best Western
• I listened to my iPod the other day and realized how much I miss American music
  

Tomorrow we are getting back on the bus. This may be the longest bus ride 4-5 hours which isn't too bad. We are going to Olympia, where I have to give a presentation on the Temple of Zeus. Here's a picture of the Oracle at Delphi:

Somewhere about Halfway

Just a quick update.... We're in Delphi now. We got on a boat from Naxos, to Athens stayed there one night and then drove here to Delphi. Tha city is nested on a mountain side we are no longer near the sea, and yet it's still beautiful! Delphi is small but lives off tourism, there's no other reason to come here; "tourists" have been journeying to consult the famous oracle for forever. Anyway the city is kinda lame but the hotel has internet and I'm excited to see the oracle...

I've really enjoyed it here. Some people are starting to feel it, and it's bringing out some bad attitudes in the group. But nothing like that has hit me; everyday is a new adventure and brings another story to tell.

My 21st in Greece!

I am now 21 years of age :) Yay!

We are still on the island of Naxos. Once again we are right on the coast of the sea. Its beautiful and when we go back to the mainland i'm going to miss seeing the sea from the hotel and walking along the coast at night... Naxos is great because it is less touristy than any of the other cities that we have been to so far.

Yesterday, we went on a hike through the mountains. the hike was tough on some of group because the trail was overgrown and difficult at many spots. The hike took about 5 or 6 hours, and i dont know how far we went. But i definitely enjoyed; it the mountain scenery was beautiful and I liked the challenge of trekking through the woods. We ended at a village and enjoyed an awesome meal, where everything we ate came from the island.

For my birthday I was treated to some delicious desserts and assorted alcoholic beverages (though there was no thrill in buying any). I had a great time with the people who celebrated with me! They were very nice to make sure that I enjoyed my special day. I was also very happy to talk to lana on skype, though we've been corresponding talk to her face to face really made my day :) But the majority of the day didnt feel like my birthday. If I'd had the same day in Memphis it would have been one of my best birthdays, but because everyday here has been wonderful even yesterday had a feeling of normality hahaha, but it was great.

Tomorrow we are leaving Naxos on a boat to go back to Athens for one day and then continue are adventures across the mainland of Greece making stops at Delphi, Olympia, and Sparta. For those you that are sad that you could not partake in my 21st birthday celebration. You might be able to convince me to celebrate again when I get back :)

Santorini and Naxos

We lift the island of Crete today on a boat and went to the island of Santorini. Several people on the trip said Santorini was all they had heard about in Greece, but i'd never heard of it. It was gorgeous!! It was a large island that had been created by volcanoes, the beach, mountains and city looked incredible. When i get pictures up on my computer, i'll put some good ones up. The only problem was it was really touristy. By far the most touristy of any place we had been, but still a fun experience.

Later we got on a boat and sailed to Naxos which where we are spending the next three days. Naxos is an island and the city we are staying in is on the sea. Unlike Santorini, Naxos is not very touristy but still very pretty. They have a lot of the old Venetian city left that has beautiful small streets that wander throught the city...

Tomorrow is my 21st birthday :) and we are going on another hike...

Blogtime

Some members of the group recently discovered my blog. This was not in the plan. However, they have requested a spot on the blog. And I figure I should explain some of the characters I am consistently interacting with.

This is Drew. I sat next to him on the plane to Athens, and we have become friends. Drew like me is not involved in Classics, but may be the most eager of the non-Classics to learn. He is one the most entertaining of the group, and has thoroughly enjoyed this trip so far. He played frisbee with me on the beach at Matala which we both enjoyed.

This is Clay. I roomed with Clay in Athens the first four days, and he was also another guy I quickly made friends with. Clay is the oldest of the group, and has the most experience in speaking Greek out of all the students. Clay is also a Christian; I am blessed he is here. One night we tried answering another guy's (Devin) questions about Christianity. Clay is a great guy, especially for answering questions, most of my questions I direct toward him.

This is Lauren. Lauren has been my best friend on the trip; she is currently an Industrial Engineer like I am, but may be transferring into biomedical at A&M. We constantly make jokes about the professors' tendancies and reoccuring motifs of the trip such as the venetian wall, lustral basins, and kri kri. She has been sick, and was locked up in her room tonight with crappy tea and hard bread to eat by order of the professors, but hopefully she'll feel better after taking some drugs.


Hoping none of this gets me in trouble with the group especially the pictures... haha

Last Day in Crete

The hotel we've been staying in at Iraklio has been awesome! There is wireless internet so I have been abe to get on whenever I want; their breakfast has been the best out of all the hotels, and the rooms are much more spacious. We are all very sorry to leave tomorrow.

Iraklio is another city that is on the sea. I can see the sea and the old venetian wall right from my bed. Nearby Iraklio we visited two minoan castles, one of them is thought to be the castle of King Minos. His claim to fame involves the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. The castle could've resembled a labryinth, it was so extensive with rooms everywhere.

In Iraklion the main church is the Church of Saint Titus, who was sent to the island of Crete by the apostle Paul. In a town outside of Iraklion we saw the sight of the supposed original church of Titus. I looked up Crete in the Bible and this is what I found. Paul stopped in Crete on his way to Rome, and then sent Titus to Crete saying "Even one of their own prophets has said: 'Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy glutton.' This testimony is true." This made me laugh when I read it, and one of the professors we were with confirmed that Crete often did have this reputation of being liars.

One person I have learned about a lot is Nikos Kazantzakis. He is a very well known Greek author; we visited his grave one day, and I was very intrigued by what I heard of his life. Someone who is looking to get me a birthday present could look for a copy of his book The Last Temptation of Christ.

This afternoon we had a lovely time at a beach on the Southern coast of Crete at Malata. The beach was crystal clear and surrounded by beautiful mountains with caves you could explore; it was the most beautiful beach I'd ever been to. The highlight of the experience was jumping off a cliff probably about 20 feet high. It was a great day.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Santirini, which I hear is beautiful but we are only there a few hours to catch a ferry to another island called Naxos. I'm praying that the hotel in Naxos will also have free internet so I can keep updating consistently, and talk to people through skype and facebook...

More from the Island

I have uploaded some facebook pictures now, because i have access to the internet at the hotel in the city of Iraklio, so if you'd like to see some pictures they are there...

The Samarian gorge that we hiked yesterday was one of my favorite things we've done. Like i said before it's the longest natural gorge and Europe. The hike was 17km (about 10 miles!) and the terrain was rough at spots, but the views were amazing. After a while of hiking to get to the bottom of the gorge the walls shot up around us and towered over us. They were like nothing i'd ever seen. I couldve taken pictures all the way through... At the end of the gorge was the sea, and the beach where we rested our legs after a long day. Needless to say everyone was sore today, luckily I was one of the few not hurting (hooray for cross country!)

Now we are in iraklio, our hotel is by far the nicest one we have stayed in! I dont know what we will see in this city but we are spending two more days here.

The Island of Crete

During our last night in Athens we climbed up to the Areopagus after dinner because it has a beautiful view of the whole city at night. I had a wish come true when I talked to one of the guys in the group about Jesus. Such a surreal moment, hope i was able to plant a seed and mayne something more will come of it later in the trip.

We took a beautiful drive down the coast of Athens, it had gorgeous views the whole way! After that we got on a boat to ferry to Crete. I couldnt help but have the "I'm on a boat" song stuck in my head the whole night we were sailing haha.

Currently i'm in the city of hania, it is right off the coast and gives a amazing view of the see. Last night we sat on a wall overlooking the sea with a lighthouse right next to us, drinking Cretian wine, it was awesome! The city has an old part of town that has kept all its old Roman building and its beautiful, small streets with wonderful balconies watching. Today we had a freee day and went to the beach here. WE had a great time and it was good to get away from sightseeing and museums. The city is much smaller than Athens and far less crowded, but still has great food and plenty of fun things to do while exploring!

Tomorrow we are hiking the samarian gorge which is the longest natural gorge in Europe, we have to drive through all the mountains to get there. I'm really excited about it! Soon we're leaving hania but staying on the island of Crete which is perfectly fine with me... :)

Pictures

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The first picture is the parthenon sitting on the Acropolis
Then there is me posing with my presentation the Tower of the Winds
This is a view of the city from just outside the Acropolis
Finally this is the front of the Temple of Haphestus

Sightseeing Galoore!

Today we had our first full day of sightseeing. We started off bright and early at 830 and did not return until 5, but it was amazing! Everywhere you turn in Athens there is some cool classical building. Our first stop was the Ancient Agora, it was the marketplace of ancient Greece, just below the Acropolis. We saw the Temple of Haphestus, which was amazingly preserved in lamost all intact. It also provided a nice view of the agora as a whole. The agora was mostly ruins.

I had an incredible realization that I was standing probably where Paul was. The aeropogaus was touching the agora (we are going there tomorrow), and the agora is filled with temples and shrines of all sorts tribal gods, the pantheon, ancestoral shrines. It was so surreal to think about and I cant wait to stand where he was tomorrow in the aeropogaus.

Lunch is one of the best parts of the day. All the cafes are set up on the streets with owners begging you to come to there restaurant. A group of us was walking by and the owner came out and said "if you eat here i guve you all free ice cream... and cake!" We ate there. I've tried lots of new food it has all been very good and i'm glad that i'm being open to the food.

I have quickly made friends with the majority of the group, i know by the end we all be very close especially after sharing such an amazing experience!!

The second half of the day we saw the Roman agora or marketplace (i had to give a presentation which went well). We also saw the outer limits of the city that included the old city wall, roads (the road to Plato's academy), a Spartan grave, and many other gravestones.

So far I feel very overwhelmed there is no was i could tell everything on here though i wish i could, tomorrow we will be at the acropolis so hopefully there will be another update, i'm also going to try to put pictues up (i'm taking so many!)

First Day

It's actually been two days, but it feels like one...
The day before I left there was a slight change of plans. To avoid dealing with an ATC strike, delta put me on a early flight in New York which required me to leave earlier from Memphis and fly through Atlanta. So I made it to the memphis airport at about 430 in the morning, running on about three hours of sleep, but i had completely finished packing.

The first two flights were uneventful. On the nine hour flight to Athens I met up with Keith Webb and two other guys on the trip. We left NYC at 350 the 13th (the strike had been resolved so my earlier arrival was pointless) and arrived in Athens at 830 the 14th. I had an exit row seat for this flight which was such a good thing.

Getting out of the hotel went smoothly, all my bags were there. We took a bus from the airport to near our hotel. We got semi lost finding the hotel but nothing too bad. Having about 5 hours till we were supposed to meet everyone we went exploring.

The city was very beautiful and very busy, it looked like it could have been the weekend so many people were on the streets. There were a lot of peddlers trying to get you to buy their stuff. We probably wandered around for two hours we were amazed eventhough we didnt know what most of the things we saw were we thought it was all great. There were a ton of shoe and jewelery stores, i'm trying not to buy anything yet because we will have plenty of time in Athens. We did see the parthenon from a distance. It was high up on a hill and beautifully overlooking the city. I'm sure that will be one of the first sights we see.

Tonight we are on our own because everyone has arrived late. I will probably do some more exploring and then go to bed early to help catch up with sleep... but that is subject to change as Athens nightlife begins.

Predeparture

I'm leaving in less than 24 hours, 20 hours 6 minutes to be exact. There is so much to do today, sleeping on the plane will not be a problem. The route I'm taking is Memphis ----> Cincinnati ---> New York ----(long flight)----> Athens. In Athens I will meet up with the rest of the group and begin our trek through the country.

Currently there is nothing in my suitcase; this may present a problem, but we'll see. We are going to give to on site reports as part of our final grades (yes, this counts as class!). I am reporting on the Tower of the Winds in Athens and the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. For these reports we need to have a handout, which is the other thing I need to get done today.

I'm so excited about this trip, and many other people are just as excited for me. I hoping this experience will be thrilling. Going back to getting ready and packed... right after some lunch.

I'm posting my blog on Facebook so for those you checking this out for the first time I hope this isn't the only time to check out my blog. Hopefully there will be regular updates barring that I don't get lazy.

This is my Blog

This is my first blog.

With this blog I will be able to consistently update anyone who is interested in trip to Greece. For those wondering why I'm in Greece, I am studying abroad fulfilling Engineering electives the funnest way I can imagine. I'm leaving from Memphis on May 13th and will be returning June 11th.