Blogs from Crete, Greece, Europe - page 38

Now we are in a town south of Heraklion called Katalagari. The town is tiny… it isn’t even in the guide book. So at first we were a little hesitant because we are going to be here for five nights. When we got here we walked through the town, and there was almost nothing… It was a small church and a mini mart, but then we got to our hotel. It is amazing! It is like a little resort. We have rooms that are like little villas. Each room has a kitchen and a living room. They are awesome. And there’s a pool, it’s not heated, so it’s incredibly cold, but it’s there. :) But I will start with last Thursday night because that’s where I left off… So we all went out to a hookah ... read more

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 of St. Titus in Iraklion, the Aquarium which housed all types of fish from the Mediterranean, Nikos Kazantzakis's tomb, an ancient Dorian city site that we had to jump the fence to get into, and ... read more

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 more amazing. Next we moved across the road to the gymnasium for the Athletes, the temple of Athena, and the Tholos, which is what is in most of the pictures of Delphi. I climbed up ... read more

We are in Crete!! Yay! And we have good internet for the first time in about a week. The last hotel we didn’t have it at all, and the one before that, we could barely pick up a signal from someplace else. But anyways, I’ll start with Wednesday… We went to Epidaurus in the morning and performed our pieces from “Agamemnon.” I think our (Ingrid, Rachel, and me) scene went really well. We didn’t forget any lines, so that was good :) It was so much fun performing this in the actual place that it probably was performed when it was written (I think the 5th century BC). The theater was in surprisingly good shape. So that was nice. After we did our scenes and walked around Epidaurus a little, we went to Mycenae. That site ... read more

I had long wished to explore Mount Athos, but between bad weather and Juan’s never-ending complains, in the end I reluctantly accepted Crete as an alternative destination for our winter trek. At Piraeus we had chosen the shipping company that best matched our cause (read: the cheapest one) and finally, in another freezing Athenian night, we boarded a half deserted ferry. Tourists were non-existent. Greek islands shut down with the departure of the last holidaymakers in October not to reopen until April next year, but this I only came to understand in the following weeks. Meanwhile, we were travelling undisturbed, comfortably sleeping between rows of seats, lulled by the monotony of the engines and with the whole vessel virtually ours. Crete has become over the years a mass tourist destination for two reasons: its beaches on ... read more