Since my last entry, I have returned to Athens to end my semester in Greece with the Credo program. The last two days were spent in Athens just enjoying my fellow travelers and going out into the city for the last time. The day it was time to split up the group, six of us went on to Rome (Roma), two to Paris, two on a rail adventure across Europe, one to Spain, one to London, and another to literally travel the world. We reached the Rome airport and at first thought we were going to take the metro to our [View Full Entry]

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Technically I am not in Cappadocia at this moment; I am actually sitting the hotel lobby waiting to go to the airport to fly to Athens. My time in Turkey has ended, but I will be back hopefully soon in my life. Since my last entry, I have went to a natural hot springs in Pammukale and then headed out east to central Turkey in the region of Cappadocia. This area is amazing to be sure! The rock called tuff is a volcanic rock that is soft enough to dig homes and cities out of. In this area I went to [View Full Entry]

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Travels through Turkey continue as I am currently making my way east from the coast of the Aegean and Mediterranean area. Since I left Istanbul, the first stop was the ancient city of Pergamon which once boasted one of the largest libraries next to Alexandria until it was moved to Ephesus. I have seen more Roman era ruins since entering Turkey than Hellenistic sites. At least one exception however would be the Homeric city of Troy. There are actually nine different cities built upon the ruins of the one before it. I have seen the church of St. John the Evangelist, [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Istanbul was better than I imagined! The streets were lined with tulips everywhere. This week is also the tulip festival that they have every spring. Driving down Kennedy Street was absolutely gorgeous with the red, pink, white, yellow, purple, and orange tulips. We rounded the corner and drove between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Church of St. Sophia). That first night we ate at a restaurant in a hotel that over looked the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia and watched the sun set over them and then they were lit when the sun was down. The view [View Full Entry]

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Since my last update, I have spent my "Spring Break" in the Cycladic isles of Greece. First was Tinos, where it was windy and rained about half the time I was there. However, they generally don't get much rain so it was good for the island but too bad for us. While on Tinos I saw the pilgrimage church of Our Lady of Tinos which houses a special old icon of Mary. There was also a bus tour of the island which included two small villages that we toured and ate lunch in. In one our group doubled the population just [View Full Entry]

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Since I last wrote, two weeks ago, I have had limited access to the internet. This update is long overdue. To continue the journey, I went to Rethymno which is the third largest city on Crete. It was located right on the coast and had great beaches. There wasn’t much planned there except for free days that were spent shopping, going to a health club, running along side walls with crashing waves, and laying on the beach. The next stop was the Orthodox Academy about a half and hour from Hania. I stayed there for two nights and learned more about [View Full Entry]

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Well I'm not exactly in Rethymno, but will be soon. Currently I am in a charming little village called Katalagari. We are getting the village experience while living in a place that is so beautiful I would come back in a second. It is called Katalagari country suites and we are staying in a mini apartment with everything from a separate bed room to a flat screen TV with DVD player to a kitchen to a washing machine to a huge bath with a jacuzi and we have a lawn with an amazing view of the Cretan valley. Since I last [View Full Entry]

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Iraklion is a great city! I have found the people here to be much more friendly than in Athens, as far as just people on the street. Since coming to Crete, our group has been accompanied by Olin Storvick, a retired faculty from the Classics department at Concordia. His life is truly interesting and he has so much information to share that it has been great having him along to explain certain sites. Since arriving, we have seen the Archaeological Museum, the Historical Museum of Crete, Knossos, Phaestos, Matala, Lasithi Plateau, the cave of Zeus's hiding after his birth, Malia, Church [View Full Entry]

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2-22-08 The full day in Delphi was spent by first going to the site itself. We walked from our hotel to the site and took a tour. I will admit it was not what I was expecting. I thought it was just a few ruins or what one usually sees on postcards of Delphi. It was much, much more. There were many treasuries, the Temple to Apollo as he provided the oracles the visions, a stadium for games, a theater for the games, and of course the navel of the universe. It was a beautiful day so the site was even [View Full Entry]

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it's March 1st!! How time has flown by!! Internet access in the outer lands of Greece was not great, but now I'm on Crete and it is wonderful to be in contact with the world once again. Since last writing from Meteora, there has been much to see and do. A brief run down would include staying at Meteora, Areopoli, Olympia, Delphi, Tolo, and now Iraklion (Heraklion). The places I've seen and things I've done are many. The Grand Meteora, Osias Lukas (monastery), bought and drank some wine made by monks, ruins of the oracle at Delphi, climbed a mountain at [View Full Entry]

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