Recent Changes

{DSCN4785.JPG} Temple of Hera at Olympia
To enter the stadium athletes had to first pass through a tunnel. Only a small bit of the roof was left, but it was pretty cool to walk through the entrance that the athletes did at one point. Once in side the stadium its all grassy hills along the sides, where seating use to be. It’s also interesting that the stadium was used recently in, I believe, during the Olympic Games in Athens. As we did with all the other stadiums, we all took our spot up at the starting line. Someone shouted go, and it was quite the display of athleticism as we all gracefully sprinted in the early morning heat. We all did finished with smiles on our faces, posed for a few more group photos and moved on….as Olympians!
{DSCN4788.JPG} And theirthey're off!
{DSCN4793.JPG} True Olympians!
Next we arrived at the Temple of Zeus. Only one lone, reconstructed, column stood. Along the perimeter of the temple were massive blocks of stone from the fallen columns and the rest of the building. There was also nothing left of the Statue of Zeus, but in its’ prime it stood thirty-six feet tall and beautifully crafted out of gold and ivory by the sculptor Phidias.

{DSCN4701.JPG} The Secret Cistern at Mycenae...will they find their way back?
Next we visited the tholos tombs. We saw the tomb of Ageists, the tomb of Clytemnestra, and the magnificent Treasury of Atreus. The Treasury of Atreus was amazing! It had huge walls in the shape of a beehive dug deep into the hillside. The coolest thing was the echo. One of us stood on one side of the tomb and whispered a number into the wall and the other person right across from them on the opposite wall heard the number. Also before leaving this site we had a little presentation from the archaeologists, Ms. Mellican’s colleague Kim Shelton and some grad students, working on the site. We learned about what they were doing and little funny stories about things that had happened to them while they were working on excavating.
ancient Greece.
{DSCN4719.JPG}
The theatre was built specifically so that the actors or singers or poets didn’t have to yell and be heard up in the nosebleed heaven. We sat on the seats for a while mainly waiting for one of us to get up enough courage to get up and sing a song down on the stage. Finally after about 20 min four of us worked up the courage to walk down the old stone theatre steps and stand on the stage and sing. It was Lindsay, Cassie, Molly, Lexi, and our great conductor Anthony. Guess what song we decided to sing, none other than the Thayer Alma Mater. Even though we were completely tone deaf and we messed up a few words we managed to get a huge round of applause. The few scattered tourists in the theatre loved it, I don’t know why, but it was so much fun.
{IMG_0227.JPG} The TA alma mater song being performed at the theater -an Epidauvros first!
We got back on the bus and drove to a small town with a beach where we sat down for lunch. After lunch we had about 20 minutes to hang out on the beach. That is exactly what we did. Some of us stayed on the hot soft sand and talked while the rest of us ventured into the cold bright blue Aegean Sea. The instant I stepped into the water I was amazed and the beauty of it and the little fishes swimming around. Let me tell you those fish had no sense of personal space whatsoever, they swam right up to your feet and sometimes if felt like they were nibbling on your toes. After the water we rushed to put our cloths back on and get back on to the bus without any sand on our bodies. Then we took the bus back to the hotel. When we got back we said bye to our amazing bus driver George and went to our rooms to change for the surprise.
giving up!
{DSCN4722.JPG} Before the 999 stair climb to the top of the fortress in Nauplio
{DSCN4735.JPG} Watch those stairs!!

Day 9
We started off day nine by walking across the street to the site of Olympia! When we first walked in we passed the gymnasium where athletes would warm up before competing in the games. Next we passed the Temple of Hera as we made our way down to the stadium.
{DSCN4785.JPG} Temple of Hera at Olympia
To enter the stadium athletes had to first pass through a tunnel. Only a small bit of the roof was left, but it was pretty cool to walk through the entrance that the athletes did at one point. Once in side the stadium its all grassy hills along the sides, where seating use to be. It’s also interesting that the stadium was used recently in, I believe, during the Olympic Games in Athens. As we did with all the other stadiums, we all took our spot up at the starting line. Someone shouted go, and it was quite the display of athleticism as we all gracefully sprinted in the early morning heat. We all did finished with smiles on our faces, posed for a few more group photos and moved on….as Olympians!
{DSCN4788.JPG} And their off!
{DSCN4793.JPG} True Olympians!
Next we arrived at the Temple of Zeus. Only one lone, reconstructed, column stood. Along the perimeter of the temple were massive blocks of stone from the fallen columns and the rest of the building. There was also nothing left of the Statue of Zeus, but in its’ prime it stood thirty-six feet tall and beautifully crafted out of gold and ivory by the sculptor Phidias.
Just to the west of the Temple of Zeus was Phidias’ workshop. This once third story building was where Phidias made all his molds and worked on his statues. The walls still remained and when it was excavated, archaeologists found molds and other materials that helped them to understand how he worked. One of the most interesting finds was a little black drinking cup. On the bottom of the cup read “This is Phidias’”. This is one of the rare examples of when archaeologists could say, without a doubt, that the cup belonged to Phidias.
We then exited the workshop and headed over the Roman bathhouses. On our way over you could clearly seen the difference between what the Greeks had built and what the Romans had added. The brick showed what the Romans had built, and the fact that it was usually on the top layer. We finished up on site and then headed over to the museum to look at all the finds.
As soon as we finished with the museum we grabbed a quick lunch and then departed from the hotel. We endured the four-hour bus ride and then we arrived on the mountains of Delphi. We dumped our suitcases in our rooms and then walked down to the Sanctuary of Athena. After finding several closed entrances, we finally got in and walked down part of the cliff to the sanctuary. All that remained where three partially reconstructed pillars. After a few group shots with the gorgeous backdrop, we headed back into town and grabbed dinner. Later that night we all went dancing where there was, to our disappointment, no Greek music.
{DSCN4853.JPG}

Day Seven
central hearth. The
{June_12 187.JPG} Central hearth in the throne room at the Palace of Nestor!
The floor used
After walking through the site we went to the museum. In the museum we saw a small model of what the palace would have looked like with the second floor, replicas of the Linear B tables found, and lots of pottery. Once we left the museum it was off to the beach! We pulled up to what seemed like the middle of nowhere and no real beach. It wasn’t until we got off the bus that we realized we had to walk down the path. As we started walking we caught a glimpse of the bright blue water, sand, and rocky cliffs. We all sat down and ate out packed lunches and enjoyed the view. Some of us were brave enough to try the water but it was a little cold for others.
{June_12 225.JPG}
On one of the cliff faces was the Cave of Nestor. You could see the cave from the beach below; it looked like a small dark hole in the side of the cliff. A few of us decided to take the hike up to the cliff to go explore the inside. It took us about an hour to get there and back. The adventure started with a nice casual windy walk to the other side of the beach. Then we hiked up a giant sand dune. Next was a prairie field of tall grass and prickly bushes that I swear would jump out at you as you were walking by. The worst part of the hike up was the forest jungle. We had to be very careful where we walked because of the giant spiders and bugs. Greek bugs are from a family of their own. They look like dinosaurs they are so big especially the spiders and millipedes. It felt like we were on the show Survivor! Once we reached the cave we ventured inside. It was ginormous! The roof of the cave went on for days; it never ended. We brought up two walking sticks with our names on them, just like the American flag on the moon, to mark the cave. We wanted to show that Thayer had ventured that far. The view from the cave was amazing! Everyone one and everything looked like little ants crawling on the earth. We also learned that this would be the perfect place for a cave to live in for this very reason of an amazing vantage point. The people in the cave would be able to see their enemy or anyone for that matter coming.
{June_12 216.JPG} In the Cave of Nestor!