Greece: Athens and Poros
The trip to Greece turned out to be probably the best trip I have taken since being abroad. The historic monuments we came face-to-face with in Athens, monuments of which we had only read about or seen photos of, combined with the beautiful serenity of the island of Poros, made for a trip full of variety and discovery.
Athens is different from other foriegn cities to me simply for the Greek mythology I'd read before, giving the entire city, and even country, sort of a mysterious, legendary feel. I was glad to arrive over the country during the daylight hous as the plane soared over numerous massive land masses that made up the islands. Even if I didnt know I was going to Greece, I might have guessed it flying over it.
Jigna and I realized as we made our way to the hostel that evening that this was both our first times in a country where we knew not a word of the native language. Thankfully most people spoke fairly good english and were extremely friendly, willing to point us in the right direction. After two buses and a lot of walking, we made it to the hostel and decided to explore a bit. We were surprised to find out that, at least our immediate surroundings were no different than most any other big city we had visited. Jigna, TJ and Alison didn't arrive until after 1 o'clock in the morning.
Our first real day in Athens we walked first by the Spiridon "Spiros" Louis Olympic Stadium, named after the man to win the first Olympic marathon race there. The stadium was the site of the 'first Olympic games of modern times,' in 1896. Continuing on towards the famed Acropolis, we passed by and stopped into the Temple of Zeus. (All of us were actually able to get into all the sites free since we had University of Seville student cards and as so, appeared to be a part of the E.U.) Begun in the 6th century B.C., the temple, or Naos tao Olimpiou Dios was not completed until the 2nd century A.D. Only 15 of the 104, 17-meter-high, original columns remain standing. Completed under the reign of emperor Hadiran, he dedicated the temple to Zeus, the king of the Gods.
Finally, we made our way to the high point of Athens, literally. The Athens acropolis is the best known high city in the world and on it we were able to see the Temple of Nike, the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, and of course the famed Parthenon. It was strange standing next to the ancient monument, enduring as a symbol of Athenien democracy, after only seeing pictures and books but knowing exactly what it looked like. The building is a temple built to the Greek goddess Athena in the 5th century B.C. In some of my photos, you can see some of the decorative sculpture on the inner borders of was the ceiling, decorations that are considered some of the high points of Greek art. We explored the rest of the Acropolis and towards the end I took quite a spill on the slippery rocks on top.The next day we decided we had seen the main sites in Athens and insead of exploring the city more, we took a day trip to Mycenae, one of the oldest known cities in the world. When we first got off the bus we thought we had gotten off at the wrong stop. Imagine standing in a ghost town with one gas station. The one guy at the station got us a cab though, or should I say rickety station wagon with a taxi triangle on top, and we got to the site eventually.
The period in Greek history from 1600 BC to 1100 BC is acutally named the Mycenean period. We saw burial sites and entry ways, floor plans, column remains, and aqueduct, and even a cave that led down to an underground cistern where they used to get water. You could feel the age there. Settled between two huge pointed mountains and with a far-off view of the sea, I tried to imagine what it must have been like so, so long ago. We made our way down the cave, because it was there and we could. It was pitch dark so we used our camera flashes and a small flashlight on TJ's keychain to get to the bottom. Nothing special was to be found at the end but, who can say they've been to the end of a cave in an ancient city?? Afterwards we walked down the mountain a bit to visit Agamemon's tomb. Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae and if you've ever seen Troy, you'll remember him as the king who fought "for his brother's "honor" at the loss of his wife Helen. It was hard to believe that such a tomb could be built in ancient times, a perfect cone on the inside.
The next day was the day we had all really been waiting for. The day we went to Poros. We had some complications getting there when our boat cancelled on us and we had to buy new tickets. And then we got an hour anf 15 minutes into the ride and had to turn around because something got stuck under the boat. We finally made it to Poros around 6 pm and were able to catch the amazing sunset. Our hotel was situated next to one of the only real beaches on the isalnd. We were surprised but realized it was only one of the many islands tourists had to choose from. The view from our windows and balconies and breakfast table on the porch of the hotel was to die for. Never had I gotten to stay next to such a beautiful view. More of a tourist destination in the summer months, the island we mostly deserted save for the residents. We were the only people at the restaurant that evening. We spent most of our time laying on the beach and walking into town for food. One morning we walked into town, bargained with a taxi boat, and got an hour boat ride around the island for 15 euro a person. We sat on the front of the boat taking in the sun and took turns driving the boat a little. It was one of the most peaceful vacation sites I have been to and would very much like to go back to the Greek islands, and really all of Greece, again in the future.
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