Today we began our tour of mainland Greece - the Glories of Greece - with Insight Tours. We decided to add this tour because the Exploritas tour was not supposed to have done very much of mainland Greece.
Start in Athens, then Corinth Canal, Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, Thermopylae, Meteora, and back to Athens
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Twenty five of us got our transmitters and ear-buds for our tour of the Acropolis and set out at 8:30 for the walk up to the Parthenon. Our interpretive guide, Smarra, is very knowledgeable and easy to understand. She repeated most of what we heard last Saturday. We did learn that another difference between an Odeon (smaller) and a theater is that the Odeon had a roof and was for music, especially singing - hence the words melodious and melodic, etc.
We spent two hours at the Acropolis and enjoyed seeing it all again. (Link back to the Acropolis pictures. Use your back arrow to return here.) We got back on the bus and did our “city tour.” It was a short drive past the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch, the Parliament, the University, a ten-minute stop at the 1896 Olympic Stadium, and back to Syntagma Square. We learned that when they put in the last two lines of the metro, they recovered over 30,000 more relics. We have also learned there are ruins everywhere in old town Athens and I guess that is to be expected.
The Insight guide, Bill, then led us on a walking tour of the Plaka (the Albanian word for old city). He showed us his friend’s jewelry store, his friend’s gyro store, and his friend’s restaurant. We went off on our own and found a nice place in the Plaka for lunch - Greek salad and the gyro special - pita bread, chipped pork (like kofte in Turkey), Tzatziki (a cucumber and yogurt mix to put on the bread), and French fries.
Then we headed around the Acropolis to the Herakleidon Museum and spent two hours at the M. C. Escher exhibit. His etchings and prints are fascinating. We watched the lengthy movie of his life and work and learned a little about his printing techniques. It was a wonderful exhibit!
We then walked through the Ancient Agora area north of the Acropolis. We came upon the Temple of Hephaestus, which is the most complete standing temple in all of Greece. It was built between 460 and 415 BC. There was a marginated tortoise on the grass at the temple. It is the only wild life we have seen other than zillions of stray cats and dogs. The entrance and foundations of the Palace of the Giants are in the ruins but show some badly eroded statues. It was the gymnasium for the athletes. At the corner where we exited was the 1000 AD Church of the Holy Apostles. It was a neat place to roam around.
Temple of Hephaestus
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Temple of Hephaestus |
Temple of Hephaestus |
Temple of Hephaestus - facade
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Temple of Hephaestus - facade and entrance
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Marginated tortoise |
Stoa of Attalos on the grounds of the Ancient Agora
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Ancient Agora |
Church of the Holy Apostles
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We headed back to Syntagma Square to meet the 5:30 shuttle bus back to the hotel and had ice cream bars while we waited for it. We could not find a gelato shop!
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We ate dinner at the Arsenis restaurant again and split the same meal - Greek salad and moussaka. We really like it and they are very friendly to us.
Thursday, 10/1 - Touring Greece
We boarded our brand new Insight motor coach at 8 AM and headed to the Corinth Canal. Smarra explained some of the graffiti we have seen all over Greece (as opposed to how clean Turkey was). Soccer fans and political enthusiasts account for most of it. The color used identifies the team or party and some of the drawing is very elaborate. (An interesting web site about the graffiti in Athens).
Graffiti in Athens |
Graffiti in Athens
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| We arrived at the Corinth canal at 9:30 and walked out on the narrow bridge to look at the canal, which separates the Peloponnese Peninsula and the mainland. The canal is four miles long, connecting the Ionian and the Aegean Seas, and was built between 1881 and 1893 by the engineers that built the Suez Canal. It is 26 feet deep, 80 feet wide, and the surface of the water reaches a maximum of 207 feet from the surface of the land. The canal was envisioned as early as 600 BC! They dredge the canal every Tuesday because of the amount of dirt that slides down the long slope into the water. |
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Corinth Canal
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Corinth Canal |
Corinth Canal
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Corinth Canal |
We entered Corinth across the canal. It is another ancient city with a citadel on a mountaintop. It is where St. Paul lived, worked as a tent maker, and preached about Jesus.
We drove through farmland - mostly white grapes (for raisins), pistachio nuts, and olive groves. Smarra described something about Greek wines but we aren’t rushing out to buy any. We had been warned before that the red wine that is “resinated” is particularly bad. Ages ago the red wine casks were sealed with pine tar for transportation. That gave the wine an acidic taste. The locals drink it because it is cheap.
We arrived at Mycenae that was built around 1300 BC. We toured the museum with our guide. She answered a question I had on our first visit here - what are “stirrup” jars or vessels that have a false center spout and two jug ears on top and an off center pouring spout. These were special to Mycenae and their appearance in Spain, Egypt, and England indicated trade far from Greece. We walked through the Lion’s Gate again. Smarra explained that the triangular stone that the lionesses were carved in (perhaps the oldest sculpture in Europe), is called a “relieving stone” and works the opposite of a keystone. It spreads the forces of weight above the lintel stone away from the unsupported center. Pretty smart in 1250 BC! (See 9/20 information and pictures of these ruins, which we visited two weeks ago. Use your back arrow to return here.)
We ate lunch in Mycenae - Greek salad, Tzatsiki, and grapes. We continued driving south with more valleys with grapes and citrus groves and then entered the mountains and curvy narrow roads. Finally we came out to the Ionian Sea coast and many greenhouses that grow three harvests of vegetables a year on these plains.
We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Antonios, in Olympia in time to walk down into the town and stroll from one end to the other and back up the hill in less than an hour. It is a cute little village with cafes and small groceries, a hardware store, and of course, souvenir shops.
Cemetery in Olympia |
Mosaic in the sidewalk in Olympia
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Dinner was served at the hotel. We are the only guests here. We ate with a couple from Toronto, a lawyer from Omaha, and a retired Phila. School District teacher!!! Her husband was a school psychologist in Phila.!!!
Friday, 10/2 - Greece - tour of the ruins at Olympia
After our hotel buffet breakfast we headed to the ancient site of Olympia with the Temples of Zeus and Hera and the site of the original Olympic Games. This was the visit that made us choose to add on this third tour. Olympia is a sanctuary to Zeus and was never a fortified city.
These ancient Olympic games took place every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD when Xerxes shut them down. The athletes performed for the glory of the pagan gods and competed for valor and glory and not monetary gains. Safe haven was guaranteed to all of Greece during the games - no fighting or wars.
Model of the site at Olympia
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Map of the site
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We entered the site at the gymnasium. The word is derived from the Greek for “naked” because the athletes trained and competed in the nude. At the gymnasium they trained for javelin, discus, and foot races of varying lengths. There were four stoas (double columns creating a colonnade) with a roof and an open square area in the center. There were rooms for changing and bathing and socializing. The gymnasium was also a place for scholarly and philosophical discussions and learning.
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Gymnasium |
Gymnasium |
The Palestra Next to it was the palestra, which also had a roofed stoa around the open center. Boxing and wrestling and a vicious combination of pankration were practiced at the palestra. The men and boys were oiled with olive oil and then fine powdery dirt was rubbed onto their skin. It was scraped off before they bathed after working out.
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Philippeion Near the Temple of Hera is a round structure put up by King Phillip II, emperor of Rome, who had the audacity to think of himself as a god. It is called the Philippeion. Inside the monument he had bronze statues of himself, his wife, father, mother, and son. His son was Alexander the Great.
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Philippeion
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Workshop of Phidias Phidias was a 5th c. BC sculptor. This is the building in which he created the statue of Zeus for the temple. That statue was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was wood covered with ivory and molded gold. In 400 AD the Christians made the workshop into a church.
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Workshop of Phidias
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Workshop of Phidias
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Ancient stonework |
Leonidaion The Leonidaion provided rooms for visiting emissaries and became the villa for the Roman emperor. The center courtyard became a fancy Roman fountain. The buildings here are made of a conglomerate of seashells - the local stone. |
Leonidaion
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Temple of Zeus Outside of the Temple are two white olive trees that replicate originals. The olive branch wreathes given to the victors in the award ceremony held in the anteroom of Zeus’ Temple came from white olive trees. The temple housed the magnificent statue of Zeus and was set on fire by the Romans who stole all of the gold and ivory and then an earthquake knocked the weakened building down. The columns tumbled like dominos.
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Temple of Zeus |
Temple of Zeus
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Sea shell fossils in the stones used for the Temple of Zeus and many of the other buildings at Olympia |
The Temple of Hera is smaller and older than that of Zeus. There is evidence in writings that a wooden temple was built there from 1000 to 700 BC and then was rebuilt of stone. The Romans used it as a treasury and built a fountain in front of it with two tiers of Roman statues.
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Temple of Hera |
Altar of Hera
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The altar of Hera was at the east end and is now where the Olympic Torch is lit every four years using a mirror and the sun after the first full moon after the summer solstice. That is the flame that is now carried around the world to the next Olympic Games site. This tradition began with the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. In ancient times the Olympic flame was kept in Prytaneion at this same sanctuary. |
Altar of Hera
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Altar of Hera |
Heading to the entrance to the ancient Olympic Stadium there are 14 “zanes,” statues of Zeus, built with the fines from cheating at the games. Each pedestal is inscribed with the athlete’s name, city, and infraction. It is a reminder to the athletes entering the stadium to play fair, or else they will be so dishonored. The tunnel into the stadium has a stone bench on one side for the athletes to sit on to wait. The spectator area is the grass bank, seating 45,000, around the dirt infield, which is 600’ long.
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Entrance tunnel to the Olympic Stadium
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Olympic Stadium |
Judges seats
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Start/finish line
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The start and finish lines are stone and carved for the runners’ toes to curl around and get a grip. A device of string across the shins and thighs that was dropped at the start (instead of a pistol shot) made for a fair start. |
The spectators were all male and also had to be nude after one woman went in disguised as a trainer so she could watch her son compete. She gave herself away when he won. Her life was spared when she revealed that her father, husband, and now, son, had all been race winners. We walked the length of the track and imagined the glory of the Games. Next we gathered to enter the museum. We looked at numerous small votive animals of bronze and terra cotta and large and small tripod caldrons that contained sacrifices to Zeus. There were pieces of armor sacrificed by victorious soldiers. Historians have described the pediments and facades of his temple and they have been recreated for display.
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Statue of a warrior |
Zeus
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Statue of Hermes, messenger of the gods, holding Dionysus
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Hadrian |
We ate lunch outside the ancient site and then boarded the bus for the 4½-hour ride to Delphi. We crossed the Corinthian gulf (or sea) over the Rio-Antirio Bridge that was opened for the Olympic Flame to cross it on the way to Athens in 2004. It is the longest cable bridge with multiple openings and safe for seismic events to 7.8 Richter and 165 MPH winds. The sea bottom here is sand and clay - no bedrock. The piers had to be reinforced with steel rods.
Rio-Antirio Bridge |
It is the longest cable bridge with multiple openings and safe for seismic events to 7.8 Richter and 165 MPH winds. The sea bottom here is sand and clay - no bedrock. The piers had to be reinforced with steel rods.
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Rio-Antirio Bridge |
Rio-Antirio Bridge
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Rio-Antirio Bridge cable
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Rio-Antirio Bridge |
We stopped on the mainland side for a rest stop at a bakery with numerous Greek sweets. I tried a cold frappe - and won’t be getting another one! Marge was smarter and had a chocolate gelato.
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Rio-Antirio Bridge
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We drove along the coast and into Delphi and our hotel, the Amalia. We had an hour to walk the two downtown Delphi streets before dinner and bought on T-shirt. Dinner was at the hotel buffet which was very good Greek food.
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