My last post only featured photos from our first 3 days in Greece – we had 4 more excellent days after that! We took a 4 day private bus tour and spent 2 days on the Peloponnese peninsula and 2 days on the mainland, north of Athens. I really enjoyed driving around the country to get a sense of the landscape. I didn’t realize how mountainous Greece was or even the variety of ecosystems. Most people think of the sea and islands, but there are some really stunning areas in Greece that are far from the water.
Our first stop was the ancient city of Corinth. It was a large site with many ruins and a main road running through the middle. I really got a sense of what it was like as a town – the temples, agora, baths, shops, and the bema, which was where Paul preached to the Corinthians in AD 52.
Temple of Apollo in Corinth.
Our next stop was the ancient Mycenaean acropolis. This town was the oldest we visited, dating back as far as the 16th century BC. The entrance gate and some of the walls are described as “Cyclopean” because who else could have built such huge walls but Cyclops? (At least that’s what the ancient Greeks thought about the even more ancient Myceneans!)
This was the entrance to a huge burial tomb for one of the Mycenaean kings, Agamemnon. The structure was impressive – the stones were huge (the lintel over the door estimated at 260,000 pounds) and the architecture amazing (the beehive dome reaches 44 ft high).
The next day, we went to ancient Olympia. I loved watching the archeologists at work uncovering more ruins.
Peek-a-boo!
The Stadium where the athletic games were held. Up to 45,000 spectators sat on the surrounding hill.
Every ancient site had a museum attached to it with artifacts from the site. We usually walked through the site and then the museum. I enjoyed seeing the artifacts like tools, pottery, helmets, burial items and lots of statues.
Love those sun hats!
After Olympia, on to Delphi, on the mainland. On our way, we stopped at a lovely little spot near Galaxidi to stretch our legs. The water was so clear and we saw lots of fun tidepool critters. We even got to hold hermit crabs and black spiky sea urchins!
The ancient city of Delphi, the religious center of the ancient Greek world for centuries. The city was laid out with the Sacred Way leading up to the Oracle of Delphi, housed in the temple of Apollo. Along the way were treasuries where city-states could leave thank-you gifts to the Oracle. The whole area, in the foothills of Mount Parnassos, was so beautiful.
After Delphi, we drove through the mountains and across a huge valley to the town of Kalabaka. Over the mountain pass, we had to wait for oncoming traffic.
Our last day was spent at Meteora, a collection of 6 Greek Orthodox monasteries perched on top of natural sandstone rock formations.
It was really quite amazing! It was fun to see something a little more recent (14th century) in Greece’s history and so important to their current religion. We toured the largest monastery (on the left) for over an hour. We visited the chapel, the old kitchen and dining hall, the old wine cellar and museums of art and artifacts.
We made it back to Athens on Thursday evening for one last blast before I left the next morning. What a great trip!
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SylLy Acres 