Πάντα ῥεῖ: Shit happens

Yesterday, Scott and I drove a small two-lane (and at some intervals nearly a one lane) road to Epidarus. The site of Epidarus has a rather impressive ancient theater with a terribly unimpressive museum. Most of the original discoveries there have been moved to more note-worthy locations. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing in quiant, little Nafplio.

Today we packed our things, checked out of our incredible hotel in Nafplio and drove north toward Delphoi, which was once the spiritual site of the oracle of Delphi.
Scott seemed to have fun driving like a local Greek which means that you basically drive however the hell you would like. This includes going twice the speedlimit, passing a car on double, solid lines in on coming traffic, and if you're not in the mood to stop at stop signs, it's ok because apparently they are not mandatory.

It was quite stressful.

We then took several steep, curving and dizzying roads through the mountains to arrive at Delphoi, a little town that apears to be desperately clutching against the cliffs of Mt. Parnassus. I was excited to see the ancient sight of the Temple of Apollo (where the oracle lived) and a few other monuments that I had done so much research about in college. So we checked into our little hotel and got everything setteled as quickly as we could when we were greeted by a sudden, freak torrential thunderstorm.
I sat on the hotel bed and stared out the window, nearly in tears because I was afraid we wouldn't be able to go to the site. After missing the bus to see it earlier this week it almost seemed like the god Apollo, himself, was mocking me. We listened to the thunder echo off the mountains deep into the valley for awhile. Scott chuckled and told me that this was almost funny in a way.

I didn't see the humor.

But after a half and hour the god relented and we were able to go see ancient Delphi nestled high up in the mountain. It was nearly a religious experience finally getting to see it. The pictures and descriptions I had read in text books paled in comparison when you finally see it in person.

Or maybe it was the thin air finally getting to my head.



No matter. It was still awe inspiring.

Awkward taxi rides and crappy rental cars

On our final night in Athens we had dinner at a lovely little restaurant with a view of the Acropolis. On our way back to the hotel we had the most bizarre and awkward taxi ride to date. Which is saying something considering all taxi rides are at least slightly bizarre and awkward. The driver was a lanky man with stingy hair. He wore all black and never made eye contact with us when we got into the car and never said a single word to us at all. just stared straight ahead and occasionally turned up his thumping techno music. I was pretty confident that he was going to drive us out into the middle of a vacant field and do unmentionable things to us. But, no, everything turned out ok.

The next day Scott and I checked out of our hotel in Athens and met with a man who dropped off our shitty rental car (it doesn't exactly purr like a kitten, more like groans like my father when we talk about money). For some reason Scott and I thought it would be a good idea to rent a car and drive in a country that has the highest accident rate in Europe. The first stop we planned to make along the way was at the ancient site of Corinth so we grabbed our map, turned up the Greek radio and headed south.

Except that we got off at the wrong exit.

It took us a little time and a little frustration before we got turned around and driving back on the highway. It actually helped that I took ancient Greek in college since I can read the Greek road signs without much trouble. Who thought that degree would actually come in handy?

Once we arrived at the actual Ancient Corinth site we parked and looked around the ruins. The ruins were honestly not anything super marvelous. Their little museum was better than I had expected though. Above all, we had some of tastiest gyros ever at a nearby taverna. That, alone, was worth the trip. Personally, I think the best part about or side trip to Corinth was the opportunity to see true rural Greece and see how the average Greek person lives.It reminded me a bit of Merida, Spain. After Corinth we hopped back onto the highway than took a few windy, "back-woods" roads to get to Mycene.
If you're one of those people who has trouble seeing past what is in front of them then I imagine Mycene would be a pretty boring experience. Little of the ancient city remains. The Lion's Gate is still mostly intact but the heads of the looming lion statues have long since been lost. Most of what remains of the city are crumbled building foundations. The most amazing aspect of Mycene requires a little more imagination and insight.




It requires you to think of the kingdom that is described in Homer's Iliad or think of all the kings and heroes mentioned in ancient texts and mythological stories. That's when you can truly appreciate Mycene.

We arrived late in the afternoon in the small port town of Nafplio and checked into our hotel. The hotel room is awesome. I now know what it would feel like to sleep in a cave or better yet...


a castle.

The Acropolis and more

On our second day in Athens we walked up to the Acropolis. A lot of guide books that I had read said that the walk up to the Acropolis is a long and arduous climb but after the hike to the Villa Jovis, this seemed easy.
So now I'm faced with the dilemma of trying to describe what it was like to see the Acropolis for the first time.

It is incredible?

Amazing?

Unbelievable?

None of those seem to fit.

The Parthenon is massive and I can only imagine how astounding it would have looked with the pediment and friezes still intact. All I can say for sure is that it's so much more amazing when it's in front of you.
The Porch of the Caryatids is a stunning achievement in ancient Greek architecture. I asked Scott to pull off a small branch from "Athena's Olive Tree" that grows next to the Cayatids as a little souvenier. It will grow back. And if I come down with a sudden bout of plague then I guess it's a lesson learned.

Once we walked around the Acropolis for awhile we walked down to the New Acropolis Museum that houses the artifacts that had not been pillaged from Greece by British imperialists. We then took a brief walk around the ruins of the Agora, the marketplace and former cultural and political hub of the Western World. We saw the Temple of Hephaestus there, the most well preserved temple. It is not something to miss. It is as wonderful as its more popular sister temples and it can help you understand how the Acropolis temples would have looked before years of destruction.
We ended the day by stuffing our faces with delicious Greek food.

Today we had planned to go to Delphi...

but...

we slept through the alarm and missed the bus.

Damnit.

So, instead we wandered around Athens. We did a little shopping for trinkets for friends and family and visited some of the lesser known Roman sites scattered around Athens.


I guess we will try for Delphi at a later date.

Capri to Athens

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. We've been traveling and sight see-ing pretty non-stop so I just haven't had the time.

Anyway, on out last full day on Capri we got up early and bought tickets for a boat tour around the island that makes a stop at the famous Blue Grotto, which was once a swimming hole for Tiberius and all of his "little fishies." The scenic views from the boat were outstanding and the Fragolini rocks were surreal giants, crouching and looming up out of the strangely calm ocean.


After pausing briefly at some of the other geological wonders that dapple the island shores, we arrived at the Blue Grotto. The wait for the tiny little row boats that take you through the Grotto's narrow entrance was around 45 minutes and the sun was brutal. But we waited it out and finally got a rowboat and jockeyed with the other rowboats for entrance into the Blue Grotto. I thought the Blue Grotto was going to be cheesy. Another lame tourist attraction. I was wrong. The Blue Grotto is stunning and they weren't lying when they said it was blue. It's a shimmering turquoise blue and it encompasses you, it was like being in a dream.


After debarking from the boat we headed back to the hotel for awhile since the sun on the boat had drained the life out of us. Once we had woken up from a nap we decided we were going to make the hike up to the Villa Jovis, the ruins of the Emperor Tiberius' palace.

What the hell was Tiberius thinking?

Moreover, what the hell were we thinking?

The walk up to the Villa Jovis consists of several intermittent inclined hills. Steep inclines. Extremely steep 400 ft inclines. Not to mention that it was also extremely hot as we made the ascent.

I swear the cicadas were laughing at us.

When we finally reached the summit, we took a quick walk around the ruins, marveled at the scenery and congratulated ourselves on actually making it to the top without any injuries or death.


When we made it back to the hotel we got cleaned up and walked to a restaurant that Ettori, the hotel manager, suggested. The restaurant was called Edvino and it was a tiny hole in the wall. Everyone who walked into the dinning room knew all of the other patrons there. It was fun to feel like we were locals even though we were the only people there who didn't speak Italian and it was by far the best meal I had had in Italy on this trip.

The next morning we packed the last of our things and took the first boat out to Napoli. While on the boat we were serenaded with 1960's Italian rock music which I found so awesome for some odd reason. We arrived at the airport and boarded a plane to Athens.

On the 17th we arrived in Athens. There are currently large wild fires happening so the view of the city as we landed was very hazy. I was afraid it was pollution. We got settled into our hotel then we went to the National Archeological Museum. It's a fairly large museum and we didn't have much time to see it before it closed. the highlight of the museum would be the bronze statue of Zeus/Poseidon (they don't really know definitively which one it is). I had seen photographs of it quite often in my text books but it is so much more impressive when you see it in person.


I had heard a lot of mixed reviews about Athens before arriving here but after having spent the first day in Athens I felt that all of the negative things I had heard were wrong. I think Athens is an amazing city. My only real negative experience has been between the schiester taxi drivers. I've found that it's not uncommon for them to lie

"Okiiee, that 10 euro."
"But the meter says 5...."
"It rush hour"
"Isn't it noon right now... on a Saturday?"

But other than that, it's a great city.

Pompeii to Capri

By 13 July things started to turn around for the better. We took the train from Sorrento to Pompeii and I'm not quite sure how to begin to describe it all. The site was very fascinating and it was exhilarating to walk down the original Roman roads and think about the people from antiquity that had walked the same roads thousands of years before. I became very angry about the fact that people had carved into the Roman frescoes and into the stones of the buildings. I hate when people don't respect history.
We bought tickets to the House of the Chaste Lovers/ Painters at Work and the House of Julius Polybius. Those houses were by far the best part of the entire day trip. The houses really helped you to imagine how the Romans actually lived and worked in their homes. The House of Polybius had some really cheesy parts to its presentation but it was also very interesting. In the back of the House of the Chaste Lovers there is a stable that had 5 donkeys tied up back there. The skeletons of the beasts looked as though they were trying to escape their holdings and from the fire and pumice rain, frozen in time. It was an eerie reminder that Pompeii was the site of a horrific catastrophe. It sent shivers down your spine.



Yesterday we took the Hydrofoil boat over to the Isle of Capri. Capri is so amazingly beautiful that I can't believe that it is not a dream. Scott and I spent the evening looking at the very expensive stores and the incredible views. It seems like every corner to turn (and there are a lot of windy corners to turn down) there is another breath-taking sheer cliff nearly falling into the ocean. For dinner we ended up treating ourselves to a bottle of Pinot Grigio and pretending that we were much wealthier than we really are.

Today was more wondering around the island. We took a very windy, 95° declined footpath down the cliff to a pebbled beach where I swam for a little while in the ocean then we traveled back up to the top.



More wandering. More wine.
It's been a damn good day.

Arrival: Sorrento, Italy

The flight from the States to Rome went easily enough. I managed to fall asleep just as rosey-fingered dawn reached over the horizon. I never sleep well on planes anyway.
The real trouble began when I landed in Rome. Apparently, I was supposed to get my plane tickets through to Naples when I checked in at Columbus airport, but I never did. I was told to go wait at this desk for someone to help me. After 20 minutes of waiting a woman finally showed up and printed off the information I needed. I then rushed through security and ran through customs (the didn't even stamp my passport). At this point I had aboput 30 minutes to make my flight to Naples. I got to the gate just as they were boarding the plane where I was told that I had to go back to another desk to get a different ticket to get on the plane. I ran to the desk and ditched everyone in line and proceeded to yell at the woman behind the desk until she printed off my ticket.
Thankfully, I made it to Naples.

What a nightmare.

When I landed Scott was there to meet me and I realized how much I had missed him! We took the next bus to Sorrento and checked into the Casa Asarita hotel and then I napped until some point in the evening when the sun had already set. Once we were awake, we headed out to Sorrento to find a place to eat and another place to watch the World Cup final.
España won! Hurray!!!

The nest day Scott and I hopped on a train to Naples to go to the archeological Museum. What a waste of time that would prove to be. There was some sort of protest against cut wages occuring which resulted in the museum being closed down for the rest of the day.

Damnit.

We did have tastey pizza at Pizzaria Belini though. So we got back on the train and headed to Herculeneum instead. It was a neat site but Scott and I were so frustrated, annoyed, and so extremely hot and sweaty that I just didn't get into it very much.

I walked away from the experience exhausted and with no less than a dozen mosquito bites.

A Momento Mori to those that were left behind

When sending letters or postcards to your family and friends it should not come as a surprise if the letters don't arrive for weeks or even months after they were originally sent. Some never make it to their final destinations at all. So here is a brief mention to all those postcards that have gone M.I.A en route to the States:

Barcelona, Spain to Miss Chris, a very dear friend of my family
Lyon, France to my sister and niece
Paris, France to my parents
Paris, France to my sister and niece

In other news, I will be leaving for Italy and Greece in exactly two weeks so I will hopefully have much more interesting things to write about soon.