Hollins Goes To Greece

This morning we began our day early with a visit to Dr. Salowey’s old stomping grounds at the American School of Classical Studies. We went into the first of three buildings on the American School campus where we met Natalia, the archivist, who had gotten wind of the fact that travelogues were a theme of our trip. When we walked into her office she had already laid out some examples of earlier travelogues by early archaeologists and travelers, mostly ones from the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of them was a journal that had been kept by a woman who traveled through Greek archaeological sites in the 19th century, which was particularly inspiring to us as travelers and as students of a woman’s college.
Next we headed over to the library, which has an extremely impressive collection of rare books and a large collection of other very important archaeological texts. The library was started on a donation of about 200,000 volumes that came from the collection of a Greek man. Natalia told us that he had not been wealthy, but had a very serious passion for collecting these volumes and then left them to the school when he died. The building, which is very elaborate and in the neoclassical style, was paid for by a grant from the Carnegie Foundation.
Inside the library, we tried to be as quiet as a group of 18 could be as we passed through the workspace of many students doing research. We made it into the Rare Book room where we met a woman who was from Greece originally and had become an art history scholar. She specialized in Byzantine art and architecture, but seemed to be very well-versed in all the subjects that could be found in the library. She showed us some rare and old books that had beautiful 19th century depictions of some of the sites we were looking at; these depictions varied drastically from what we have seen here in Greece so far because the modern parts of the cities have come in only recently.
We then continued to another part of the building to see some journals and photographs of other travelers, including Dorothy Sutton and Heinrich Schliemann. Dorothy Sutton was an American woman who had come to Greece to help with medical care in the orphanages during the 19th century. Next we were shown the notebook that Heinrich Schliemann used when he excavated Mycenae. We were all very surprised that we were able to see such a high-profile object so close to us. We all realized that we can never tell who may be reading our journals some day…
After leaving the American School, we walked through an open-air market place in the neighborhood. Dr. Salowey and Dr. Richter got us a bag of locally grown oranges to eat while we made our way to the National Museum. We were also able to stop in the market place and pick up some Greek oregano and other spices to pack in our bags and take home with us. Really we just enjoyed the stroll outside on such a temperate, sunny day.
Finally we made it to the National Museum for our second visit there, where we would be covering bronzes, pottery and artifacts recovered from Thera, a site at Santorini. We stopped to hear a presentation about an ancient astrolabe that was discovered in the wreckage of a Roman shipwreck. It was really astonishing to hear about this device because it really showed us how advanced the Greeks were in sciences and astronomy. We also learned that the bronzes that we have survived for the most part because of the fact that they were buried underwater and therefore could not have been melted down for industrial use in later periods. At the pottery section we learned about the three types of pottery found at Ancient Greek sites: black figure, red figure and white back. There was a huge collection of intact pottery displaying the three varieties and their different uses that varied from funerary urns to wine amphoras. Lastly at the museum we visited the section about ancient Thera. Most of the artifacts that we have left from the site, including the pieces of large-scale frescoes, were preserved because of a massive volcanic eruption that took place at Santorini in ancient times.
After finishing our second and final tour of the museum, we made our final trek up to the Acropolis. It felt like much less of a trek than it had the first time because of the intense climbs we’ve had at Delphi and the Frankish Castle since then. We walked around the site on our own and walked through the Acropolis Museum, where we saw the real columns that had been salvaged from the Erectheion, as well as a great amount of statuary that had been collected from all over the Acropolis. It was a great place to end our trip as we had a view of all of Athens and the Meditteranean, much of which we had experienced up close ourselves.

Samantha Cole
Emily Mendelssohn

     We left Monemvasia this morning to head to Mycenae and after 3ish hours on the party bus, and some Sunday morning British rock, we arrived. Walking around the ancient citadel was amazing because it helps to link the potential reality to the mythology. Standing on top of the fortress you can see the water and the two mountain passes that would have been critical for military control during the time of the Mycenians. The size alone makes one feel insignificant, especially after learning from Prof. Saloway that the lentel block alone ways as much as a Boeing 747 airplane. All of the bricks used to build the walls were larger than any other fortress, temple, or castle we have visited yet and we would like to hope that the legendary royal family that once resided here lived the lavish lifestyle we imagine. We even had the chance again to venture down a dark tunnel but unlike our other adventures we never found the end.

     Next on the agenda was the Tomb of Agamemnon, which has never actually been proven to be the tomb of Agamemnon. Samantha took a minute to inform us of the early archaelogists who first visited here in the form of rap to the tune of “Fresh Prince of Belair” which we all appreciated. The tomb is one of the only remaining indoor structures which is still complete. It is a dome structure with an incredible entryway which once contained one or more ancient peoples burial sites and the treasures buried with them. It was around 40 feet high and 46 feet in diameter. Our voices echoed as soon as we entered and we couldn’t help but strain our necks as we gazed at the ceiling. However, you also can’t help but get the unfortunate feeling that it may collapse on you at any moment.    

     Lunch was had at a small restaurant in town known as the House of Schliemann. It was one of the more interesting places we have been to because many celebrities and intellectuals have stayed there over the years. The owner takes pictures of the guestbook where famous people have signed and hangs them on the wall. He was more than happy to take the time to tell us about each individual signature. All kinds of people have been there from Allen Ginsberg to J.K. Rowling to Nazi soldiers, to archaeologists that only the Professors have ever heard of. It was interesting to learn that Mycenae has been a place of inspiration for many years for people of all different professions and interests.

     The bus ride finally ended in Nafplion where we are staying the night. Some of us chose to climb the 833 stairs up the hill to ancient Venetian castle before dinner. The stairs were gruesome, but as I have come to learn from all of our adventures so far in Greece, the climb was well worth it. On top we could see the entire city and the water surrounding it. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch the sun set over the mountains from our castle top view.

     Our night came to end at a taverna where we all met for dinner. The food was great as usual. Our amazing and hilarious bus driver Dmitri has been promising us a surprise for the last couple days and tonight he finally came through. At 8:30 as promised he had some people come to the taverna to teach us to dance like true Greeks. Just watching them was entertaining, but having the chance to dance ourselves was of course ridiculous, but also a lot of fun. This is the second time in Greece where dinner has led to dancing and laughing. The night was perfect and we are all thankful to Dmitri for helping us to learn more about the Greek culture. Hopefully pictures will be coming soon…

 Brynn Hoffman

Emily Morris 

 Note: This post was originally from January 21. Sorry it is out of order but we just realized today that it never posted.

Sleeping in yesterday spoiled us. However, we were all up and out of the hotel by 8:00 am. The trek to the Agora proved to us that this trip has gotten us in shape because we were hardly out of breath by the time we got there, unlike the first morning in Athens.

Today we learned once again how lucky we are to have Professor Salowey for a guide. Before we entered the Agora, she showed us part of the current excavations which are unmarked and unexplained to the passerby. The two main features of this area were an altar of Aphrodite and the Painted Stoa which would have marked the main entrance into the ancient Agora. Although the western corner of the painted stoa has been excavated, the plans to unearth the remainder of the building must wait until more of the surrounding modern buildings can be purchased and carefully torn down to expose the ruins beneath.

Once inside the Agora, we made our way past the statues of giants which were the only pieces of sculpture or architecture standing above ground when excavations began in the early 1930s. It was amazing to see the statue bases standing about 10 feet above the ground and thinking of the entire area around being filled with dirt and silt from the river and the surrounding hills.

Giant statues in the Agora

From there we walked to the altar of the 12 Olympian Gods, which would have stood near the entrance to the Agora in ancient times. This was the point from which all distances from Athens were measured and citizens in trouble could seek refuge. Unfortunately, all that remains of this important landmark is a single corner of the foundation.

Professor Salowey at the Altar of the 12 Gods

At the tholos building, Ashley gave a presentation on ancient Athenian democracy. We learned that democracy in ancient times was similar to our modern democracy with a few significant differences. The Athenians were very concerned with the idea of “majority rules” but did not allow the lowest class or women to participate in government decisions. Also, the most numerous artifacts found in the Agora were “ostraka” or pottery sherds which were used as voting ballots. Unlike our modern elections where the ballot indicates the candidate of choice, ancient ballots were inscribed with the name of the public official who was thought to be the most detrimental to government affairs. The person with the most votes would then be exiled from the city for 10 years.

Perhaps the most impressive structure in the Agora is the well-preserved temple of Hephaistos, the god of metal-working and craft. This was our chance to test our skill at reading ancient temples. We walked around the temple looking for clues of the order, plan, decoration, and remodeling of the building. We passed with flying colors, noting that the temple was Doric, had some unusual decorative sculpture, and had been modified into a Christian Church in a later period. Professor Salowey was proud.

 The Temple of Hephaistos in the Agora

We made a cursory walk through the site museum, looking at material from graves and homes in the area of the Agora. However, the real treat of the day, thanks to the connections of our esteemed professor, was getting a private tour through the conservation labs and storage rooms of the American School’s basecamp at the Agora excavations. First, we went to the conservation lab where every artifact which is brought out of the ground on site is cleaned, preserved, and catalogued. The process was fascinating. We were impressed with the detail, patience, and knowledge required of the conservationists and the passion they have for their work. We saw many artifacts from several different decades, which depending on the preservation and restoration techniques were in various states of deterioration.

We did not want to leave the lab, but we were soon drawn out into another area by Marcy, an archaeologist at the site. She has been working on the Agora excavations for almost ten years and obviously loves her work. For those Hollins people, she was the Achaeological equivalent of Renee Goddard, very animated, very passionate. She showed us the amazingly detailed notebooks of the process of excavation, which include not only the ancient sites they excavate but also the buildings they tear down to begin digging. Though they have incorporated some new technology, they have been keeping records in the same way for 75 years. Then she took us to what we think is one of the most amazing places we have yet been, the basement storerooms of the center. In the basement along rows and rows of wooden shelves are ALL of the artifacts from the site.

Rows and rows of Amphoras!!!

There were literally hundreds of drawers of pottery sherds and shelves and shelves of stones bearing inscriptions. The long, rows of identical shelves reminded us of the last scene in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. There really are places like that!!!

Professor Salowey’s friend, Molly Richardson, who is an epigraphy expert then gave us a demonstration of how to read ancient inscriptions. She first used water to bring out the text on a grave marker. As a group, we determined that the marker was for a woman from Antioch. Molly also told us that of about 20,000 inscriptions we have from Attica, over 7,000 are from the area in an around the Agora. We saw when walking around the storerooms and talking to Voula, a scholar currently revisiting all of the inscriptions in the Agora, that the Agora is truly a treasure trove of ancient inscriptions and artifacts.

After a quick lunch at a souvlaki place, we made our way to Kerameikos, which is the ancient entrance to the city of Athens.

A view of Kerameikos

We focused primarily on the cemetery area. Jenny gave a close reading of two grave stelai which are preserved in the site museum, and then we went out on site to get in idea of how these monuments would have been placed in ancient times. Upon entering the ancient city of Athens, a traveler would first pass through the monuments of the city’s deceased citizens requiring him or her to acknowledge the ancestors of the city. We concluded our official itinerary for the day at Kerameikos and were left to enjoy another afternoon and evening in Athens.

Lindsay and Michelle

At Epidaurus exists an ancient theatre which can hold 10,000 people(and indeed, even as Professor Salowey can personally vouch for, has held as many in recent years). The acoustics in the theatre are magnificent. Someone standing in the orchestra section of the theater can talk softly, even whisper, and still be heard by all the audience members. To prove the quality of the acoustics, some of the members of the group decided to act out a Cliff’s Notes version of Beauty and the Beast. Samantha, Brynn, Christy, Lindsay, and Laura all put on a wonderful show while the rest of the group observed from the top of the theatre.

As Epidaurus is known as a place of healing and the location for the sanctuary of Asclepius, the theatre also was meant to exist in a healing capacity as well. Seeing the performances that took place here could very well be therapeutic to ailing patients as they sought refuge and healing here. Beyond the theatre, we were able to visit a stadium area, where footraces would take place.

To see the original ruins at the site, juxtaposed with the reconstruction, made us more aware of how daunting a task trying to rebuild these ancient buildings, as well as the dangers of going overboard in trying to reconstruct the architecture here.

On our way to Ancient Corinth, we drove through many fruit orchards. The leaders of our trip made an executive decision to stop so that we could buy(for only 5 euros!) a bag of plump, juicy oranges from a group of friendly gentlemen on the side of the road. The fruit in our grocery stores in the United States seems rather puny in comparison to the produce that is grown here in Greece. In addition to the oranges, which we devoured in record time, lemons were also being sold. Some of these lemons were so large that they were mistaken for grapefruits by a few groupmembers.

Having filled our stomachs with the unexpected treat of the oranges, we made our way onwards, to Argive Heraion, a sanctuary of Hera, queen of the gods in the Greek pantheon. The view from this site over the plain stretched nearly as far as the eye could see, and the landscape before us was indeed, as Professor Salowey pointed out, a testament to the area’s power and wealth. Our time at this site was restful, marked by a moving story about two young men which Professor Salowey read to us as we looked over the scenery:

Solon, to indicate to King Croesus that some people in the world were more blessed than he, tells the king a story about two young men, Cleobis and Biton. The mother of these two men, a priestess of Hera who desperately needed to get to the sanctuary for a festival taking place, could not find the oxen that pulled her cart. Dutiful as they were, the brothers yoked themselves to their mother’s cart and took her to the sanctuary in that fashion. Afterward, in the midst of the festival, the two brothers went into the temple and died peacefully, in their sleep.

This sanctuary was our last site for the day. Off to Corinth we went!

Stephanie Prosack
Liz Brown

*Our apologies that our post for the 22nd is out of order. We hope it will not make reading the travelblog too confusing for everyone to read.

What do you do on a free day in Athens?  Sleep in, well not for too long.   If you are like us and staying near the Acropolis there are several great places you won’t want to miss that are within walking distance.  Take Monastiraki for instance, a great little quarter of Athens located on the Northern side of the Acropolis.  This site was named after the Manastiraki Square, which was one of the first metro stations in Athens.  Nowadays people come here to see the alleged flea market which has now progressed into more of a touristy area.  Here you can find shops galore, quaint cafes, and the well known market, in which you never know what you might ‘meat’.  No need to bargain, Monastiraki, has some of the better deals in Athens and you can most likely find whatever your heart desires.  Moving directly eastward from Monastiraki, one may find themselves ending up in an area known as Syntagma.  Syntagma, is the site of the Old Royal Palace which is known today as the Greek Parliament Building.   Guards at the Parliament Building, called Evzones, are specifically chosen for their height and strength, and serve as protectors of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Parliament Building itself.  They are much like the guards at Buckingham Palace, but these guys wear pleated skirts and shoes with pom-poms, and every so often they do a ritual dance to stretch out their legs from having to stand all day.  This has also become a major attraction and people from all over come and view the bizarre march of the guards.  Also in this vicinity, one can find upper class shopping areas that are very stylish and chic.  This is also one of the busier portions of town because there are a lot of offices located in this area, meaning that there has to be places to eat while you are on the run.  Here there is a wide variety of food places, including your traditional Greek restaurants and cafes, and if you are looking for a little slice of
America, you can visit McDonalds or Applebee’s.  Moving back to towards the Acropolis, south from Monastiraki and Syntagma, you will find yourself in the Plaka.  The Plaka is one of Athens’ most historic sites, and is a great retreat from all the hustle and bustle of the city.  You can find most anything here, from souvenir shops to tavernas and restaurants, and if you have a sweet tooth, you can find great chocolates, crepes, and gelato.  This is a wonderful place to take a little break, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy the view of the Acropolis.  If you are looking for a little venture outside of the surrounding Acropolis area to have some delicious food, and go back in time with a restaurant called Ancient Times located in Metaxourgeio.  Here you will get a little taste of what type of foods and eating habits the ancient Greeks had in the days of antiquity.  The meal was set at a slower pace and in many portions so one can enjoy and savor the flavor.  This was a very satisfying way to end the day.  Until tomorrow, Kalinychta!

Laura Risley & Meritha Rucker

We started our day exploring the Nemean ruins; this time accompanied by a pack of watchdogs. Nemea is under supervision of the University of California at Berkley. This site showed us the effects of properly done preservation. However, the extent of their reconstruction and rebuilding efforts showed us the delicate balance in recreating the past. Restoration can be controversial when re-creation takes precedence over preservation.

Afterwards, we went to another site, which is supervised by the American School in Athens. The Corinthian ruins were extensive. We started by seeing the Temple of Apollo where professor Salowey pointed out some of the evidence that indicates that this is an early archaic temple. We explored the fountain of Glauke, the Agora and the Lechaion road, walking on marble that was placed by the Romans.

Then we shopped at local supermarkets to supply a picnic lunch before heading off on our greatest challenge to date: the Acrocorinth. As we started our journey we encountered a woman dubbed “Evil Maria” by another archaeologist. This woman is a legendary sheepherder and ancient ruin ruiner. She lets her sheep roam over the ruins of Acrocorinth. It should be noted that sheep dung is not the best preservative for marble and ancient rock. It gave Greece’s current travel theme of “Explore your senses” a whole new meaning.

Evil Maria

We then began the arduous trek up 1600 feet of pure Salowey torture. We have become Salophobic, which is the fear of hiking mountains at a fast pace. We love her, but we hate the disease. We are planning a return trip to the Temple of Asclepius to cure our sore feet, although we have little hope of curing the phobia itself. However, even thus daunted, we all made it to the top, including the geriatrics who showed up after a slight delay. But, what goes up must come down. Following the example of Prof. Richter who has learned to live with his Salophobia, we all excelled at downhill.

Upon arriving at Athens we got a strong sense of longing for the quaint villages we had explored. However, we do appreciate the use of telephones, internet, bathtubs and hot water. As much as we love exploring the traditional village cultures and try to be travelers and explorers in the truest sense, we struggle with our own culture’s spoiled nature of having these conveniences. Now we are comfortably back in Athens, nestled in our modern conveniences.

Kalinichta!
Jenny & Ashley

     Today’s journey began at the local museum in Sparta, housing local Byzantine and Roman artifacts. We were able to catch a glimpse of the amazing mosaics, which depicted scenes of mythology, animals, and significant people. We learned the mosaics were made of small semi precious stones and not of painted tile. We also were able to see pieces of marble statues, grave steles, small lead figurines, pottery, and clay masks. The masks are replicas of wooden masks the Spartans used durring cult ritual. 
       After the museum we drove through Sparta to the archeaological site of Artemis Othia where Lindsay Little gave a fantasticaly fun and informational presentation. From her presentation we learned the layout of the site which included a theater, temple of Artemis, and an alter. The site was used for cult ritual to send boys into adulthood. The ritual began possibly as human sacrafice; it later evolved into the boys being flogged, sometimes to their death to determine the strongest. The ritual evolved over centuries and ended as almost a game with the older boys flogging the younger boys as they raced to the alter attempting to steal cheese. Later it was used as a tourist attraction for the Romans. To really get a taste of this ritual we enacted it, minus the flogging, right there on site, with professor Richtor as our priestess.
      After Sparta we hopped back on the bus and drove to an island rock called Monemvasia. The town has remained almost unchanged since the medieval ages, c.1600. The town was filled with Byzantine architecture mostly of churches, a really big castle and the local town village full of culture and personality. When we arrived the professors let us loose to explore on our own. We explored the village, then (wipped by our professors) we ventured to the top of the castle where we dutifully explored through the giant flora. We finished our day  watching the sun set over the Mediterranean.

Streaks of red and gold painted the sky in Dimitsana when we took our morning walk through cobblestone streets to view schools that kept alive Greek tradition and customs during the Greek war of independence.

“Dimitsana was very picturesque and it was great to see what a traditional Greek village looked like,” Stephanie Prosack said. “It reminded me of the village in Beauty and the Beast.”

The first official stop of the day was the Open-Air Water Power Museum. It was a highly informative journey into the time of pre-industrial water-based technology. Self-guided, and bundled up against the chill and the first drizzle that heralded rain, our group dispersed amidst the museum to see how corn was ground up, as well as to see how the villagers used water for the tanning process in leather making, and also to make gunpowder. In Dimitsana, this was highly valuable during the Greek War of Independence. Some of the staff members were kind enough to demonstrate, how some of the technology worked.

“Seeing how a country could manipulate it’s natural sources of energy was incredible,” Kristen Gillespie said. “On top of the mountains there are wind turbines, like in Athens. In other places that are flater there are flat land solar panels. In Dimitsana, a city that is tucked away in a river valley, they only have this river, and they used it to power a revolution. I found it fascinating that they used it for so much, washing clothes, grinding grain. They used this one renewable source of energy for everything.”

After exploring Dimitsana, we departed the region of Arcadia, and journeyed  towards Tripolis. If there were one word to describe this town, it would be this: chaotic. Traffic filled the center of town, the smell of warm food mingling with car exhaust. The shouts of locals combined with the honking horns of cars, scooters, and even buses, were more than enough to leave you with a deep sense of being overwhelmed. Through puddles, and mud, and the occasional food wrapper we would trek, amidst popular shops and boutiques.

After lunch, and with a special treat of chocolates from our fearless leader Professor Salowey, we continued on our quest to find our final stop for the day. This time, we were in Sparta, and were introduced to the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil with a presentation by Emily Mendelssohn, who educated us on the history, health benefits, and cultivation of the olive. The second self-guided museum further educated us on the different uses of the olive, as well as what is believed to be the origins of the olive.

“I found it interesting because olive oil is so important in the religion, they burn candles with it, all their food has it,” Emily Mendelssohn said. “It’s interesting to see how it’s always been important in their culture through this museum. I particularly enjoyed the exhibits on the fossilized leaves, and the old presses.”

Afterwords, Professor Salowey led us, from the museum and to the site of Ancient Sparta, where we would view the remains of a temple of Athena and also those of a theater. We even got to see what progress had been made of a new archaeological site within the area. Our path through the site of Sparta ended after investigating some inscriptions written into the wall of the old theatre.

NB: For those of you who are following our journey through this travel-blog, we sincerely apologize for the small amount of photographs that have been posted thus far. Finding Internet access that is capable of uploading data quickly is proving to be harder than we predicted. Please check back in the near future, for more photographs.

-Emileigh Clare and Liz Brown

Here in Greece they have a special word to mean loving strangers; philoxenia. We have been fortunate to experience much of this sentiment on this trip everyday and is something unique to this place. The Greeks sense of hospitality is something we have never experienced before. Everyday, we run into strangers who simply want to talk to us and make us feel welcome in their country.
Today we had much bus time to contemplate a special occurrence which we had the previous night. Last night was a prime example of philoxenia, and an experience we will never forget. In Arachova as a group, we all went out for dinner at a restaurant called Taverna Karathanasi. As all 18 of us took our seats, we realized that we were seated next to a large gathering of Greek women, old and young who were clearly celebrating something. Halfway through the meal, they began to make conversation with us after making sure we had everything we needed first. After conversation began, the women began to serenade us with old Greek songs, soon followed by dancing around the table. The women continued, sharing their food and cake with our group. The celebration grew as one women found out of her grandson’s birth. The women touched many of us with their generosity, kindness and love which resulted in much emotion from the entire group. This experience was especially poignant for us, as it showed us excellent examples of strong women for which we should aspire. Before leaving, the women we had just met told us how much they loved us and the singing continued as we left. We also exchanged addresses and promised to write and send pictures of the spectacular night.
It became obvious how much our cultures differed as the night went on. The women could sing different songs to us for three hours and taught us their cultural dances all night. However, while we desperately racked our brains we could not think of a song that we could collectively sing to them. While many crossed our mind, “All You Need is Love,” “Leaving on a Jet plane” and even the Hollins school song, but none seemed appropriate nor could match their singing talents. Instead we sang the “We Love you Hollins,” school spirit song, with Hollins replaced with Arachova. It saddened us to think that our culture had no traditions to match theirs with and to give them a sense of what American customs are like. We saw how their culture was passed through the generations, as there were women of different ages and even a young grandson who all participated. This was our first personal experience with an aged, and slowly dying Greek culture which is being overshadowed by modern tourism.
When we arrived at our destination of Olympia, we noticed its differences from Arakova were obvious. Instead of what seemed like a small, homelike town, we were immediately struck by how tourism affects Greece. Even seemingly insignificant details like staying in a small, family run hotel as opposed to an American-owned Best Western. And even though Arakova has a large tourism influx of skiers, it still has retained its “crazy village” feel. We had a discussion about this topic when we arrived at the hotel, discussing how tourism can shape the old Greek way of life which we experienced the night before. When going to different places before this, most of us were not interested in looking for distinctive culture of the areas, but instead a relaxing vacation. With last night in our minds forever, we believe that from now on we will begin to look more closely at places we go. Have a “Greece” day!
Laura Risley
Emily Mendelssohn

Today was an “intense” day because we went inside tents with ancient ruins. We traveled high up into the Arcadian mountain region to “Big Top Bassai.” This was a temple that has never needed excavation because it has been standing above ground since it was erected around 430 B.C.E. It is called Big Top Bassai because in 1987 a tent was put over the temple to preserve it from damage. A few years before a power plant was built for Greece to run on independent power. Although this was a great economic decision it has taken a toll on the ancient ruins. The plant causes sulfuric acid rain which damaged the marble on temple. Therefore the Greeks had to find another way of preservation which they felt was best fulfilled with a circus like tent. As we hiked up the mountain to where the temple stands we saw the tent to our right looking upon a grove of green and fall like orange leafed trees surrounded by stone terrace walls.

Bassai has a beautiful mountainous landscape with a breathtaking view at every turn. Professor Salowey performed her ritual ‘permit dance’ to gain us entrance into the site. Apollo Epikourios was pleased with us today because with little hesitation the guard granted us permission to walk inside the roped region of the temple. As we entered the tent we heard sounds of contemplative Greek music and immediately noticed that Bassai has all of its exterior columns intact. The beauty of this temple was not only outside but also within.

When we entered into the temple two by two the rosy glow of the temple floor transported us back in time creating a connection between us and those who walked the floor in ancient times. It held partially engaged ionic columns unique to this temple. On the upper ridge was a special ionic freeze (continuous carving) which was stolen by Cockerell and his German friends in the 1800s.

When leaving we were in a contemplative mood which was a wonderful transition to our next stop. Coming upon the modern day bridge the bus stopped and we walked down to see an ancient Frankish bridge. It had a small church built into it which we chose for a lovely group shot. If in your travels you are near this place this is a lovely spot to have a picnic on a sunny day. The sounds of rushing water will enhance your senses. Next headed up the goat walked path to meet the bus and travel to the mountain top castle of Karytaina.

Now this castle is not for the faint of heart or the out of shape (which means we probably shouldn’t have climbed it but we live to tell the tail). It was a drizzly day causing slippery rocks which would be alright if we had the hooves of a billy goat. We climbed the stairs with no broken bones or damaged egos. We enjoyed our picnic in the arched window frames of the castle. Afterwards we were off to meet our new beds.

We had dinner at the hotel which was a convenient remedy to our hunger although we were disappointed we didn’t get to enjoy the “chicken place.” Our disappointment was alleviated by the experience of the Greek culture. We met some lovely ladies who showed us a traditional Greek dance. It involved us forming a circle and doing specific walking footsteps. It was lovely to once again experience the “philoxenia;” the Greeks love of strangers.

-Christie and Michelle