Greece part TWO

Vacation points: OK.  So…  Since I last wrote we have seen and done so much more.  We didn’t do much more in Santorini but sight-see and we went to another beach called Perissa… also beautiful.  Then on Sunday, we came back and were home by about 1:30 am.  On the Monday we slept-in a bit and Ted’s sister & cousin (Margarita and Robin) and I went to the market (like a flee market with many touristy shops).  It’s called Monastiraki… it was good times.  Then on Tuesday (Sept 11) we went to the Acropolis with Robin and Tony.  It was quite amazing.  My highlight of that would have had to have been The Theatre of Dionysus.  Holy Shit.  Just to think of how many plays were put on there thousands of years ago.  It blew my mind.  I got to sit in the house where ancient Greeks sat before.  It is in pretty decent shape, considering its age,  and it’s just beautiful.  Not all of the seats have been excavated, but the majority have been including the Royal chairs (more like thrones – but I was not allowed to sit on it, unless I wanted to be ‘whistled’ at in reprimand. The Parthenon was not what I expected – a bit of a disappointment if you ask me, as it is completely covered in bars and scaffolding.  The Temple of Athena Nike was completely hidden… by bars and material – another restoration eye-sore.  And to top it all off, the Acropolis Museum was under renovation.  PAH!  Oh well… Next time.  We also got to see (from above) the Theatre of Herodes Atticus which is also in the Acropolis grounds.  This is an ancient theatre (161 AD)  that is still used today – It is just Beautiful and ­HUGE. After all that, Ted and I split off from Robin and Tony and we went to Monastiraki – again (where I bought some replicas of statues) and then we went to the Ancient Agora which was quite well restored, less busy than the acropolis and had one of the best preserved temples: ‘Temple of Hephaistos’ which was amazing. We saw some ancient bath houses which I pretended to take a shower in…yah yah I am a loser… but it was NUTSO seeing all of these ancient structures. Ooohh and there were a couple tortoises crawling around the ground…SO CUTE! 

Then we ventured off to the National Archaeological Museum where we saw artifacts that dated over 4000 years ago…again… BLEW my mind. This is where I got yelled at for ‘mocking’ the statue of Poseidon-which I wasn’t MOCKING it… I was just trying to give a picture of a statue some ‘life’…pshaw!

But none the less it was amazing being able to stand next to these gorgeous statues, vases and artifacts… I almost lost my breath when I stood by the HUGE vase ‘the mourning of the dead’ it was one of the first things I saw in the museum and I learned about it in my history of European art class.

Anyways, that was a long day.

On Thursday Sept 13^th we went to Delphi. … Again… BREATHTAKING! The view in the mountains was indescribable. Delphi is almost the top of a mountain so you can see pretty far. Ancient Delphi is so well restored and quite well excavated. Ancient Delphi was not only believed to be the ‘cneter of the earth’ but it is also the ‘oracle city’ where people would travel for miles to see how a war was going to end or what their tactical move should be or even to tell them of prophesies. There are two temples there-one to Apollo and another one for Athena. There is another ancient agora(which basically means ‘marketplace’) there are many statues and treasuries (small temple like buildings where they kept their ‘dedications’ like a bank or a vault) –but none of these are actual structures… just a build-up of rocks in  formation…it’s actually a bit depressing to think about…I mean if people would have kept good care of them and oh I don’t know if they DIDN’T steal the stone blocks to build their houses and who knows what useless structures… but that’s life eh? I guess ‘finders keepers’ was also practiced over a thousand years ago.

ANYWAYS, what did seem to ‘keep’ were actually my highlights… again… the stadium and the theatre. It was amazing how well the sound traveled on that stage (I got to stand on this one) I mean you always her about how good the acoustics were in those ancient theatres…but REALLY they were amazing! I guess it helps when you can build the ‘house’ INTO the mountain, creating a semi-circle around the stage…it’s like the house is the stage’s own speaker. Half of the stadium’s seats are also built INTO the mountain… obviously this is the half that preserved with the protection of the mountain on its side. But the parallel side of seats collapsed. The stadium itself (where the athletes were) is in REALLY good shape. You can even see and TOUCH the original marble start and finish lines. WOW! We actually got to walk on it. CRAZY! It just blows my mind…to think of how many athletes that competed on that very same ground. Never mind the stadium… EVERYWHERE… as you are walking from ancient structure to structure, you are walking on the little pieces of clay that came from who knows what structure or artifact from thousands of years ago that was not able to stay in one piece. And you also are walking on the SAME marble floors that they had originally laid (carefully though, as they are quite slippery) and to think of the time that THEY put into those floors…some of them are even in patterns: black marble, 2 white and one red..repeat… haaaa so cool!. I am putting a lot of exclamation marks aren’t I? haha WELL I MEAN IT!!!!!!!! Anyways, it’s just neat to think that you are using the floor for the exact same purpose they were thousands of years ago. Ok I’m a geek… but I’m a geek enjoying herself with the history she steps on.

Anyways, we also went to the museum in Delphi…more artifacts…more blowing of my mind.

This Tuesday we will be flying to Italy where we will enjoy yet another culture and all they have to offer.

MORE things I have noticed about Greeks and the Greece:

-you can’t flush your TP down the toilette, you have to put it in the garbage beside the toilette-no matter what ‘state’ it’s in.

-Stores close in the middle of the day so the workers can nap- every 2^nd day they reopen in the evening.

-Hospitality is great here. People are almost in competition with each other for their hospitality “eat more, here have this… Eat eat!!, want some wine? *pour pour pour* try this, you’ll like it *plop on your plate*” haha it’s nice to be fed while you are traveling though.

-Where in Canada people will show off by pumping the bass in their car, here they pump the actual tunes… you can hear every word they say from a block away (well not necessarily understand every word but hear…depending on the language)

-Politics are HARD CORE here- it is mandatory to vote and you are chosen (like jury duty) to work at the poles on voting day (this happened to Ted’s sister Margarita)

-You buy your ticket for the bus at a corner store or ‘periptero’ (little shack that sells gum, water, pop, beer, snacks etc on the sidewalk) and then once you get onto the bus (via one of THREE doors) you have to punch the card into a box that prints on it and you have to keep your ticket. If you don’t keep it and the do happen to do a random check for everyone’s ticket…you pay a hefty fine…but I haven’t seen any ‘checks’ yet.

-Instead of saying ‘no’ or knodding your head ‘no’ …SOMETIMES they will knod their head up and raise their eyebrows- easily mistaken for a lazy ‘yes’… well easily mistaken by ME haha

-Speaking of LAZY-the people working at grocery stores…or almost EVERY store for that matter, sit on chairs, lean on the counter AS they ring your items through, while YOU bag it.

- in Winnipeg, when someone dies on or near a road, a memorial wreath is placed at the side of the road….in Greece they place a miniature replica of a church (ted calls it a micro-chapel). Now, I know it’s not meant to be ‘cute’ BUT THEY ARE…they are like little doll churches for Barbies. (they even have a glass front door so you can put the candle and picture inside.)