Hollins Goes To Greece

Monday January 15, 2007

THE ORACLES OF HOLLINS:  Our Adventures of Delphi

 (Temple of Athena)      (a temple at Delphi)                            (the Theatre)         (the mosaics)                  

The day started out with everyone in good spirits.  We got to the ancient sanctuary of
Delphi at about 8:30 am.  A place believed by the ancient Greeks to be the belly button of the world, since Zeus sent out two eagles in each direction and they ended their long journey at this site.  It was so cool.  Dr. Salowey explained all of the important temples and rituals the Greeks did there.  Dr. Salowey even showed us a very small tunnel you would have crawled through to get to the Oracles.  The Oracles were messages from the Gods when a Greek needed advice.  These messages were sent to an interpreter (but it should be noted that there was also a heavy flow of natural gases such as methane and other hallucinogenic “aromas.”  Our group of Hollins women, being very adventuresome, decided to crawl through the tunnel where the ancient gases once flowed.  It was really dark and dusty inside, but well worth it.  The tunnel came out not far from the entrance to the tunnel.  It was really an exciting experience to be wiggling through something where people with much respect did the exact same thing in antiquity.

            After exploring through the tunnel to the Oracles, we kept exploring the ancient site of
Delphi where the Sanctuary of Apollo and some other buildings of significance stood in pride.  The last site on
Delphi was the stadium.  The walk up to the stadium was really steep, but the view was breathtaking and well worth the hike.  The stadium resembled many present day stadiums.  It consisted of a flat center with stone cut bleachers rising along the edges.  Along one side of the dirt field were the aged started blocks of track races.  About seven Hollins women decided to race along the archaic field in a running race, using the very old starting blocks.  It was quite a scene to see modern Hollins women running across an obsolete entertainment center.  Myself, Kristen, while walking down the hillside decided to take a sit on the end of a wall and gaze into the distance of extraordinary beauty.  Inspired by this beauty I decided to take out my journal and write, and with this said, I will share.  “I am now sitting on one of the walls of the walkway that leads up to the Stadium of Delphi.  I am embedded in between the mountains of this wonderful paradise.  From a distance I can see the ancient
Temple of Zeus (a marbleized masterpiece), an artificial aqueduct (a small river of blue amongst the green ocean), the river of olive trees, and the valley of mountains (deep green and rocky in landscape).  I can hear the birds’ sweet songs of welcome and delight, as well as the greetings of the local honey bees.  It is unbelievably placid here-a place I will surely long for when I get back to the states. 
Greece will become my home in the future for its beauty is surely indescribable in words or pictures.”

Kristen Gillespie, Jan. 15^th 2007. 

            After eating lunch in modern day
Delphi, we visited the Hosios Loukas monastery of St. Luke.  The monastery is still a working monastery today.  It is located high up in the mountains where you can taste the fresh air and smell the wild rosemary and lavender, it was pure pleasure for the sense of smell.  The mosaics in the antiquated Byzantine church were breathtaking with the gold blue colors capturing your attention. Emily Morris’ presentation on mosaics really helped to understand the significance of the mosaics in the church. On the other hand, the crypt in the basement in the church was very interesting, but a little bit creepy.  Fresco paintings surrounded the walls from the 11^th century.  After everyone admired the old graves in the crypt, we decided to do a little shopping in the gift store.  Kristen really liked the selection of post cards.  On the bus ride back to Arachova, we witnessed a gorgeous pink sunset over the mountains while traditional Greek music played throughout the bus.  Today was pleasure for our sense of smell and sight, a day that will never be forgotten.