Hey all,
Sorry I haven't been as dedicated to my blog lately, the free public wireless that we were using in our apartment went out so writing new posts and uploading photos became more of a burden. I've had a great past couple of weekends and it's strange to think that my time here is almost done.
Tomorrow I begin my tour of Eastern Europe! I take flight at 12:30 pm for Milan and will proceed to spend 4 nights in Munich and 6 nights in Prague. I will be getting between all of these places by train and I am sure that even my times in between cities will be filled with amazing sights and experiences. The trip concludes on May 4, when I arrive to Athens early in the morning.
Wish me luck and safe travels! Pictures and stories to follow!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
April 16: Kaisariani
The residential area that was once home to immigrants of the Asia Minor Incident (Greek-Turkish population exchange).
April 8: Academic Buildings
Sorry for not posting in so long. Here are some pictures to tide you over.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
April 3 - April 6: Corinth
I had an amazing time this past weekend. We left from Athens on Thursday, April 3 and after three hours on the charter bus, our group arrived at the caves of Kapsia. The caves are usually closed to the general public but fortunately one of the staff members knew the small town’s mayor (who ended up being the one giving us the tour). The inside of the cave was filled with stalactites and stalagmites. It you could see new stalactites being formed by the water that was dripping down from the top of the cave. The tour was well put together; the mayor used a wand that controlled lighting and music in the cave as guided us along a nicely laid concrete path that was also equipped with handrails (safety measures aren’t in place on most sites).
From there, we went to the Church of Agia Foteini and met the eccentric architect that designed the unique church. He stressed the importance of unity between all religions as he explained the theories behind his crazy designs. He made an effort to incorporate the natural architecture of the area into his design, creating something that is truly unique.
At 2:00 pm, we headed over to the Spyropoulos Vineyards. Although the winery was unlike the more upscale ones in Northern California, the visit provided a much needed change of pace (and class ). An inspirational speech by the owner of the vineyard both acknowledged we were the next generation of leaders and instructed us to let the wine serve us instead of us serving the wine. We proceeded with a tour of the winery and learned of the complete process of making organic wine. The tour concluded with a wine and feta cheese tasting/purchasing session.
At 5:00 pm we headed to the town of little town of Xylokastro. There really wasn’t much to do there, so we had dinner at a beach front taverna and called it a night.
The following day began at 10:00 am when we boarded the bus for Kalavryta. We rode for 3 hours through the Vouraikos Gorge (which, strangely enough, reminded me of Big Bear), visited the town where the War of Independence began, and stopped at the place of a tragic WWII massacre (picture of the cross and statue). We were then dropped off in the town of Kalavryta and I had my bagged lunch and joined some friends for coffee.
At 3:00 pm we left for the beach/tourist town of Loutraki on the Corinthian Gulf. The bus ride was only a couple of hours but after the long day, it was nice to finally get of the bus and relax. An optional trip to Perahora (where the Sancturary of Hera is located) was also offered and despite my tiredness, I decided to join the other students that wanted to make the most of the weekend. Perahora was definitely worth it; we witnessed the most beautiful sunset and explored the ancient ruins completely free from the noise and presence of any other tourists. With the sun slowly setting in the distance, we boarded the bus and headed back into town. After taking a quick power nap, we found a nice Italian restaurant and beachfront bar/café and spent the night unwinding and rehashing the day’s events.
The following morning was spent mostly on the bus. We left at 9:00 for Limmnes and after an hour and a half we arrived at the workshop of a local goat cheese maker. The man was very happy to see us and gave many people free hats that bore his company’s logo. The workshop smelled really badly (like milk that had gone rotten) but the tour was interesting and the sample cheese provided was delicious (but still not as good as the feta from the winery).
We soon left the workshop to visit the owner’s brother at a local sheep farm. The farm was really dirty and the sheep were even dirty but witnessing the sheep running back and forth frantically (for no apparent reason other than our presence) was amusing. We also ran into a group of farm kids that shouted the limited English and basic Greek they knew in attempts to communicate with us. My flat-mate has a sheep farm back home, so all throughout the tour he provided us with an insiders scoop on sheep and the sheep industry.
Soon we headed to Ligourio and were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. It appeared that all the shops were closed except for a small bakery where everyone ended up getting sandwiches. Everyone was in a generally bad mood and we soon boarded the bus. After boarded we drove for a couple of minutes to pick up the staff that had had an enjoyable dinner in the section of town that had all of the tavernas. Needless to say, we weren’t happy.
With everyone on the bus, we headed to the Ancient Theater of Epidavros. The theater was built to perfect mathematical scale with perfect acoustics. You could clearly hear the people in the center of the stage from the highest row of the theater. The experience was especially interesting when a couple of the girls from our program went to the center of the theater to sing Amazing Grace and Ghetto Superstar. We knew the girls were popular when a group of French tourists grabbed hands and danced in circles around the duet singing Ghetto Superstar. It was hilarious.
We left the stadium and headed back to the hotel. Some friends told us that dinner across the street was delicious and inexpensive so we grabbed a bite there, hung out, and then went to bed.
Our final day, Sunday, April 6, was by-far my favorite day on the trip. We left at 9:00 am to receive a tour of Ancient Corinth at 9:30 am. The tour was led by a former Arcadia student turned archeologist that was about to begin excavating the following day. She was really interesting and kept the tour concise without jeopardizing the site’s history. The guide explained that those following the life of Paul (this is where he wrote his letters to the Corinthians) frequented the site. I could see why he decided to write his letters to them – they were located in the center of the ancient world. You could not only see much of northern Greece but you could also where two bodies of water met to form a canal that most ships passing through the Mediterranean had to pass through.
From there we headed to AcroCorinth, or Agro-Corinth (from the television show Guts), a fortress located atop a huge mountain. The leading scholar in Byzantine studies, Tim Gregory, gave us a tour of the site. Despite his status, the man kept things real and spiced the tour up by asking us questions and providing graphic descriptions of what could happen to intruders. He told us that AcroCorinth was the only site in Athens that wasn’t conquered by the Turks during their invasion of Greece but it was instead given up with a treaty. I could see why the Turks would give up their attacks – the site is massive. I grew tired walking to the top, I could only imagine what it would be like if I were covered in armor and was facing the cannon balls, boiling oil, or rocks that would have been thrown at me from the fortress’s tall walls.
After AcroCorinth, we got back on the bus and all feel asleep until we arrived back in Athens. It was quite the trip.
From there, we went to the Church of Agia Foteini and met the eccentric architect that designed the unique church. He stressed the importance of unity between all religions as he explained the theories behind his crazy designs. He made an effort to incorporate the natural architecture of the area into his design, creating something that is truly unique.
At 2:00 pm, we headed over to the Spyropoulos Vineyards. Although the winery was unlike the more upscale ones in Northern California, the visit provided a much needed change of pace (and class ). An inspirational speech by the owner of the vineyard both acknowledged we were the next generation of leaders and instructed us to let the wine serve us instead of us serving the wine. We proceeded with a tour of the winery and learned of the complete process of making organic wine. The tour concluded with a wine and feta cheese tasting/purchasing session.
At 5:00 pm we headed to the town of little town of Xylokastro. There really wasn’t much to do there, so we had dinner at a beach front taverna and called it a night.
The following day began at 10:00 am when we boarded the bus for Kalavryta. We rode for 3 hours through the Vouraikos Gorge (which, strangely enough, reminded me of Big Bear), visited the town where the War of Independence began, and stopped at the place of a tragic WWII massacre (picture of the cross and statue). We were then dropped off in the town of Kalavryta and I had my bagged lunch and joined some friends for coffee.
At 3:00 pm we left for the beach/tourist town of Loutraki on the Corinthian Gulf. The bus ride was only a couple of hours but after the long day, it was nice to finally get of the bus and relax. An optional trip to Perahora (where the Sancturary of Hera is located) was also offered and despite my tiredness, I decided to join the other students that wanted to make the most of the weekend. Perahora was definitely worth it; we witnessed the most beautiful sunset and explored the ancient ruins completely free from the noise and presence of any other tourists. With the sun slowly setting in the distance, we boarded the bus and headed back into town. After taking a quick power nap, we found a nice Italian restaurant and beachfront bar/café and spent the night unwinding and rehashing the day’s events.
The following morning was spent mostly on the bus. We left at 9:00 for Limmnes and after an hour and a half we arrived at the workshop of a local goat cheese maker. The man was very happy to see us and gave many people free hats that bore his company’s logo. The workshop smelled really badly (like milk that had gone rotten) but the tour was interesting and the sample cheese provided was delicious (but still not as good as the feta from the winery).
We soon left the workshop to visit the owner’s brother at a local sheep farm. The farm was really dirty and the sheep were even dirty but witnessing the sheep running back and forth frantically (for no apparent reason other than our presence) was amusing. We also ran into a group of farm kids that shouted the limited English and basic Greek they knew in attempts to communicate with us. My flat-mate has a sheep farm back home, so all throughout the tour he provided us with an insiders scoop on sheep and the sheep industry.
Soon we headed to Ligourio and were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. It appeared that all the shops were closed except for a small bakery where everyone ended up getting sandwiches. Everyone was in a generally bad mood and we soon boarded the bus. After boarded we drove for a couple of minutes to pick up the staff that had had an enjoyable dinner in the section of town that had all of the tavernas. Needless to say, we weren’t happy.
With everyone on the bus, we headed to the Ancient Theater of Epidavros. The theater was built to perfect mathematical scale with perfect acoustics. You could clearly hear the people in the center of the stage from the highest row of the theater. The experience was especially interesting when a couple of the girls from our program went to the center of the theater to sing Amazing Grace and Ghetto Superstar. We knew the girls were popular when a group of French tourists grabbed hands and danced in circles around the duet singing Ghetto Superstar. It was hilarious.
We left the stadium and headed back to the hotel. Some friends told us that dinner across the street was delicious and inexpensive so we grabbed a bite there, hung out, and then went to bed.
Our final day, Sunday, April 6, was by-far my favorite day on the trip. We left at 9:00 am to receive a tour of Ancient Corinth at 9:30 am. The tour was led by a former Arcadia student turned archeologist that was about to begin excavating the following day. She was really interesting and kept the tour concise without jeopardizing the site’s history. The guide explained that those following the life of Paul (this is where he wrote his letters to the Corinthians) frequented the site. I could see why he decided to write his letters to them – they were located in the center of the ancient world. You could not only see much of northern Greece but you could also where two bodies of water met to form a canal that most ships passing through the Mediterranean had to pass through.
From there we headed to AcroCorinth, or Agro-Corinth (from the television show Guts), a fortress located atop a huge mountain. The leading scholar in Byzantine studies, Tim Gregory, gave us a tour of the site. Despite his status, the man kept things real and spiced the tour up by asking us questions and providing graphic descriptions of what could happen to intruders. He told us that AcroCorinth was the only site in Athens that wasn’t conquered by the Turks during their invasion of Greece but it was instead given up with a treaty. I could see why the Turks would give up their attacks – the site is massive. I grew tired walking to the top, I could only imagine what it would be like if I were covered in armor and was facing the cannon balls, boiling oil, or rocks that would have been thrown at me from the fortress’s tall walls.
After AcroCorinth, we got back on the bus and all feel asleep until we arrived back in Athens. It was quite the trip.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Exarhia: Athens's College Town
I had a great time in Exharhia today. I did a little exploring. Check out all the cool art I found.
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