Archaeology and the Sea

This blog title accurately sums up my time in Greece thus far.

We've been touring some of the world's greatest archaeological sites this past week, and this fresh water girl has fallen in love with the sea.

To sum up the past week:

 Temple of Nike at the gates of the Acropolis

 You guessed it - the Parthenon

Erechtheion, what my professor says is the most important building on top of the Acropolis

Those are all pictures I took on top of the Acropolis. One word of advice - if you ever have the amazing opportunity to tour the Acropolis, bring water and sunscreen and maybe a kiddie pool filled with cold water just in case.

The ruins on top of the Acropolis were amazing but what always seems to strike me the most are smaller artifacts - the vases, the sculptures, the mosaics, the jewelry. The amount of careful detail that one person had to put into a small work of art always blows me away, and the smaller artifacts always seem much more personal to me.

Check out the detailing on this octopus vase - so intricate! This is from the National Archaeology Museum in Athens, which we also visited. The place was filled with amazing artifacts from all over Greece - and let me tell you what, Greece has no shortage of amazing ancient artifacts.

Apart from touring sites in Athens, I've been attending class and working on my Greek. Athenians always appreciate it when I try to speak Greek (key word: try), but my accent is so terrible so I'm always getting laughed at. All in good fun, of course, but I am very obviously an American.

I've also swam in the ocean twice. TWICE! I've been in the ocean before, in South Carolina, and was wholly unimpressed. Why bother with salt when I live an hour away from Lake Michigan, the most beautiful lake in probably the entire world?

Well, let me tell you what, the Aegean sea is nothing like the Atlantic Ocean. It is clear and cold (not freezing but refreshing), and the water is so blue, and being surrounded by the coastal mountains of Greece certainly doesn't hurt either. I can even deal with the saltiness of it all!

Then again, maybe I'm starting to love the sea because of Nafplion. If you've never heard of Nafplion, do yourself a favor and look it up (or just check out the pictures I've posted). It is a breathtaking city, and my amateur photographs pale in comparison to seeing the real thing.

After an early morning hike with a friend to the fortress on a hilltop overlooking Nafplion, I knew I was in love with this place. The town itself is set in the Argolic Gulf, which is part of the Aegean Sea. As one of my friends poignantly put it, after seeing a place so beautiful, you can really understand why the Ancient Greeks were so eager to fight for and die defending their land. Here are some more pictures of the town, along with pictures of the beach and the walk to the beach - a cobblestone sidewalk cut into the side of the mountain.

 Water fortress at Nafplion

 View of the walk to the beach and the high fortress - the beach is directly to the left of the building on the water

Looking out on the ocean from the beach

We had an excursion and we stayed overnight in Nafplion. Not only was it beautiful, but it had a great selection of restaurants with fresh seafood - I tried octopus for the first time! - and the best gelato in all of Greece, or so our professor claims. I have to admit, I can't argue with him on that one. Personally, I loved the coconut flavor. We also got a tour of the Karonis distillery, one of the oldest distilleries in Greece. We tried several types of alcohol, with my personal favorite being Mastika - a liquor distilled from Mastika sap, a type of tree that only grows on an island in the Aegean (on the island of Cyprus, if I remember correctly).

 On our excursion, we toured several archaeological sites - ancient Corinth, Nemea, Mycenae, and Epidaurus. I learned so much from all of these sites, way more than I could ever include in a blog post! Here are a few of my favorite pictures/buildings from these places.

 Walking of Nemea, a site where Panhellenic games took place

 View from Mycenae, an ancient palace and town

Theater at Epidaurus, a healing site

As you can tell, it's been a very busy week here in Greece - today is the first day off since I arrived! It's nice to have a slower morning, but I'm already getting antsy and wanting to walk around and explore Athens! But maybe some coffee (by the way, the coffee in Greece is UH-MAZING) before anything else...