Mycynae & Epidavros

This will probably be a quicker blog than many of the rest. I have to admit that the Mycynae and Epidavros was a hard excursion for me. I was really tired and not really up for the hiking we did. Nonetheless I have some pretty great pictures.

Epidavros was a really cool place. It's one of the Ancient Greek theatres that is so famous for the advanced acoustics. One of my roommates, Emily, had the opportunity to sing there and from the very top of the theatre we could hear her perfectly!

Oops! And on the way we stopped off at the Corinth Canal. It's almost identical to the idea of the Panama Canal. It created a travel route between the Peloponnese (a big peninsula of the country) and  the mainland so that traders wouldn't need to circumnavigate the entire peninsula. Seems like a good idea to me. What doesn't seem like a good idea is that some of the kids in my program are considering bungee jumping at this canal... I think it's not high enough....

Actually... I'm just petrified. No thanks.

Through Him all things were made: Meteora

This past week we went on a two day excursion to Meteora. You probably think you've never heard of it, I didn't until I saw pictures of where we were going, but I guarantee you'll recognize it when you see the pictures. Meteora in Greek means "suspended in the air." Ancient Greeks believed that the rocks came down from the sky... like meteorites and just sort of took over this field.

Anyway... a 5 hour bus ride brought us to Kalambaka, Greece, a small town that completely thrives on  tourist activity. Kalambaka sits right at the base of Meteora and was bustling... even on a weekday night.

Meteora was mind blowing. God really used the couple of days to reveal himself to me. On the way to Meteora I just happened to read Psalm 19, and it just replayed in my mind the whole time I was there. God's majesty, power, and love for us was completely on display for me. What a perfect place for monasteries. (At one time there were 24 of them!) Anyway, here's the portion of the chapter that I meditated on the whole trip.

The heavens declare the glory of God; 
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them. 

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world. 

Meteora was the quietest place we've been thus far, but the rock formations, caves, moutains and sky powerfully communicated the greatness of our heavenly Father. It was almost instinctive to whisper, even when there was no reason to. I wish the pictures really captured it.

Monastery of Saint Nikolas... I think... Anyway... the monks get to ride across in a cable car... we had to climb all the way down, then take a HUGE staircase that is carved into the side of the rock.

(This is cool... it's a big cave that contains a bunch of other little caves with wooden platforms that the first monks lived on before the monasteries were built... what a life.)

Like my skirt? The monasteries don't allow women to enter without one... sleeveless dresses for women and shorts for men are also not permitted. A small price to pay for how cool it was to see these places. This picture was taken on the back terrace of Grand Meteoron... the first and largest monastery in Meteora.

Anyway... thanks everyone for your prayers for me while I'm here. God's working in my heart and teaching me a lot while I'm here. So excited for the rest of this semester!

Our Excursion to Delphi...

Last week our group went on excursion to the ancient ruins in Delphi. These excursions really are incredible trips that have made us all feel like we've seen way more of Greece than we probably ever would have on our own... even better... we always eat SO well on excursions. We usually get meals in great restaurants that are not subtracted from our stipends, cha-ching!

It's also awesome to have Aphrodite there to tell us about everything we're seeing. Because of her, we're not just wandering around, we know what happened in the places we're standing, which really makes it even cooler to see.

Anyway... a three hour bus ride (tour buses in Greece are unbelievable!) took us to Arachova... a cute little town where we stopped for coffee and were given free baklava by a women who owned a pastry shop there. Our group also had our picture taken on the sly by an old Greek woman. :) We really do stand out wherever we go as a bunch of American students, and I guess we were quite the novelty standing outside the coffee shop waiting for one another.

 

Baklava is not traditionally made with the date on the top, like in the picture, but holy cow was it good!

Back on the bus for another 15 minutes and we were at the ruins. The Oracle of Delphi drew people from all over Greece to receive prophesies. A woman called the Pythia would chew on bay leaves, inhale some sort of smoke, and enter a trance from which she would babble a prophesy (usually a riddle) that the priests would translate for the person who came to receive it. Along with the Oracle, there Delphi boasts a theater, stadium and the treasuries of many cities.

The first stop on the way to the Oracle was at the fountain of Castille, where those who came to receive prophesis from the Pythia would purify themselves.

After sitting a while for a lecture, we proceeded uphill (as usual! what a hike!) to the ruins. The most famous is probably the Temple of Apollo.

Then Emily, one of my roommates was convinced by Aphrodite to sing in the Theatre at Delphi to test out the acoustics... apparently this isn't "technically" allowed, but Aphrodite allows it every time. She's really the funniest. I'll have to do a blog all about her sometime.

Then we climbed further uphill to the Stadium, which unfortunately was almost impossible to photograph... at least I didn't get any good ones.

Finally we visited the Delphi museum which had some really cool artifacts found by French archaeologists during the excavation. The picture in the middle is the first written music found to date!


Before heading home we had lunch at the Delphi Palace, at hotel and restaurant famous for it's beautiful view. The Kennedys and Clintons stayed at the Delphi Palace when they visited. We had an incredible meal, and an even more incredible view of the mountains and the Corinthian Gulf. God has been unfailingly reminding me of his artistry and majesty in Greece. Check this out.

We've done a lot in the last week or so... I'll catch up as fast as I can! Check back pretty often!