Day 28: October 2. King Tut...buried with his donkey!

Long day began with saying bye to my family in Greece in the wee hours, and flying from Athens to Cairo. We were met by the lovely Noha, who is our gracious and most generous hostess. She took us back to her appartment right in the center of the city and led us to a giant bedroom, and we immediately felt right at home!

After lunch, we took a cab to the Egyptian Museum. Talk about a way to get right into history! Our time there was far too short, but we got to see statues, mummified animals, jewelry, sarchophogi, and of course, King Tut! His rooms were by far the most sumptuous (which makes sense seeing as his was one of very few tombs that were not looted!), and it was really cool to see his sarcophogus and funeral mask in person!

Shortly after our audience with his grace the boy-king, the museum closed. Karla and I decided to walk back to Noha's, stopping along the way to watch the people dancing in the feluccas on the Nile. It was quite the spectacle with the music and dancing!

We spent a short time at Noha's before heading out to the pyramids (for the first time!!!) to see the Light and Sound show! The pyramids are every bit as breathtaking as people say. Even in the dark, and even though we were far away, I sat through most of the show in absolute awe of them. Of course I enjoyed the show too!

We then piled back in the car and went to dinner. Noha treated us to a feast of traditional foods, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed, despite our exhaustion from the long day. Walking home was the perfect nightcap...now off to get some rest for another big day tomorrow!
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Day 27: October 1.

We sat around breakfast this morning trying to figure out what to do with our day. We decided to walk first to Likavittos Hill to ride the funicular to the top and see the view. We did just that.

Although the day was hazy, the view from the top was great. We stayed up there about half an hour, getting a feel for the layout of Athens, and stopping in the little church on the top of the hill.

We rode the funicular back down, then walked toward the center of town. Our next stop was the complex of the Temple of Zeus, the Roman baths and Hadrian's Arch. The temple was quite impressive: first of all, it's HUGE, and second, there's a great view of the Acropolis through the columns that remain standing. The Arch was pretty, and it was funny to think of it as one man's monument to himself (which is exactly what it is). And the baths, although not much remains of them, are still my favorite to look at. I've always been fascinated by the culture of the Roman bath.

Soon we were walking toward Hadrian's library (it's all about him today!) and stopped along the way for lunch. Karla and I felt quite at home eating the Anatolian cuisine (read: Turkish food), although Abigail struggled to pick something she liked from the menu. But I think she ended up happy.

Along the way to the library, we did some shopping in the Plaka marketplace. I was looking for some capris - to replace the ones I brought which unfortunately ripped - Karla was looking for a gift for our next hostess, and Aba wanted. a scarf. All having succeeded, we finally made it to Hadrian's library. What made this site unique was the fact that a church had been built over the library, but the the church was destroyed in the 1800's to try to uncover the library. So there was two eras of ruins right on top of each other.

The next stop was supposed to be the National Archaeological Museum. But we got there and decided that we were all a little museum-ed out, so we stopped to rest at a small cafe instead. I tried 'Greek coffee' which is kind of like a frappacino, except much stronger and less icy. And more delicious.

Caffinated and rejuvinated, we went for round 2 of shopping, before finding our way to the old Olympic stadium. This was where the first modern Games were held in the 1800's, right on the site of the ancient games. Unfortunately, they were setting up for a performance of some kind, so we couldn't go in. But we got to see it, and got to see a beautiful sunset over the Acropolis right behind us.

Soon we were hungry for dinner, so we went to a pleasant restaurant in the Plaka district, before walking back to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we say goodbye to my family and move on to more adventures in a new country. Egypt, here we come!
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Day 26: Sept 30th:

We (along with our three wonderful new travel buddies) awoke again to have some yummy greek yogurt. Once refueled, we gathered the troops and looked into car rentals so we could explore outside of the city.

We made our way through Athens' traffic in search of a way out so we could get to Corinth in Peloponnese. Driving along the water and the ports was really quite pretty. We had a couple of incidents in the modern city of Corinth, including trying to turn around in a narrow street, just as school was getting out for the day, and the street was flooded with hundreds of laughing Greek teenagers. They got quite a kick out of our predicament.

Upon arriving at our destination, we sought out the ancient city where Saint Paul had once traveled to preach. The city was impressive and in a way similar to Ephesus (another port city in Turkey) except that the actual ruins appeared smaller. There was a great view of the water which was a nice touch.

It was also nice to see Corinth with people who haven't been seeing a lot of ruins lately. They brought a green sense of awe to the day that was surprisingly refreshing!

We then made our way in the car to the beach. We had quite a little adventure getting there, passing through small villages, and seeing the largest grape bunches any of us had ever seen! (Pictures still to come. We promise!)

Like many other Greek beaches, the one we found was pebbly and beautiful. We still haven't found a beach quite as nice as the one we went to in Santorini. It's hard to beat the secluded, quiet, and clean beach with gorgeous scenery that we had.

From there we started to head back to Athens. We had a good view of the Ithmis Canal, which was quite impressive, when crossing between the Agean and Ionian seas.

Back in Athens we got some dinner (and baklava)and are now ready to tour Athens by foot tomorrow. Museums here we come!
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Day 25: Sept 29th: Don't touch the marble

It's amazing how these centuries old ruins are so fragile. Even in their damaged state, its hard to think about them as deteriorating at a rapid rate. But indeed they are. The air pollution, the botched repairs, the tourists, mother nature. The list goes on. I guess its all about slowing the aging process down. But no matter how hard we try, someday there won't be many traces left. But in the meantime, don't touch the marble!

Today started off in the usual fashion: breakfast at the hotel (the Greek yogurt was fantastic!) followed by a quick exploration of the area surrounding our hotel. But, around 11, our travel pattern shifted when our visitors arrived: Alicia's parents and sister, Abigail. They were jetlagged and exhausted from not sleeping on the overnight flight, but being troopers, they rallied quickly and we were on our way!

Our first stop in Athens, (cliche I know) was the Acropolis. Shockingly (ok maybe not), we walked to the highest point first thing. The ruins were not nearly as extensive as I had envisioned (after seeing Ephesus in Turkey), but I needed to remind myself that many of these ruins have been around since before Roman times. Although they were maintained during Roman occupation, the ruins and the rest of the city went through so many changes and wars that it's a wonder any of it survived at all. Yet the Parthenon still stands (news flash!) and is impressive (even when wrapped in scaffolding). As we walked around and read the guidebook's explanations, we were struck by how many questions we still had. For example, how exactly was the transition in Athens from Greeks to Romans (other than the fact that the Romans loved to borrow their clothing, housing, and artistic styles)? We had all taken some sort of ancient Greek and Roman history class, but when the real thing is in front of you, everything you thought you knew goes out the window. You start saying: oh wait, but why is this like this?...I thought that it was.....and so on.

I so wanted my Roman Archeology professor there to make sense of all the chaos for me. They always made it look so easy. The museum explanations help a little by explaining the time periods and different styles, but they often fail to explain how the puzzle all fits together. Another example of this is found in the different painting styles throughout antiquity. Why is it that the ancient Roman and Greek artists are more successful in accurately representing the human body and face, as well as a sense of perspective, than medieval artists? Why is it that even in the same city, the manner of painting humans seems more rudimentary as time progresses from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, and this style isn't rekindled until the Renaissance? The history of Athens is so long and so complicated; I don't know how anyone managed to put it all together.

After our heads (maybe it was just mine) were reeling, we walked mindlessly through the Plaka - the street markets - selling trinkets and scarves to tourists. I almost got a small bronze helmet but then realized that if it looked corny on the shelf in the store it would only look worse on my shelf. Maybe a scarf would be a better souvenir. Yet, I might hold off until India where it will be so much cheaper (Euros are really hurting us).

After exploring the shops around the Plaka, we headed back to the hotel to regroup before dinner. After a delicious meal, we headed out to seek our favorite treat- baklava. But as it turns out, out of the 15 shops we looked in, none of them sold it. We couldn't believe it. In Turkey it was found on every street corner. Sadly, we went back empty handed.

Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.
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Day 24: Sept 28: Ahoy!

The first thing Alicia did this morning was try really really hard to upload pictures for your enjoyment. Much to our (mostly her) dismay, the computer session timed out mere seconds before we finished. It was a real nail-biter.

After a lovely breakfast on the roof top, we said good-bye to the donkey across the street (he wouldn't stop ringing the bell around his neck all night) and headed for Fira to explore the museum life. First, I should mention that Alicia had decided that she was sick of wearing capris and t shirts all the time and thought that a more colorful outfit consisting of her sleeping spandex, her bed sheet (a blue shawl) and bathing suit top would do the trick. And so it did.

The first museum was a room full of ceramics from Santorini from the 8th through 6th centuries BC. The explanations mentioned the date and the type of object. There was no history, nor was there any other informatiom on the pieces. Unsatisfied, we sought out the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, and found a really impressive museum. We learned more about the history and the way of life of the ancient people who occupied the island from the 4th milenium until early Roman occupation. Who knew that it is one of the most important archeological sites of a culture that existed before Pompeii's. The wall frescos and pottery pieces were stunning. After touring the barren island (except for grape vines and houses) it was hard to believe that there was much left in decent condition after the explosion around 1650 BC (that's what lonely planet and the museum said). All we saw were rocks and volcanic ash. But apparently, only about 5% of the Akrotiri site has been excavatedso far. Those archeologists better get cracking before another eruption covers everything with several more layers of volcanic matter. Seriously.

After this, we were hungry and it wasn't long before we were nestled on some park bench eating our 2€ pork gyros. I don't know what I'll do without them.

We then caught a bus to take us down to our 330 ferry (costing the equivalent of another dinner!) And piled on the bus with all of the other people following us to Athens.

Once on the boat we had our snack of a chocolate croissant (Alicia thought it was the best one she'd had outside of France-wow!) and watched the ferry pull away from shore. It was an overcast day and we decided we'd picked the best day for the beach two days previous and felt slightly bad for those who hadn't.

The boat's scheduled to get in at 1130pm and we have a few half plans of how to get to the hotel that we are meeting Alicias parents at when they get in in the morning.

We've thus far passed the time eating, reading, and solemnly staring at each other. Kidding of course! It's only ever boat loads of fun with us.

Ps, her sun burn is better thanks to me.

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