More Athens and a few Greek islands

After Delphi and Meteora, we spent a few more days in Athens, including a day trip to a few Greek islands.  I had planned a day trip to Delphi, not realizing that it was already included in the Meteora trip.  Make sure to read the full itinerary when you book a tour, lesson learned!  The company was able to offer us a boat ride day trip to Hydra, Aegina, and Patra.  This day trip ended up being somewhat underwhelming, because as it turns out, the islands are not that exciting in the winter.  Plus it was kind of a cloudy rainy day, plus we couldn't go to Patra because of a shipwreck.  The boat ride was pretty cheesy.  It included a dance show featuring "traditional" Greek dances.  They invited all of the tourists to join (Nate and I were amongst the few non-Asians on this tour, so we really stood out and didn't join in.  We're boring).  It was pretty entertaining to watch Greek guys twirl tiny little Asian girls around in circles--over their heads even.  It still makes me laugh, actually.  But we did enjoy ourselves, nonetheless.  Here's a few pictures from the boat trip:

Little port of Hydra

Hydra is so small, no motorized vehicles are allowed.  Donkeys are one way to get around!

Temple of Aphasia on Aegina, a goddess later associated with Athena.  This is one of the temples of the holy triangle, the others being the Parthenon and Temple of Poseidon

Sunset at the Temple

Monastery of St. Nectarios, now the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church

A tiny little Greek Orthodox church right on the harbor

Nate and I also visited the National Archaeological museum, with another handy audio guide from our travel buddy Rick Steves.  The Greeks are very proud of their Classical history, and the museum had many artifacts and sculptures arranged in chronological order.  It was interesting to see some of the statues housed here that once were at the temples we visited or would visit while in Greece.  

The oldest little Kori statues in the exhibit.  They were used as little offerings when the Greeks visited the temples

Mycenean gold burial coverings for an infant.  We got to see a Mycenean ancient site later in the trip.

Bronze statue of Zeus or Poseidon...no one is sure if he was throwing a lightning bolt or a trident.  But if you try to pose and take a picture, you will get scolded (I know this because of a sign, not because I actually posed like Zeuseidon).

Small scale replica of Athena the warrior holding victory in her hand.  The actual statue doesn't exist anymore and was originally at the Acropolis.

We also went to the new Acropolis museum on the same day.  The new museum is really interesting because on the top floor there is a full scale replica of the Parthenon, with some original pieces and some replicas.  Some of the pieces were not-so-nicely stolen from a British guy in the 1800s, and the Greeks won't let any visitor to their museum forget that.  For years, the Brits said that Athens didn't have the proper space to store those pieces, so they built a brand new, state of the art museum to house those pieces once they are returned.

On another day, we visited the ancient Agora and Temple of Poseidon.  The Agora was the city center of ancient Athens, where the philosophers, thinkers, and government workers all hung out.  Here people came to vote and established one of the earliest democracies. Thanks again, Rick Steves, for the handy free guide! 

The ruins of the city center, settled beneath the Acropolis

Temple of Hephaestus at the Agora

View of the agora from a hill that the apostle Paul preached from in Athens...that guy made it everywhere!

In the afternoon, we went on a little tour to the Temple of Poseidon just outside of Athens.  I had read amazing reviews of the Poseidon temple, with people saying it was one of the most beautiful places in Greece and the sunsets are to die for.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy (and freezing cold!) afternoon, so we didn't get to catch this amazing sunset.  But it was still a beautiful temple right on the sea, where people made sacrifices to Poseidon for safe maritime travels.

Bundled up at Temple of Poseidon

The temple facing the Aegean Sea

There's a little of that famous sunset...pretty cool anyway!

That evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a taverna on the Acropolis stairs.  Part of what enticed us to try this place was the nice Greek man promising music and dancing.  Nate and I were the only ones in the restaurant and beginning to think this guy pulled one over on us, when suddenly about forty lively Greeks came in.  Then the music started as well as Athenians dancing and letting loose on a Friday night.  It was a great little dose of local flavor :)

Love how into it the singer is!

For our final day in Athens, Nate and I saved the big sight for last...the Acropolis.  We had more help from our pal Rick to orient us around the big Acropolis rock that is steeped with history.

Greek theater carved into the side of the rock

The entrance to the top.  The nice thing about going in the off-season is way fewer tourists.  The bad thing is scaffolding and a rainy day now and then.

The famous Parthenon Temple dedicated to Athena, patron goddess of Athens.  Besides a temple, this place has also been a sight of an Orthodox church during Byzantine rule and a mosque during Ottoman rule.  Now Greece is painstakingly renovating their beloved temple.

The elegant Caryatid columns of the Erechthion temple 

What remains of the ancient Acropolis citadel.  *Right after I took this picture, I took a HUGE tumble on the Acropolis that will forever go down as The Great Acropolis Tumble.  Always graceful :)

The Acropolis was the final place we saw in Athens before taking the bus to Nafplio.  I really enjoyed our first week in Athens and beyond.  It's very clear that the Greeks are proud of their ancient ancestors and the contributions they made to democracy, medicine, architecture, philosophy....pretty much everything, really!  

Delphi and Meteora

After  a week long spring break and getting back into the groove of shool, it's back to blogging....about my January/February break with Nate!  A few people read my blog, but another reason for me writing this is so that I have a record of all the places I traveled to while in Turkey.  It's coming down to my final weeks here and there are still places that I want to see while I can.  I never thought I would have the opportunity to travel like I have been able to these past two years, and I always want to remember it as something special I got to do.  So the blog goes on....

From Athens, Nate and I took an overnight trip to see two important historical and spiritual sites in Greece, Delphi and Meteora.  The first stop was Delphi.  We took a two hour bus ride through the mountains and olive groves of Greece to get there.  It turns out most of Greece is covered with mountains, which means lots of windy and narrow roads.  Delphi is an important spiritual center for the ancient Greeks.  This is where ancient priests and priestesses would make their prophecies for people who came to see them.  Each city-state had a treasury built at the site for all the statues and offerings people brought to hear their fortune.  The Pythian Games were also held here (similar to the Olympic Games, but not quite as big of a deal).  Built in the mountains, this is a very beautiful and special site to the Greeks.

Treasury for the statues and gifts from Athens

The wall on the right contains inscriptions of the names of slaves who were freed at Delphi

Having fun exploring and taking it all in

Temple of Apollo, the sanctuary where oracle made her prophecies.  There is a spring underneath that emits an hallucinogenic chemical that "helped" the oracle.

A beautiful sunny day at the Temple of Apollo

Nate and I at the theater

Stadium where athletes practiced and participated in the Pythian Games

The modern day city of Delphi

From Delphi, we continued on to Meteora.  We arrived late at night and continued on our tour the next morning.  Meteora is home to six Eastern Orthodox monasteries built onto the top of gigantic sandstone rock pillars.  The monks built their homes here because it was difficult to access, making it more remote and peaceful.  The buildings were constructed in the 1500s and 1600s.  An UNESCO heritage site, these monasteries continue to be homes for monks and nuns.  The landscape is truly spectacular and magical.

Bell tower at the monastery of St. Nicholas

Posing in front of the crazy rock pillars

On our way to the second monastery, we stopped to take some photos...

Not a bad place to live if you're a monk!

One of the bigger monasteries of Meteora

Monastery of St. Stephen, the second of two places we visited.  Now it is run by nuns.

St. Stephen's from another perspective

One of the little churches at the monastery

Both Delphi and Meteora were very special places to visit, and for me was the highlight of our entire time in Greece.  Pretty cool to see two UNESCO sites in two days!

Science Fair in Turkey!

It doesn't matter where you go to school, it seems like at some point you will be required to participate in a science fair.  Today the fourth grade students showcased their science projects.  They were done in Turkish, but I had a lot of fun going to each project and asking the students to tell me about their projects in English.  It really brings me back to those good old elementary school days.  Here's a few cute pictures from the day...

This scientist works solo and created all his posters about different types of pollution.  He also kept track of how many kids listened to his presentation and kept me informed on the tally :)

All about frogs....not limited to, but including frog life cycle t-shirts, frog hats, model of a frog's habitat, and two real live frogs!

If this kid looks like a genius, it's because he is....he told me about all different types of rocks and what they are used for. In perfect English, amazing!

Project about the moon, including a replica of the moon's surface and a really cool rocket poster.  

The solar system girls....models and information about each planet, and trying to outdo the frog pair with their matching solar system t-shirts and headbands!

BFFs who did their project on physical and chemical changes.  They attracted lots of spectators who got to dip marshmallows into melted chocolate!

These two boys, and maybe future science teachers, had lots of cool little experiments to show different ways how to separate particles.  Completely adorable how they modeled the experiments for the younger kids, they got my vote for best project

Strolling Through Athens

Nate and I arrived in Athens on a Monday, after the shortest international flight I will likely ever take (only one hour from Izmir to Athens).  After the success of using the iRhodes travel app in Rhodes, I had been looking for other walking tour apps for some of the places we were visiting this time in Greece.  The best option I could find was actually free--Rick Steves' audio guides.  You can download the app and from there download any of the walking tours for the places you are visiting.  I highly recommend this as a convenient and FREE way for getting to know a new city and to learn some important background information.  Rick provides enough background information to make it meaningful, but not enough to overload and bore (Nate and I got to know Rick Steves so well on this trip, that we just started referring to him by first name only).  The first audio tour we did was a walking tour of Athens.  Rick got us acclimated with the city center of Athens and offered us a small dose of the history and sights we would later explore in depth.  We started off close to our hotel near Syntagma Square, which is where the present parliament building is in Athens.  We arrived just in time to see the famous changing of the guards, with their funny walk and outrageous uniforms.  

New guards walking up

Slowly and deliberately walking away.

The guards have to stand still without smiling until the next change, amongst tourists trying to make them laugh and taking their photos.  I learned that there are 400 pleats in their skirt, one pleat for each year of occupation under the Ottomans.  

Standing stoic, even when some clown tries to take his photo with him

From Syntagma Square, we walked along a pedestrian walkway filled with shops and cafes.  Amongst all the H&Ms and shoe shops was a little Byzantine Orthodox church in the middle of the street.

The first of many Orthodox churches Nate and I would see in Greece

One of the most interesting aspects about Athens for me was how the different parts of it's history have come together to create the city it is today.  Throughout the city, there are different archaeological spots where scientists are still digging, as well as site from the Classical and Byzantine periods.  Our tour brought us to a large cathedral that was largely under construction and had been since the 1980s.  Next to it was a small Orthodox church that was built using pieces of ruins from other buildings.

A mish mash little Orthodox church

We kept on following Rick's instructions and made our way to a busy street filled with cars and huge busses.  Athens used to have the reputation as one of the most polluted cities in Europe, but in the past 20 years it has started to clean that up.  One way they have done that is to limit the days Athenians can drive their cars (even numbered plates get one day, odd numbered plates the other day).  We crossed the busy street to see the large and impressive looking Hadrian's gate and Temple of Zeus.

Hadrian's Gate

You can find evidence of the Roman emperor Hadrian all over Athens.  He loved everything about Greek culture and commissioned many structures to be built in the classical Greek style.

Massive columns of the Temple of Zeus

Rick brought us closer to the big Acropolis rock, which looms over the city of Athens, to my favorite part of the tour.  We started walking up one of the little narrow side streets that winds it's way up to the top of the Acropolis.  This neighborhood is called the Plaka.  The inhabitants came here from one of the Greek islands and have been here ever since.  Walking through this little maze of a street was like being on one of the Greek islands....except you are on the Acropolis rock in the middle of Athens.  Nate and I came back to the Plaka one night for an awesome evening of Greek food, wine, music, and dancing.

Little houses under the Acropolis

Just in case we should get lost...

Narrow little streets!

The little street wound us back around to the other side of the rock, where we saw another example of an ancient site in the middle of Athens, the old Roman forum.

Aerial view of the Roman forum

Acropolis at twilight

As dorky as we might be, we really enjoyed the little walking tour with turn by turn directions.  It gave us a pretty good bearing of the city center and we didn't even get lost the rest of the time we were there.  Although it isn't evident in these photos, even the city center was filled with empty buildings and graffiti, likely signs of the hard economic depression and protests that have taken place over the past several years at the parliament building.  But scattered throughout the city are some great little gems and it certainly made for a nice place to visit and stay for a while.

Pamukkale and Hieropolis

For the two-week semester break at the end of January/beginning of February, Nate flew back to Turkey and we embarked on an epic historical two-week tour.  We met in Izmir, Turkey to go see an UNESCO site, the travertines at Pamukkale.  Nate made it all the way to Izmir from Minneapolis, but unfortunately his luggage did not.  When we left the hotel to go see Pamukkale, we weren't sure if his bags would make it.  But we didn't let that get in the way of having an awesome day at Pamukkale.

The travertines at Pamukkale were formed by carbonate minerals from hot flowing water.  Tourists are allowed to walk along the travertines, but shoes are not allowed.  Pamukkale translates into "cotton castle" in Turkish, and that really is the best way to describe how it looks from a distance.  Nate and I took off our shoes and walked along the slippery travertines, trying to find the hot pools to keep our feet warm on a chilly day.  In warmer summer months, you can actually go swimming in the pools of the travertines.  While we would have liked some warmer weather, it was great to be able to get some photos without hundreds of other people in them.

Panorama of the travertines at Pamukkale

The Cotton Castle

Keeping my feet warm in the hot pools!

Behind the travertines are the ruins of the ancient Roman city, Hierapolis.  Excavations are still taking place to unearth ruins from this ancient city.  It was originally chosen as a site for a city because of the thermal pools that are believed to have healing powers.  

What remains of the main road of Hierapolis

Theater with a reconstructed stage featuring Greek gods

The sun comes out for a little while at Hierapolis...

When we got back to Izmir, we were relieved to discover that Nate's bags had turned up and that we could pick them up at the airport the next day when before we flew to Athens.  We enjoyed an awesome seafood dinner in the Alsancak district of Izmir, and washed it down with some raki and baklava!

Relieved he doesn't have to buy a new Turkish wardrobe!