Skeletons in the Closet

2011-07-20T07:40:00.002-06:00

Rhamnous

Athenian Agora

Athens and Marathon/Rhamnous

2011-07-20T07:39:00.001-06:00

view from inside the Erechthion on the Acropolis

Rhamnous (I think)

what you read this blog for

2011-07-20T07:30:00.000-06:00

Nemea and Kenchreai

2011-07-10T13:18:00.000-06:00

We went to Epidauros but I have little to say on it. It was brutally hot and they don't let you sing in the amphitheater anymore. It is amazing the first time but I felt a little jaded due to the heat. Read Henry Miller for a good romanticized description of the site.

Temple of Zeus at Nemea

We went to Nemea and had a good tour by the Director of the site, and did the obligatory class race in the stadium. It felt home-y, since we lived in Isthmia for a few weeks in 2008 training for the revived Nemean games. It felt even weirder going to the beach at Kenchreai, and passing the sign for the Kalamaki Beach Hotel on the way. I waved at it.

above and below: submerged foundations at the Kenchreai beach

Isthmia

2011-07-10T13:15:00.001-06:00

yeah, so I'm gonna start every post with a sleepy dog photo. It's why you read this, right?

The sanctuary of Isthmia looks out primarily toward the east to the Saronic Gulf with and eye on the Corinthian Gulf to the west. The site itself is important but has the appearance of emptiness, as the construction of the Hexamillian, the wall built across the isthmus in the 5th century, caused most of the blocks to get up and walk away to be repurposed. Here the little fences that so often surround antiquities, giving the impression of buildings in jail, are actually helpful in delineating temples that are mostly robbed out.

part of a huge, amazing mosaic in the Roman baths at Isthmia

Archaeologists have to be an imaginative bunch. Much like turning a cardboard box into a fort or a rocketship as kid, you must look at a haphazard outline of stones and build up a building, a palace complex, an entire city. When you look at white marble friezes you must paint on the rich hues of antiquity that are so often forgotten by we who are only overexposed to their surviving marble bones. (Guy Sanders says the painted marble was "pretty....tacky.")

Cute dogs and old rocks

2011-07-10T12:36:00.000-06:00

Hey all, we are currently in Naufplion, a Venetian city in the Peloponnese. We're about halfway through our Peloponnese trip, and internet has been and continues to be sketchy, so I will run through a few of the places we've been so far. I'll break it up into a few separate posts so you don't feel like you're reading a novel.

cute dog at Corinth

We were shown around Corinth by the director there, Guy Sanders. He is one of the many characters in archaeology. I fear I love archaeologists as much as I love archaeology. He is very British and very engaging and is one of the few tour guides we've had that I actually was enraptured by. The best guides give you stories and the tone of a place, without a bunch of facts with no context, and remind you that we don't know everything and that there's always the chance we don't actually know anything. He showed us a sacred spring, a secret passageway. He made plant life evoke specific goddesses and prompted us to think about who is Helen, really?

Corinth with a view of Acrocorinth

He talked about the Turkish cemetery and hospital on the site and all the ~~gruesome~~ awesome ailments/causes of death they have found evidence of, including: anemia, arthritis, childbirth, brucellosis (from eating feta that hasn't been aged enough, "if you're lucky it kills you in five days), trepanation, a spine missing either the axis (C2) vertebrae or the axis's odontoid process (it was unclear from his explanation), a man that has been identified as a horseback-riding Mongolian bowman, a man who died from not going to the dentist (an untreated abscess led to blood poisoning), a cut achilles tendon (my greatest fear next to being buried alive), and evidence of a frontal attack with a sharp implement (sliced skull, cut off fingers from the victim defending their head with their hands). For this last death he amused himself by describing it in vivid detail, to the extent that he discussed the pooling blood rippling from the still-twitching fingers. At this point I was muffling my mouth with my hand because I was hysterically laughing. A student warily asked, "How...do we know about the puddle of blood?" To which Guy replied, "We don't! But isn't it gruesome?" He's my kind of archaeologist.

a tiny vessel depicting the bibasis (athletic competition where you jump and kick your butt)

votive arms left at the Asklepion (healing shrine of the cult of the healer Asklepius)

Then we hiked up Acro-Corinth. WOOF. Slippery cobblestones up to the sky. Of course the burning muscles were worth it once we reached a peak housing the ruins of a temple to Aphrodite and had a 360 view.

in which Miller is more eloquent than I can ever be

2011-07-06T04:21:00.000-06:00

"It was one of the few times in my life that I was fully aware of being on the brink of a great experience. And not only aware but grateful, grateful for being alive, grateful for having eyes, for being sound in wind and limb, for having rolled in the gutter, for having gone hungry, for having been humiliated, for having done everything that I did do since at last it had culminated in this moment of bliss."
-Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi

Crete

2011-07-01T16:13:00.000-06:00

Venetian fortress (first of many)

View from the INSTAP center aka archaeology heaven

Gorge of the Dead, the genitive: you are doing it wrong

Church in Heraklion

Other ways to stalk my whereabouts

2011-07-01T14:53:00.002-06:00

If you look over here
<------
you will see a new feature. My recent tweets! I tend to tweet photos fairly frequently (alliteration!) so click those links and/or follow me on twitter.

Crete Vlog: In which you learn absolutely nothing of historical import but get to see my face in various charming vistas

2011-07-01T14:50:00.001-06:00

Ok so sketchy and intermittent internet made for a weak posting week. Sorry. And this is not a quality vlog. I will try to actually put something relating to classics, Greece, or archaeology in the next one. You know, the stuff I'm actually doing here.

The song in the video is "Eyes" by Peter Bjorn and John

Hey

2011-06-27T22:36:00.000-06:00

Hi there, we're in Crete, and new video/pictures/words are forthcoming. But I just wanted to say hello, I'm not dead, we're having an awesome time, and I will give you an actual post that isn't a waste of time in the very near future.

Here, have a picture.

Backstage Pass: Parthenon

2011-06-24T07:51:00.000-06:00

As you can tell, this was exciting.

Acropolis

2011-06-24T06:30:00.000-06:00

Amazing visit to the Acropoli today...we went INSIDE the Parthenon. Inside. And even got to climb up the medieval tower. Amazing. Here are some pictures, video going up soon. (Am I a vlogger now?)

View of the Philopappos and the sea

column with restoration

Sanjaya lecturing on the Roman temple of Roma and Augustus

view of the Areopagus

Week 1

2011-06-23T14:20:00.002-06:00

Yasas! Camped out in Blegen again but I put together a teeny video of some of this week's excursions. See for yourself: the Roman Agora in the Plaka (with a view of the Acropolis), a panorama of Athens as seen from on top of the Areopagus (with a view of the Acropolis), and a panorama (and my windblown face) at the temple of Poseidon at Sounion. The background music is actually from the first clip, a musician was playing in the street by the Agora. Greece so often provides her own background music! Sorry it's so tiny, I filmed with my phone. Just full-screen it.

N.B.: Behind me is NOT the ocean, the Mediterranean is a sea. silly me.

Today was our first swim in the Aegean and tomorrow we finally ascend the Acropolis in the morning...and then board an overnight ferry to Crete in the evening.

Research

2011-06-22T13:53:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody! It's been a busy couple of days, and right now I'm holed up in Blegen Library researching my first site report, so sorry there's no new post! If not tonight, there will be one soon.

Here, have a picture of the Acropolis as seen from the Hephaestion.

My Greek is horrible

2011-06-19T14:43:00.000-06:00

I cannot remember how to say "and." Have been replacing it with "um." Looking up some phrases now. Hopefully it will come back to me...

Anyway, I'm here! Staying in a cute hostel between Syntagma Square, the temple of Zeus and the Plaka, where I just ordered too much food for dinner (Joyce, you know what I'm talking about) but managed to eat most of it. Psomi (bread), cucumber and tomato salad, and gemista (tomatoes stuffed with rice, pine nuts and herbs and baked until it falls apart in your mouth and basically digests itself. YUM.)

My roommates are two impressively tanned french girls who chattered away this afternoon while I napped and dreamed about how to talk to them about premature wrinkles and see if they've ever been to Ibiza.

I did an obligatory stroll through the Plaka/around the base of the Acropolis. Do you have an idea of what this might be like? Does it involve the amusingly familiar notes of Zorba the Greek coming from some light-strung terraced taverna that fade as you walk away and are replaced by a cheerful bouzouki medley? Are cats everywhere, languidly stretching in front of blankets laden with fake designer bags? Do you smell cigarettes, roasting meat, flowering trees, dust, and something that smells both musty and cold, like eating gelato inside of a closet filled with coats that have mothballs in the pockets, which is the only way I can think of to describe the smell of marble that is layered under everything else. Because all these sensory imaginations are accurate.

Greece is not at all boring but a little predictable. The light - the light! Everyone talks about the LIGHT because it is true. It's different here. During the day it is bright and pure, throwing everything into sharp relief, color-saturated. At dusk it softens until it wraps everything in a mild glow. The sunset over the hills ringing Athens takes the sky from ruby to coral to a dusky blue before settling into pitch.

I am familiar with this neighborhood but I usually stay in Exarchia - the funky area of students and communists and bonfires blasting music in the middle of the night. I didn't stay there this time but I actually miss it - I know where everything is! A gyro place, a bakery, a crepe place, an oh-so-charming taverna. Tomorrow my program starts and I will leave this neighborhood and go over to Kolonaki, a fairly swanky area where most of the foreign archaeological schools are housed, as well as luxury shopping and a hospital and a few museums.

Until then,

S

Last night in America

2011-06-17T21:18:00.000-06:00

Everything I own is packed up and will be put in my car for storage in the morning, and everything I need for the next 6 (7?) weeks is in a backpack and a small duffel.

I like to read books about the places I am traveling to while I am traveling there, but picking which books to bring with me to Greece is like picking favorite children. I finally narrowed it down to No-Man's Lands by Scott Huler, and The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller. Can't wait to get them even more dog-eared, windblown, and sea water streaked.

I also went from 6 cameras to just my small digital Nikon, some disposables, and my phone.
And only 3 pairs of sunglasses.

Apparently I like multiples.

Gotta get back to....GREECE

2011-06-06T08:22:00.002-06:00

Hi there! In a couple weeks I will be back in my favorite country, traveling all over and learning a lot. And probably getting sunburned. But loving it! So I am reviving this here bloggity blog as a travel blog. So follow now and all summer you'll get pictures of food, ruins, me sweating my face off, and maybe even some sincere vignettes.

καλώς ορίσατε

-Shannon/Dar

Leavin on a jet plane

2009-08-14T23:16:00.003-06:00

Cavafy says, make your journey to Ithaka a long one. So I will- I'm saving Ithaki for another time, and going home. I accomplished and learned so much more than I expected already. My thesis topic was so broad when I got to Greece, and like I hoped, it has been narrowed down. And the part that was narrowed was Ithaka. I feel ready to get back to the states and back to school; I can't imagine setting out on another adventure. I made some great contacts here, so my in-Greece research will, in a sense, continue as I start to actually write my thesis this year.

Thanks for helping me get here, thanks for the support, and thanks for reading.

Silver lining

2009-08-14T05:10:00.003-06:00

But I have to say, the niceness of the Greeks always warms the cockles of my heart. Yesterday I experienced this 3 notable times. In the morning, a man left his business to point me towards my hotel. Later, wandering in the port and trying to figure out the best way to get to Patra, and thus to Ithaki, a cafeteria owner explained the easiest way (metro, then bus, then finally ferry) and drew me a map! As I left he shouted after me, "And give my Ithaka a kiss for me!" People really love that goat-strewn rock. (I do too.) And then later at a nearby Arabian mini-mart, getting some provisions, I had a conversation with a guy who worked for Exxon in Corpus Christi for 2 years, and has seen a couple other parts of the country (I think some islands in Washington State, and maybe New York), probably eager to use a little English again. And then the owner of the mini mart gave me a package of dates, "a gift from the shop!" They're from Tunisia and they are delish.

In limbo in Piraeus

2009-08-14T05:01:00.003-06:00

This town is NOISY. Add to the normal street sounds the belching of ferries in the harbor, and the very diligent chaps at St. Nicholas - a church next door with bells that started this morning at 7 and continued every 15 minutes until 8. Thanks for the wake-up call, guys.

Oh AND, even though there is a THREE STORY poster on a nearby building advertising Harry Potter (Xapi), no one seems to know where the movie theatre is.

12 August

2009-08-12T03:15:00.006-06:00

Last night I went for an evening pre-dinner walk (does anyone remember the name for that? Is it vesti or something? LB?) in the vague direction of the old Jewish Quarter.
I avoid the main arteries and so it becomes soothingly quiet. The babble of crowds is replaced by the voices of children echoing off the stone, and their mothers shouting after them - "Ella, ella! Pou ine?" An extra sense, a sort of tug on the collarbones, leads me down a sun dappled, cobblestoned alley, and I emerge into a noisy square. Have I somehow left the walls? But no, this is just a new corner I have yet to explore, and in the center of the whirlpool of milling tourists and taverna owners that solicit them, sits the obsidian memorial to the Holocaust victims of Rhodes and Kos, keeping a mute and solemn vigil. I push past offers of dinner and turn right up a side street from whence come more purposeful looking families. Locating the Synagogue, and confident I can re-find it the next day, I amble back to Romios Taverna, already busy at dusk. I explain to the now-familiar waitstaff that Amy has gone home (Where is your friend? Are you alone? Why?). I don't mind. I eat (stuffed grape leaves this time) and write and look - it is anthropological participant-observation in action. A cat stakes out my table and hovers, hopeful.

*****

A word about the Apollo Guesthouse. My hosts are the wonderful Maggie and Ikuo. They moved to Rhodes and bought the property only 3 years ago. It is whitewashed and beautiful, with a large patio roofed by an arbor from which grapes hang in hellenistic bunches. Every morning they serve a breakfast of coffee, orange juice, yoghurt with honey and fruit, bread with jam, and sometimes watermelon (karpoozi). I'm not always a breakfast eater, but when it involves coffee and greek yoghurt and is in a picturesque setting, I enjoy it with relish. (This includes your kitchen, GPP and J...yum!)

After breakfast I explored the general Juderia area and wandered into a few churches - small, dimly lit and decorated with frescoes or mosaics - I never tire of them. I also went into the wonderfully restored Hospice of St Catherine - where guests of the higher-up Knights would stay when they visited Rhodes. I saw some Hellenistic and Byzantine parts of the fortification walls, and then made my way back to Kahal Shalom and its museum. I had a wonderful talk with Markos, an Athenian taking care of the place for the summer. There is a great exhibit about the history of the Rhodesian Jewish community, much of which has been donated by descendants of Holocaust survivors from Rhodes. There are ritual objects, clothes, passports, and many photos , mostly from 1900-1945. The story of the community, and the beautiful synagogue, made for a fulfilling morning.

Now its time to pack and do some last-day swimming or exploring!

11 August

2009-08-11T09:32:00.005-06:00

This morning, walking down the Street of the Knights, we had the occasion to go into a few of the buildings which used to be the HQ's of the various "tongues" or nationalities by which the Knights Hospitallers (alt. Knights of St. John) arranged themselves. In the Spanish and French Inns were art exhibits from modern painters, both surprisingly fresh and intriguing. I managed to finagle a poster from one of the shows.

The Byzantine Museum is sadly closed for renovation, but we walked through the Archaeological Museum and its satellite galleries, Prehistoric and Epigraphic. I recalled an idea I had seized upon a few days ago in the Fira Prehistoric Museum: I realized that most of my fascination lies not in the objects themselves, but in their discovery, their reconstruction. My infatuation is perhaps then not with ancient man, but with the archaeologist. My time-traveling daydreams consist not of chitons and ritual, but of working with Sylvia Benson or Marinatos.

However, I do not mean to sell the artifacts short. There is an amazing exhibit here of unpublished finds from, if I remember the wall text correctly, a sanctuary at Lindos. It highlights both exceptional craftmanship and artistry and also the importance of the Rhodes as an international port. This exhibit includes tiny scarabs (quartz, bone, glass, faience), tiny votive animals and ships, blue blown glass bottles, gold leafed potsherds, glass beads AND magnifying glasses - about 3/4in thick but most no bigger in diameter than a nickel or quarter - for doing detail work!

The Prehistoric collection was also well dones, with some fabulous rhytons and even skeletons. I think most of the pottery was Mycenaean, from Ialysos. I learned a new word: nekrodeipna: meals for the dead.

The Epigraphical was also exciting with a few bilingual grave slabs, one with Phoenician and Greek, and one with Latin and Greek.

Rodos

2009-08-10T09:32:00.004-06:00

Our last evening in Santorini (after a hilarious and thoroughly necessary donkey expedition down to the old port in Fira that afternoon) was spent in Oia (pronounced ee-uh). Somehow this hillside town on the northern tip of the island has successfully balanced the busloads of tourists with its normal life, unlike the capital, which seems to be made up completely of visitors. All in all, it is charming in the extreme. Our first visit was to Atlantis Books, recommended by a friend of Amy's as it was founded by Tufts alumnae. As you descend a short staircase into the whitewashed shop, the things you pass are an indicator of what is to come; a suitcase of books, and a birdcage home to not a bird, but a pipe. Once inside, our glee (bibliophiles that we are) was audible. The best way to describe it, which Amy and I both immediately seized upon, is a shipwrecked treehouse. Books cover every wall, fill every curved niche, lay on every small table. There is a cat named Max who favors the Recommended section. Atlantis is even home to its own Lost Boys - bookshelves swing open to reveal hidden lofts where the crew of kids who run the shop in the summer sleep at night. We made quick friends of the current employee, J, who happens to know someone I know from Colorado. Smallish world indeed. He landed in Oia after college and Teach for America with an offer to work in the shop. I told him I have an eye on his job.

He sent us next to the shop Maria Baba Vida, "where locals shop," full of beautiful and strikingly original jewelry. She uses everything from precious metals to the local volcanic rock. After a solid amount of time chatting with the girl who ran the place, and settling on a few gifts for friends and family, she shooed us off to watch the famous Oia sunset. It did not disappoint, although it was quite misty out on the horizon, but the most impressive thing was how many people showed up to watch! Shutters were clicked, breaths were held, and as soon as the final sliver dipped out of site, the crowd broke into applause, and then we all strode away laughing, in search of dinner. How will future archaeologists know about the intensity of our pilgrimage and obsession with the setting sun? We left no trace.

We very luckily got a table at a beautiful restaurant that had caught Amy's eye. It is called Nectar and Ambrosia. Very fitting - the food (and the view) was fantastic. I had a couscous salad, with tomato and lemon and fennel and wedges of grilled pita, and Amy had pumpkin ravioli that was not sweet (as is often, sadly, the case with squash rav) in a light sauce. Yum!

As if our evening could get any better, there arrived at our restaurant (of all possible places, our restaurant!) the party of... a wedding. The bride arrived via donkey (of course), beautiful in white and delicate long veil, surrounded by her new husband, the small wedding party, and two Greek violinists, who played until all were seated. It was beautiful.

The next day, after a bus ride and a flight on a teenytiny plane, we arrived on Rhodes.

**************

Stepping off the airplane, I felt like I had entered a new county. It felt much more tropical in climate (palm trees!) and vaguely Middle Eastern in atmosphere. I had the strangest feeling of being almost unsure if Greek was the appropriate language. This confusion is understandable in the context of the island's history - changing hands among countries, once overseen by multilingual knights, always Greek as much as anything but with influences ranging from Venice to Rome to Egypt to Turkey. This feeling lingered through the endless, crowded bus ride and walk into the walled medieval city, and has only been tempered (but not completely absolved) by successful Greek conversations, and yet another inquiry demanding (Am I sure my parents are not...? My face looks very....?) if I am Greek. Whether these complimentary accusations would occur so frequently if I did not speak a smattering of the language in greeting, I shall remain forever unawares, although to be honest it has happened even when I remain mute.

Last night we had a small but satisfying meal at a nearby taverna, situated under a huge spreading tree. (Eucalyptus? Plane? I will ask tonight.) There are cats everywhere, mostly a little strange in the eyes and skinny in the ribs - generally feral.

Today, since as a Monday museums are closed, we went to Eli beach, just around the corner and with a 20ft high diving platform. We plan to return to "our" restuarant tonight...a plan cemented when we saw, passing it today, a cat asleep in the net under the tree.

Day ?

2009-08-08T02:22:00.004-06:00

I'm currently in Thira at a tiny internet cafe - not easy to find on this island, hence the m.i.a.-ness. I realize my goal of a daily update is impossible, so I will just post when I can...oh and there is no port in this computer for my card reader, so no photos today.

Athens ended up being incredibly productive. I met with Eleni Konstantinidi, who is in charge of the prehistoric collection at the National Archaeological Museum (EAM). She was great, and let me use their little (but impressive) library. I spent an hour or so strolling through the EAM, going in every room, not just the big exhibits, and this time I found that I found more wonder in the small things. The gold leaf as thin as paper, the miniature votive animals, the earrings - these were what impressed me this go around. Then I did some research in the library, and Eleni very generously gave me visitor statistics, past educational materials, and a book!

Our last day in the city I went to the American School of Classical Studies to meet Margaret Miles, a friend from grad school of my high school Latin teacher. I could immediately tell why they were friends - they both share immense knowledge and infectious enthusiasm about the classics.

SO, now we're on Santorini - our last full day, in fact. Yesterday was unbelievable. Amy and I rented an ATV in the morning from our new friend Vassilli, and we must have seen 90% of the island by nightfall. We nicknamed our orange vehicle "Argo," both as our adventurous vessel and as a pun on the greek "arga," meaning "slow"...apparently the orange ATV's are the ones they give to amateurs. I think our top speed was 50 km/h, and that was going downhill. Uphill was about 19 km/h. We set off first for Akrotiri. I knew the site was closed, since a roof fell in years ago, but I wanted to see what could be seen nonetheless.
After a trek to the southern point of the island, with a few stops to wade in the Aegean, admire views of the caldera, etc, we headed north and then east, to Kamari beach. We spent a few lovely hours swimming (and floating - because of the high salt content, floating is effortless) and sunning on the black sand (read: unbearably hot on the feet) beach, we climbed back on Argo and started up the mountain to Ancient Thira. Amy counted +20 switchbacks on the road to the site. I was concentrating on driving! The site had closed at 2:30, but we could read about it, and the views were worth the climb. There is no way to express in words or pictures how high up we were. We could see water on both sides, the wind was roaring, and the beach umbrellas we had just been under looked like pinpricks of light on the dark beach.

After the exciting/challenging drive down, we took the eastern coastal road north to Oia, because, why not - we had the atv all day! Not much of Oia visible from the road (its mostly on the side of the hill), but the roads there and back to Fira were stunning. We got to see much of the island, and could always see the water in at least one direction.

When we felt we had gotten our 25 euros worth of Argo, we sadly turned him back in, and retreated back to Villa Odyssey to shower off the salt and road dust, and get ready for dinner.

We decided to forgo our usual cheap eats and dine at the Sphynx, a nice restaurant in Fira looking over the caldera. We arrived at sunset and had an amazing meal. We then wandered through the busy, tourist-laden alleys of town and had some desert, and THEN were almost run over by a caravan of donkeys. It was magical.

Well, after a morning of the Prehistoric Museum, I'm off to find said donkeys, and then maybe some lunch and/or gelato. Till next time...and next computer.

Day 2 - 3/8/09

2009-08-05T00:35:00.015-06:00

Our first whole day in Athens, we decided to make our "tourist" day. Woke up and took the metro to Monastiraki. Marveled (still do) at how the metro is the cleanest part of Athens - immaculate, really. We wandered through the labyrinth of kitschy shops in the flea market, through the Plaka and past the Roman Agora, always with our final destination visible above the rooftops.

Closer to the top, we climbed Areopagus Hill. This craggy rock used to be an important meeting place - the judiciary of Athens and later, St. Paul. We took the original stairs up - which are now a small struggle as the marble steps have grown fairly smooth - and the modern metal stairs on the way down. Had great views of the city, and talked cameras with a Brit.

Then we were there: The Acropolis.

At the ticket booth I realized I completely forgot to bring my student idea. The result was, I had to pay 12 euro to get in, and to add insult to injury, Amy got in FREE because her ID says Arts & Sciences somewhere on it, and art students get in free. Did I mention she is an ENGLISH major?

Along with hundreds of other modern pilgrims we ooo-ed and ahh-ed and took endless pictures, and I tried to dredge up from my brain some architecture or history that I could share with Amy, as her default tour guide.

Amy started a "sleepy dogs" series. It has the makings of a future calendar.

After seeing what could be seen, we ambled down the other side, past the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and then around the hill and back through the Plaka. We bought some huge grapes from a cart in Monastiraki, headed home and took a nap.
We had dinner at a great crepe shop near our hotel and then trekked over to where the funicular cable car goes up to the top of Mount Lycavittos.

From this little mountain, in legend a rock that Athena dropped on the way to the Acropolis to make her temple, you can see the entire city of Athens, and the sea. The city is huge, spreading to the hills that ring it on 3 sides like a horseshoe, which opens into the sea at Piraeus. Lycavittus houses a chapel of St.George, an ampitheatre, and a restaurant.

Hazy from the heat or the smog, the city spread out below us, beautiful from this height. We had a drink in the cafe to admire the view as long as possible, then came back to Exarchion and fell into bed.

(N.B.: more pictures will be added to this post when I find a computer that can handle rotating a photo)

Day 1 - 2/8/09

2009-08-02T11:25:00.003-06:00

Imagine the daylight slowly fading, like dye spreading from a garment into the washwater. There are the sounds - of the radio of a passing car, honks of a moped, quick conversation from the square, yelled conversation down an alley - so constant you know you are in a city even with your eyes closed. And through it all the slightest breeze when you least expect it, cooling you when you had almost called it too hot, too humid, and taken yet another cold shower in the 4x4 bathroom. This is Athens as we wait, confused and tired by too much plane travel, for it to get late enough for us to eat. We'll wait till it is truly dusk, walk through the square full of tables under the trees, down a side street to a familiar taverna, where our first Greek meal awaits us.

no longer missing in action

2009-07-29T10:43:00.004-06:00

I meant to be better about keeping up with the blog this summer, but I got preoccupied with, ya know, living my life. I do however want to travel blog diligently - in a few days I leave for Greece to work on my anthro thesis. Along the way will be great food, cute sundresses and beautiful beaches. Watch this space.