Athens Gate and Temple of
Zeus
(Athens)
We stayed at the Athens Gate Hotel...across from the Athens Gate and Temple of Zeus. The Athens Gate is pretty self explanatory, the gateway into Ancient Athens. The Temple was massive, but in poor condition. Earthquakes did a number on it.
That little thing at the end of the yellow arrow to the right...it's ME...that's how HUGE this temple was!
Sunset at Sounion
6-2-2000
Kirk and Tatiana say that the sunset at Sounion is the best in the world. I must admit, it was pretty darn nice. A temple to Poseidon can be found at Sounion, overlooking the Aegean Sea and some mountains.
It was VERY cold and windy that night.
Corinth
6-3-2000
I don't have too much to say about Corinth, except I got suckered into climbing up a mountain! Yes, some may consider it a "Large Rock" while others consider it a Mountain! Ok, we drove up half of it, but I hiked the other half! Took me about 45 minutes it seemed to get up to the old fort, but I made it...I was very happy when I got to the top...as my pictures show!
No, that's not a high mountain!
That's Tatiana and me on the top of the mountain, she hiked it wearing healed sandals! Tough woman!
Here is the Corinth Canal, cruise ships fit though here!
Nauplio
Seaside town in the Peloponessus
6-3-2000
I found Nauplio to be a very beautiful area...others on our trip did not. One very annoying thing was the mosquitoes, and the many, many bites I received that night. Our hotel had NO air, so our window was open and it was field day for the bugs. That aside, it was an aesthetically pleasing part of the country. A glorious seaside view....great sunset...many cafes and my favorite, a bakery serving nothing but Baklava! 38 different types; I recommend the chocolate. The next day we drove, thank God, to a mountain top in Nauplio, and I took some really nice pictures.
Even the prisons are pretty in Greece...yes, we're in prison! We are stupid Americans! We took a boat ride out to this little fort-like prison, no longer in use.
The prison in the sea from the top of the near by mountain....(it looks like a ship, but it's not)
Ahh, Mythos beer....wicked stuff!
Mycenae
6-4-2000
Mycenae was a very interesting site...the former city where Agamemnon ruled. I walked through his thrown room, and his bathroom where he was killed. Legend has it that he was going off to battle and wanted calm seas. At some time, he had annoyed Poseidon, the God of the Seas. So in order to appease him, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter. The seas were calm and he fought well. He returned to his palace 10 years later. While he was taking a bath, his vengeful wife murdered him in the tub....(it's cleaner that way!)
The famous Lions Gate...the
entrance to Mycenae....
Some say the city was actually built by an even older civilization, who no one
knows much about. The blocks in the walls date older than when the Greeks
in Mycenae showed up in History.
Olympia
Site of the first Olympic Games
776 B.C.
Olympia, my favorite site on
the trip. I guess it had some kind of special meaning to me, since I did
carry the Olympic Flame for the 1996 Atlanta Games. On that day, June 5,
2000, I got to see where it all began. Just weeks prior, the torch setting
ceremony took place there in Olympia....I just missed it.
Olympia was in good shape I thought and the Olympic stadium was in perfect
condition. I'm sure there'll be some sort of ceremony there in 2004 when
the Olympics return to Greece.
6-5-2000.
Here I sit in Pheidius's
workshop. Pheidius, who I mentioned earlier, is considered by many to be
the finest sculptor in all of history. He did after all, create one of the
seven wonders of the Ancient World; the statue of Zeus at Olympia. And
right were I'm sitting is where he made it.
He was often commissioned to sculpt pieces, (Like the Athena at the Parthenon)
and where ever he went, a workshop would be built for him. It took him 7
years to sculpt the statue of Zeus, who stood at 70 feet tall and was made of
Ivory and Gold.
The statue survived till after Christ when the Turks melted it down.
Here's pretty much all that's left from the Temple to Zeus. This fallen column (Earthquake) lies close to where the statue once stood.
Here you see the individual drums from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.
The Olympic Arch...the gateway to the Olympic stadium, which was in perfect condition.
Now all our guys decided to
run a foot race in the stadium, and I could kick myself for not joining them.
It was a once in a lifetime experience that I passed up only because I didn't
want to be the only girl running, which is stupid. At least I got some
good pictures of them running.
Me with the winner and Olympic Champion! You can't see it, but he had an olive branch behind his ear.
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Delphi....the place to find ancient fortune
tellers. The Temple at Delphi, (A Temple to Apollo) is another immensely
popular site. It is very, very well preserved. The ancients would
come from all over Greece to the Oracle at Delphi, where a Priestess would
answer their questions. Sometimes, one would have to wait months to see
the Oracle. Therefore many stadiums and theaters were built to keep the
people occupied.
Delphi is nestled in a mountainous area, and the village was quite beautiful.
The site was very large, and required a lot of up-hill walking.
One of the more famous ruins at Delphi.
Here I stand, at the Navel of the World.
Zeus set free two eagles to fly in opposite directions around the world...where
they collided would be the center or "navel" of the world (Call
me crazy, doesn't look much like a 'navel' to me!)...and where I stood was the
center of the world.
A great shot of the theater....taken from
higher up the hill....what a hike that was! And it was warm that day.
Here's a whole bunch of us in the stadium at Delphi.
I had to jump the ropes and sit in the Stadium.
Some German tourists were near by, yelling at me to get off the steps, but I
pretended that I didn't speak English...or German! Ha Ha...and prayed that Kirk
would hurry up and just take the picture!
