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Published: February 21st 2008
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Monday was our last day in Athens. We went to a couple Greek Orthodox churches. The first one that we went to was amazing. Everything was so intricate. There were so many icons, just like all the other Orthodox churches we have went to, and after today, we have been to a lot. So these ones in Athens weren’t nearly as gorgeous as the ones in Meteora. But anyways, then we went to another church in Athens, but it was closed, so we didn’t get to go in. Then, the rest of the day we had on our own. Some of us went back to the Syntagma area and went shopping. That was lots of fun. We tried to go shopping the day before, but since it was Sunday, nothing was open. There were some stores though that weren’t open on Monday because of the snow. It was funny because a lot of the stores were shut down because of the snow; it was the most they had gotten in over 50 years. Then on Monday night some of us went out because it was our last night in Athens. That was lots of fun! Then on Tuesday, we left for
Meteora in the morning. It was a long drive there. And we stopped at Elesius and Thermopylae along the way. Elesius is where the supposed entrance to hell is. It was kinda funny because the whole area there was covered in snow; hell had frozen over. Then we went to Thermopylae where the famous Spartan battle was. There wasn’t that much to see there because the field has opened up a lot and there is a road right there, but it was cool just to be at the location of that famous Spartan battle. During the long bus ride, I spent a lot of the time talking with Linka, David (theater professor’s daughter) so that was fun. She’s nine, and definitely has a lot to say. We played some card games too with her brother, Cameron, who’s twelve. So, again, that was fun. And I think, throughout the trip I am going to be helping with the math part of their home schooling (they are here for 7 weeks). So I’m kinda excited for that. But yea, then we got to Meteora right around dinner, and then ate at the hotel and explored the town a little. It was such
a cute little town in the mountains. There are these crazy mountains around this little town. They are just these peaks shooting up from the valley, and a lot of them have monasteries built on them. The town kinda reminded me of Estes Park, Colorado; just a small, kinda remote, town that has a lot of tourism. I really liked it a lot. I wish we would have more than a couple days there. Yesterday, we went to the Varlaam Monastery and the St. Stephen one. They were both really cool. Both built up on a mountain with huge cliffs. They were 1,200 feet off of the ground. Both churches in the monastery had a lot of icons. The one at St. Stephen had a room of icons that only had icons of people being martyred. That was interesting, but I wasn’t a huge fan of that. And those icons were very new, so to me, that’s not as impressive. But anyways, the churches and most of the icons were very cool. The thing that I liked the most about the monasteries was the location. It is hard to describe what they are like, but I think my pictures will
"Hell"
This is the supposed entrance to hell in Elesius be able to show it pretty well. Then last night some of us went out because we wanted ice cream… however, it is winter here, and apparently they don’t have it then. We went to five different places (three of which advertized ice cream on the outside) and none had ice cream, so we were a little bummed about that. But anyways, then today we went to the Grand Meteoron Monastery, which is the biggest of all of the six in the area. It is 2,000 feet off the ground. It was pretty cool. Again, the view was amazing and it was just such a cool place. Then, we had a six hour bus ride to Delphi, which is where we are now. Along the way, we stopped at Hagios Lukas Monastery, which I thought was the coolest of all of them. The church there was huge and it wasn’t covered in painted icons like the other ones. Instead, it had only a few icons that were mosaics, so to me, those were more amazing just because they concentrated on the architecture of the building instead of all of the paintings. Also, the monks there gave us some Turkish Delight
A Spartan Statue
This is the statue that is right outside of the site of the Thermopylae battle that they had made… It was alright. It was rose flavored, which was interesting.. It kinda tasted like a garden 😊 But yea, then we just got to Delphi a little bit ago, so we just wandered around for a little while. Our hotel has an amazing view! There is a balcony which looks out to the mountains and you can see the Aegean sea in the background. It is an absolutely view! I love it! Too bad we are only here a couple days too. Tomorrow we are going all around the town and visiting all of the sites in the area, so that should be fun, but it will be a busy day. We will be heading off to Olympia after this in a couple days. I will try and put pictures up later tonight!
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