The following notes aren’t going to be my typical travel diary but day-to- day journey through the doctor’s appointments, moods and thoughts while dealing with the disease.  I used to skip news about cancer, considering it irrelevant to me since I came from a family with no cancer history and thought it would never affect me and here I am, 34 y.o. young and healthy female with a 9.4cm x 5.9cm x 8.5cm and growing mass inside my chest.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sharp and pounding chest pain came around noon when I was on the 6 train going uptown. Just like that! I was standing in the train, waiting to get off at 86th street when I felt my heart got squeezed by iron tweezers.  At first, I thought it would pass after a few minutes as it did so many times before, so I walked out to the street to get some fresh air, I even followed up with my appointment, but as the day progressed I grew more and more out of breath and anxious because pain failed to subdue. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack, so after coming back home, my husband, Dimitris, urged me to email my PCP Dr.M.M. and tell him about my symptoms and seek his advice.

Dr.M.M is always fast to reply and he told me to take some of the anti-inflammatory (Naproxen) which he had prescribed for me a few weeks earlier and painkillers (Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen) to help me overcome the night pains. He asked me to follow up in the morning if I don’t get better. I didn’t know then, but that night was the last quiet night I had before everything unrolled.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

I woke up with the same chest pain as the day before and it was clear to me and Dimitris and we can’t wait any longer so we came to Dr.M.M. office for a consultation. After examining me and identifying abnormal sound in my left lung, he suggested that it could be some sort of lung infection (pleuritis) which made my lungs swell and press against the heart causing chest pains. Dr.M.M. took 5 tubes of blood for testing and scheduled me for the chest X-Ray at Park West Radiology on W 57th street.

In the evening, Dr.M.M. called to say that X-ray showed a mass in my chest and I must do a chest CT scan with IV contrast first thing in the morning. While pain was getting worse and worse, my doctor’s urgency and concern made us realize that we weren’t looking just at the lung inflammation, it was something way more serious.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Dr.M.M. emailed us a reference for the CT scan first thing in the morning and we managed to get an appointment at Park West Radiology at 11.00 am. At that point I could no longer handle the pain without painkillers so I took one Hydrocodone before heading out. Suddenly, my dad called on Skype.

I moved to the US in 2002, leaving my family behind in Belarus. I was always an independent person and after coming to New York, my parents remained dear and very much missed, but practically played the role of the board members without voting rights. I never hidden any facts or life events from them (except for a few, which they would perceive dangerous), but until present day, I have never been sick. On top of everything, last year my dad lost his wife to stomach cancer, a cancer that slowly and terribly ate her alive. She lasted 18 months, traveling from Minsk to Freiburg Hospital in Germany (for what was an illusion of a better medical treatment) every 3-4 weeks, but to no avail. I couldn’t not take this call and the moment my dad saw me on the webcam he knew something was up. I had to tell him about the last few days, describing less of the pain but more of the effort everybody made to get to the bottom of my case and diagnose me as soon as possible. It was a 3 minute chat but it was enough to make my dad very worried. I meant to keep my parents as unaware as possible but it was too late now.

We arrived at Park West Radiology on time for my CT scan. I changed my clothes and was guided to the CT room. The technician inserted the IV and ran a CT scan before using the contrast. After the first time, he came back to the room and injected contrast into my IV (painless) which felt like warm liquid spreading around my veins from neck to, strangely, my genitals. After he finished administering contrast, he asked me to lift my hands up which was something I couldn’t physically do…. But I did, sweating and in pain, in order to get the best possible scan. CT scan took no more than 10 minutes from beginning to end, so around 11.30 am Dimitris and I walked out and headed back home to wait for the news from Dr. M.M.

It is strange how little of the world exist when you are in pain or your thoughts are concentrating on one and only one thing. I was in pain and I was worried but I knew that time would resolve everything. Dr.M.M. called, he didn’t email this time, and asked me to make time and come to his office at 5 pm. He said that he got the results of the CT scan and he had to share them with us. Just from a very brief conversation, I knew it was very serious.

Dimitris and I headed out to his office and met him at the appointed hour. Dr. M.M. had a few clients before us but he took us right away and sat us in his room. He looked VERY concerned and when your doctor is worried, that is a bad sign. He explained to us that they found a mass inside the left chamber of my chest. According to CT scan, it was 9cm x 8cm x 6cm, a pretty large one. However, the CT scan couldn’t tell exactly what it was and neither could Dr.M.M.

I asked him for the preliminary diagnosis but he kept quiet, saying that i must see a specialist and perform biopsy analysis of the mass in order to ID the disease. Of course, he could throw a few ideas here, but he wouldn’t do it, I guess in fear to scare us even more.

Dr.M.M. recommended to see a cardiothoracic surgeon for a consultation and suggested to speak with the Cardio department at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell hospital. When we got home, we researched a few doctors at NYP Cornell and planned to call them early the next morning.

Did i think at that moment that my life was about to change? No, I still hoped for the better, I still thought it was just an infection.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

After another anxious and long night, Dimitris made a call at 9 am. After explaining the situation, the assistant told us to come and we would be seen by Dr.J.P. right away. And so we did, we headed to 525 East 68th street, NYP Cornell main hospital.

We were accepted immediately but spent about an hour in the exam room waiting for the doctor to come. We brought the results of the CT scan along with the CD and blood work, so the doctor had time to evaluate the images and made his own conclusion of the situation. There are no words to describe my physical and mental state at that point, I was a mess and I needed some words of reassurance, both from my husband and from the doctors.

Nurse came to check my blood pressure and take some notes, and Dr. J.P. showed up a in a little bit. He asked me about my chest pain and said that he examined the CT scan and would want to offer us two options in order to ID the nature of the mass. First, I could undergo a surgical Left Chamberlain Biopsy to remove a piece of the mass for pathologist’s evaluation and it could be done the very next day, or I could try to schedule an appointment with a Radiologist for the needle biopsy which would be less invasive but carries only 60-70% chance of success in identifying the origin of the mass. At that point, I was ready to do everything and we agreed on the surgical biopsy to be performed the next day.

After we finished with the finance department to make sure that my insurance and paper work was acceptable, I was led to the surgery prep room to have EKG and blood work done, as well as to have a consultation with the anesthesiologist who would explain the whole procedure. A nurse was very nice and careful while draining 12 tubes of blood and taking my vitals, the same with the EKG technician who was very considerate to my chest pains and tried to do her job as smoothly and speedily as she could to minimize my discomfort. I was truly impressed with the set up of the exam rooms and especially with the staff, I felt very comfortable and taken care off.

After about 2 hours of prep-tests and a long conversation with an anesthesiologist, I was given a 5.30 am show up time for the tomorrow’s surgery. Relieved that things were moving forward, but terrified by the upcoming surgery, I went home. Tomorrow, I will get my very first scar.

Later in the evening, I received another call from the nurse at NYP Cornell who told us that my surgery got postponed and we should come at 8.30 am instead.

There was another thing i had to do – call my mom in Minsk. I knew sooner or later she would eventually find out, so i wanted to deliver the news and updates myself.

Friday, September 19, 2014 

We showed up at the NYP Cornell on time, the nurse led us to the patient room and ran a few more tests. Dr.J.P. came by to talk to me and explain the procedure one more time, which was very nice and comforting. However, I was in a state of fear and it was written all over my face. Another anesthesiologist came to explain how they were going to first sedate me and then put me to sleep. When everything was ready, they walked me to the operation room.

It was very cold and bright inside with a crowd of people laboring over the different machines. With some help, i climbed on the table and was covered with what looked like a blanket made of the long clear balloons inflated with hot air. It was light and very warm. The moment i got on the table and put my head down, the anesthesiologist inserted something into my IV and right before passing out, i looked at the wall and saw a clock showing 10.05 am.

Next time i opened my eyes, i was still in the same operation room and the clock was showing 10.25 am. I responded to the nurses and doctors calling my name and then passed out for another 2-3 hours in the recovery room. Anesthesia made you feel very thirsty, i finally woke up when i realized that my mouth turned into Sahara desert. I asked for a few cubes of ice to suck on and a few moments later, they called for Dimitris to come and visit me. I was still very delusional and medicated, but it felt good because for the first time in 5 days, i didnt feel anything at all and i could leisurely stay in bed and sleep without any problems. My hopes were severely shuttered when another patient was rolled in and placed next to me.

I understand that people have different reaction to the anesthesia and recover from it in different ways, but this man was simply mad. He kept shouting and accusing personnel in making him blind, but in reality he refused to open his eyes. Doctors and nurses came over to calm him down but even 30 minutes later they couldn’t make him open his eyes or stop screaming. I was transferred to another recovery room to make my post surgical experience as calm as possible.

Biopsy doesn’t require hospitalization or overnight observation but i did have this option, in case i didn’t feel well enough to go home. After acquiring a prescription for Oxycodone/Acetaminophen (also known Percocet) and Senna (stool softener), I was released from the hospital.

Frankly, the first night at home was not fun. My cut and chest pains were all in one spot and even though i took Percocet, I woke up a few hours later feeling as if a part of my chest was cut out. First time it is always the worst time.

Saturday-Thursday, September 20-25, 2014

The first few days were terrible, i lived from one Oxycodone pill to another, every 6 hours for about 2 days. My biopsy cut ran straight through my left chest chamber adding to already existing chest pain. I couldn’t tell what hurt more, but I guess the painkiller managed to keep both under control. I also developed mild fevers, from 99.5-100.5 F (37.3-38C) which were still acceptable according to my post surgery document but left me worried.

The nights were particularly bad because i couldn’t sleep in any other position but on my back, which caused terrible pains in my neck, shoulders and lower back. I would take a pill and sleep for 2-3 hours, then get up for 3-4 hours to stretch my back and go back to bed in the morning, equipped with another pill. In total, i slept 5-6 hours and the worst thing was to get up from bed. I couldn’t make myself lift my upper body in order to sit up and then get off the bed, it was just terribly painful. You don’t realize that in order to get up, you need to propel your upper body through air by a rough jerk and this is something I had to deal with. On one occasion, i woke up in the middle of the night and spent 2 hours trying to get myself to sit up, this is how scared i was. First 3-4 days after the surgery were the most difficult ones, but my condition kept improving significantly as the days went by. Tylenol PM became my best friend.

On day 3, I was allowed to remove a patch and found a bunch of sticky stripes covering the cut. I was told not to soak the wound but to wash around it with a liquid Dial antibacterial soap, which i did. Water definitely has a miraculous influence on me (maybe because i am an Aquarius), even a short shower made my back pains go away.

I didn’t leave the apartment, Dimitris and I signed up for the Stanford University online classes and kept watching them on AppleTV. I realized that i haven’t finished the last 2 seasons of The Tudors, so i signed back in with Netflix and spent 4-5 hours a day watching several episodes at once. It was entertaining and it definitely took my mind off everything.

Many things ran through my head during this time. I couldn’t grasp the idea that last Sunday, September 14, Dimitris and I went to see a spectacular Broadway show The Book of Mormon, something we wanted to do for so many months. After the show, we went to an Italian restaurant and everything seemed so idyllic… for the next 12 hours before the pain came. I was continuously contemplating about my past life and things i have done. There were a lot of coincidences and chances in everything that happened. In 2005, when i applied for the US green card, i had to pass a medical exam and if i had cancer then, i would have never been allowed to stay in this country, a country i consider my home now. On July 3, 2014 i got married to a man I love above anything else in the world and simultaneously acquired a medical insurance provided by his work – one of the best med plans in the country. I had a medical insurance prior to marriage but by no means it would have covered all the expenses we were facing at the moment. Lack of insurance is the worst thing that can happen to you in the US. We left for a 7 week honeymoon to visit Oxford – a place where we met and studied, Greece – where Dimitris’ parents live, Belarus – my home and Russia, before flying back to New York. We came back on September 1, 2014, just two weeks before I started to have chest pains, but what if it started before, while we were traveling in Europe? Could i get the same level of treatment, diagnosis, comfort? It sounds very strange, but whatever was happening to me, came timely. It came when i was home and could seek immediate help.

Another thing was dealing with my family. My mom, who is an inspiring, intelligent and very upbeat woman fell into depression. We spoke every day and every day she came up with different causes of my pain, either heart disease or osteoporoses or general inflammation. She failed to recognize that i already had a mass in my chest or she simply decided to ignore it, but i had to wake her up and tell her to stop speculating. We both knew that it was something more serious, and at that time, i needed her to be there for me.

Friday, September 26, 2014

We were told that the biopsy results would be available as early as Wednesday, September 24, however, they didn’t show up till Friday, September 26. Dimitris called in the afternoon to find out and we were told to wait for the nurse to get back to us.

Nurse from the Dr. J.P. office called around 3 pm to tell that the biopsy results came back and according to the pathology report, I had a large diffuse B-cell Lymphoma and should be consulted with the oncologist for a more detailed diagnosis and treatment. Dimitris was on the phone with her but he leaned forward to me and said “This is lymphoma” and at this moment I finally broke into tears.  Past week i went through so much pain that i didn’t have a chance to cry. I consoled my husband, my and his parents, but i couldn’t cry myself because convulsions would kill my heart. But now, I cried. The diagnosis didn’t tell me much since i am not a doctor but i knew it was a type of blood cancer. Cancer?! How could i be diagnosed with cancer?!

Dr. J.P. referred us to a lymphoma oncologist with the NYP Cornell – Dr. J.L. so after we got all the info from a nurse, we reached out to Dr. J.L. office. Apparently, Dr.J.L. wasn’t accepting any new clients so we had to look for other doctors. I called Memorial Sloan Kettering, the #1 cancer hospital in the US and managed to get an appointment with Dr. M.M. on Tuesday, September 30 (in order to do it, we had to get all our papers from NYP Cornell and fax it to MSK). Meanwhile,  assistant of Dr.J.L. from NYP Cornell Oncology department called back and said that even though Dr.J.L. doesn’t take new patients, he saw my results and would like me to come on Monday at 8.30 am to see him. She also scheduled me for a PET CT scan for the next day so Dr.J.L. would have all the info in oder to make a right diagnosis.

I guess Dimitris and I felt a relief and fear at the same time when we found out that I do have cancer. I was finally diagnosed thus the treatment was available, but there were still so many questions. We were really lucky to get two appointments with two best hospitals in the country in such a short notice, we knew that from now on, it should get only better but our life turned upside down.

We spent time to research online more about lymphoma but there was so much information about it and so many types, sub-types that we decided to speak to a doctor before scaring ourselves even more. At the moment, we had to wait till Monday.

Later that evening we’ve got an unexpected call from Dr.J.L. himself who wanted to follow up on my status and see if i had any reservations, concerns or questions. He told me that he saw my charts and tests and that my condition was curable with a high chance of success. He told me not to worry and that he was looking forward to meeting me on Monday.

Today, I was diagnosed with cancer but i was already attended by a doctor who promised to save my life. May i call myself lucky?

Saturday, September 27, 2014

At 1 pm we showed up at 1305 York Avenue for my PET CT scan. I was led into a room without any delays and Dimitris was welcomed to accompany me at all times. Jack, my nurse, checked my blood for glucose (which was fine), inserted an IV into my left arm and injected radioactive fluorodeoxyglucose into my body.

For the next hour, i was supposed to drink special liquid (which came in three flavors: raspberry, fruit punch or ice tea), one glass every 15 minutes, before heading for a scan. Jack was super accommodating and kind, he did his work very carefully and practically painlessly while chatting me up. After I was ready, i changed my clothes and was brought into the scan room. PET scan allows the machine to detect the radioactivity and produce the cross-sectional images of the body, thus determining how much disease is present. While CT scan takes multiple X-ray pictures of the organs from all the angles. The results of PET CT show my doctor the stage of the disease.

Due to my not obese body type, i was allowed to be scanned with my arms down (i still couldn’t lift them up) and it took about 30 minutes. After we were done, i was given a copy of the CD with my scan and sent back home.

Just another day at the hospital.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Promptly, at 8.30 am we were at the NYP Cornell Oncology department, waiting for our appointment with Dr.J.L. After a bit of delay we were escorted into an exam room where Dr. J.L. assistant, Orel, took all our information and made me complete the forms. It was very nice to meet Dr.J.L., he seemed very cheerful and upbeat. He told us that I have a mediastinal diffuse B-cell non-hodgkin lymphoma located in my chest. I was a typical candidate for this type of lymphoma – mid 30-40 young female. It is not genetical and not acquired by any wrongdoings, it just shows up out of the blue. One and only indication that i had a lymphoma was drenching sweats that i had at night. They started in Oxford in 2011 and continued into present, however, it didn’t bother me since they were getting less and less frequent. However, according to a doctor, night sweats weren’t the indicators either, since this type of lymphoma is a fast growing mass thus couldn’t exist in my chest for the last 3 years.

Dr. J.L. explained to us the general information about lymphoma and gave detailed information about my type, including the course of treatment he chose for us, not the regular R-CHOP, but R-EPOCH, a chemotherapy adjusted to each specific patient which requires a 4-5 day inpatient stay at the hospital, every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. Dr. wanted to avoid or completely eliminate radiation therapy as much as possible, since it causes other types of cancer in a short run. I felt that it was finally a first step forward we made since getting a biopsy. I knew that i can trust Dr.J.L. and he did look like he sincerely cared about my well-being. That was very important to me, not to be another body on the conveyer of thousands of cancer patients.

Dr.J.L. also acquired about our plans to have children. We are newlyweds and obviously we thought about having children in the future. Even though chemo therapy could cause only 20-30% of infertility or difficulties in getting pregnant, it would definitely age my ovaries, at least by 5 years and taking into account a possibility of future treatments as well as a grace period of 2 years after the first treatment when I can’t get pregnant, we were looking at a very dim picture. Dr.J.L. advised us to speak with the IVF specialist at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at NYP Cornell before starting the treatment. He said, we still had a few weeks time in case we wanted to go through embryo freezing before starting chemo therapy.

Before leaving, Dr.J.L. wanted to take bone marrow biopsy and more blood work. If previously i was innocently unaware of different types of cancer, i was quite familiar what bone marrow biopsy was like – a procedure when a needle goes into your hip bone while you are awake. I saw it many times on TV and it looked terrifying to me. But I had to go through this. Dimitris was asked to leave the room. I lied on my stomach with a pillow under my hips. Dr. injected me with a topical anesthesia, then made a cut on my lower back. I felt nothing till he started to drill (or so it felt) my bone with a needle, deeper and deeper. Dr. asked me to take a deep breath once and then another time, i guess when the needle penetrated into a bone, but frankly, i was so occupied with breathing, i felt nothing or almost nothing. It was so damn scary (the sheet i was lying on was all wet when i got up) but it wasn’t terribly painful after all.

While I was getting drilled, Dimitris managed to get an appointment at the Center of Reproductive Medicine for Wednesday, October 1, 2014 with Dr. D.S., we hoped to have it sooner rather than later but even a push call from Orel didn’t get us a sooner appointment.

I still had to do my blood work and by now it became sort of routine. However, Sophia, a young lady from Barbados who was drawing my blood, poked me in 3 places with no results – the blood tube remained clear and blank. It took her quite some time to finally find a place on my body where blood was still flowing to collect her 15 tubes of blood.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

At 2.00 pm we had an appointment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering on East 64th street. We came on-time but waited for about 2.5 hours before being seen by Dr.M.M. While waiting for our appointment, we started to chat with Ed, who is a current 3 year into remission patient of Dr.M.M. Ed happened to be a Lebanese of jewish background who left Beirut in 1968. Just this fact was fascinating because in the last 3 years I spent a lot of time in Beirut and Lebanon and knew and loved this country very much. He told us about his diagnosis and battle with cancer and it seemed very easy. I know that attitude matters more than the real state of affairs and Ed was a sincere version of optimism and nothing but optimism. For the first time in two weeks, i felt that there is an exit to this situation, that people go through this and come back even stronger and happier. Conversation with Ed made both Dimitris and I feel safer and relaxed.

In the exam room, i was first interviewed by Dr.M.M.’s residency doctor from Nigeria. He was very thorough asking many questions and examining me. Dr. M.M. came in about an hour and we had a very detailed conversation which was very similar to the one we had at the NYP Cornell with Dr. J.L. We were given another option to R-EPOCH but it didn’t make a difference to us. Also, MSKCC doesn’t keep you in the hospital during the chemo treatment, they change a pack and send you back home on the same day, but the regiment was the same – 4-5 days, every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. It was a solid second opinion and we needed to make a decision to which doctor to choose and where to undergo the treatment.

After some deliberation, Dimitris and I decided to go with NYP Cornell. We liked both doctors but i felt that Dr.J.L. made further steps in order to start treatment ASAP and i was comfortable staying in the hospital and not home during the chemo therapy since i didn’t know what kind of side effects i would develop. Also, Dr.J.L. is a chief of the department at NYP Cornell with over 24 years of experience, his chirpy attitude and immediate responses to every our email were re-assuring. Decision was made!

In addition, Orel didn’t lie when she said that the bone marrow biopsy would feel soar but not really hurt, for the few days i was back on Tylenol. It got better with each day and i was able to remove a patch and take a shower.

Medical bill from September 15-30 is $50,123.87.

The post The Notes of a Cancerous Girl. September 2014. first appeared on SvetaNYC.

August 2, 2014

D and I were back to Athens to celebrate Stacy and Antonis’ wedding at Island Art and Taste  – a beautiful wedding venue on a cliff in Varkiza area of Athens. The wedding wasn’t till evening, but after 2 weeks on the road, we needed our “re-charge” time so we stayed at the apartment, ate the most delicious greek watermelons and read on the balcony. It was the best carefree time I could remember.

In the evening, we drove to the venue and spent a wonderful evening with D’s school friends most of whom I just met. It was my first “big fat greek wedding” with 500+ guests and I don’t know whether it went wild (as everyone predicted) since we left around 1 am which was still an early evening by Greek standards!

August 3, 2014

Today, since we still had D mom’s car, we decided to visit places that aren’t easily accessible by foot. So we started in the morning and drove to the Panathenaic Stadium (also called Kallimarmaro Stadium). Entry €3, free audioguide – highly recommend, one hour to visit.

This huge marble structure set in a small valley by Ardittos Hill occupies the same site of the original Panathenaic stadium built by archon Lykurgus in 330-329 BC. But even many centuries before, this place hosted games in which nude athletes competed in track events and athletics. Lykurgus’ Stadium was first used during the celebration of the Great Panathenaia in 330-329 to host competitions. During Roman times, it was first reconstructed for gladiatorial contests during Hadrian‘s reign in AD 120 and they say at its inauguration, 1000 wild animals were sacrificed in the arena. In AD 144, thanks to the wealthy Roman benefactor Herodes Atticus, the stadium underwent some modifications: instead of parallelogram it was remodeled into a horseshoe shape and spectators’ seats were rebuilt in white marble. A vaulted passage under the east retaining wall terminated at the back of the Stadium and the temple of Tyche (Fortuna) was built on top of Ardettos Hill. The whole space was adorned with splendid statues and for many years, the tomb of Herodes dominated the hilltop left of the entrance.

With the prevailing of Christianity and the prohibition of pagan celebration and the barbarous spectacles of Roman times, such as bloody gladiatorial duels and contests with wild beasts, the Stadium fell in disuse and was neglected, while its marble was gradually quarried for use in new buildings or burnt down to make lime. The idea to revive the Olympic Games (brought to fruition by French baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894) and 4 million golden drachmas donated by Georgios Averof led for the Stadium’s resurection. Designed by Anastasios Metaxas, the present stadium is an exact replica of Herodes Atticus’ stadium, as described in the “Guide to Greece” by traveler Pausanias. Built in white Pentelic marble, it is 204 m long and 83 m wide and can seat up to 68,000 people. On 5 April 1896, the new stadium hosted the First Modern Olympic Games and until today, it is the venue where the Olympic flame handover ceremony takes place before every Olympic Games.

I absolutely recommend taking a free audio-guide as it gave us the fullest information about the site as well as guided us through the times of the gladiatorial battles to present Games. On the left side of the stadium, there is a small underground tunnel which used to be the Gladiators’ exit but now serves as an entrance to a small museum dedicated to the Olympic Games and containing exhibits and memorabilia from every past Game.

We went to Greece to meet D family members and so far, I’ve met many of them, but there was one person, who played a huge role in D’s life – his fraternal grandmother who was no longer alive. However, it was important for D and I to visit her tomb, to bow our heads and pay respect. She is buried in the First Cemetery of Athens, next to the Stadium. First opened in 1837, it is a peaceful place, filled with pine and olive trees. Beautiful example of the 19th century funerary art range from the flamboyance of some of the marble mausoleums to the simplicity of the belle epoque Kimomeni (Sleeping Maiden). Created by Yannoulis Chalepas, this beautiful tomb is found to the right of the main cemetery avenue where many of Greece foremost families are buried. Among the notable 19th and 20th century figures with tombs here are Theodoros Kolokotronis, British philhellene historian George Finley (1799-1875), German archeologists Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), the Nobel Prize winning poet Giorgos Seferis (1900-1971) and many more. In addition to the large number of individual tombs of famous people, the cemetery contains a moving single memorial to the 40,000 Athenians who starved to death during the WWII.

We took a stroll around the cemetery, as it was very serene and beautiful, until we got to the grandmother’s grave. It was a touching moment for both of us, since D loved this woman with all his heart and soul. I took a moment to say a prayer.

Before returning a car to D mom, we drove to the Lykavittos Hill (300 m above sea level) for the finest panoramas of the city. Its name means the “hill of wolves” implying that in the past wolves probably inhabited the slopes of this hill. Another myth credits the creation of the hill to goddess Athena who dropped a mountain she had been carrying from Pallene for the construction of the Acropolis after the box holding Erichthonius was opened. We took the car all the way up, but you can either walk up (45 minutes) or take a fonicular railway. There is a small whitewashed chapel of Agios Georgios crowns the top of the hill. It was built in the 19th century on the site of an older Byzantine church, dedicated to Profitis Ilias. Both saints are celebrated on their name days – Ilias on 20 July and Georgios on 23 April.

But the best day to see the hill, according to locals, is on the eve of Easter Sunday when a spectacular candlelit procession winds down the peak’s wooden slopes. There are multiples cafes and restaurants on top as well as the open-air Lykavittos Theater which holds annual performances during the Athens Festival (mid-June to mid-September). The views of the city from the observation decks that rim the summit were indeed spectacular.

And we finished the day at D mom’s place where we had a delicious homemade dinner and said our goodbyes.

August 10, 2014

D. and I arrived from Santorini very late the night before so we decided not to rush in the morning. However, there were still a few unvisited places and unfinished tasks to complete. For one, I really wanted to visit Benaki Museum of Greek art, culture and history. It is open only till 15.00 on Sundays and by the time we got there, we had only 90 minutes to see it all (allow at least 3-4 hours, entry is €7 per person). Nevertheless, it turned out to be my favorite museum and if you have just a few days in Athens or dislike museums all together, head to Benaki’s family private house, that hosts the collection, and you will see/learn everything you need in order to understand Greece and Greeks – ceramics, figurines, jewelry, sculptures, paintings, metal work, costumes, mosaic, embroidery, religious artifacts, etc. Conveniently located near the Syntagma Square (ΣΤ.ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑΤΟΣ subway stop) and housed in a beautiful neoclassical building that, in the early 20th century served as a private residency of the Benaki family, the collection, gathered by Antonis Benakis and donated by many others, contains over 100,000 items. In 2000, the museum building was renovated and expanded, while the entire collection was subdivided into themes (Greek art, Islamic Art, Chinese Porcelain etc) and finally relocated according to the categories. Hence, when somebody refers to Benaki Museum, they might mean the main building exhibiting the Greek art, however, they might as well mean the Museum of Islamic Art in Kerameikos or Historical or Photographic Archives or any one of eleven facilities of the museum. D. and I came to see the Greek collection of the museum; building has 4 floors and the collection on each level is arrange based on different parameters: chronological, topical, geographical etc.

The ground floor collection is arranged into different periods and ranges from Neolithic to late-Byzantine art and Cretan icon paintings.

Gallery 1 – In Greece the Neolithic Age succeeded the Paleolithic Age around 6500 BC and lasted until 3200 BC. It is characterized by permanent settlements, the systematic cultivation of the land, the domestication of animals and the crystallization of the religious beliefs. Improved techniques in stone-knapping facilitated the production of tools that to a point compensated for the absence of metal. Although the potter’s wheel had not yet been invented, clay vases of inspired shapes were made by hand and although living conditions were difficult, they in no way impeded the formation of an aesthetic with distinctive traits. Neolithic people wove cloth, dressed and adorned themselves, bartered goods, embarked on hazardous journeys on land and sea. The gallery, among other things, contains neolithic axes, adzes, figurines, monochrome and incised pottery.

Gallery 2 – During the Bronze Age, from 3200 to 1200 BC, the use of bronze was established and living conditions improved. In the early period there was a spectacular floruit in the Northeast Aegean islands, centered in Lemnos, and in the Cyclades. During the middle and late periods the civilizations of Minoan Crete and Mycenae were enhanced, covering the entire geographical area of Greece. In the collective subconsciousness of historical times the memory of there civilizations is etched in a sequence of fascinating myths that excite the imagination even today. Imposing and opulent palaces, impressive funerary monuments, cities fortified with Cyclopean walls, remarkable public works; these bear witness to the spectacular achievements, the economic basis of which is reflected in the treasures of gold artifacts brought to light in excavations. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans traveled throughout the Mediterranean as well as in the Black Sea, making contact with Egypt and the Middle eastern civilizations, founding emporia for their trading transactions. They invented writing to facilitate communication and gradually devise the pantheon of the Twelve Gods. The 12th and 11th centuries BC were a period of crisis and upheaval, the principal episodes in which were the Fall of Troy (1196 BC), the breaking up of central authority in the Mycenaean cities and the incursions of the “Sea peoples” from the Aegean and Asia Minor. There disturbances brought the Bronze Age to the end, with the introduction of iron-working technology, the manufacture of more durable weapons and the change in social stratification. During the Iron Age, 11th and 10th centuries BC, contacts via the sea lanes were reduced, to be intensified again in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, in direct proportion to the gradual improvement of living conditions. From the first half of the 8th century BC relations between Greeks and Phoenicians proliferated, resulting in the adoption of the Phoenician script, supplemented by Greek vowels. Around 700 BC Homer composed the Iliad and the Odyssey, in which the echoes of a world that travels in search of raw materials and new places to settle, insinuates itself between earlier memories. The art of this period moved away from the Greco-Mycenaean ideals, preferring stricter geometric canons for organizing its subjects. From 700 BC and during the course of the 7th century BC the geometric forms were gradually dissolved, with the introduction of a host of sappy vegetal motifs from the Orient, enriching the imaginative reserved of Greek art with mythical figures of a charming “exotic” worlds. Around the middle of this period Daedalic art conquered the monumental scale of expression in sculpture. This gallery contains Cycladic marble female figurines, Cypriot and Minoan pottery, Attic black-figure amphora and Geometric vases, rare gold diadem from Kos, unique “Euboea Treasure” with the two gold cups and Mycenaean gold jewelry.

Gallery 3 – By the 6th century BC the Hellenic worlds was decentralized in its organization, comprising a large number of independent city-states and an immense series of colonies developing in the coastal zone of the Mediterranean, yet remarkably cohesive in its cultural unity. From the Euxine Pontus, the Propontis and the Hellespont to the shored of Asia Minor, from North Africa, the coasts of Spain, France, Italy and Sicily to the Adriatic, this unity was forged by the strong bonds of the common language, the common traditions and the common religion. The major panhellenic sanctuaries of Apollo in Delphi, Zeus at Olympia and Nemea, Poseidon at Isthma, as well as the games held in there, played a role in boosting ethnic consciousness. The same can be said of the social struggles, which, from the aristocratic regimes and with intermediate variations, expressed for the first time in history the demand for Democracy. In myth the model of life is epitomized by Heracles and Theseus, in the constant struggle between good and evil. The 6th century BC discovered the necessity of laws, scientific research, philosophical contemplation and lyrical expression, while the detection of movement as a basic ingredient  of the process quickly freed monumental sculpture from the bonds of materiality and identifies the content of vitality with the concept of internal rhythm. This gallery contains cases and figurines from the pottery workshops in Attica, Corinth, Boeotia and Cyprus, bronze bowls from Macedonia, gold and silver jewelry from Northern Greece, a spectacular gold gorgoneion (gorgon’s head) to be sewn onto a textile.

Gallery 4 – With the stemming of the Persian tide in the historic battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the animating prudence of the fledgeling Athenian democracy was revealed. 10 years later, after Athens had been totally destroyed, the now united Greeks vanquished the far more numerous Persian forces in the legendary naval battle of Salamis, in 480 BC. During the ensuing period, Athens, despite its worsening relations with Sparta, reached its cultural zenith, under the guidance of Pericles. History with Herodotus and Thucydides, Tragedy with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Architecture with Iktinos and Kallikrates, Art with Polygnotos and Pheidias, shaped the concept of the Classical. Current ideas and great intellects of the day – Demokritos and Anaxogoras, Hippodamos and Hippokrates, Socrates and Protagoras, Euripides and Aristophanes – met and mingled in Athens. Although the catastrophic conflict between the Athenian and the Spartan Coalition in the years of the Peloponnesian War, waged between 431-404 BC, ended with the defeat of the Athenian Democracy, the Spartan forces were exhausted too. Art moved from the level of spirituality and internal balance of the time of the Parthenon to register the imminent changes, with a gradual weakening of the figures which emanate a disposition for fluidity and fugacity. This gallery contains examples of red-figure pottery, colossal double herm from Italy and marble statuette of Pan.

Gallery 5 contains the examples of sculpture of the 5th and 4th centuries BC: male head from Ancient Agora, votive Hekataion, head of Apollo Sauroktonos, a fragment of the funerary relief, etc. Dominating the center of the gallery is the late Archaic marble kalpe with relief of dolphins.

Gallery 6 – The 4th century BC was dramatic period for Athens, which tried in vain to regain part of its lost glory, as well as for other Greek cities, which were torn apart by the continuous conflicts between them. With the dissolution of the ed hoc coalitions, after the battle of Chaironeia in 338 BC, and the consolidation of the Macedonian hegemony, the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, sought the solutions to their vital internal problems in the conquest of the East. Art continues the tradition of the 5th century BC but there is an underlying predilection for nostalgic reverie, a diffuse melancholy or a desperate disposition to break through the stifling cordon. Thus the dissolving inner world projected with increasing clarity the individual qualities and the singularity of the soul in each case. In the field of philosophical contemplation, Plato reasonably resorted to the sphere of ideas in order to seek the stable values there, while Aristotle, as a down-to-earth pragmatist, laid the bases of science by studying the species and the classes of phenomena. The fatigue and resignation of the age are expressed equally well by Epikouros, with the reduction of harmony to man’s distancing from public affairs and absorption in his personal felicity. Gallery contains small modeled vases, bronze mirrors, terra-cotta figurines from various regions, gold wreaths and jewelry, inscribed funerary monument of Herpyllis from Thrace bidding her loved ones farewell.

Gallery 7 – When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC the expansion of Hellenism from Egypt to India and the control of the East had already been achieved. The Greek language, used in economic transactions and cultural communications became the link connecting the different traditions of a vast state in which the cosmopolitan spirit predominated. The division of this state into several kingdoms and the continuous conflicts between the successors to Alexander the Great, the Diadochoi, gradually debilitated the Hellenic world, facilitating its subjugation to the Romans after the battle of Pydna in 168 BC. The art of the Hellenistic period in characterized on the one hand by the dramatic intensity of an extrovert endeavor to break through the bounds of space, and on the other by an introvert tendency to take idyllic refuge in the ordinary and the curious in everyday life. Intellectual inquiries were governed by the need for a now broader scientific assessment in the large libraries founded then. Gallery contains Attic pottery, a marble head of a young girl, gold jewelry from Eritrea and other areas, silver vases, sepulchral entablature from Boeotia, the monumental krater and hydria from Apulia, wall record stele, examples of Alexandrian art, works of the Roman period and the masterpieces of Hellenistic and Early Roman goldwork.

Gallery 8 – The Roman conquest of the geographical area in which Hellenism had spread in no way hampered the prospects of its historical progress. During the reigns of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14) and Hadrian (Ad 117-138) in particular, the Greek cities enjoyed a new economic and cultural heyday, while the major creation of the Hellenic past became the prototypes for the artistic expression of the new era. The artists, surpassing the classicizing stage of admiration, repetition and imitation, soon found the routes leading from the impressionist to an expressionist world view and, in the portrait specifically, the ways out of the dark depth of the soul. Exhibited around the perimeter of this gallery are examples of sculpture from various regions and periods; case contains the gold jewelry of the Roman period, from Egypt, Syria and other regions – golden statuette of Aphrodite, a neckless with a mounted gold coin of Emperor Hadrian, etc.

Gallery 9 – The founding of Constantinople by Constantine the Great (324-337) in the year AD 324, the transfer there of the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the state, marked the beginning of a new floruit. The empire that historians call Byzantine was based on the Graeco-Roman traditions of the East and its influence radiated to the ends of the Mediterranean, particularly during the reign of Justinian (527-565). The salvation of Constantinople from the siege of the Avars  in 626, during the reign of Heracleius (610-641), the defeat of the Persians in 627 and the tempestuous advances of the Arabs in the mid 7th century define the end of the Early Christian period. The gallery contains domestic vessels of glass, clay and bronze, the series of gold coins minted by the emperors of this period, bronze lamps with Christian symbols, a purple textile with gold motifs from Egypt, characteristic examples of linen and silk textiles from Egypt with Graeco-Roman mythological subjects, funerary portraits, double-sided encaustic icon with St. Paul the Apostle on one face and an unidentified saint on the other, pieces of Early Christian gold jewelry, etc

Gallery 10 – The arrangement of the interior of this small room evokes a sense of medieval Hellenism and of the atmosphere of the period between the reign of Heracleius and the Sack of Constantinople by mob of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. During the 8th and 9th centuries the Byzantine Empire was shaken by the religious and political-ideological conflicts of Iconoclasm. After the final Restoration of the Icons in 843, however, came reconstruction and reform, and in the following centuries, mainly during the era of the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056), its splendor radiated far and wide. Central authority was strengthened, economic recovery was achieved and in 1018 the Bulgar threat was quashed decisively. The rivalry in relations between Byzantium and the West came to a head in 1054 with the Schism of the Orthodox and the Catholic Church. Among the successes of foreign policy, however, was the conversion of the Rus to Christianity in 988, and in the sector of education the organization of the university, during the reign of Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), which made Constantinople, along with Paris and Baghdad, one of the most important centers of advances studies in the then-known world. Gallery contains the paining with a scene of the Descent from the Cross from the church of St. Barbara at Latziana in Crete, icon of the Virgin from Thrace, fragment of a mosaic with the representation of the Crucifixion from an Italian church of the 8th century, a selection of illuminated manuscripts and gospel books, examples of Middle Byzantine bronzework, etc.

Gallery 11 – The loss of large parts of the Byzantine Empire after 1204 and the dire economic straits, in conjunction with Ottoman harassment, created a suffocating clime, despite the recapture of the Capital in 1261 by Michael VIII Palaeologos (1259-1282). In the 14th and 15th centuries the Bulgars and the Serbs created a mighty states in the Balkans, the Ottoman forces marched unimpeded throughAsia Minor and the never-ending civil strife completed the weakening of the Empire. Nevertheless, the coincidence of historical circumstances that led to the final collapse with the siege and fall of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, came in the wake of an exceptional cultural floruit during the period of the Palaeologan dynasty (1261-1453). It could be said that the laws governing historical events do not always hold for interpreting artistic and intellectual phenomena too. This gallery contains superb examples of the Byzantine painting of this period, which was of unrivaled sensitivity.

Gallery 12 – When Byzantium collapsed in 1453 not all Greek regions were subject automatically to the Ottomans. Cyprus, Crete, the Dodecanese, many of the Aegean islands, the islands in the Ionian sea and several cities of strategic importance in mainland Greece had, since 1204, been in the possession of Venice and other western powers that took part in the Fourth Crusade. Tough no less painful for the Greeks, the period of Latin Rule allowed them to keep their traditions. Concurrently, however, they absorbed many western traits. Crete enjoyed a particular artistic heyday during the 15th, 16th and part of the 17th centuries, where painting continued the Palaeologan tradition while at the same time receiving messages from Italian Renaissance art. In the first decade of the 17th century the poet Vincenzo Cornaro wrote the verse-play Erotokritos, the most important and inspired creation in Neohellenic literature. The capitulation of Candia (Herakleion) to the Ottomans in 1669 marked the demise of the so-called Cretan renaissance. The gallery contains mostly icons.

The first floor exhibits are organized geographically and are from Asia Minor, mainland Greece and the Greek Islands. There is also a collection of ecclesiastical silverware and jewelry.

Gallery 13 – Crete, Cyprus, the Dodecanese and the Cyclades during the period of foreign occupation. Despite the adverse conditions that prevailed under foreign rule, Frankish initially and Ottoman subsequently, the island world maintained its cultural tradition, distilling in the potions of its sensitivity potent influences from West and East. This process was helped by the relative independence that the community organization ensured as well as by the economic development that ensued from the favorable terms for Greek shipping of the Russian-Turkish treaties of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774) and Jassy (1792). Although ecclesiastical art flourished, thanks to the religious tolerance of the Ottomans, the shrinking of public life was not conducive to artistic output on a monumental scale. The islanders expressed their aesthetic needs mainly in the private space of the home, projecting their optimistic expectations in a somewhat ‘painterly’ manner, through the creation of an imaginary world of general efflorescence. The gallery contains a rare map of Greece painted in egg tempera on wood in the early 18th century, probably by a Venetian, but also, Cretan kilim, festival and bridal costumes and embroidery, wood-carvings and jewelry, the wooden “baldachin” for the sperveri (curtains of the bridal bed) from Rhodes, lace of Melos, examples of the 17th century Iznik ceramics, wooden fragments from Rhodan mansions and gold jewelry.

Gallery 14 – Sporades, Thasos, Lemnos and Chios to Metilene, Samos, Asia Minor, the Pontos and Constantinople. As the traveler goes to the other Aegean islands, and from there to the areas of Asia Minor where the Greeks once flourished, s/he can’t fail to be impressed by the endless variety in the elaboration of specific local costume types, by the highly imaginative synthesis of the heterogeneous materials, by the profusion of color and the excellence of technique, but mainly by the assimilative power that fertilizes the creative inspiration. Impressive too is enslaved Hellenism’s need to communicate with the outside worlds, as is reflected in the host of works from West and East, that come from many regions and, in their turn, underline the exceptional burgeoning of trade during the 17th-19th centuries. The walls of the gallery are adorned with five rows of ceramics alluding to the usual decoration of the Greek house, mainly in the islands; the gallery also houses female and male costumes from Irikeri and Asia Minor, a full reconstruction of the interior of a house on Skyros, gold jewelry from the Aegean islands, Crete, the Dodecanese and the Cyclades, embroideries, etc.

Gallery 15 – Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia. It contains ceramics from Canakkale, chests, embroidery, female costumes of Thraces, Kavakli, Makra Gefyra and Macedonia.

Gallery 16 – The Greek communities of Smyrna, Constantinople and the Pontos. During the period of foreign rule, the Greek community in Constantinople, united around the Ecumenical Patriarchate, continued to flourish, playing a leading role in the economic and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire. During the same period, active Greek communities developed throughout Asia Minor and the Pontos, in South Russia and Central Europe, North Italy, Venice and primarily Trieste, as well as in important cities of western Europe, such as Paris and London. Contacts between the towns in Greece and the communities abroad were close and fruitful, leading to the improvement of living  standards and the cultivation of letters. The gallery contains several 19th century watercolors with the view of the Bosporus and Constantinople, ecclesiastical and secular gold embroideries of exquisite workmanship, gold jewelry, wedding crowns of 1855 with a karamanlidiki inscription, silver book cover, etc.

Galleries 17-19 – Economic prosperity and cultural brilliance in Macedonia and Epirus during the 18th century. Northern Greece didn’t experience the positive influences received by the islands as a consequence of Frankish rule. Nor was it affected by the favorable terms for navigation of the Russo-Turkish treaties. However, this didn’t prevent it from developing a dense network of communication with the Balkans and Central Europe, from where it drew a large part of its artistic inspiration and to where it disseminated a large part of its rich craft industrial production. Western Macedonia and Epirus, with their mountain massifs unsuitable for crop cultivation, favored the tide of emigration and the development of trade, with the consequent emergence of affluent families abroad and the influx of money to the Ottoman-held regions. Here too the architecture of the museum building imposed the placement of Epirus at the center of the exhibition area and the two mansions from western Macedonia at the edges. The galleries contain spectacular 18th century bedsheets from Epirus, decorated wood-carved chest, 18th century Epirot embroidery of monumental size and composition, two embroidered bridal cushions from Ioannina, stone fireplace with addorsed lions in champleve relief, etc. The interiors, into which the Epirus gallery extends, with reception rooms from two Macedonian mansions, represent the general trends of Neohellenic aesthetics as well as their debt to the spirit of Central European and Ottoman decorative tradition, and to the legacy of Byzantium.

Gallery 20 – Goldwork and silverwork from Northern Greece. The contents of this gallery offer further testimony of the quality of art in northern Greece as well as of its relations with the neighboring Balkan lands during the period of Ottoman rule. Of the jewelry ensembles exhibited, those with the silver strips should probably be attributed to workshops in Macedonia, while those with enameled decoration are apparently associated with Thrace.

Gallery 21 – From Thessaly to Epirus and from Aitoloakarnania to the Ionian Islands. This gallery contains female and male costumes from Ioannina and Metsovo, Corfu and Lefkadia, Missolonghi and Thesally, large silver and gilded belt buckles with spectacular hammered decoration, amulets,  interesting examples of Neohellenic pottery, gold jewelry, paintings, embroidery, a 19th century gold-embellished lentika from Zakynthos, etc.

Gallery 22 – Ancient monuments, landscapes and later towns in the Peloponnese. The majestic beauty of nature and the host of monuments from Antiquity soon attracted the interest of foreign travellers to the Peloponnese. However, conspicuous by their absence from the extant visual records are all references to everyday life, the material evidence of which was destined to disappear during the years of the War of Independence, with the bloody destructions and enemy reprisals. This explains the paucity of material from the Peloponnese, not only in the Benaki Museum but elsewhere too. This gallery contains watercolors, oil-paintings, Arcadian relief of 1869, wood-carved chests, two of the very few surviving female costumes from Peloponnese, etc.

Gallery 23 – Romantic impulses in travels to discover Greece through the rediscovery of antiquity. The case of Athens. Thanks to the travellers and their records, it was possible to reconstruct the physiognomy of the Greek country side of that times, for this began to change after the end of the War of Independence, at a pace consistent with the increasing urbanization and modernization of the state, to suffer even more serious adulterations in the years after WWII. The foreigners who came to Greece, motivated by a romantic disposition of escapism and drawn by the magnetism of the anarchical coexistence of the ideal of Antiquity with the despotism of the Ottoman occupation, as well as the exoticism of the East in its alluring juxtaposition to the suffocation conventionalism – for the more liberal spirits – of European reality after the French Revolution, contributed to the creation of the powerful philhellenic movement which gave its support, mainly moral, to the Struggle for Independence. The gallery contains watercolors, pencil drawings, engravings, one of the most precious historical documents in the Museum collection – a watercolor by the Venetian officer Giacomo Milheau Verneda of the bombardment of the Parthenon in 1687, items associated with Lord Byron’s presence in Greece, leather-bound sketch book of Sir William Gell, the girl’s costume of Aghia Anna in Euboea and the rare bridal costume of Attica, etc.

Gallery 24 – The islands of the Argosaronic Gulf. From the mid-18th century many island and coastal towns developed into important maritime centers with mercantile fleets that ploughed the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, while at the same time extending their routes to the west. Of the islands in the Argosaronic Gulf, seafaring flourished on Hydra and Spetses, and the prosperity of those times is evident even today in the surviving architecture. The appeal of other, poorer, islands, such as Salamis, was linked more directly with the persistence of historical memory, while on Aegina the spectacular ruins of the Aphaia temple continues to attract the worshippers of ancient beauty. The gallery contains parts of the painted wood-carved interior decoration from the mansion built on Hydra in 1800 by the bey Georgios Voulgaris, oil-paintings, watercolors, the female costumes from Hydra, Spetses and Salamis, etc.

Gallery 25 – The church as unifying element and ecclesiastical art as single expression during the years of foreign rule. The Orthodox church is the only institutional and administrative structure that survived after the end of the Byzantine Empire, to be transformed into a unifying element for Hellenism during the long period of foreign rule. Ecclesiastical art, as the most formal artistic expression of the Greeks, preserved, through the interwoven influences of oriental and occidental provenance, the functions of Byzantine tradition and the character of Byzantine aesthetics.  Exhibited in this gallery are spectacular wood-carved and gilded liturgical items from a church in Zakynthos, a holy-water baptism basin, icons, prelatic sakkos (chasuble) of silk woven with gold and silver threads, precious personal heirlooms of the Metropolitan of Caesaria, etc.

Gallery 26 – Masterpieces of gold embroidery, goldwork and silverwork.

Gallery 27 – The continuity of tradition in ecclesiastical painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. The stylistic idiom of painting that prevailed until the period of the War of Independence adopted trends already elaborated in the Ionian islands, where the Cretan tradition had been transplanted, while concurrently accepting influences from Italian Baroque and Flemish art. The workshops of the Greek mainland remained devoted to stricter traditional formats. By the turn of the 18th to the 19th century a folk disposition held sway everywhere, expressed in simple compositions and strong colors. This gallery contains the icons of Cretan-Heptanesian art, wood-craved and painted closure panels and iconostasis, processional crosses, liturgical fans and lamps, etc.

Gallery 28 – Ecclesiastical goldwork and silverwork of the 17th-19th centuries.

The second floor displays items relating to Greek spiritual, economic and social life; it contains the temporary exhibitions, the cafeteria and the terrace of the Museum.

Gallery 29 – Dance, music and song, dim reflections of the intellectual output of the Greek Enlightenment. It contains the representations of dance on a rare early 19th century embroidery from Epirus, watercolors, wind, string and percussion instruments, large glazed jar with sgraffito decoration of women dancing, illustrated manuscripts of ecclesiastical music from Asia Minor, a selection of important publications reflecting the interests and the educations aims of the era, text books on arithmetic, grammar, logic, history and rhetoric, etc.

Gallery 30 – The blessings of the sea and the hazards of the voyage. It contains the lithograph by Luigi Mayer of the harbor of Samos, and the tinted lithograph by Hilaire of the harbor of Tinos,  a very rare and much-used 19th century jug with sgraffita representation of a sailing ship, Neohellenic pottery, aquatints by Cartwright of the harbor of Zakynthos and Corfu in 1821 and scenes of daily nautical life there, etc.

Gallery 31 – From the struggle at sea to the toil for daily bread. This gallery contains silver icons, oil-paintings, 3 Russian icons, concise overview items of the rural economy related to cultivation of grain (yoke and plough, sickles, winnowing forks and shovels, stone handmill for grinding), etc.

Gallery 32- Oil and wine, pastoral economy and cottage industry, home and holiday. The gallery contains watercolors, iron pruners and an axe for tending the trees, wooden vessel for measuring and carrying the oil from the press, pitchers, clay flasks, a series of engravings relating directly or indirectly to bucolic life, rifles and pistols, silver tamatas (votive plaques), mould for casting an icon, domestic vessels of clay, metal and wood, pinakoti (wooden board with depression for bread dough), etc.

The third floor concentrates on the Greek War of Independence and modern political and cultural life.

Gallery 33 – The early years of the Struggle for Independence in Central Greece, the Peloponnese and the islands. In 1821, after 400 years of subjugation and repeated ill-fated insurrections, the Greeks tried once again to cast off the Ottoman yoke. The Revolution broke in the Peloponnese and Central Greece, and was followed by the creation of hearths of rebellion in Epirus, Mt. Olympos, Macedonia, Chilkidiki, the Aegean islands, Crete and Cyprus. The Greeks pitched their indomitable conviction against not only the numerically larger and better equipped army of their adversaries, but also, primarily, against the hostile attitude of the Great Powers that advocated the implementation of the decisions of the Vienna Conference (1815), the maintenance of the status quo in Europe and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. As this unequal confrontation progressed, the moral support of Philhellenism, which drew along in its current free consciences from St. Petersburg to London and even to the US, was significant. The heroic deeds of the Greek War of Independence enriched the history of mankind with remarkable examples of self-sacrifice, self-awareness and self-respect, and inspired such great exponents of Romanticism as Pushkin, Goethe, Byron, Hugo and Delacriox. The gallery contains dedication to two towering poets who embraces the ideals of the National Insurgence: the Greek national poet and expresser of the visions of the Struggle, Dionysios Solomos from Zakynthos and the foremost representative of the Romantic Movement – Lord Byron; memorabilia of Rigas Pheraios, one of the most important figures in the Greek Enlightenment who strove to support the revolution of the enslaved nation in the intellectual awakening and collaboration of all Balkan people; mementoes of the infamous Ali Pasha of Ioannina, the flag of Theodiris Kolokotronis with the inscription “Freedom or Death”, oil-paintings, the flags of Hydra, etc.

Gallery 24 – From the period of the reverses to the declaration of Greek Independence and the dramatic end of Ioannis Capodistria. On 1 January 1822 the 1st national Assambly at Epidauros declared the “political existence and independence of the Greek Nation”, while the Greeks were continuing their efforts to consolidate the Struggle, with remarkable victories on land and sea, until 1823. From 1824, however, due to the inability – or rather the unwillingness – of the political governments to back up the operations of the military leaders, the two civil wars and the remastering of the enemy forces, the tide turned against them; the insurrection in Crete was quashed with great bloodshed on 6-8 June 1824, Kasos was destroyed totally and then Psara on 20-22 June 1824. The enemy armies, reinforced by Egyptian forces of Ibrahim Pasha, mercilessly burnt the Peloponnese and on 10 June 1925 they won back Tripolis. In Central Greece, after the second siege of Missolonghi from 15 April 1925, the total debilitation of its defenders and their heroic exodus on 10-11 April 1826, Reshit Pasha Kutahi threw a noose round the Acropolis of Athens on 23 August 1826. Georgios Karaiskakis began regrouping the Greek forces at Phaliron with the aim of unblocking the besieged, but was killed on the eve of the major assault he was preparing on 22 April 1827, resulting in the ignominious defeat of the revolutionary army on 24 April 1827. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks had been lost on the fields of battle, from massacres, famine and hardship. The towns and the villages lay in ruins, the land was uncultivable and the population had fled to the mountains. However, the prolonging of the Revolution “beyond all hope”, the impeding of European trade in the Middle East and the welling tide of the Philhellenism, forced the European governments to intervene for the restoration of peace, with the London Treaty of 6 July 1827. As a consequence of this the Turkish-Egyptian navy was defeated by the united British, French and Russian fleets on 8 October 1827 in Navarino Bay. After the election of Capodistria as Governor, by the 3rd national Assembly at Troizinia and his arrival in Greece in 1828, the revolutionary forces were remastered. They recaptured Central Greece and drove Ibrahim Pasha from the Peloponnese. Thanks to Capodistria’s intense diplomatic activity, the Independence of the Greek State was recognized with the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 and the London Protocol on 22 January 1930. The great statesman’s reparative work was cut short by petty local interests and his assassination in Nafplion on 27 September 1831.The gallery contains lithograph depicting the Exodus from Missolonghi, oil-paintings dated 1830 and after, The Naval Battle of Navarino by Thomas Luny, the portrait of Lazaros Koundouriotis by Andreas Kriezis, oil-painting depicting Theodoris Koloktronis, the egg tempera from the lost series of the War of Independence, based on the narrations of General Ioannis Makriyannis to the folk painter Panayotis Zografos and his sons, etc.

Gallery 35 – Othon’s reign, the romantic view of and the realistic approach to Greek problems. In February 1832, with the blatant intervention of the Greek Powers, Othon, youngest son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, was chosen as King of Greece. During his reign, from 1833-1862, Athens was declared capital of the realm, foreign centralizing models of state organization were imposed, the administration was high-handed, the freedom-fighters of 1821 were pushed aside and problems accumulated at home and abroad. The growing reaction of the liberal Greek spirit culminated in the bloodless revolution of 3 September 1843 and the granting of a constitution, though this didn’t bring calm to the state. Othon’ attempts to extend the borders of the realm by supporting rebel movements in Crete, Thesally and Epirus, came up against the pro-Turkish policy of Britain and France. The hostile stance reached its dramatic peak with the blockade and occupation of Piraeus and Athens (1854-1857) during the Crimean War, to end with the abolition of the monarchy and Othon’s expulsion in 1862. The gallery contains furniture from the Voulgaris mansion on Hydra, portraits of Othon, oil-paintings, precious European jewelry of the 15th-19th century, porcelain, King Othon’s bible, etc.

Gallery 36 – The reign of George I, Eleftherios Venizelos, territorial expansion and the Greek catastrophe in Asia Minor. The enthronement of George I was accompanied by Great Britain’s transfer of the Ionian Islands to Greece (1864). His reign (1863-1913) was long and checkered, bedeviled by successive changes of government and acute problems at home and abroad, despite the modernizing efforts of Charilaos Trikoupis, the most important politician in this period. The continuous uprisings in Crete and the holocaust in the Arkadi Monastery (1866), the cession of Cyprus to Great Britain (1878), the Greek-Turkish war, the defeat in 1897 and the imposition of international economic control, the Bulgarian schism (1876) and the creation of the Macedonian issue, fanned the flames of abnormality and unrest until the Military league (1909) of dissident officers subverted the status quo, promoting Eleftherios Venizalos as premier political figure in 20th century Greece. Venizelos set his seal on all the significant events in the closing years of George’s reign and the much-troubled reign of his son, Constantine I, with his domination in politics from 1910, and the positive outcome of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). The outbreak of WWI was followed by a long period of crisis during which the dissent between parliament and palace was exacerbated, Venizelos prevailed and Constantine withdrew, Greece sided with the allied forces and after the end of the war its territory was enlarged spectacularly. Venizelos triumphantly called the elections of 1920, which he lost, with the consequent return to the throne of Constantine, the erroneous move of the subsequent governments and the Greek catastrophe in Asia Minor in 1922. Nevertheless, that same year Venizelos was invited by the leaders of the Revolt, to represent Greece at Lausanne, to salvage whatever he possibly could and to sign the treaty which was to put an end to the Great idea of irredentism. Within a turbulent political clime, he formed a new government (1928-1932), was defeated again at the polls and went into self-imposed exile in Paris, where he died in 1936. The last exhibition unit in the Museum is marked on the right by two references to the events that brought about the dissolution of Othon’s reign, it contains oil-paintings, lithographs, furniture, original hand-written constitution, weapons of exquisite mainly oriental art, precious Victorian jewelry, formal costumes from the court of George I, memorabilia of Pavlos Melas, freedom fighter for Macedonia, mementoes of the Balkan Wars, items belonging to Venizelos, collection of poems, etc.

Sadly, we didn’t have time to see the entire collection in details but we will come back. And before returning to the apartment, D and I went to check out the famous Greek fur-shops. I have been impressed with the choice and quality but unfortunately, we didn’t buy anything.

And in the evening, D’s family took us out for dinner at one of the local restaurants. It was a great finale to our 3 week tour around Greece.

Pictures of Athens, August 2014

The post Athens, Greece. August 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Today, D and I were ferrying to Santorini, one of the most visited islands in Greece. The likeliest location of the lost Ancient Atlantis, everything that describes Santorini becomes a superlative! Blue-domed cubic white-washed houses against the background of even bluer skies and seas – is a frequently described picture of Santorini! I had to check out for myself whether it was an honest one!

We purchased our round trip tickets (€114 per person) for the high speed catamaran SeaJets two months prior to the trip. However, it isn’t the only way to get to the island, a slower ferry (appx. 9 hours) as well as flights are available during the summer months. Scheduled to depart at 7.00 from the Port of Piraeus, it was slightly delayed and we didn’t get to Santorini’s port before 12.00 (scheduled time was 11.25). As smooth and accommodating (we had to re-schedule our tickets for another time) website services were, as hectic and illogical things were during the boarding and placement. Even though we bought tickets together, our seats were 10 rows apart, which made no sense. We tried to negotiate with the people at the pick-up counter, but they weren’t helpful, so we just took justice into our own hands and sat together. Apparently, the boat was overbooked, as people were sitting even on the floor (I guess they sold tickets with “no seat” guarantee too).

We booked Hotel Keti in Santorini and they arranged a pick up for us at the port. The driver was nice to carry our bags to the hotel, which turned out to be quite a walk from the main road, but right on the west-south side of the city, offering the most fantastic views of the submerged caldera. We also had a cave-accommodation, common patio and a small infinity pool. It was romantic, beautiful and relaxing – I couldn’t have been happier!

The Cyclades (pronounced “ki-kla-dez) comprise about 220 islands and are said to be inhabited since at least 7000 BC. During the Early Cycladic period (3000-2000 BC), a cohesive Cycladic civilization emerged bound by the sea voyages and commerce. In the Middle Cycladic period (2000-1500 BC) many islands belonged to the Minoans who were based in Crete and archeological work at Akrotiri in Santorini shows the artifacts of the same distinctive beauty and attributes of those from Minoan Crete. At the beginning of the Late Cycladic period (1500-1100 BC) the archipelago was ruled by the Mycenaeans from the Peloponnese, who in the 8th century were replaced by the Dorians. The islands in quick succession belonged to the Athenian Empire (from mid 5th century to 323 BC), Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty (323-146 BC), Rome (146 BC -AD 395), the Byzantine Empire (395-1204), the Venetian republic (1204-1537) and the Ottoman Empire (1537 – 1821). The last rulers had difficulties managing and protecting the islands which resulted in frequent pirate raids that forced many villages to relocate to hidden inland sites (“horas”). Ottoman neglect, piracy and shortages of food and water led to depopulation of islands and in 1563 only five of them were still inhabited. During the War of Independence (1821-1829), the Cyclades became a refugee haven for people fleeing the Turks and until the tourism boom in the 1970s, the islands were economically deprived and many islanders either lived in deep poverty or immigrated to other parts of Greece or the world (mostly to America and Australia).

The history of Santorini follows the same evolution as other islands of Cyclades, except for one major event – the Minoan eruption that happened sometimes between 1627 – 1600 BC. In ancient times, Santorini (a name given to it by the Venetians and derived from “Saint Irene”) used to be called Strongyli – “the Round One” due to the main island’s round shape or a combination of islands creating a circle around the main island. Since 3600 BC the main island was inhabited by an important Minoan civilization and the excavated town of Akrotiri, in the southern part of the island, is a proof of this civilization. The earth-shattering volcanic eruption of the 17th century BC was the largest in the recorded history. It caused the main part of the round island to sink, forging a 300 m high caldera, it created monster-tsunamis over the Mediterranean sea and led, according to many sources, to the collapse of Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (110 km to the south) and a significant climatic change in the Northern Hemisphere. According to many historians, not a single person who was on the island when eruption happened or even those who left the island by sea many days prior, after experiencing the tremor, survived. For the next 2000 years sporadic volcanic activity (most recently in 1956) created further physical changes that included the formation of the volcanic islands of Palia Kameni and Nea Kameni at the center of the caldera and left the various layers of solidified lava on top of each other making the islands look like a multi-colored cake. Here, I attached the maps of the island before the eruption and now (both maps are taken from internet).

Santorini remained unoccupied throughout the rest of the Bronze Age, following the eruption. Around the 12th century BC, Phoenicians founded a site on Thera. According to Herodotus, they called the island Callista and lived on it for eight generations. In the 9th century BC, Dorians founded the main Hellenic city on Mesa Vouno, 396 m above sea level and named the city and the island after their leader, Theras. Today, that city is referred to as Ancient Thera  and it can be reached by following a winding road at Kamari beach. The rest of the history till present day duplicates pretty much the one of the rest of the Cycladic islands – Dorians were replaced by Ptolemaic Egyptians, then by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans until the War of Independence, when the island was united with Greece in 1830.

As you can see, this beautiful, cake-like island with rows of Cycladic houses dangerously perched on the high cliffs of caldera, famous for its romance and spectacular views has a violent past. The volcanic eruption created 6 separate islands (Thera, Thirasia, Nea Kameni, Palia Kameni, Aspronisi and Christiana) adorning a rectangular lagoon (12 km by 7 km) and every time you cross this lagoon by boat, remember that you are floating just above a monstrous volcano that is waiting to explode! Meanwhile, enjoy the ride and the views!

Santorini caters well for its visitors and you can choose to stay in any place on the island, according to your taste and preference, but not on a tight budget – in towns like Fira or Oia (Ia), in resort villages surrounding one of the famous black, white, red or nude beaches or anywhere in between. The island itself can be an all-inclusive vacation destination in its own right as it offers fascinating archeological sites and museums, wonderful hotels, wineries, night clubs, an abundance of restaurants and shops, but also unique beaches and an international crowd. But then, if you get tired of it all, just hop on one of the boats and tour the 5 other islands of this archipelago. It is truly a must-visit place on earth.

As I mentioned earlier, Hotel Keti in Fira was located right on the southern tip of the caldera, offering the most amazing views of the lagoon, the city and the island – from southern Cape Akrotiri to northern Cape Ag – but I couldn’t wait to get into town to experience its vibe. Fira, the island’s capital, was founded in the late 18th century when islanders moved from the Venetian citadel of Skaros, near present day Imerovigli, to the clifftop plains for easier sea-access. Devastated by an earthquake of 1956, Fira has been rebuilt, terraced into the volcanic cliffs with domed churches and barrel-roofed cave houses. Restaurants, hotels and bars presently occupy all the terraces to provide their patrons with the most magnificent views. Primarily for pedestrians, the city’s main square, Plateia Theotokopoulou, is a bus terminal and hub of the road network that runs throughout the entire island. You might want to rent a car, but wide system of bus services is efficient and cheap to satisfy even a New Yorker like myself.

From Agios Mina (the 18th-century church, with its distinctive dome and white tower), located just above our hotel, we proceeded towards the city’s main square, just 5-7 minutes walk. You can’t miss The Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Santorini, dedicated to Ypapanti (the Presentation of Christ in the Temple) located towards the bottom of the town and visible from every part of Fira. Built in 1827, the church was damaged in the earthquake in 1956 but it was soon restored. It is a beautiful cathedral placed inside the votive-arched courtyard (unorthodox for Greek Orthodox churches) with a nice mosaic on the outside and an impressive bell tower. Inside the church is adorned with beautiful frescoes made by the local artist Christoforos Asimis.

We didn’t visit the Archeological Museum, but spent 1.5-2 hours at the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, located just behind the Orthodox Metropolitan Church (entry – €3, pictures allowed).

The exhibition is structured in four units, referring to the history of research at Thera, the geology of Thera, the island’s history from the Late Neolithic to the Late Cycladic I period (early 17th century BC) and the heyday of the city at Akrotiri (17th century BC). In the last unit, various aspects are presented, such as the plan and architecture of the city and its organization as an urban centre, the emergent bureaucratic system, the development of the monumental art of wall painting, the rich and diverse pottery repertoire, the elegant jewelry, the reciprocal influences between vase painting and wall painting, and the city’s and island’s complex network of contacts with the outside word.

The exhibits include fossils of plants that flourished before the human habitation of Thera as well as archeological objects. Among the earliest pieces are:

• Neolithic pottery, Early Cycladic marble figurines and pottery, including interesting pieces of the transitional phase from the Christiana islands and Akrotiri (3300-2000 BC),
• Middle Cycladic pottery with a series of impressive bird jugs, many of them decorated with swallows from Ftellos, Megalochori and Akrotiri (18th-20th century BC)
• Early Cycladic metal artifacts from the last two sites.

Noteworthy among the numerous exhibits from the period when the city at Akrotiri was at its zenith are the plaster casts of furniture, the household equipment, the bronze vessels, tools and weapons, the objects that bear witness to the practice of metalworking, the seals and Linear A tablets. Impressive too are the magnificent wall painting ensembles (wall painting of Ladies and Papyri, the Blue Monkeys) and fragments of others (the African, Bird, floral motifs). Last, there are numerous and luxurious clay vases including the remarkable pithos with the bull, vases of stone and of clay imported from different parts of the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the gold ibex figurine, a remarkable recent find, the only golden object excavated in Akrotiri and indisputably, the star of the collection.

The exhibition was impeccably organized in themes and provided all the necessary annotations to prepare us for the next-day visit to the site itself. From the Museum, we took a walk on the most spectacular pedestrian street – Agiou Mina– running along the caldera and covered with restaurants and shops, had a lunch at Niki Restaurant and proceeded towards the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, located on the northern edge of town. Fira seems to be the Greek capital of jewelry as i’ve never seen so many gold shops located just meters from each other. But it also housed some of the authentic artisanal souvenir shops offering high quality hand-made crafts made by local artists. My favorite was Art and Icon Studio in the north part of the city (just across from the Cathedral of St. John).

Fira might seem small but it takes time to explore it; between climbing the winding paths, constantly releasing multiples of “ohs” and “ahs” of astonishment and taking pictures, it took us pretty much all afternoon and I still didn’t visit a single shop. We went back to the hotel to dress up (yes, dress up!) and enjoyed our dinner at the Lithos Restaurant. I usually plan everything to the smallest details, including all the restaurant visits, but in Santorini we just went with the flow. Note, the island produces its own wine (and you can even tour some of the vineries) however, it is not of the best quality, in my opinion; they also grow capers and add them to every dish and I mean it. So, if you don’t like capers, make sure to tell the waiter in advance!

As for the sunset…. it was indeed breathtaking.

August 5, 2014

Early morning, we took a bus to “Akrotiri/Red Beach“, which was about 30-40 mins from Fira. The bus dropped us just in front of the main entrance to the site (last stop or the one before the last). I find it more fulfilling to have a guided tour of the sites that i don’t know much about, so at the gate of Akrotiri, we joined an official tour (required min 6 people, €20 per person) and i couldn’t complement our guide enough. She was knowledgeable, personable, eloquent in English (her name is Marina Zourou, email: epikentro@yahoo.gr, tel 6973-012484). Before we went in, she gave us a detailed historical background of this site (which i will try to narrate shortly) and when she finished the tour, we all knew why discovery of Akrotiri led to a belief that the lost city of Atlantis wasn’t another Greek myth created by Plato but a reality and why so many scientists believe that Santorini IS the place of the vanished civilization.

The first traces of a prehistoric settlement were excavated at the end of the 19th century, when the volcanic Theran earth was used as a construction material for the Suez Canal. However, it wasn’t until 1967 when the “real digging” at the so called ancient Akrotiri began under supervision of the archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos, a professor at the University of Athens. His work brought to light multi-level buildings and masterpiece-wall paintings worth world-wide attention. Before I begin, let me just clarify that “Akrotiri” is the name of a nearby village, and until today nobody knows what this settlement was called in antiquity. Occupied as early as the fifth millennium B.C., it was a small fishing and farming village, which by the end of 3000 BC, developed and expanded significantly. Universally, Akrotiri is associated with the Minoan civilization due to inscriptions in Linear A, and close similarities in artifact and fresco styles. Trade in the Aegean and East Mediterranean, as evidenced in fragments of foreign pottery found at the site, the strategic position on the primary sailing route between Cyprus and Minoan Crete and the copper trade could be the main factors for Akrotiri’s fast economical and cultural growth. It also explains the wealth of the city and its cosmopolitan character. City’s affluence continued from 2100 BC-1650 BC –  paved streets, an extensive drainage system, the production of high quality pottery, and further craft specialization all point to the level of sophistication achieved by the settlement. Shortly after the mid-17th century BC the city was destroyed by an earthquake, but it was soon rebuilt (traces of repairs were found by the archeologists) and its development continued apace. The impressive public and private buildings, the hygienic installations of the houses bear witness of the prosperity and the advanced cultural level of the Late Bronze Age Therans. On the other hand, the exquisite pieces of furniture, generally the rich household equipment and, above all, the diffusion of the mural paintings reveal a society of bourgeoisie. This all came to an end, however, in the late 17th century B.C. with the volcanic eruption of Thera. Incredibly, Akrotiri is the best preserved excavation site in Greece due to the same factor that destroyed it – volcanic material, which played major role in the protection of the ancient settlement and especially its wall paintings. The layers of light dust preserved pollen and evidence of olive tree leaves proving that eruption happened in spring time. But the most fascinating fact about Akrotiri is the lack of any human remains or valuable items, as if the city was already abandoned when the eruption happened. Investigators believe that there was a minor earthquake/eruption 1-2 weeks prior to the main eruption which allowed the residents to pack up their valuables and leave. This theory is supported by the fact that personal items, jars and furniture were found tidily stored in the buildings as if waiting for their owners’ return. Sadly, despite the nature warning, most of the citizens must have drowned en route to Crete.

Over 30 building have been located in the 1.2 ha area of the archeological site and only 4 of these have been explored as fully as possible. Yet the wealth and the variety of the recovered finds have enabled the archeologists and historians to reconstruct the history of the settlement to a satisfactory degree. The excavation site is covered by a roofing system, which makes it comfortable to visit in any season. As I already mentioned, the ruins are extremely well preserved – streets, pipes, squares, stairs,  8m high walls, buildings and even second floors of the houses are still visible. Unlike in many other archeological sites, you can literally stand in the middle of Akrotiri’s ruins and feel what it would have been like to live in 1650 BC.

Since D and I visited the Museum of Prehistoric Thera the day before, we became acquainted with the pottery, famous Akrotiri frescoes and a golden ibex found at the site (but located in the museum); all we had to do was to match our knowledge with the original site. Amazing tour-guide and smartly written info plaques were a huge bonus. We followed the long route – counter clockwise. Please allow yourself 1 – 1.5 hours to enjoy the site.

This short video gives you an idea of what the site looks like but I can’t talk in details about every single building, simply because i don’t remember. However, I hope to point a few interesting facts accompanied by the pictures.

Double Horns Square and Complex Delta East Unit (between p.3 and p.4 on the map) must have occupied a central position in the city, and resulted from the gradual addition to each other of independent building units. The facade of the east unit was crown, possibly above the entrance by double horns (horns of consecration), carved in whitish tuff stone, after which Double Horns Square was conventionally named. After the eruption, mud carried by the torrent flowing through this area inundated the rooms on either side of its bed. Thanks to this mud, the wall-painting with lilies and swallows, known as the Spring Fresco and exhibited in the National Archeological Museum in Athens, was preserved in situ. Imprints of wooden vessels and pieces of furniture (now at the Museum of Prehistoric Thera) were also found at the site.

Pithoi Storeroom (p.5 on the map) was the name given by Spyridon Marinatos to the first building brought to light in the excavation, in 1967, because he found it full of large storage jars (pithoi). On the floor of the southernmost and largest room is a circular stone base of the now perished wooden column that upheld the floor of the upper storey. At the southwest edge of the room, close to the entrance, was the hearth (a low quadrilateral platform), besides which is a small stone basin sunk in the floor. The floor of the middle room was strewn with crushed murex shells. The numerous look-weights in front of the large window had fallen from the upper storey attesting that weaving took place there. This fact, in combination with the large quantities of foodstuffs stored in the pithoi, let Marinatos to interpret the building as a storeroom for supplying the workers.

House of the Ladies (p.6) is a 3-storey building named after the wall-painting that decorated the third storey. The entrance to the building was at the southwest corner, where the main staircase is also located. The service staircase was in the center of the building, in contact with the south wall of the square light-well, the only example of this architectural feature found so far at Akrotiri. The rooms around the light-well communicated via a narrow corridor. In addition to the wall-paintings of the Ladies, one of the rooms was adorned with murals of enlarged papyrus flowers. From the abundance and the kind of finds it is deducted that most of the rooms of the ground floor and the first storey were storerooms for foodstuffs and domestic vessels, which suggest that the building was a house, possibly a brothel.

West House (p.7) is a building comprising a ground floor and two upper storeys at least in its east wing. The spacious room in the middle of the first storey was well illuminated through the large window overlooking Triangle Square. The discovery of hundreds of loom-weights attests the practice of weaving here. The west wing of the first floor constituted the most important apartment of the building and was divided by thin mud partition walls into three rooms. The wall-paintings of the Fishermen, The Fleet and the Drowned men or Swimmers decorated one of the rooms. In the southwest corner was the first ever flush toilet!!! The L-shaped room was decorated in “Ikria” wall-paintings and lit by two windows. Other room had a paved floor and walls with multiple windows, doors and cupboards. The narrow surfaces above these openings were adorned with the “Miniature Frieze” wall-paintings. In the room 4 were the wall-paintings of the so-called “Young Priestess” and the Banners.

Senotaph Square and Complex Delta North Unit (p.8). After the abolition of the Early Cycladic cemetery in the final years of the 3rd millennium BD, a small tumulus of earth, stones and sea pebbles was created in the area where rituals were performed to honor the dead. A small cist-shaped construction of upright slabs on the top of the tumulus was found full of marble cases and figurines, common grave goods of the period. The tumulus, as a cenotaph commemorating the ancestors, remained visible even after the arrangement of the square in front of the entrance to the north unit of Complex Delta. Complex Delta, occupying a central position in the excavated part of the city, was formed by the gradual addition to each other of at least four architectural units. The north unit was accessible from Cenotaph square. On the staircase leading from the antechamber to the upper storey, there are obvious signs of the seismic destruction that preceded the volcanic eruption. Despite the damage to the east apartments, many of the vessels they contained were preserved.

Triangle Square (between p.7, p.8 and p.9) is located midway up Telchines Road and bordered by Complex Delta (on south east), the West House (north) and the un-excavated building (west). The West House is a typical wealthy residence. From its entrance, which is in the north-east corner of the square, the staircase leads up to the first and second floors. Telching Road (marked in green) is the largest section of road excavated so far. Coming down from the northern quarters, it appears to lead to the harbor. The city of the final period (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC) had a dense street network. The central street axis ran through the city in a north-south direction, following the crest of the promontory upon which the settlement had developed. Parts of this basic artery have been revealed – Telchines Street (south) and Dactyls Street (north). Other small streets on the smooth slopes of the peninsula linked the buildings to the main street, while alleys and cul-de-sacs served the illumination and the ventilation of the houses, or the needs of the drainage-sewage network. There was also a dense system of squares, which were arranged in front of the entrances to the buildings, facilitating the movement of pack animals carrying supplies. Changes in the street plan and rise in street level after the rebuilding of the city necessitated the construction of a new drainage network with which the sanitary facilities in the houses were linked by clay pipes incorporated in the fabric of the walls. The pipes led into a kind of stench trap formed from stone slabs. Through this construction the waste was channelled into a small cesspit that was linked to the sewer running under the street. The quantities of water needed for the functioning of the city must have been enormous. Brackish water or even sea water carried in water-skins on pack animals will have sufficed for the needs of the sanitary facilities in each house, and the large jars usually found in these, decorated with aquatic plants, indicate its storage. Nonetheless, unknown is the location of the springs from which the city obtained drinking water, since cisterns from collecting rainwater from the roofs of the houses – as was done until recently in Santorini- have not been found. The discovery of a small clay pipe of totally different type from the drainage system, suggests the existence of an aqueduct that brought water from the foot of the limestone massif of Mt. Profitis Ilias, where there are springs of fresh water even today. Perhaps this aqueduct terminated on the outskirts of the city, where possibly a fountain served the city’s inhabitants.

In one word – impressive! Once we left the archeological site, we followed the directions given by our guide to the Red beach. It is a 10 minute rocky trail walk from Akrotiri. They say it is the most popular beach in Santorini and perhaps rightfully so. When you approach the beach from the hill, there is an opening where you can see the beach’s beautiful red-brown color caused by the iron-rich sedimentary rocks. Red pebbles, clean green water and the cliff towering above the beach do make it a pretty unusual place to sunbath.

We arrived in the afternoon when the beach, which isn’t large, was full of people but slowly many started to leave so we rented two chairs with an umbrella (€15) and had some peaceful time. Note, space and facilities are limited, so come early and bring extra water and snacks with you. I must also mention that on the beach we noticed a young Italian couple who spent the whole time (perhaps 3-4 hours) taking pictures in the water. First a girl would pose and her partner would take pictures of her, and then they would switch places. We had a good innocent laugh observing them for hours and i would have forgotten about them if we haven’t run into the same couple at every beach we went to and they did the same thing over and over again. Incredible.

By the time we came back to the hotel, it was almost time for another sunset. Remember, you haven’t experienced Santorini, unless you witnessed the sunset from the edge of the infinity-pool perched on top of caldera. This is exactly what we’ve done.

For dinner, we chose one of the restaurants on the main street in Fira – Louis Restaurant and even though local wine was a disappointment, the food was simple and delicious. The night unfolded suddenly and in all of its glory, giving this beautiful island yet another stunning look.

August 6, 2014

Today, we planned to spend the entire day on the beach so we chose one of the black beaches – Kamari, the island’s main resort. Located just 10 kms from Fira, it is an easy and short bus ride from Fira. The bus dropped us off in the beginning of Kamari village – a street lined with multiple hotels, restaurants, bookshops and souvenir stalls. And even though, it is only 20 mins ride from the capital, it felt as if it was a totally different island, that is how relaxing and different it looked.

Kamari beach is the island’s largest but even it gets very busy in summer, so make sure to come early and rent your chair/umbrella (€10 per person). Tip – if you promise to have a dinner or order food/drinks throughout the day at the specific restaurant, they will let you use their chairs for free. Note, most restaurants advertise free wifi service on the beach, but it never worked for us. Also, make sure to bring water-socks or swimming shoes as black pebble/volcanic sand gets really hot during the day.

At Hotel Keti, I picked up Dan Brown’s “Inferno”, so most of the time I spent either swimming or with my nose deep into the book. The Italian couple was on the beach next to us too but today they brought some preps – several inflatable devices to diversify their pictures. And it wasn’t only us who noticed them, as a bunch of other people went to the water and started posing the same way for their cameras. Another funny accident happened to our neighbor and his wife, an oldish, perhaps German couple. The husband went for a swim and by the time he came back, a homeless dog climbed into his sun-chair and fell asleep. The wife was busy reading a book and didn’t notice it, but when the husband came back, he realized that his spot was already taken and so was his towel. So, make sure to have somebody watch your chair while you are gone! You can see the sleepy dog on the picture below.

Around 19.00 we had dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach and then strolled along the main street. Taverna owners harassed us all evening long, so we had to keep our attitude cool. In the end of the sea promenade, we noticed that we were pretty close to the airport, so we paused to witness a few late-night landings.

When we got back to Fira, we stopped at the Kamari Tours office by the bus station to inquire about a day-long tour of Santorini. We didn’t have much time to research all the tour-operators on the island, but Kamari Tours seemed pretty reputable (based on their central location and always busy office). We booked a “See Santorini in One Day 12-hour Bus-Boat” tour that covered pretty much all the places we wanted to visit. And even though we knew, it wouldn’t be the most elaborate and informative excursion, it gave us a great snapshot of Santorini and its diversity and all for €36 per person.

We were also switching hotels as Hotel Keti didn’t have availability so we moved to Hotel Leta, in the city center. It wasn’t as beautiful as Keti, but still was very comfortable and affordable.

August 7, 2014

We started a day at 8.45 when the tour bus picked us up by the Hospital in Fira. Our itinerary was next:

• Pick up in Fira at 8.45
• Prophet Elias Monastery (15 minutes) by bus
• Pyrgos (45-60 minutes) by bus
• Nea Kameni and Volcano (1.30 hours) by boat
• Hot springs on Palia Kameni (35-45 minutes) by boat
• Thirasia (2 hours) by boat
• Sunset in Oia (2 hours) by boat
• Return to Fira at 21.00 by bus

Bus was slightly delayed but when it came, it was already full (30-35 people) so we didn’t have to wait for more people or stop anywhere else, we proceeded straight to Prophet Elias Monastery. The highest spot of the island (567 meters) is located between Pyrgos and Kamari. The mountain’s name is Profitis Ilias (Prophet Elijah), coming from the Monastery with the same name on its peak. From this vantage point, we enjoyed a striking view of the entire island, from the patchwork agricultural plains to the hilltop village of Oia. Sadly, the monastery was closed for visitors (or so our guide told us), we spent about 15 minutes walking around a small observation platform before boarding the bus.

However, here is some information about the monastery of Profitis Ilias. It was built in 1712 in the fortress style and throughout its history played important economic and cultural roles in the lives of Santorini’s citizens. In the 18th century, it owned a ship which conducted private business on behalf of the monastery, at the same time letting the Monastery have an active intellectual and patriotic influence. From 1806 to 1845 it ran a Greek language and literature school, however in the 1860, its power began to decline and after the 1956 earthquakes many buildings suffered serious damage. The monastery today has an important collection of icons, bibles, and artifacts of the Greek Orthodox religion, ecclesiastical objects, books and ethnographic material. It also hosts displays on shoemaking, printing, candle making, wine making and of typical local food.

From Profitis Ilias mountain, we drove to Pyrgos – a former Venetian capital of Santorini with a small ruined Kastelli (Castle) on the top. Built amphitheatrically around the hill as if following the natural flow of the surrounding landscape, the village is one of the most authentic and unspoiled places in Santorini as very few tourists choose it as their base, since it is located on top of the hill in the middle of the island. Built in the 13th century, the castle was one of five on the island and served as the island capital till the early 1800s.  Cities’ medieval architecture with narrow, labyrinthine streets, fortified walls and hidden passages, small white houses, galleries, vineyards, churches, breathtaking sunsets … made Pyrgos seem truly magical and captivating. It is incredible that a place of 700 inhabitants would have 33 churches – the church of Theotokaki with its beautiful frescoes and old icons, Agia Triada, the church of Agia Theodosia, the Archangel Michael and many others. I wish our guide was more elaborate about the history of this town but she spoke 7 different languages to 35 different people and I understand that she simply didn’t have enough time to cover it all. I marked for myself to come back to Pyrgos and study it in more details.

After about an hour in Pyrgos we boarded the bus and drove to the port where we joined a group from 3 (or more) buses and all together departed by boat towards Nea Kameni.  Nea and Palia Kameni are called “the burnt islands” and are the youngest islets in the Eastern Mediterranean, as they were formed as a result of a mega eruption of the 17th century BC. Nea Kameni, the largest of them, is about 2 km in diameter and looks like the barren land full of venting sulfur chimneys or exactly what it is – a volcano. From the port, there is a 20 mins walk towards the top of the 130-meter-high volcanic crater where we were supposed to meet out guide. We were given a choice to stay on the boat or hike; if you decide to disembark, make sure to have appropriate shoes and plenty of sunblock and water.

Despite thousands of people on Nea Kameni, I really enjoyed its truly unique lunar landscape and views of Thera with Fira and Oia resembling an icing on the cake of the island.

90 minutes was just enough time to walk up to the volcano’s crater, take a brief walk around and come back to the port.  From there, the boat circled the island and landed on its western side, near Palia Kameni, where those who wanted to swim in the sulfur-enriched hot volcanic springs could do so. I’ve heard that sulfur water is really good for your skin however, I optioned to stay on the boat as i didn’t want to ruin my bathing suit (yes, water in hot springs permanently colors your clothes and jewelry). But D. and many other people happily jumped into the water and enjoyed a 20-minute swim (or bath) in +33 C degrees.

After everyone safely climbed back to the boat, we proceeded towards the Thirasia island (other spelling – Thirassia). Once, the-other-part of Strongyli, this small island (slightly over 9 sq.km) is what Santorini used to be before. Detached from the main island after the eruption, it is sparsely populated (about 270 inhabitants), but appears to be an attractive hub for day-trippers. 

We docked at Korfos , the “old Port”, and were given 2 hours to have lunch, climb and explore the main city – Manolas (which has many unique monasteries and churches, tavernas and domatia) or spend time on the small beach near the port.  We decided to save some energy and stay on the beach. After grabbing lunch at one of the multiple port cafes, we comfortably settled on a flat surface near the back of the beach. Be sure to bring water-socks and a blanket/towel, and be careful going around the small fishing boats.

After 2 hours of leisurely and unspoiled peace and quiet, we joined the rest of the group for the last King Thira boat voyage. Traveling by sea was a great way to see the islands from the water and understand its magnitude, topography, layering, but mostly its beauty in entirety.

Our last stop of the day was in Oia (also known as Ia), the northwesternmost part of Santorini. The settlement of Oia had been mentioned in travel reports even before the Venetian rule of the island, when Marco Sanudo founded the Duchy of Naxos in 1207. The da Corogna family built in Oia one of the island’s five citadels –  Agios Nikolaos Kastell (also called Apanomeria) and its residential keep, Goulas, is now the oldest part of the town, on its southwestern edge. During the Ottoman rule (16th-19th century), the settlement was called either Apanomeria or Casteli San Nicolas on maps, however, in the second half of the 19th century the name was officially changed to Oia. From the late 19th to early 20th centuries, the town, known for its mariners, flourished as a result of seaborne trade throughout the Mediterranean, particularly as part of the trade route between Russia and Alexandria. In 1890 Oia had approximately 2,500 residents and 130 sailing ships. However, the arrival of steam and the concentration of shipping at Piraeus in Attica caused the town’s seagoing trade to collapse; agriculture also diminished as people started to leave the island. Wars, economic depression and over-extraction of fish resources contributed to the further decline of the town. The earthquake of 1956 not only considerably damaged the city, but also led to the new wave of emigrants, shrinking the population of Oia to 306 inhabitants; however, the redevelopment and careful restoration work that followed the earthquake along with “re-discovery” of the island by the tourists, resulted in picture-perfect Greek village that we were to visit today.

Extending over 2 km along the northern edge of the caldera and hanging 70-100 m above sea, Oia is reached from the port by 300 steps, which you can either walk or ride on a mule (€5 per person).  The idyllic surroundings of the town have a complex of white washed blue domed churches and charming, traditional Cycladic and cave houses (used by crew of the ships) that are carved into the rock face on top of the cliff. The houses are painted in white lime water so that the rainwater can be collected or just for aesthetic purposes. However, another explanation is that during the Ottoman rule of Greece, Greeks were not allowed to fly their white flag. In defiance, in Oia they painted their entire housing complex in white with domes giving the village an effective white perspective and elegance.

The wealthy ship captains of the late 19th century built neo-classical mansions which can be seen in succession one above the other. The captains’ houses stand out due to their location and architecture. Two prime examples are located next to each other – the two storey Venetian Renaissance-inspired 1864 mansion. Originally built by the Sigouras Sarris family in 1864, it was converted in 2002 to a private luxury hotel “1864 The Sea Captain’s House & Spa“. A second example is located on the main village pathway and was renovated in 1986 by the architect Loannis Zaggelidis into the restaurant “Oia 1800”. The architecture of all the Oia sea captain’s mansions is distinctive with high vaulted ceilings, exteriors of hand carved volcanic stone mixed with marble, imported wood planked floors, flat terraced rooftops in place of the arched roofs of the cave homes and are always situated in the best locations.

At the pinnacle point of Oia is the ruined castle, called Fort Londsa, which was the seat of the Argyri family under the Venetians and presently serves as a lookout point with a complete 360-degree view (which makes it the best place in town to see the sunset). Another most recognizable building in town is an old windmill, which often appears on postcards. Narrow passageways, that get very congested during the tourist season, lead to a central square. There are many shops, clustered along the main pedestrian street called the “Nikalaou Namikaou”, offering a range of handicrafts, jewelry and souvenirs, and several small art galleries. The town also has numerous restored churches, including Panagia church; some were built in memory of sailors.

We arrived to the Oia port before 18.00. It was an exhausting day so it took me a while to climb 300 steps but we still made it to the top before the mules. We were given two hours to explore the town, have dinner and most importantly, witness the sunset from the best location in Santorini. We chose to eat on the way, walked the main cobble-stone street, visited some of the jewelry shops and a very famous Atlantis Books store, which was a destination in itself. About an hour before the sunset we settled in one of the narrow streets, right under the windmill. With every minute the street and all the areas around the caldera got more and more crowded with tourists, who hoped to attest the best sunset of their lives, and no one was disappointed as it was truly grandiose.

It is hard to describe but easy to imagine the flow of people that poured back into the main street once the sun set. We had to use our elbows-and-shoulders to get to the main square for a meet-up in time. My advice if you are taking a guided tour, don’t linger and wait for people to disperse, chances that you make it back to the bus on time are zilch.

I would definitely recommend taking a day tour around the islands. Yes, it is long and exhausting, it has poor content value and you will feel rushed all the time, but we still enjoyed it as we got to see Santorini from so many different angles.

August 8 and 9, 2014

Our last days on the island we spent on Perissa beach and i can confidently announce that it was my favorite beach in Santorini – 8 kms of black volcanic sand, beautiful water and easy bus- access from Fira. It wasn’t terribly crowded and traditional straw (kalamaki) umbrellas gave the beach authentic yet luxurious feel. Sadly, the Italian couple was also there, working on the production of yet another 10,000+ photographs.

On the 8th, before going to dinner at Volcano Blue we did some jewelry shopping. I highly recommend Kallisti Jewellery (22860-22626, email:mitrope@otenet.gr) for all the assistance and a beautiful ring we bought from them, which they were kind enough to resize for me.

On the 9th, we spent half day on the Perissa beach and then did the last shopping in Fira before taking our 18.00 ferry back to Athens. Santorini was wonderful and generous to us and we left with cameras full of breathtaking pictures and memories that can’t be replaced with anything else.

Picture of Santorini.

Trip to Greece, timeline.

The post Santorini, Greece. August 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Today, D. and I were getting into an island state of mind and driving/ ferrying to the island of Zakynthos to visit D. grandma and see the places where D. spent his summers as a child. The name of this island doesn’t usually bring many associations among people unless you mention the Navagio beach (also known as Shipwreck beach) – whose picture decorates the cover of pretty much every travel guide to Greece. Well, I have to stress the fact that no filters were used to enhance this picture, it is THAT beautiful there!

We planned to stay on the island for 3 days and head back to the mainland on August 1st to attend our friends’ wedding in Athens. In the morning, after saying goodbyes to D. mom, brother and his family, off we went! Our 300 kms route took us along the western coast of Greece with magnificent views of the mountains, islands and sea through Rio-Antirio bridge. One of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges and the longest of the fully suspended type, this 2,280 m bridge, connecting mainland with Peloponnese is widely considered to be an engineering masterpiece, owing to several solutions applied to span the difficult site. These challenges include deep water, insecure materials for foundations, seismic activity, the probability of tsunamis, and the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth due to plate tectonics.

Once on the Peloponnese, we headed to a village of Kyllini where we were supposed to take a ferry to Zakynthos, located only 28 kms southwest. Kyllini, a settlement of only 600-700 people, was built on the ruins of the medieval town Glarentza, once the main port and mint of the Frankish Principality of Achaea. Little remains of the town today: traces of the city wall, of a church and a few other buildings, as well as the silted-up harbor, but if you have time, make sure to check them out. We arrived an hour before our 17.15 departure, so we comfortably situated ourselves in the conveniently located beach-bar and enjoyed a few cold drinks.

There are two ferry companies that run to and from Zakynthos – Ionian Group and Kefalonian Lines, which in summer have 3-4 daily departures in each directions. We used Ionian Ferries on the way to and Kefalonian Lines on the way back from Zakynthos, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Both of them were efficient, comfortable and cost the same (€7.50 per person and €28.50 per passenger car). From port to port is under an hour ride.

Zakynthos is one of the seven islands comprising the Ionian Islands. The origin of the name “Ionian” isn’t clear but thought to derive from the myth of goddess Io – one of Zeus lovers, who fled the wrath of Zeus’ wife Hera, by passing through the waters now known as the Ionian Sea. The islands were populated by Greeks possibly as early as 1200 BC, but certainly, based on the archeological evidences, no later than the 9th century BC. One of the Ionian islands, Ithaca was made famous by Homer’s Odysseus as his home island, however, the geography of Ionian Ithaca doesn’t fit Homer’s description. By the 8th century BC, the islands were in the hands of the important city-state Corinth but during Ancient Greek times, they were considered to be black-water and played little role in Greek politics. By the 4th century BC, most of the islands were absorbed into the empire of Macedon and remained under their control until 146 BC, when the Greek peninsula was gradually annexed by Rome. After 400 years of peaceful Roman rule, the islands passed to the Byzantine Empire, where, from the mid-8th century, they formed the Byzantine district of Cephallenia. From 1204, one island after another fell under the rule of the Republic of Venice (Zakynthos joined in 1482) thus becoming the only part of the Greek-speaking world that escaped the Ottoman Rule. Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian (or Venetian in some cases) and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the majority of people remained Greek ethnically, linguistically, and religiously.

From 1797, Ionian islands frequently changed hands, from Napoleonic France to Russia (1799-1807) to Napoleon again to British Empire (1815). However, by 1864 under nationalistic pressure, the Brits, having already acquired Malta, relinquished the islands to Greece. During the WWII, the islands where handed over to the Italians who tried to Italianize the population and deport all jews living on the islands to the death camps. Zakynthos’ Bishop Chrysostomos refused to turn in a list with the names of 275 jews, instead hiding them in the rural areas. Due to his actions, every jew of Zakynthos survived the war. In August 1953, particularly strong series of earthquakes hit the islands. Zakynthos and Kefalinia were practically leveled to the ground, but managed to resurrect and become one of the tourists favorite destinations.

Once we docked in Zakynthos town, we quickly disembarked and drove to a hotel.

It never happened to me, but a day prior I received an email from www.booking.com stating that Strada Marina hotel, which we RSRVed over a month ago for our stay in Zakynthos, no longer had availability and they were “ditching” us into a different hotel – Diana Hotel. I don’t like to change plans especially in the last moment and particularly, because most of my trips are planned to fit into a very tight time frame, but there was no point of arguing with the hotel so we just went with the flow. It was actually a very nice hotel, conveniently located on Plateia Agiou Markou, a busy beautiful square next to the souvenir shops and restaurants. We also got a balcony overlooking the square which gave us spectacular views but also incredible level of noise at night (we aren’t retired yet, but we needed our sleep)!

The town of Zakynthos – known as Chora or Zante – is a new town, lying in the semi-circle between the foot of the Castle Hill and the sea. It stands on exactly the same site of the previous town which was destroyed by earthquake and fire in 1953. The new buildings, without much success have attempted to retain the style of those they have replaced – a mixture of Neo-Classical and Venetian, with a strong dash of an entirely local atmosphere. There is a long esplanade, the Strata Marina (not the hotel) – which serves as a city’s corniche. In antiquity, the settlement was higher up on the flat top of Castle Hill (Kastro), where ancient acropolis of Psophis was built and on which the Venetian city stood in later times. Population growth caused the city’s expansion along the strip of ground between the sea and the hill. Later still, the trade in the new harbor and commercial activities of the islanders made necessary the filling in of the shore with earthworks for further expansion: the church of St. Nicholas on the Mole as well as the Plateia Solomou once were connected by the bridge, but now stand on filled land.

* map is taken from the book “Zakynthos. The Flower of Levant”.

Our hotel was located on the small triangular square called Agios Markos Square (or Plateia Agiou Markou) but known as “Platyforos” by the locals. It is a historic place, the town’s official oldest square where the high social classes of old Zakynthos gathered. Here, in 1797, the “populari” (lower class) burnt the hated Libro D’oro, the “golden book” containing the names of the island’s aristocrats. This square also housed the “romianiko kazino” or Liberal Club.

In the north east of the Square, in Loura Karrer St., the Church of Our Lady of the Angels is located. Built in 1687, the building was damaged by the earthquake of 1953 but not totally flattened, and as a result it was possible to rebuild it in the original Spanish “platarescou” style – with the fine friezes of Our Lady and the angels on the exterior and, inside, and admirable screens and wonderful icons by Panayiotis Doxaras and a number of painters in the Cretan style. From Agios Markos Sq. we walked in the direction of the main church of St. Dionysios and “discovered” a very unique Church of Faneromeni. Built in the 15th century, it was unfortunately destroyed by the earthquakes but it has since been restored following its original design. The only part of the church that was not destroyed is the old belfry. The murals (hagiographies) were saved and now they are preserved in the Museum of Byzantine Art. The history of Faneromeni Church was the subject of several studies by both Greek and foreign researchers of classic Arts, since it was considered one of the most beautiful temples of Greece. During the years of Venetian domination, the Faneromenis square, on contrary with the square of Saint Mark was the meeting place of the poor people.

We were on the way to meet D’ grandma and I felt a bit worried since neither of us spoke the same language. All fears aside, it was a very warm and welcome encounter. D and I were invited to have a dinner at grandma’s the very next day and D requested his favorite tomato soup.

Before heading back to the hotel, we had a dinner at the Taverna Dimitri on the Plateia Agiou Dionyssiou (St. Dionysios Church Square) – a large green space full of restaurants and people. Service was speedy and food was delicious, we also have been quite entertained by a Polish tourist taking selfies while having dinner with her partner. O tempora o mores!

July 30, 2014

Zakynthos is a popular vacation destination, hence, we planned to take it easy and spend a few days on the beach. We started a day with a visit to an insanely beautiful and just as madly busy with tourists – the Navagio Beach (also known as the Shipwreck Beach). This isolated sandy cove on the north-west part of Zakynthos island is one of the most photographed beaches in Greece. The area is defined by its sheer limestone cliffs, white sand beaches, and clear blue water, which, as you will see, attract thousands of tourists. D. remembered taking a path from the cliff all the way to the cove, but when we made inquiries with locals, they said that the beach was accessed only by boat and no path ever existed. But we could enjoy the views from above by standing on a platform on the high side of the cliffs. The views are killer, but you will have to stand in line and deal with many frustrated “bused” tourists, that is a downside!

Navagio Beach was originally known as Agios Georgios. Then sometime in 1980’s, the Greek authorities were tipped that a freight-liner in the waters around Zakynthos Island was smuggling contraband which included cigarettes, wine and women, and a chase began. Stormy weather and bad visibility resulted in the ship running aground right on Navagio Beach. The ship was abandoned and still rests buried in white sandy dunes, giving the beach its second name and providing the visitors with the most memorable picture of Greece.

Right on the cliff, the locals sell some of the most delicious goods produced in Zakynthos – honey and jam. Obviously, we couldn’t leave without buying some to take home with us. From there, we drove to Vasilikos region – the southern part of the island, to spend a day at the St. Nicholas Beach. This was a rather small, golden sand bay, with jagged rocks framing the beach on each side. Like most of the Vasilikos region, the beach here is adorned with natural palm umbrellas that really add to its ambience. Apparently, this place is very popular with tourists and locals alike and I could understand why. It offers the visitors everything they can possibly wish for – clean sand, sport activities and a cafe-bar that serves a very decent food. To our advantage, the beach wasn’t busy and for €10 we got two sun-chairs where we comfortably placed ourselves for the next 2-3 hours.

From my chair I could see a small church of St. Nicholas on the hill as well as a flag-post and before we left, we climbed the rocky hill to see whether the church was open. The church was closed but the views of the beach and the peninsular were stunning.

After the beach, we drove straight to grandma for dinner and she indeed prepared D’s favorite tomato soup. We also got to meet some of D’s relatives who he didn’t know before, which was exciting! As a tourist and a person who spent her childhood summers in a small village in southern Belarus, in the fields and forests, I was a bit envious of D. to have grown up on this stunning island. It was also remarkable that despite the fact that grandma’s house was only two blocks away from the main city square and a tourist hub, residents continued living their normal lives, daily gathering for chats on the stoops of their houses, undisturbed, as if there were no tourists at all.

After taking a shower, D took me on a ride to the Laganas Beach, the largest on the island (9kms) and one of the longest in Greece. Its main attraction is the migration of the loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) that during the summer months migrate to the Bay of Laganas to lay their eggs on the beach. However, we were there to witness something else. In the last several years, the village of Laganas became a party hub for 18-30 year old visitors from the UK, Serbia, Holland, Sweden, Germany, etc. Full of night clubs, music-blasting bars and restaurants, this place caters for the sleepless crowd and at 11 pm it was just getting started. Sometimes, I feel old and it was one of those nights, we drove through the main village street and went back to the hotel.  I scheduled a morning dive for tomorrow, so I wanted to get enough sleep.

July 31, 2014

We had to wake up early in the morning because I had two dives scheduled with Eurodivers, located in Laganas beach. I researched them well, just as I always do when I go diving and they had the best reviews on www.tripadvisor.com. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived on time to be told that they were overbooked for the morning but could “squeeze” me for an afternoon dive. Obviously, I inquired why they didn’t call my cell to let me know in advance but they told me they couldn’t reach me by phone, which wasn’t true. Oh well, we had a free morning together with D. and since I had to go back to the dive center in the afternoon, we decided to spend time on a nearby Kalamaki beach which is a part of the Laganas Bay. It is also one of the nesting places for the Caretta caretta turtles and volunteers at the entrance of the beach will make sure to provide you with a brochure and warning not to disturb the turtles’ habitat and nesting places.

The Mediterranean green logger-head turtle has been migrating from Africa to Laganas Bay for thousands of years. There giant sea creatures, weighing up to 180 kgs, lay their eggs in the sand, said to be the softest in Greece, at night. In the prior years, disco and hotel lights disoriented the turtles’ navigation causing them to leave but even the eggs that were eventually laid, were destroyed by vehicles and the poles of the beach umbrellas. Along with it, degradation of nesting places, accidental capture in fishing gear, commercial use and pollution, all lead to a huge plunge in turtle population. Greece hosts about 60% of the total number of nests of the logger-head turtle in the Mediterranean, of which 40% are made in Laganas Bay of Zakynthos. Every summer, from mid May till the end of August, hundreds of mother turtles come out to the shores of Laganas Bay – by instinct they return to the same beaches where they were born.  At night time they dig an egg chamber in the sand to deposit around 120 fragile eggs. The eggs have to remain undisturbed in the warm sand for about 60 days to incubate. From mid July to the end of October the hatchlings emerge from their nests, usually during the night, and race towards the sea. The work of environmentalists and ARCHELON has led to some protection of the turtles, in an attempt to give them a chance to at least regain their numbers. The beach was covered with small enclosures indicating the nests and while I really wanted to see small turtles to hatch, I decided to move away and let the nature take its course without us.

For a few hours, we settled on a safe part of the bay.

After lunch, we headed back to the Eurodivers. The place was packed and everyone was super excited. I have been diving more or less regularly since 2006 and even though I had a few hiccups, like every diver, I wasn’t prepared to the horrors of my upcoming underwater experience. After checking my size, the helper gave me a wetsuit that was way too small for me. After 15 minutes of watching me struggle with it, he finally offered me another, larger size. Oh well…. Dimitris came with me on a boat and it was definitely overcrowded with more than 20 people (40 tanks) plus non divers. There was no space to move, to store your gear or to comfortably sit. The dive briefing with a dive master was just as hectic and unorganized as the boat; and I am not sure whether it was because of the language barrier, unclear instructions or something else, but I’ve got nothing but a fact that we were going into a cave one by one and then ascending.

I fell in love with scuba during my first confined class in New York and then living on-board in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 2006. And everywhere I go, I always devote a day or two to diving. It was a regular routine dive and even though I felt comfortable at first, once we descended, I realized that something wasn’t going right.

Our dive group split, some of my team-mates were with me, while others along with the dive-master were not in site. With 20 other people, I dove for the cave as I was instructed. I went in, saw a bunch of people with torches and continued swimming. After that, I don’t remember anything but the darkness. I had a torch in my hand but all I could see was murky water and not a person in sight. I wasn’t sure whether I was swimming away from the cave, inside the cave; I totally lost any sense of space, though I had a feeling I was descending. I swam fast (which is a mistake) for a few minutes but then realized that perhaps I was going the wrong way, so I turned 180 degrees (of what felt like 180 degrees) and swam back. I was also consuming lots of air and I could sense it even without looking at the dive computer, by the way I was breathing. About a month later, I would be diagnosed with cancer which was found in my chest in a form of a grapefruit-sized mass pressing on lungs and heart and perhaps, it was a reason for my behavior and heavy breathing. But at that time I knew that I was lost and I had very little air to spare. I also knew that it was just a matter of time before I suffocate. But no, after what felt like a century, somebody’s hand grabbed and pulled me behind him. It was one of the Dutch divers, Cornee, who later told me that I went inside the cave, swam out of it, continued down on my own but then came back and went inside the cave again. Oh well, at least I knew it wasn’t in God’s plans to take me today!

By the time I located the dive-master and showed him “out of air” sign, I was literally out of air! When we finally made an “octopus” ascend, he kept me in the water and shouted at me for not following his instructions. Hell, there were no instructions, his briefing sucked, they rushed us in the water and thought we would be ok! Well, that wasn’t the case and he wasn’t there to supervise the divers. Sadly, my accident wasn’t the only one as another diver had similar experience and was pissed at the dive-master for jeopardizing his life. I kept to myself and skipped the second dive, as I no longer felt safe diving with this company. Incidents like this could be powerful discouragements against future diving; gladly, I learnt my lesson and moved on to more professional and trusted scuba companies.

D. heard part of the conversation and was very worried for me. I was visibly shaken but tried to contain myself. It would be several weeks before I stop thinking about swimming down. On the positive note, I was alive and ready to continue my honeymoon.

After a short break at the hotel, we went out for dinner at Pasteria on 21st Maiou Street. It is a lovely and very romantic place with the good views of the main walking street from the second-floor balcony. We ordered a bowl of pasta each and a few glasses of wine. The views, service and food were equally great!

After the dinner, we went to the main Zante town church  –  Agios Dionysios. Built in 1948, it was one of three buildings that survived the earthquake of 1953. The church is dedicated to the island’s patron Saint Dionysios whose silver coffin can be found inside. He was born in Zante in 1546 into the Venetian ruling class – but all reports suggest that from an early age his character was very kind and he refused all of the advantages of his class. After the death of his parents, at the age of 20, Saint Dionysios donated his fortune to his brother and became a monk in the monastery of Strophades, in the south of the island of Zakynthos.  In 1577, Saint Dionysios left Zante to become the Archbishop on Aegina island but two years later, health problems forced him to resign and return to his homeland, where he stayed as an abbot in the monastery of the Strophades. As a story goes, on one rainy night, a desperate man came to the monastery and asked for help. This man had just killed his own brother. Despite his personal sorrow, the monk provided a shelter to the murderer and helped him to escape the island, preventing another crime from taking place. Local tradition suggests that the murderer later returned and became a monk in that same monastery. St. Dionysios died in 1622, at the age of 75 and was buried in the church of Agios Georgios in the Strophades. Three years later, when he was exhumed, his body was found intact and remains intact until present day. In 1716 the Saint’s body was moved from the monastery to the church of St. Dionysios in Zante town for better safety and now is displayed in the city’s main church, where many pilgrims come every year to pray.
His memory is celebrated on December 17th, the day of his death, and on August 24th, the day his body was transferred to Zakynthos town and laid in the church. Both celebrations are important days for the island with parades through the town of many Orthodox Priests and worshipers.

Externally, Agios Dionysios is not a particularly sticking building with the exception of its size and an imposing bell-tower, a copy of that of St. Mark in Venice. This bell-tower became something of a symbol of the island, since it is among the first features everyone sees when approaching the island by the ferry. Inside however, it has superb wall paintings with scenes from the life of the saint. The silver Larnax, in which the relic of the saint is located, is an outstanding piece of art by Diamantis Bafas.

I have to warn you that Zakynthos is full of myths and tales worth the ones of Homer himself. One of them is a legend of St. Dionysios as a “walking saint” which states that on some occasions when the keepers tried to open his tomb, it wouldn’t open. It signified that the saint wasn’t there but walking around the island performing miracles (which have been seen by many believers). Afterwards, once the tomb is finally open, the saint is often found with the sea-weed wrapped around his feet. Keepers also claim that his sleepers require constant repairs as they grow thin from all the walking. However, today we went to re-join D. grandma and family because of another holiday that was no less superstitious and just as important to the locals – Tis Malliaris or so-called Hairy Rock celebration. Every year, in the evening of the 31st of July, the city inhabitants go to the shallow waters of the port and walk around singing until midnight. At midnight, as the church bells start ringing, they dive into the sea and search for the rocks covered in seaweed, which they retrieve and then place under their bed for blessing. According to this tradition the “hairy” rock (“malliari” in Greek) brings good luck for the whole year. Also, this tradition is found only in Zakynthos town and not evident in other villages on the island. The area around the St. Dionysios church is where the search for the hairy rock takes place until this day and since it was July 31, we joined D. every-growing family for the celebration. Apparently, nowadays, Tis Mallinaris is accompanied by a small festival where you can find traditional food, boat rides, local singing known as Kantathes, small concerts by the philharmonic municipal band and dancing. However, since we were very tired after an eventful day, we didn’t stay long and  left shortly after midnight.

August 1, 2014

After breakfast, we visited one of the ferry’s ticket offices on Strada Marina, a main promenade street of Zante Town, to buy our return tickets for 13.00, so that we could arrive to Athens in reasonable hour.  Since we still had enough time, we went on to explore Zante town and started with the Plateia Agiou Markou, where Diana hotel was located. One of the buildings on the square is the Museum of D. Solomos and Eminent people of Zakynthos. It is open daily from 9.00-14.00, entry is €4, no pictures allowed, except for the ground floor; please allow 30-45 minutes for a visit. This interesting museum opened in 1964 and contains on the ground floor the imposing tombs of Dionysios Solomos (1789-1857) and the other great poet of Zakynthos, Andreas Kalvos. Once you walked in, you see the piece of tree in whose shade, on Strani hill, Solomos apparently wrote his “Hymn to Liberty”, which later became the Greek national Anthem, and “The Free Besieged”, composed in May 1823 to the distant sound of the Turkish cannon bombarding heroic Messolonghi.

The first floor of the Museum includes the rooms dedicated to Dionysios Solomos, Dionysios Romas, Nikolaos and Thaleia Kolyva and the wing of Eminent Zakynthos People. The second floor hosts the Stavros S. Niarchos Room with the Library and the museum’s Documents Section. In the floors above, there are various rooms with icons from the Cretan and Cretan-Eptanisian School of the 17th-18th century, portraits of prominent citizens of Zakynthos from the 17th -20th century, bronze busts of bishops and intellectuals, period furniture from Zakynthos’ mansions, musical instruments, sculptures, ceramics, wood carvings, metallurgy, coin moldings, traditional knitted and crochet handcrafts, jewelry, engravings, ink drawings, photographs and coats of arms. Pretty much everything was donated by the people of Zakynthos to preserve their heritage and culture. Of all the wealth of the archived material, the most important are the manuscripts of Dionysios Solomos, Nikolaos Mantzaros, Ermanos Lountzis, Andonios Matesis, Ioannis Tsakasianos, Dionysios Romas, Pavlos Karreris and Gregorios Xenopoulos. The Museum has a small shop where you can purchase the books, CDs and posters issued by the Museum.

St Markos Church, the only Catholic church on the island, stands next to the Museum of Solomos and Kalvos in St Mark’s Square. It was originally built in 1518, but was destroyed following the earthquake. Although it was rebuilt, St Markos Church is now smaller than the original foundation and its interior is plain and simple. Catholic services are held at Saint Markos church only during the summer months, when it is also frequently used as a destination wedding place for the Irish couples.
Via Demokratias Street we proceeded towards the Plateia Solomou (Solomou Square), the town’s largest and most recent (landfilled) square. This very attractive open space, lined with trees and flowerbeds is surrounded by aristocratic single and two-storey buildings with a statue of D. Solomos in the middle.

In the north-east part of the square is the Agios Nicholas on the Mole, the only Venetian building to survive the earthquake and fire and be restored to its original form. It was built in 1561 by the guild of sailors on the small island, connected to Zante town by the bridge but eventually the landfills merged the island with the city.  It is a church of historical value and great importance in Zakynthos because the patron saint of the island, Saint Dionysios, served here. His robes are still housed in the church today. Free entry, no pictures allowed.

Next to the church is the Municipal Cultural Center and the Library, the Historical Archive building and the Phoskolos Cinema. Also, on Solomou Sq. is the impressive building which houses the Museum of Byzantine Art, that we unfortunately didn’t have time to visit. Instead, we strolled along Strada Marina like many other locals and tourists alike, looking at the docked yachts and small fishing boats going about their daily business. Unquestionably, it is one of the most relaxing and beautiful islands I’ve ever visited.

We then did the last shopping and walked towards the car.

A drive to the port through the old streets of Zante –

Once we said goodbyes to the island and boarded the ferry, the city gifted us with even more stunning views. I was sad to leave it, as if it was I who spent my childhood summers there. But we will surely return to visit D’s grandma again, see the famous Blue Caves, check-out the Byzantine Art Museum, climb to the Strani hill to see the remains of the Venetian Castle and take a boat to the gorgeous Navagio Beach.

Once we disembarked, 50 minutes later, our drive through the northern part of the Peloponnese and the Isthmus of Corinth was pretty straight- forward and took about 4,5 hours with a short lunch break. We stopped to grab some food along the road and to my amusement, I found a Cosmophone! Imagine?!

Pictures of Zakynthos, July 2014.

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Today, we planned to spend time with the family and also explore the city of Ioannina. There are several things that rightfully put Ioannina on the traveler’s map:

• multiculturalism – the city has always been dominated by Christian, Islamic and Jewish influences
• Old city and Castle of Ioannina – built in AD 528 by Emperor Justinian, it is the oldest Byzantine castle in Greece
• Perama – the Europe’s most beautiful caves
• Expression “Live like the Pasha in Ioannina” – hinting that it is not enough to have a title of a ruler, you also have to live in Ioannina to enjoy the best things in life
• Lake city – expect amazing views from everywhere
• Silver shopping – not to be missed!

Ioannina (meaning “Town of John” in Greek) is the largest city and a capital of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. Even though human presence in the area dates back to the Paleolithic period (38,000 years ago), it was Byzantine Emperor Justinian I who established the city here in the 6th century AD. In 1204, when Latin Crusaders sacked Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, the founder of the Despotate of Epirus, Michael I Komnenos Doukas settled in Ioannina refugees of noble Byzantine families who fled the city, thus establishing the Byzantine’s successor state. In 1430, Ottoman Turks granted several privileges to the town in exchange for its surrender and after arrival of Sephardic Jews in 1492, it became one of the most religiously diverse city in the area. However, an unsuccessful revolt led by Dionysius the Philosopher in 1611 caused the city a serious setback with abolition of all privileges granted to the Christian inhabitants, who were driven away from the castle area and had to settle around it. Despite that blow, the city managed to recover. Its inhabitants continued their commercial and handicraft activities which allowed them to trade with important European commercial centers, such as Venice and Livorno, where merchants from Ioannina established commercial and banking houses. At the same time, they maintained close economic and intellectual relations with their birthplace and founded charity and education establishments.

In 1789 the city became the center of the territory ruled by Ali Pasha –  an Ottoman-Albanian lord who was one of the most influential personalities of the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although during this time Ali Pasha committed a number of atrocities against the Greek population of Ioannina, culminating in the sewing up of 18 local women in sacks and drowning them in the nearby lake, his rule coincides with the greatest economic and intellectual era of the city. As a couplet has it “The city was first in arms, money and letters“. The efforts of Ali Pasha to break away from the Sublime Porte alarmed the Ottoman government, and in 1820 he was declared guilty of treason and Ioannina was besieged by Turkish troops. Ali Pasha was assassinated in 1822 in the monastery of St Panteleimon on the island of the lake, where he took refuge while waiting to be pardoned by Sultan Mahmud II. His severed head was later paraded all over Istanbul.

Greeks liberated Ioannina in the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars. The 1923 populations exchanges saw Turks replaced by Anatolian Greek refugees, however a small Turkish community of the Albanian origin continued to live in Ioannina even after the exchange. Sadly, another stratum of Ioannina’s population ceased to exist in 1944, when 1,870 jews of its total of 1,950 people were hoarded and sent to concentration camps, only 164 of them returned home.

Modern Ioannina is a lovely city (thought they say it rains there 9 months a year) situated around a picturesque lake and surrounded by mountains. Its status as a “University town” with more than 20,000 students didn’t live up to our expectations since we came in the middle of the summer vacation, hence, it was melancholic and quiet, allowing us to explore its streets, castles and mosques in peace.

D. and I spent a lovely morning playing with the little ones and catching up with his family.

In early afternoon, we drove to the first place we wanted to see – Perama Cave. Located in the town of Perama, 4 kms from Ioannina, the cave is 5 kms long (however, only 1,1 km has been explored) and is among Greece’s largest and most impressive. Entry is €7, tours are administered only with a guide and last 45 minutes, no pictures allowed (unless a guide explicitly allows you), bring warm sweater as temperatures drop by 10-15C as you go down.

The Perama cave was discovered by accident in the 1940 during the WWII, as the inhabitants of the village were trying to find a bombardment shelter. At the end of the war Constantine Kasvikis, an amateur speleologist went to the cave and took some photos which made the local and Athenian news. It also caught attention of Ioannis and Anna Petrochilos, famous speleologist who came to Perama and began systematic exploration and mapping of the cave.

The cave, a product of karst formation, dates back about one and a half million years. The beauty of the chambers defies description. The rich adornment that covers the roofs, the floors and the walls of its countless chambers is unprecedentedly beautiful and perhaps one of the best I’ve seen. According to our guide, the cave has 19 types of stalagmite of all different colors, from red to white, to alabaster… It seems impossible that the hall of the Cross, with its limestone worshippers, was formed without human intervention, and yet, it is a natural sculpture of truly stunning proportions. The Hall of Legendary Palaces looks nothing less but a fairy house. The stalactites projecting from the ceiling look like surprisingly complex yet harmoniously constructed chandeliers.

Archeological excavations within the cave have brought to light the fossilized bones, teeth and skull of a cave bear many thousands years old. But various creatures live within the cave now: spiders, bats and dolichopoda, including the unique species named after Ioannis Petrochilos – dolicholoda petrochilosi. Many founds from the cave are exhibited in the local museum that unfortunately was closed on Monday. The Cave exit, which is 25 m higher than the entrance, opens to splendid views of Ioannina and Pamvotis lake made famous with the legend of Kyra Frossyni and Ali Pasha. From there, an outdoor scenic path takes to the entrance of the Cave. I have to confess that I would have enjoyed this visit much more if not for a couple of idiots in our group who ignored the warnings and kept taking pictures by hiding behind everybody’s backs, annoying the hell out of everyone. Urghhh!

To add, if we had a bit more time, I would have loved to explore Perama town, as it looked very picturesquely Greek, with multiple silver and souvenir shops lining up the main street.

After checking out some silver shops, we drove to Ioannina’s old city, so- called – Kastro, which is divided into four sections:

• the outer wall
• the northwestern citadel, which is dominated by the Aslan Mosque and Municipal Ethnographic Museum
• the southeast citadel of Its Kale (inner fortress) and
• the actual castle town – the old, walled town of Ioannina.

We parked a car just outside the city walls and proceeded inside this incredible Byzantine fortified city.

The maze-like layout of the castle’s streets (many of which lead to dead ends) was allegedly designed to confuse pirates who breached the castle walls: they would get lost within the fortress, and thus be captured before escaping with their booty. We didn’t have a map but Kastro’s relatively small area had lots of tourist signs indicating the directions – after all, all we could carry back were the pictures and the souvenirs! We knew that most museums would be closed on Monday so we wanted to see two most remarkable spots that were open: the northwest acropolis, on which the Aslan Pasha’s Mosque was built in 1618 to re-establish the dominance of Ottomans after the unsuccessful revolution of Dionysius the Philosopher in 1611 and the southeastern acropolis Its Kale, where the extant Mosque Fathiye, the tomb of Ali Pasha and many other buildings confirm the existence of a palace.

After entering through the massive Kastro’s walls we proceeded towards the Aslan Pasha’s Mosque or the “upper settlement” where the royal quarters were built according to the Byzantine sources. The Byzantine phase of the acropolis survives in segments of the initial fortification that were incorporated in the Ottoman reconstruction of the enclosure, in the monumental gate and the circular solid towers located in the southeastern part of the acropolis. The gateway projects between two smaller solid towers. The space between the two towers was covered with a semi-cylindrical arch, which is not preserved today, while part of its exterior was recently rebuilt. During the Ottoman rule and after the expulsion of the Christian populations from the castle of Ioannina in 1611, this acropolis evolved into a religious center following the construction of a building compound that included the Aslan Pasha Mosque, the tourbe (mausoleum), the kitchen and the Madrasa. During the Ottoman period a second gate was opened in the southwestern side of the enclosure which connected the acropolis with other buildings located on its southern foothills – Turkish Library, hamam and Soufari Seraglio (cavalry school). It was the Ottoman Library that we encountered right before the main Southern gate of the acropolis.

As we entered the gate, on the right hand side, there is a half-destroyed building that was used as a Kitchen. A bit further, is an oblong building with many arches and chimneys – Madrases, The Koranic School of Ioannina. It is composed of 16 small rooms that were used as cells for Muslims who were studying there in order to take high hieratic offices. Opposite of Madrases and below the mosque there are some niches that used to house the fountains for the believers to wash their feet, hands and mouth before entering the mosque to pray (according to the Koran, their bodies should be as clean as their souls). Several tombs, multiple rusted cannons as well as cannon-balls occupy the small square between the buildings.

After we ascended a few more steps, we found ourselves on top of a rocky mountain with a fantastic panoramic views of the city and the lake. However, I was more interested in the Aslan Pasha Mosque, the cemetery for notable Ottomans and a mausoleum of Aslan Pasha himself, which surrounded the mosque.

The Mosque itself is divided into two parts: the vestibule, which was extended up to the exterior columns and arches (the wall with the windows was built later for security reasons), and the main part of the mosque. In the vestibule part, on the right and left sides, there are holes for the believers to leave their shoes before the prayer. Above the main gate of the mosque there is an Arabic script: “There is only one God, and Mohammed is his prophet”, as well as Aslan Pasha’s name and the date of the mosque’s construction – 1618. In old times, the main part (10 m by 10 m) of the mosque was covered with big carpets where muslims knelt in prayer, facing the Mihrab (altar niche) and thus, Mecca. Beside it, on the right, there is the Minbar (pulpit) which Oulemas (priest) would climb up to the seventh step and read different parts of the Koran (the seventh step symbolizes the Seven Heavens). It is a small but beautiful mosque with the semi-arched dome and Koranic scripts decorating it. In the corner, opposite to Minbar, there is a little door leading up to the Minaret. In the past, a meuzzin ascended the 75 steps at least five times a day in order to call the believers to pray. The same door leads up to the Dikka, a small wooden loft, which was used by pilgrims visiting it to pray, to interpret parts of the Koran or to help the Imam.

The mosque functioned till 1924 and was abandoned as a result of the population exchange as most Turks left the city. Since 1933 it was turned into the Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina. The collection, fully donated to the Museum by notable families in Ioannina, is exhibited in the vestibule area of the Mosque (entry – €3) and divided into three sections – Christian, Muslim and Jewish. Christian collection consists of domestic appliances made of porcelain, gold and silver. The latter are typical of the reputed silver art of Epirus. Traditional clothes of the region of Ioannina and Epirus, jewelry and guns of the 18th-20th century are also on display.

In the Jewish section are exhibited textiles (curtains used in front of the altar of the Romaniote Synagogue of Ioannina and fabric that covered the Tik) and local traditional Jewish clothes.

In the Muslim section, occupying the main part of the Mosque, there are eastern textiles of the 16th-18th century, furniture of wallnut and ivory from Ali Pasha’s period, brazen objects of domestic use, chests and an important collection of Muslim religious books.

After about 45 minutes at the northwestern acropolis, through the main gate we exited to the streets of Kastro and proceeded to Its Kale, on the other side of the small peninsular. There was this wonderful feeling of walking down the tranquil picturesque and absolutely empty streets of an old town – no tourists, no locals, just D and I.

The southeastern citadel, better known by its Ottoman name “Its Kale”, forms essentially a separate fortress within the old town, covering an area of ca. 30,000 m². Traditionally its establishment has been ascribed to the occupation of the city by Norman king Bohemond I in 1082, and the main Byzantine relic of the period, the large circular tower in the centre of the citadel, is known as the Tower of Bohemond. Here too, however, recent excavations have brought to light Hellenistic-era foundations. Under Ali Pasha, the Its Kale was completely rebuilt and became the magnificent Seraglio (residency) of the powerful ruler. It was here that he built his palace (saray), beginning in 1788. The palace, based on the survived sources and print, is described as a large and complex two-storey structure with many windows giving excellent view to Lake Pamvotis. It continued to serve as the city’s administrative centre until 1870 when it was torn down, although it had already been badly damaged during the 1821–1822 siege by the Sultan’s troops that brought about Ali’s downfall. Excavations have shown that the palace consisted of selamlik (house for men), the harem, buildings for his administrative employees, etc. The surviving ruins belong mostly to the southern portion, including the ruins of the circular Tower of Bohemond. From 1913, the site was used for different purposes but since 1995 it houses the Byzantine Museum of Ioannina.

Next to the museum, on the easternmost and highest part of the citadel, lies the Fethiye Mosque. Occupying the space of the city’s Byzantine-era cathedral, it was originally built after the Ottoman conquest in 1430. Rebuilt in grander style in the 17th century, its present form dates to its reconstruction by Ali Pasha ca. 1795. The family tomb of Ali Pasha is at the north-west side of the Mosque. Ali Pasha’s decapitated body was buried there in 1822. His wife Um Giulsum Hanum had been buried there earlier, in 1809 and one of his sons found his resting place there as well. The tomb is covered by an iron lattice work in a shape of a “cage” which is an identical copy of the original one, which was removed during the German occupation in 1943.

The main surviving part of Ali’s palace is the so-called “Treasury” to the north, a square building of unidentified use. It was restored in 1989–90 and houses an exhibition on the history and methods of silversmithing in Ioannina and its wider area, for which the region was famous in Ottoman times. Other surviving or excavated structures are:

• the kitchens, dating to the early 19th century, located in the northwestern part of the citadel, which now serve as a refectory;
• the gunpowder store to the northeast of the Fethiye Mosque, which today serves as an educational space;
• a ruined building of unknown purpose between it and the kitchens;
• the ruined base of another large Byzantine-era circular tower;
• a large two-storey building northeast of the Treasury, possibly a barracks or an unidentified part of the palace, which survives only in half its original length, and now serves as a cultural and exhibition space;
• a small bath complex to the north.

This relatively small area is packed with ruins that require lots of work to reinstate their shapes and purposes, but even the current state can make anyone interested in history feel excited. A cozy cafe housed in one of the restored building was a relief after several hours of walking.

Here, we had to say goodbye to the Ottoman Greece. Ioannina and its suburbs have plenty to offer to its visitors – two acropolis within Kastro, Byzantine, Ethnographic and Archeological Museums, Perama Caves, mountainous village of Metsovo and the monasteries of the Ioannina Island, gorge of Moni Tsoukas and 3rd century BC theater of Dodoni. Many of this places we have not visited but left it for the future visits. Before heading back home, we stopped by the Center of Ioannina Traditional Handcraft (called KE.ПА.ВI in Greek) for some silver shopping (please, don’t skip this place!) and took a leisure walk around the beautiful Pamvotis lake.

The rest of the evening, we spent with the family. Tomorrow, we were embarking to yet another destination – D grandma’s island – Zakynthos.

Pictures of Ioannina, Greece.

The post Ioannina, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Vergina (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Pella deserve to be on the itinerary of everyone who comes to visit the northern part of Greece. Unjustly, Lonely Planet dedicates only half a page to both of those places, which I intend to correct. Not only are Vergina and Pella rich in historical heritage and archeological sites, but also they have names of Philip II and Alexander the Great written all over them. Welcome to the ancient (Vergina) and slightly younger (Pella) capitals of Macedonia!

It is a long day trip (700 km) from Ioannina, so we left town shortly after breakfast, while D’s family was packing their bags to drive to the beach. Modern village of Vergina lies pretty much on the same spot where the ancient town of Aigai (or Aegae) was. During the 8th and 7th century BC this area was ruled by Illyrian tribes. The Argeads, an ancient Macedonian royal house led by Perdiccas I, fled from Argos in approximately 650 BC, expelled Illyrans and established their capital at Aigai. It wasn’t a random move, as the Oracle of Delphi prophesied Perdiccas I to build his capital city “where goats led him”, which was exactly in Aegae – “city of goats”. From Aigai the Macedonians began their predatory activities, subjugating to their realm Pietria to the southeast, Bottiaea to the northwest and Mygdoni to the north.

When King Archelaos transferred the capital to Pella, in the late 5th century BC, Aigei lost none of its significance. It retained its role as the royal burial ground and received the members of the royal family on the special occasions, such as weddings and funerals, when custom decreed their presence in the old capital. For this reason it was here that Philip II was attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander of Epirus when he was murdered in the theatre. Philip’s son, young Alexander the Great, who was immediately declared the King of Macedon, fulfilled his filial obligation by throwing the most lavish funeral ceremony of historic times held in Greece. Laid on an elaborate gold and ivory deathbed wearing his precious golden oak wreath, the king Philip II was surrendered, like a new Hercules, to the funeral pyre.

Alexander’s death adversely affected the city and in 276 BC the Gauls of Pyrrhus plundered many of the tombs. After the overthrow of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans in 168 BC both old and new capitals were destroyed, the walls pulled down and the palace, theatre and all other buildings burnt down. In the 1st century AD a landslide completely destroyed the city, however, some parts still remained inhabited. Between the 2nd – 5th centuries AD the population progressively moved out, and all that remained was a small settlement whose name, Palatitsia (palace), was the only indication of its former importance.

The knowledge and importance of Aigia weren’t loss with time, as many excavations took place here between 1850s and present day. However, it was not till 1977, when the Great Tumulus (mud hill), 13 m high and 100 m in diameter, was discovered by Manolis Andronikos and his team. It contained 4 royal tombs, two of which (II and III) were not looted. Tomb II was proven to belong to Philip II and his wife and Tomb III to Alexander IV, a 14 year old son of Alexander the Great with his wife Roxana. Besides the Tumulus, the wider archeological site of ancient city was also excavated in Vergina. It contains an impressive palace and the theater where Philip II was assassinated, Sanctuaries of Eukleia and the Mother of the Gods, agora and eleven Macedonian tombs, the extensive prehistorical tumuli cemetery, the Archaic tombs with rich grave goods and the funerary dedicatory inscriptions of Classical and Hellenistic time. We were set for another archeological adventure.

Legend: (1) The Palace, (2) The Theater, (3) The Sanctuary of Eykleia, (4) Public buildings, (5) The Rhomaios Tomb, (6) The Hellenistic house, (7) The Sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods, (8) The Great Tumulus, (9) The Tumuli cemetery, (10) The Tombs of the Bellas farm, (11) The Acropolis.

We naturally began at the Great Tumulus or The Royal Tombs, as it’s called (p.8 on the map). As I have already mentioned earlier, the Tumulus was discovered in 1977 and the excavations weren’t complete till the 1990s. In 1992, to preserve the site just as it was, museum was built in a form of a large protective shelter in shape and form resembling the original Tumulus with all 4 tombs inside. And today, when you enter the Museum, you walk underneath of the mud hill, equipped with electronic systems and climate control, that literally surrounds the monuments. Entry €8, photos and videos are strictly prohibited.

I really loved the museum for its likeness to the original mud-hill hosting the cluster of tombs…. oh wait…. it was the original mud-hill! This very clever and orderly exhibition on its own was worth a trip to Greece. The treasures are displayed besides the tombs that contained them, but nothing is as it once was. The modern shell continues to mark the site and protect the tombs, recalling the image of the Great Tumulus but essentially revoking its function, since it is designed to make the monuments accessible to the public, while the ancient tumulus concealed and isolated the houses of the dead from the living. Death transubstantiates. Whatever “died’ and was buried, following the deceased to his/her grave, whatever for centuries has been locked in earth’s embrace may perhaps one day return to daylight but it will never be the same as it was. Raised on their pedestals, the objects, no longer usable but nevertheless useful, become monuments, fragments of memory, ideas rather than material objects. The finds are conserved, “restored” and exhibited to the public, totally estranged from the original function. The exhibition method is bound to respect their form and character, but it can’t avoid expressing the aesthetics of contemporary viewers, whose ideological needs it addresses.

In light of these considerations, minimal, timeless forms and modern, neutral materials of the strictest specifications – metal, crystal, dull aluminum, synthetic glass – were chosen. The finest that modern technology has to offer in the field of museography – hermetically sealed, individually climate-controlled metal showcases, optical fibers, metal sound-absorbent panels, electronic control systems – was enlisted to ensure the optimum conditions for protection and ongoing preservation of the site. And all these was done without losing the atmospheric element in a museum, which intends to address both mind and emotions.

Guided by the expression “excavations brought to light” the curators knew that death and oblivion were equivalent to “shadow and the absence of color”, while life and memory correspond to “light and color”. Modern construction enveloped in tones of grey are lost in the dimness; thus was created a world of shadows, where the ancient objects, shining and warm, reign supreme, and where apart from the monuments the only color of royal purple, an allusion to the blood of the royal deceased who haunt the place like the heroes of an ancient tragedy. The area in the museum was broken up into multiple spaces, creating the element of surprise that accompanies every visitor and ignites her/his interest. The darkness that reigns in the museum arouses awe and turns voices into whispers, suggesting the atmosphere in the land of the dead, which it still is.

The skein of memory unwinds in the museum through the prescribed course and the sequence of thematic units. At the entrance, the picture of the Great Tumulus and its three-dimensional model provide an overall impression of the site and its monuments. The first unit is devoted to the Macedonians whose grave stones were found in the fill of the Great Tumulus. Immediately following these are the ruins of the Macedonian Tomb (IV), that may have belonged to Antigonus II Gonatas, with its four free-standing Doric columns, a monument built in the Early Hellenistic age (300 BC) on the edge of the Royal Tumulus. It was uncovered in 1980 already badly destroyed, however, it was once richly furnished based on the few but impressive finds – ivory heads etc.

Next is the “heroon”, an above-ground monument dedicated to the cult of the distinguished dead, and besides it is the cist tomb (I) of one of Philip’s seven wives, perhaps Nicesipolis of Pherae. Here, pay attention to the frescoes that decorate the tomb’s walls, outstanding among them is the scene of the Abduction of Persephone (Kore) by god of the Underworld. The three Moirai, inaccessible and impartial mistresses of fate, the mute pain of Demeter, the mother who though a goddess could not save her daughter from the hands of Hades, the fear in the eyes of the nymph who becomes a witness to the abduction of the defenseless Kore by the Lord of Death, all would initiate you into the mysteries of the Underworld.

Then well-prepared, you will arrive at the units devoted to Philip II, the king whose actions changed the course of Hellenism. In the first area you can see king’s weapons, the utensils employed in his funeral ceremony, the symbols of his authority and the precious bronze household vessels employed for his final bath. The chryselephantine bier was embellished with an ivory relief frieze, an exceptional work of miniature carving. Immediately after, you can descend the “dromos” of Philip’s tomb and admire the 5.60 m long frescoes depicting the royal hunt, a work with nothing to envy the creation of the great Renaissance masters. In the antechamber is another burial of a young woman, possible Philip’s wife, Cleopatra Eurydice or Meda of Odessos, who by tradition sacrificed herself at the funeral. Her bones were wrapped in cloth of gold and deposited in a gold larnax. Another chryselephantine bier completed the rich furnishing of the tomb, while the precious gold wreaths and diadems bear witness to the inordinate wealth of the dead. The museum was virtually empty and when I descended to the bottom of the tomb, there was this aery feeling that I wasn’t alone, but in fact I was! I am not a strong believer in ghosts and extraterrestrials, but I swear, there was something “strange” about this tomb.

The next stop is the showcase with the remains of the funerary pyre that were found thrown on the vaults of the tomb, irrefutable evidence of the deceased’s identity. Pay attention to the large gold larnax found inside the marble sarcophagus inside the tomb. The dead king’s bones were places in the precious casket after the cremation. The lid is decorated with the large sixteen-rayed star (Vergina Sun symbol), while on the sides are bands of lily, palmette and rosette ornaments.

Then, we proceed to the heart of the exhibition, devoted to the heroized Philip II. Here, among the gold chests and wreaths, the splendid symposium utensils and the precious gold and ivory banquet couches, stands as a trophy to memory his “resurrected” gold-trimmed armor. Worthy of an Achilles this armor, perhaps that which Philip wore when he was proclaimed leader of all the Greeks, is marking with the sheen of gold and ivory the shape of his absence. It is a pretty remarkable tomb and a collection of items, considering that the funeral was done in a rush.

The following Prince’s Tomb (#III) is devoted to Alexander IV, the son of Alexander the Great who met a premature death, and who was buried in the shadow of his glorious forebear after 310 BC. The tomb was untouched by the looters, Alexander’s IV bones were kept in a silver urn (hydria), crowned by a gold wreath and placed upon a stone podium. A narrow frieze with a subject of a chariot race, painted in lovely colors, decorates the interior walls of the antechamber. The exhibition closes where it began, with a series of grave stones and the pictures of Manolis Andronikos, a man who brought the treasures to light.

On the map that I attached earlier, there are many more archeological sites in Vergina, some of them, like Palace and the Ancient Theater, are accessible to visitors and most are not. Using the map, we drove to all of them but unfortunately, both, palace and theater were fenced out and closed. However, for those who are planning to visit Vergina I would mention a few interesting facts about some of its sites.

The Palace of Vergina (p.1) is a large urban complex that includes the theater, the agora with the Sanctuary of Eukleia and perhaps other buildings. It was the first monument recognized in the area in the mid 19th century and it occupies an area of about 1 ha (104.5 m by 88.50 m). The architecture of the palace essentially reproduces that of the ancient Greek house with the central peristyle court surrounded by four large Doric porticoes. On the south side are huge rooms – the formal halls of the palace where the famous Macedonian drinking parties (symposia) were held. Rooms on the west side served as luxury accommodations to not only the royal family but to their guests, friends and warriors. On the northern side of the palace ran a long veranda, a special feature unprecedented in the architecture of the Greek house, from where the king and his entourage could survey the city and plains as far as the eye could see. Walls and architectural members, all worked with stunning accuracy, were covered by the highest-quality marble stucco. Thousands of tiles and decorated antefixes of exceptionally fine quality, hundreds of square meters of marble inlays and mosaics, costly pigments, bronze and every kin on luxury material were enlisted to create a whole befitting the ruler’s ambition. Interestingly, the Pythagorean golden triangle (3:4:5) and the enigmatic sequence of “Platonic” numbers (1,2,3,4,9,8,27) determined the alignments of the building, while the number  (1.61), “the golden ratio” was the “common mean” holding together this fascinating structure, designed for a Pythagorean ruler. It was a building where nothing was left to chance, in which even the smallest detail obeyed the magic of harmony arising from the world of Pythagoras to inspire the golden rule. The palace is considered to be not only the biggest but also, together with the Parthenon, the most significant building of Classical Greece, it would become a model for all the palace complexes of the Hellenistic world and beyond. Recent archeological research has shown that the palace must have been built together with the theater in 359-336 BC. Some changes were made at the later days and it was finally abandoned in the 2nd century BC, when the Romans assumed sovereignty.

The ancient theater (p.2) was discovered in 1982 at the base of the large palace terrace, which suggested that the two buildings were conceived as a single complex. That would also explain the odd choice of the site for the theater – its cavea facing north, rests against the hillside only on its east part. It meant that only the seats of the first row around the orchestra were of stone, while the rest were formed with the help of wooden bleachers, since there was no rock to support the construction. It was the place where the dramatic even of Philip’s II assassination on his daughter’s wedding day took place in 336 BC.

Other sites that are worth a peek from the fence (if you find them) are:

• The Sanctuary of Eurkleia (p.3) consisting of foundations of two temples, an altar, a stoa, a peristyle building, marble pedestal for ex-votos to the deities worshipped here and the remains of a large retaining wall. From the inscription found in the sanctuary, we know who made a dedication to the goddess – Eurydike I (or Eurydice), daughter of Sirras, wife of Amyntas II, mother of Philip II and grandmother of Alexander. Multiple splendid statues unearthed in the sanctuary (those of a colossal snake as well as female figures) reinforced the view that despite the move of the old capital to Pella, Vergina maintained its importance and splendor;
• The Sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods (p.7). Her cult was linked with arcane mysteries, involving special observances for the devotees. Its close relationship with Dionysian cult is readily apparent, since orgiastic dances by women, a state of trance and loud music were essential components of the veneration of both deities. The image of the goddess is preserved mainly in votive reliefs and terracotta figurines with typical traits: she is seated on a throne, sometimes embracing and sometimes stepping on the divine animal, the lion cub. In her right hand she holds a libation bowl and in her left the large drum of the orgiastic dances. By good fortune a kantharos, a clay wine cup incised with the inscription dedicated to the “Mother of the Gods and companions” was discovered in a small room in a sanctuary, thus identifying with certainty the purpose of this building;
• The cemeteries (p.9) which span for a period of almost ten centuries and occupy the territory between the present villages of Palatitsia and Vergina. A large section to the east dates to the early centuries (10-7th century BC) when the kingdom of Macedon was taking shape. Over 300 prehistoric burial mounds (tumuli) have been found there. The centuries of the kingdom’s site and heyday (6th-4th century BC) are represented by rich and very important sepulchral monuments, the majority on the outskirts of modern-day Vergina. Large Archaic tombs as well as Early Classical Macedonian tombs from the 4th century BC create one of the major groups of monuments in Macedonia with their architecture, paintings and grave goods. The Early Iron Age sections of the cemetery have distinctive traits: each tumulus includes more than one burial (usually from 5-15), male and female, suggesting that it served a family. Many simple tombs as well as the late examples of Macedonian tombs date from Hellenistic times (3rd-2nd century BC) indicating the continuity of customs and of life in the city even when the kingdom was on the wane. Tombs from the period of Roman rule, after 150 BC, appear sporadically over a wide area among the earlier monuments, as well as further north to the river Aliakmon.
• The Tomb of Eurydike (near p.5) is the earliest known Macedonian tomb, built in 340 BC it was dedicated to a woman of a high rank, perhaps a queen (hence the name). It was plundered at some point in the past, however, the rich and impressive architectural details decorating the large room were completely preserved. Room also contained an unprecedented find: a richly embellished marble throne 2 m high, decorated with reliefs, gilded flowers and animals of all visible parts as well as with statuettes of korai.
• “Rhomaios Tomb” (p.5), dated to around 300 BC, was named after the archeologist who discovered it. This two-chambered subterranean building of harmonious proportions is framed by four elegant Ionic columns. Very little decoration is preserved, as it was looted at some point in the past, however, the impressive marble throne with a small marble footstool enhance the interior. In addition to the throne there is also a stone bench, which perhaps served as a base for the bier or the catafalque.
• The Macedonian Tombs on the Bella Farm (p.10) dating to the 3rd century BC.

One day I will have to go back to Vergina and see all those sites with my own eyes, but we were on the way to see the second capital of Macedon Kingdom – Pella, which was about an hour drive. In the late 5th century BC, Archelaus I chose this coastal area as the new capital of Macedonian kingdom. It is hard to imagine but in antiquity, Pella was a strategic port connected to the Thermaic Gulf by a navigable inlet; the harbor and gulf have since silted up, leaving the site landlocked. At that time, its location ensured better communication with the rest of the Greek world both, via sea routes and by open plain. Another reason why Pella was chosen to be a new capital, was its continuous habitation from the Early Bronze Age. Archeological excavation in Pella uncovered several cemeteries of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (3rd millennium BC), Iron Age (9th-7th century BC) and 6th-5th century BC, which along with the remains of pottery confirm the existence of older settlements, which the Macedonian capital succeeded on the same site. Just as Aigai, it wasn’t simply an administrative center – great painters (Zeuxis) and poets (Timotheus of Miletus) frequented the city. The Athenian playwright Euripides stage Bacchae here for the first time in 408 BC, and lived there writing and producing Archelaus. Pella was also the birthplace and seats of Philip II and of Alexander the Great, his son.

It became the largest and richest city in Macedonia and flourished particularly under Cassander and Antigonus rules, which can be concluded based on the richness of the archaeological remains of that period. In 168 BC, Romans took over the city, moving all its treasures to Rome. In about 90 BC the city was destroyed by an earthquake; shops and workshops dating from the catastrophe have been found with remains of their merchandise, though the city was eventually rebuilt over its ruins. Despite the city’s continuous decline, archaeology has shown that the southern part near the lagoon continued to be occupied until the 4th century AD. Modern-day Pella is a small sleepy village with a beautiful modern museum and an archeological site, just outside the city. W started our tour with the Archeological Museum of Pella as we were afraid it would soon close for visitors. Entry €6 for museum and the site. Pictures with no flash are allowed. Please allow 1 hour for your visit.

The Museum is located on the southern foot of the hill where the palace was, in the northeast sections of the archeological site. The exhibit’s thematic groups are harmonized with the site’s excavation sectors, without the one being cut off from the another. The building’s rectangular atrium constitutes a reference to the central peristyle courtyard of houses in Pella. Pella Museum Map

In the information section, texts, photographs, maps, drawings and a large model of the archeological site gave us the necessary information to become acquainted with Pella: the geomorphological evolution of the region, historical data concerning the city and excavations, its building system and fortifications. The city’s identity is confirmed by inscribed roof tiles with its name, while its historical periods are presented by a selections of coins from the excavations of various places, issues of both the Macedonian kings (from Alexander I to Perseus) and from the years following the Roman conquest of 168 BC.

The very first two finds we encountered were both connected to Alexander the Great, who was born and grew to manhood in Pella: a marble head considered a portrait of Alexander III and a marble statuette depicting him with the characteristic attributed of the god Pan.

The first thematic grouping of the main exhibition area concerns the daily life of Pella’s inhabitants. A reconstruction of a wooden door indicates the entrance to this exhibit. The main objects on display here are the mosaic floors from the Houses of Dionysus and of the Abduction of Helen, set in the floor, and the wall decoration from the so-called House of the Wall Plasters, restored in polychrome plaster. The exhibit cases display excavation finds that provide a wealth of information about the structure and functions of the rooms in residences, their furnishings, the daily life of their residents, their clothing, personal adornment, occupations, education, amusement as well as rituals at household shrines. Architectural members and tiles, household outfitting and equipment, restorations of furniture (a banquet couch, a seat, etc) and models contribute to our understanding of the function of spaces and daily activities.

The second thematic grouping has public life in Pella as its theme. The finds on display come primarily from the Agora and are connected with administrative institutions (clay seals for public documents, inscriptions, coins, monumental sculpture), production and commercial activities (vases for storing and transporting wine, oil, etc, many with seals on their handles indicative of commercial exchange, vases for daily, symposium, and ritual use in a variety of shapes and with different types of decoration, moulds for the production of relief vessels, terracotta figurines and moulds for their construction, equipment from pottery and metalworking workshops and others). A model of Agora depicts the architectural form of the complex, and a restored pottery workshop and its finds as there were discovered during excavations, offer a clear picture of the production process.

The third exhibit displays mosaic floors and finds from Pella’s sanctuaries, with information about the gods worshipped there and the organization of functions of religious buildings (the sanctuaries of Darron, the Mother of the Gods and Aphrodite, and the Thesmophorion).

The fourth exhibit – the city’s cemetery, is the only one isolated from the others by virture of the particular nature of grave goods. Here, two burials are on display together with their grave goods: a burial in a clay pithos of the Bronze Age, and a restored cist grave of the late 5th century BC. The display cases exhibit grave goods from Pella’s cemeteries, of the Bronze and Iron Age, Geometric and Archaic periods (9th-6th century BC), the Classic period (5th-4th century BC) and Hellenistic periods (3rd-2nd century BC), which provide a host of evidence about social structures, funeral customs, the language of residents (Doric Greek), and accomplishments in numerous artistic fields.

From the cemetery exhibit, we ascended the ramp to conclude in the palace gallery. To the left, we could still see the previous exhibits, but to the right we could see the archeological site itself through small openings in the building’s walls. This exhibit offers evidence concerning the architectural form and functions of the complex, as well as the personality, life and works of Alexander the Great. From the balcony surrounding the entire space, there is an opportunity for a panoramic view of the museum.

We left the museum hungry to see the site and… for food. We drove back to the village and settled at the only place that seemed to be open – To Lemoni. That was a perfect “lack of choice” as the place served the most delicious food I’ve tried in Greece. The restaurant was virtually empty and we suspected that the person who took our order might have as well cooked the food himself in the kitchen. Well-refueled, we continued to the main archaeological site.

The oldest residential remains, discovered in the area of the complex belonging to the sanctuary of Darron, indicate with a high degree of probability the presence of a city plan with rectangular building blocks from the first half of the 4th century BC. The pronounced presence of imported Attic pottery confirms the close relations of Pella and Athens and this is further supported by the influence of Attic art noted in other fields as well, e.g sculpture, where Attic influences succeeded those of the islands of the coast of Ionia. In the second half of the 4th century BC, the growth of local pottery, terracotta, metalworking and mosaic floor workshops laid the basis for a flourishing production that continued until the city was abandoned following the earthquake of the 1st century BC. Roman province of Pella did not prevent its partial habitation, at least in its southern sections, where residential establishments of the Roman period (1st-4th century AD) have been discovered.

The ancient city as we know it today with its grid-like city plan, not unlike the one of New York City, dating to the last quarter of the 4th century BC extended over an area of about 400 ha. Its lay-out, with rectangular building blocks of equal width uniformly separated by roads between 6-9 m wide, is impressive, as it is the most fully-developed seen in an ancient city of the Greek worlds; to have an idea of its size, it stretched over an area extending 2.5 km North-South, and about 1.5 km East-West. Pella Map. Some of its main roads were wider than others, and were paved and surrounded by sidewalks and colonnades, while beneath their roadbeds lay dense, well-organized water and drainage network. Rock-hewn tunnels carried water down from mountain springs; these ended in clay, stone or built pipes with manholes so that they could be cleaned! These, together with fountains and wells, all testify to the high standard of living enjoyed by residents. Areas for bathing have been found in many houses as well as in public structures. In one public bath near the site’s entrance, in use from the last quarter of the 4th until the late 2nd century BC, all the evolutionary phases of bathing installations in Greece are shown, including one of the earlier forms of underground heating.

Private residences, the smallest between 150-200 sq.m. and the largest between 2,500-2,300 sq.m. in size, with central peristyle courtyards featuring Doric and Ionic architectural elements, banquet-rooms with floors elaborately decorated in natural mosaic tesserae, wall paintings with renderings of architectural elements that were later widely adopted in Italian cities (e.g. Pompeii, which gave its name to this particular style of decoration), small household shrines, the private apartments, ancillary and hygiene spaces all suggest an economically and culturally-flourishing society.

The city had strong fortifications, from which sections of the north, west and east sides have been discovered. The palace of Pella occupied an area of 60,000 sq.m. and was comprised of five building units with large peristyle courtyards, reception and meeting rooms, spaces for worship, private apartments completed with baths, workshops and storerooms, as well as bathing installations incorporated into a large palaestra.

In the heart of the city was the Agora, its large commercial and administrative center, which encompassed an area of 70,000 sq.m., occupying ten building blocks of the ancient city, with an enormous square in its center, at whose sides the city’s streets concluded with monumental terraced approaches; the square’s center was bisected along its East-West axis by the city’s largest street, 15 m in width. In the Agora there were organized workshops for making and selling pottery, terracotta figurines, and metal objects, as well as shops selling food, grain and meat, in addition to wine from many regions; there were even perfume shops. The north wing of the Agora formed the seat of local rulers, as it shown by its architectural form, monument base – a number of them bearing inscriptions – as well as parts of a sculptural composition found here. A two-storey building complex with peristyle courtyard in the southwest section of the Agora also had an administrative function; it comprises the city’s public archive given that public documents were stored on its second floor. It is shown by the large number of clay seals found solidified by the fire that destroyed the building. However, a variety of workshops was also found incorporated into building blocks outside the Agora in other areas of the city, thus confirming its prolific production and cottage industries, which continued even after the Roman conquest of 168 BC, and did not cease operation until the city was destroyed by earthquake.

Two large organized sanctuaries were incorporated into the city’s grid plan, within building blocks but without any particular prominence or monumental character. There were the city’s urban sanctuaries, which shared common architectural elements: large outdoor spaces for gatherings of large numbers of people, small two-chambered shrines, banquet-rooms, storerooms, workshops, and courtyards to serve their various functions. In one, situated directly north of the Agora, the Mother of the Gods and Aphrodite were worshipped in their role as patron goddesses of the city and its inhabitants. In the other, in the southwest part of the city, there local healing god Darron, a divinity known only from Hesychius who is attested for the first time in inscription from Pella, was worshipped. Another sanctuary, the Thesmophorion, was investigated northeast of the city. It was a small circular outdoor rural sanctuary, where the patron goddess of agriculture Demeter and other divinities connected with the fertility of earth and human beings were worshipped.

It is an incredible and very peaceful site to visit with great annotations along the way. Don’t be surprise to step on something and unearth a part of the amphorae or some other household good as it happened to us. But please, don’t remove anything from the site.

Another fantastic day in Greece! By now, we’ve got a pretty good coverage of different places, epoques and Greek power-states. Tomorrow, we planned to spend time with the family and browse around Ioannina, a city built 900 years after the founding of Pella.

Pictures from Vergina and Pella.

The post Vergina and Pella, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Last night D. and I drove from Delphi to Kastraki so that we could start our day at the Meteora early in the morning. We stayed at the Doupiani House, which was a nice and comfortable hotel with fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. Please don’t expect an extraordinary customer service and neither fast-speed internet, but if you’ve got a room with the view, who needs the internet?!

Meteora, which means “suspended in the air” is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the second largest and most important Greek Orthodox monastery complex in Greece, after Mount Athos. The mountains of Meteora became the place of refuge in the 9th century, when hermits and holy people began to occupy the fissures and hollows of the rock towers. However, the full monasteries weren’t established till about 11-12th century when hermit monks started living among the caves and cutouts in the rocks, high on the top of the cliffs. In the 14th century, Meteora’s inaccessibility became an advantage for the Christian monks escaping the Turkish occupation after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. At that time, about 20 monasteries existed, perched on the top of the rock pillars like eagle nests, only 6 of them survived to present time (4 for men and 2 for women) with less than 10 monks living in each monastery.

The earlier monasteries were reached only by climbing the removable ladders or nets, which were replaced “only when the Lord lets them break”. However, in the 1920s, steps were hewn into the rock, which made the monasteries accessible via path-walks or bridges. Since the 1960s till present time, Meteora is undergoing the remarkable renovation and building activities. I guess it facilitated the influx of tourists to Meteora who, despite the “beach season” were virtually everywhere.

The Holy Meteora Monasteries constitute a crossroads of faith, civilization and history, where God’s creation with human intervention, the magnificence of the natural scenery with the grandeur of architecture, the monastic expression with the history and culture, the self-denial and heroism with the national self-consciousness and sacrificial offering were united together in an excellent and unprecedented way. It is also, perhaps, one of the most esthetically beautiful places you would ever lay your eyes on; sadly, my camera wasn’t able to capture it, but my memory was!

You can take public transportation, hike via “monk paths” or drive the main sealed road surrounding the entire Meteora complex. We drove because it was the only way we could see all 6 monasteries in one day. Note, the opening hour is 9.00, but closing hours vary, from 16.00 till 17.45. The best days to visit are Saturday and Sunday, when all monasteries are open. Entrance fee is €3 per monastery. Most monasteries don’t allow photos inside and please, dress properly – no shorts or short sleeves for men; no pants, shorts or short sleeves for women. For additional book recommendations, please click here.

We started at 8.45 am and drove to the Moni Agiou Nikolaou, then to Agias Varvaras Rousanou, then to Moni Varlaam, to Megalou Meteorou, then to Agias Triados and finally to Agiou Stefanou. And even though it is very compact, the climbing and the sightseeing took most of the day. Important to mention that my fitbit logged 108 flights of steps by the end of the day.

The Monastery of St. Nicholaos Anapafsas (9.00-16.00, closed on Fridays; pictures aren’t allowed inside) is situated just outside Kastraki village, it is the first monastery we met on our way to Meteora. All around it, we could see the ruins of other monasteries of Prodromos, Agia Moni and Pantokrator, as well as a small church of the Virgin Mary. The rock, where the monastery stands, is very small and narrow at the top. This influenced the whole architecture of the monastery, since it couldn’t grow wider, but only taller. Going up the first staircase, we saw the small chapel of St. Antony and the crypt where, in the past, were kept the codices and heirlooms of the monastery. The chapel is of great importance, because on its walls there are paintings dating to the 14th century which, consequently, was the date of the monastery’s construction. On the next floor, near a long corridor, stands the Katholikon of the monastery, the church of St. Nicholaos and on the last floor the old refectory decorated with paintings. Today, the renovated refectory is used as a grand reception room. On the same floor there is also the ossuary and a renovated in 1971 chapel of St. John the Baptist.

The origin of the name of the Monastery of St. Nicholaos Anapafsas is not ascertained yet. It probably bears the name of one of its early founders at the beginning of the monastic life on this rock in the 14th century. Others connect the origin of the name Anapafsas with the verb “anapavomai” which means “I rest” and this way Anapafsas means a place for spiritual rest and refreshment. In any case, the official letter of the year 1392-1393, which is kept in the archive of the Great Meteoron Monastery, has a mentioning of the little chapel of St. Nicholaos which was likely the present monastery.

The monastery was fully renovated during the first decade of the 16th century, when the present Katholikon was erected. It is a small almost square church, uneven and irregular due to the narrowness of the rock it is built on. It has a small cupola at the center of the roof which is dark without any windows, since another storey had to be built right above. In October 1527, according to the building inscription over the entrance of the narthex, the elegant Katholikon was painted by the famous Cretan painter Theophanis Strelitzas, the so-called Bathas. It is his oldest known work and it depicts representations of full-bodied saints, enthroned Virgin Mary, miracles performed by Jesus Christ, the imposing, multi-figured depictions of the Second Coming, along with the representation of Adam in the garden of Eden where he names the birds and animals:”And Adam gave names to all the aminals and all the birds of the sky and every beast of the fields” (Gen 2.20) etc.

The Monastery was abandoned and started to fall into ruins in the first decade of the 20th century. It had already been deserted when N. Veis visited it in December 1909 for the registration of the manuscripts. In the 1960s, the buildings along with precious paintings were restored under the direction of the Archeological office and currently, it is an inhabited, fully functioning monastery, whose wall-paintings are world’s best examples of the Byzantine art of Theophanis and the iconographical tradition of Orthodoxy. It also has spectacular views of Meteora from the platform on the roof.

The second monastery we drove to was the Monastery of Varvaras Rousanou (9.00-17.45, no photos or videos allowed. Closed on Wednesdays). It is built on the most striking pinnacle and its complex of buildings covers the whole plateau of the steep rock in such a way that looks like a natural continuation of the rock. It is easily one of the best places to enjoy all the beauty and magnificence of the unique Meteora landscape, and even though I am not very religious, I could see why the faithful Christians would feel a spiritual uplift here. On the east, we could see the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen’s monasteries and on the west, the Varlaam Monastery and the Great Meteoron further away. All around the rocky forest of the innumerable gigantic crags stretches away and deep in the horizon, the mountain massifs of Koziakas and Pindos, captured our eye.

For the ascending to the Monastery a rope-ladder was used but today it can easily be done by cement steps and two small solid bridges constructed in 1930. Already in 1868, during the abbacy of Gideon, a wooden bridge has been constructed replacing the dangerous ropes on account of easier and safer access to the rock. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Monastery was almost abandoned and deserted. For around 20 years, till 1971, only one old pious woman Efsevia from Kastraki lived there. Since 1982, after its basic renovation and restoration, the monastery began functioning as a nunnery and today the sisterhood of 15 nuns continues the renovation of this small and beautiful monastery.

There are many explanations of the origin of the name, however, none of them is verified. Likely, Rousanou Monastery took name of the founder of the original church in the 14-15th century. In addition, there are records in the “History of Meteora” of 1882, that the rock of Rousanou was originally inhabited in 1388 by a priest-monk Nikodemos and his fellow hermit Venediktos. The only official document about the erection of the Monastery of Rousanou and its history in general is the testament of two brothers-priests from Ioannina – Ioasaph and Maximos. Following the example of their compatriots, monks Nectarios and Theophanis Apsaras, who already been settled in the rocky town of Stagoi in 1510, they asked the permission to lead a secluded life on one of the rocks in Meteora and were given the rock of Rousanou, somewhere between 1527 and 1529. Once the brothers settled on the rock, they began a remarkable construction. They rebuilt from its foundations the ruined and destroyed by the ravages of time and desertion old Katholikon of the monastery (14-15th century), the church of Transfiguration of the Savior, and they gave it its present form. They also built cells and other service rooms; they supplied the monastery with consecrated vestments, holy vessels, manuscripts and other ecclesiastical heirlooms. All the monks of the monastery were obliged to keep unswervingly the equality, the common ownership and the lack of property; special or preferential treatment was prohibited.

The Katholikon has the characteristic style of Mout Athos like most of the monasteries in Meteora. The main church is two-columned, cruciform with a cupola in the center and two lateral niches on the right and left, the choirs. The cupola is polygonic with mono-lobed windows and predominates the whole elegant monastic complex due to its imposing height. The sanctuary is built towards the north, due to the shape of the rock. The church is dedicated to the Transfigurations of the Savior, however, in this monastery the memory of St. Barbara is particularly honored and venerably celebrated on the 4th of December. The decoration of Katholikon was made in 1560, almost 30 years after the erection of the monastery. We don’t know the name of the painter, but the remarkable wall-paintings are an exceptional example of the post-byzantine art (pay attention to Resurrection and Transfiguration paintings).

In the middle of the 16th century, a bibliographical workshop probably functioned at the monastery with the well-known scribe the priest-monk Parthenios (1565). At times, this monastery served as a refuge and shelter for many people and families. According to records, in 1757 a lot of people from Trikala persecuted by the Turkish pasha found refuge here; also, in 1897, after another war with Turks, many families from Kastraki and Kalambaka were sheltered under the roof of the Monastery of Rousanou.

Our third stop was at the Monastery of Varlaam (9.00-16.00. Closed on Fridays. No photo or video allowed in the church or the museum). According to the tradition, the first inhabitant settled here about 600 years ago in 1350, his name was Varlaam and he was a contemporary of Saint Athanasios. The present magnificent Katholikon that is honored in memory of All Saints was erected in 1541-1542 by two brothers priests-monks from Ioannina – Theophanis and Nectarios Apsaras. However, the rest of the work in the church and the narthex continued until May 1544. According to the historical record, Theophanis, during his last days summoned up all his energy and went out of his cell to see the newly constructed church. Fascinated by it beauty and glamour, he glorified God and All Saints to whom he had devoted the church. Then he blessed all the monks who had worked in the monastery as quarrymen, builders, woodcarvers, for the completion and the illustration of the church and finally deeply satisfied and stirred, he returned to his cell where he died in peace.

The Katholikon of the Monastery has typical, elegant, Athonite style and its main church is two-columned, cruciform, inscribed with the two typical niches of Mount Athos. The nave was decorated in 1548 and even though the name of the painter isn’t know, it is concluded to be that of the Theban painter Frangos Katelanos. On the cupola, there is a representation of Pantokrator (All-Mighty) as a Fair Judge, in the tympanum where is the honorary chorus of the prophets and angels, on the pendentives the four Evangelists, of whom Luke is depicted to paint an icon of the Virgin Mary. On the west wall above the entrance is the established representation of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the center of which is predominated by her lifeless body on the death bed, while Lord is gently holding her pure soul flanked by angles and apostles. On the east columns of the sides of the iconostasis, a full-bodied Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ are depicted richly decorated and with crowns over their heads. Below the Virgin Mary, there is Theophanis and below the Christ, Nectarios, the two founders of the monastery in monastic frocks looking humble and venerable, offering an exquisite model of their church.

18 years after the painting of the nave, in 1566, the narthex of Katholikon was painted by two famous iconographers from Thebes, George and Frangos Kontaris. On the cupola, there is a representation of the Lord of the Universe, on the east wall – the multi-figured composition of the Second Coming, while on the west wall the impressive allegorical painting of the ascetic Saint Sisoes, lamenting on the open tomb which bears the skeleton of the glorious Alexander the Great the Conqueror of the World, symbolizes the vanity of the worldly life and the cruel inevitable destiny of every human being without exception which is death: “All the things that the humans have, things that do not exist after death are futile. Wealth is not eternal, glory is not permanently a part of man. That is, when death comes, all these disappear…”

According to the inscription on the wall, in 1780-1782, all the paintings of the sanctuary of the Katholikon and the narthex were restored with the help and at the expense of Parthenios. He was a well-known scholar and energetic bishop, who has been a monk of this monastery and a great donor. Among others, he donated to the monastery his remarkable personal archive and all his library. Today the Varlaam Monastery has a rich and admirable collection of 290 manuscripts. In 1857, the narthex was renovated once more and finally replaced by the present outer-narthex with the guests’ quarters on the upper floor.

A portable icon of particular artistic value is Theotokos Vrefokratousa (Virgin Mary holding the child in her arms) surrounded by two angels and many saints made in 1668, by the famous Cretan painter Emmanuel Tzane. Of great importance, besides its artistic value, is the gold embroidered Epitaphios on green velvet tissue, a work of 1609 which proves that the monastery had a specialized workshop of gold embroidery.

On the northwest edge of the rock is situated the single nave chapel of the Three Hierarchs, which, according to its inscription, was built in 1627 and decorated in 1637 by Ioannis the priest from Kalambaka and his children. The paintings are very well preserved and they constitute a characteristic artistic complex of the first half of the 17th century. Very interesting is the presentation of the 24 “Oikoi” of the Virgin Mary and very impressive, on the west wall are two multi-figured compositions, on the right the Dormition of St. John Chrysostom and on the left the Dormition of St. Ephraim from Syria. The modern chapel replaced the old humble one which had originally been built by the first inhabitant of the rock. In the monastery of Varlaam, other remarkable buildings are: the Old Refectory (dining room), that has been renovated in 2000, painted and restored to its initial use; the Hestia or kitchen, one of the most elegant buildings with a vaulted roof and a perfect eight-sided cupola as a chimney; and the hospital.

Another significant building is the Sanctuary, which was built in 1998. Inside, there are exhibited the heirlooms of the monastery. Next to the sanctuary, there is a small chapel of Sts. Anargyroi (Unmercenaries).

The fourth monastery we visited, was the oldest, largest and the most formal of them all – The Holy Monastery of the Great Meteoron (Transfiguration) (9.00-17.00, closed on Tuesdays). Perched on the most imposing rock, 613 m above sea level, it occupies a commanding position among the monastic complex of Meteora. The Meteoron was founded shortly before the middle of the 14th century by Saint Athanasios the Meteorite, who was also the first to organize a systematic monastic community. St. Athanasios, the son of eminent parents was born at Hypati, the well-known medieval town of Nea Patra, in 1302 and was christened Andronikos. After an untimely death of his both parents and the capture of his home town by the Catalans in 1318, his uncle and he went to Mount Athos but he wasn’t allowed to stay there due to his young age. Restless and dynamic Andronikos set forth on new wanderings and adventures which eventually brought him to Constantinople where he made the acquaintance of erudite ecclesiastical men of letter such as Gregory Sinaitis (the future Ecumenical Patriarch Isidoros) and Daniel Hesychast. With their help he was initiated into the secrets of the hesychastic life and soon, after a trip to Crete, he returned to Mount Athos in 1332. At Milea on the Holy Mountain he was accepted as a novice by two virtuous anchorites – Gregory and Moses – taking a new and permanent monastic name Athanasios.

However, the incursions of the Turks forced Athanasios to leave Mount Athos and together with his spiritual father Gregory, to settle in the Thessalian rocks of Stagoi. Seeking more seclusion and with a permission from Gregory, Athanasios withdrew to the cave where he prayed in solitude and spent his free time weaving baskets so that he would never be idle and thus safe from the danger of falling into temptation. Later on, he selected another rock “a place for anchorites, a rock which rose high into the skies” where he permanently settled in around 1340. The rock was called Platylithos (Wide Rock) but Athanasios called it Meteoron, a name that was going to be preserved through the centuries and be applied in general to the whole complex of the surrounding monasteries and crags and become known far beyond the borders of Greece.

On that rock, Athanasios built his ascetic refuge and organized the first systematic monastic community which had strict coenobiotic religious rules. The brotherhood had 14 members who initially built the church of the Theometor (Mother of God, the Virgin on the Rock of Meteoron) to whom Athanasios also dedicated the monastery. Later, he built another church in honor of the Transfiguration of Christ, which finally became the Katholikon of the monastery and gave the monastery its present name. Nowadays, as you climb up the rock-hewn stairways to the monastery, on the left, just before the entrance, you can see the hermitage of St. Athanasios within the natural crevice in the rock arranged as a humble and basic dwelling with the essential tiny chapel. Here, the ascetic hermit first lived alone after he scaled the “Wide Rock” and before he built a church and cells for the monks. Extremely humble, as Athanasios had been all his life, he remained an ordinary monk. Perhaps due to his extreme humility he didn’t leave any written texts although he was very knowledgeable and well-educated. According to his biographer, he died peacefully after a brief illness of the gallbladder at the age of 78 in 1380.

His successor and the second founder of the Monastery was the ascetic monk Ioasaph, the former king Ioannis Uresis (Uros) Angelos Komninos Palaeologos. Born in 1349-1350 as a son of the Greek-Serbian king of Thessaly, since the early age he rejected the temporal power and the din of the world and exchanged the royal purple for a monk’s habit. With his arrival, the monastery acquired all his wealth, becoming the richest and most powerful in Meteora. According to official inscriptions of the monastery, in 1387-1388, Ioasaph enlarged and rebuilt the original church erected by Athanasios, transforming it into a magnificent edifice. This is the church-shaped sanctuary of the present Katholikon of the monastery which is embellished with exquisite wall-paintings from 1483. In 1389 Ioasaph contributed to the foundation and promotion of Hypsiloreta Monastery, the so-called “of the Calligraphers” on the inaccessible steep rock opposite to the Great Meteoron.

During the second decade of the 16th century, when Neagoe Basarab was Voevode (ruler) of Vlachia (1512-1521), this dynamic and pious prince constructed at his own expense a tower and an ascension ladder for the monastery. The monastery flourished in the middle of the 16th century, benefiting from all the privileges and absolute autonomy. The magnificent nave and the lite of the present impressive Katholikon was erected in 1544. Architecturally the church is of the Athonite type, cruciform, four-columned with two lateral niches to the left and right. In 1557 energetic Abbot Symeon built the refectory, an interesting and important structure divided into two aisles by 5 columns down its length and with technically remarkable brick-built arches, cross-vaults and barrel vaults on the roof. On account of all these activities the Epirote Abbot is considered as the third founder of the monastery. In July 1572, according to a clay inscription, the monastery infirmary and geriatric facility was built. It is a noteworthy architectural structure with an elegant brick-built ceiling on the ground floor, the central vault of which rests on four columns and has eight lateral cross-vaults.

Among the former Abbots who left their indelible marks on the monastery, an outstanding figure is Pathenios Orphides the “most musical” and “cantor” in the late of the 18th – beginning of the 19th century. He is repeatedly mentioned in inscriptions as renovator and donor of icons in the chapel of St. John the Baptist (1784), in the iconostasis of the Katholikon of the monastery (1790) and in the chapel of Sts. Constantine and Helen, which was erected in his days (1789). Finally on his initiative and at his own expense a new wing of cells was built. In 1809, the Abbot Parthenios Orphides was incarcerated in the Pasha’s dungeon because the Great Meteoron Monastery, like all the other monasteries, had encouraged and supported the patriotic movement. For this reason many monasteries in Meteora suffered (or have been totally erased) from the vengeful wrath of the heinous tyrant of Ioannina.

The monastery has two old chapels. The chapel of St. John the Baptist with vaulted interior and saddled roof, nowadays has the form of a small single aisled church of the end of the 18th century indicative of other functions, possibly dating back to the days of the holy founders Athanasios and Ioasaph. It was probably arranged as a chapel at the beginning of the 17th century. It stands at the east edge of the southern side of the Katholikon. The chapel of Sts. Constantine and Helen is also a small single aisled church of the end of the 18th century with a lovely cupola of the Katholikon. According to the old inscription it was erected in March 1789 when Partheniios Orphides was the Abbot. It stands on the west of the Katholikon.

In the monastery there are also two new chapels. The one is dedicated to Saint Nectarios, it is located on the ground floor of the renovated north-west wing of the cells and it is decorated with new artful wall paintings. The second chapel is located at the south-west of the Katholikon, it is dedicated to Saint John, the writer of the “Klimax” and to Saint equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, the Russian Queen, and it is used as a church for the reposed.

Lots of catastrophes hit the Great Meteoron Monastery throughout the centuries such as “incursions of the impious and ungodly (Turks) who stole, looted and set on fire in the year 1609”. In 1616 on Good Friday, the Monastery was cruelly looted and four monks were killed by the Pasha of Ioannina Arslan-Bei. Yet, the Great Meteoron, through endless adventures and persecutions during the last six centuries, continued uninterruptedly its monastic presence and radiance and kept an important part of its treasures and priceless national and religious heirlooms. For all this time, the monastery remain a true bastion of the Orthodox believes and traditions.

The Great Meteoron Monastery is decorated with the greatest wall paintings and frescoes in Katholikon (pay attention to the Martyrdom of Saints) as well as portable icons (including two donated by Maria Palaeologina in the 14th century). It owns a collection of 640 manuscripts dating from the 9th – 19th centuries, documents of Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods as well as editions. The wood-carved iconostasis on their own are masterpieces of art and along with other wooden decorations require special attention. Gold embroidery and silver objects are also very well represented in the Monastery and its several museums.

Of all the monasteries in Meteora, The Monastery of the Holy Trinity (9.00-17.00, closed on Thursdays) has the most remote feel and the longest approach. However, it is well compensated by the magnificent views – on the south, at the feet of the rock is lying the town of Kalambaka with the river Peneios flowing peacefully. On the west, the Monastery of Varlaam is discerned and a little further, the Monastery of the Great Meteoron. On the east, very near, there is the Monastery of St. Stephen.

In the past a rope ladder and the traditional net were used for the ascend on the rock. In 1925 during the bishopric of the Metropolitan Polycarpos and the abbacy of Nikanor Stathopoulos a chiseled staircase with 140 steps was constructed, which is the one the tourists use today. According to the tradition, the monastery was originally built in 1438 by monk Dometios, however, the decree of Symeon Uresis Palaeologos of 1362 already mentioned “Meteoron and Holy Trinity” hence, the monastery had existed already then. The present main church represents the original construction stage of the monastery and it is the most interesting of all buildings. It seems to be erected in 1475-1476 and represents a small two-columned cruciform church with a central cupola on its roof. The east side of the church, where is the three-sided sanctuary apse with a bilobed window has cloisonne masonry and rich ceramic decoration such as serrated fascias and other ornaments. On the lateral niches the masonry is simple. There is only one window on each side, so the nave is relatively dark. The cupola is polygonic with mono-lobed windows, plinth colonnettes and serrated fascias.

The present painting of the church is work of priest Antonios and his brother Nicholaos in 1741. Although, it is relatively recent, they continued the tradition of the fine post-Byzantine art. On the cupola Pantoktatos is represented and on the pendentives the four Evangelists one of whom, Luke, is represented to paint the icon of the Virgin Mary, as on the cupola of the Varlaam Monastery. Sadly, the old wood-carved iconostasis and many icons were stolen in 1979 and were replaced with the modern ones.

The ample vaulted esonarthex is a later addition to the nave. It was built in 1689 and decorated in 1692. In 1684 a small sacristy was added next to the sanctuary. The building complex of the monastery also includes a refectory, cells, reception rooms, tanks and other service rooms. Very interesting is the chapel of St. John the Baptist located right after the entrance to the monastery, on the left side along the corridor. It is a small circular church with a cupola, hewn on the rock and very well illustrated. It was built and painted in 1682, however, possibly it originally served as the hermitage of an ascetic.

Presently 124 manuscripts belong to the Monastery. A personal library of the scholar Paisios Klinovitis was donated to the monastery, however it was lost during the last war along with other precious heirlooms and holy vessels of the Monastery.

And at the very end of the road, 1.5 km beyond the Monastery of Trinity, we finally reached our last stop – The Monastery of St. Stephen (9.00-13.30 and 15.30-17.30, closed on Mondays). Situated right above Kalambaka, this is the only monastery that doesn’t require climbing steps as it is conveniently accessibly from the road by a small bridge.

Since 1961 this monastery was a nunnery (one of two in Meteora) with a large and active sisterhood, who along with the rich spiritual and charitable work, produced a remarkable renovating and building achievements, as well as the entrepreneurial acumen. Old tradition connects this monastery with female monasticism – the Swedish traveler Jonah Bjornstahl, who visited St. Stephen’s in 1779 noted the rumors that “at the beginning this monastery was for women who loved quietism but later became abandoned until it was re-inhabited by monks”.

The history of the early years of the monastery is lost in the past, covered by the mist of legends and traditions. The only proved evidence is the inscription carved on the rock near the outer entrance of the monastery, which was noticed and mentioned by old travelers in the beginning of last century. It is now lost but those who read it, said that it bore year 1191 and a name of “Jeremiah”. Two are for sure the founders of the monastery: first the Archimandrite Saint Antony – around 1st half of the 15th century, whom a later tradition connects with the glorious Byzantine family of Kantakouzenos, and the second – the priest-monk Saint Filotheos from Sthlataina, who lived around the middle of the 16th century.

Shortly before 1545, Saint Filotheos renovated or rebuilt from its foundation the old small and elegant Katholikon of the monastery, the church of St. Stephen originally dated to 14th-15th centuries. He also built cells for the monks and other useful constructions, supplied monastery with ecclesiastical vessels and manuscripts and finally established the coenobitic life to the brotherhood. As of 1545, the monastery existed independently and possessed all the privileges. The small St. Stephen’s church is a single-aisled basilica with a wooden roof and an esonarthex separated from the nave by a three-arched opening, similar to the early Christian basilicas, where the nave communicated with the narthex. In or around 1545, the church was decorated (by the priest and painter Nicholaos from Kastraki) with the wall-paintings which today represent an interesting example of the meta-byzantine hagiography.

In 1798 when Paisios Klenovitis was the bishop of Stagoi and when Amvrosios was the Abbot of the monastery, the present Katholikon was built in honor of St. Charalambos whose skull is kept as a holy treasure, a priceless gift from the sovereign of Vlachia Vladislav and the relative of the great vornic Dragomit. It must be noted that from the late 14th – beg. 16th century, the monastery had very tight relationships with the Romanian Royal House of Vlachia, who constructed and devoted to the monastery a chapel in Romania, and donated holy relics, vessels, sacred vestment etc. The new Katholikon imitates the architectural style of Mount Athos. The main church is inscribed, cruciform, four-columned with two lateral niches to the right and left, the choirs; an ample esonarthex-lite precedes which has four columns in the center to support the roof. Remarkable and impressive are the high and narrow cupolas, the central one (which is the largest) of the nave and two smaller of the sanctuary over the offertory and the diaconical. On the north outer side of the church wall, there is the addition of the arched porch-outer-narthex which according to inscription was built in the beginning of the 19th century. St. Charalambos Katholikon had no old wall paintings except for the Pantokrator which was destroyed in 1945 together with cupola, thus today’s sisterhood entrusted the decoration of the Katholikon to Korinthian painter-mosaic maker-iconographer Vlasios Tsotsanis who is in process of creating the paintings equally beautiful and worthy of admiration.

In 1857 Abbot Constantine from Kalambaka erected the refectory of the monastery and many other buildings near the small old church of St. Stephen. Very important was his contribution to the education at those difficult times. At his own expense, the Konstantios Elementary School of Kalambaka was built which paved the way to the monasteries great tradition in educating local children and orphans.

In the last years, the monastery was actively reconstructing and renovating its buildings, adding two new chapels  – one is dedicated to the Holy Protection of the Virgin Mary and another is dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and St. Claudine, the Martyr. Both chapels are adorned with wood carvings by the famous Panagiotes Kyritsis.

In the monastery are kept 147 manuscripts, a lot of which are ornated with miniatures of fine artistry, elaborated headpieces and colorful decorative initials. Among the most remarkable manuscripts exposed in the museum, four folios in vellum of the 16th-17th century are very important for their paleographic value including extracts from St. Matthew’s Gospel in majuscule script. In the old refectory which is rearranged into a museum, are exposed many precious heirlooms of the monastery such as post-byzantine portable icons, gold embroidered vestments, wood carved and of silver casing crosses, elaborate silver pieces of art cincences, communion cups etc.

We spent over 8 hours in Meteora, visiting 6 of its surviving monasteries, admiring the incredible wall-paintings and church relics of the monastery museums, climbing over 100 flights of steps, fighting crowds and the only regret I had was not having a guide! It is a beautiful and breath-taking place, but if I were to go back again, I would definitely hire a knowledgeable person to come with us. Luckily, Meteora is one of the most popular destinations among Russian tourists, so I got to “hang out” with Russian groups and listen to their guides, which was immensely helpful.

After another exhausting day, we had to drive another 1.45 hours (100 kms) to Ioannina, where we were to meet D. mom and brother with his family. It was an emotional meeting, with lots of gifts on their behalf and lots of “thanks” on mine. We spent the evening munching on delicious homemade food and drinking some local moonshine that tasted like vinegar. Oh well…..

Pictures of Meteora.

The post Meteora, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Today, D. and I started our road trip around Greece and on our first day, we planned to visit 3 places:

1. Thiva (also called Thebes) – the birthplace of Hercules and Dionysus, once the most powerful city-state in Greece
2. Delphi – one of the most famous and influential places of Ancient world, where Oracle of Delphi prophesied the future of the kings
3. Thermopylae – where the infamous battle of 300 Spartans with the army of Persian king Xerxes I took place in 480 BC. This historical event served as a plot for the “300” movie by Zac Snyder.

Night we planned to spend in Kalabaka, at the foothill of Meteora site.

We started our drive very early in the morning and about an hour later (88 km from Chalandri) we arrived to Thiva. One of the world’s longest inhabited city, its history goes back for 5 millennia; it was an important Mycenaean center in the middle of the Bronze Age and a very powerful city-state during the Classical period. The city participated in Persian and Peloponnesian wars and in the early 4th century BC it became the most powerful city in Greece.

You won’t find a single place in Greece that won’t have a mythological reference, Thiva (Thebes) is not an exception. Actually, there are several myths associated with the city. In mythology, the city was founded by a Phoenician king from Tyre (now in Lebanon) Cadmus, son of Agenor, brother of Europa, and ancestor of Oedipus. The myth says that after killing a giant serpent (or dragon) which Ares had sent to protect the Areia Spring, Athena instructed Cadmus to sow the serpent’s teeth into the ground from which sprang up warriors who would found the city of Thebes.  Also, according to Herodotus, it was Cadmus who introduced the Phoenician alphabet to Greece and built the Acropolis, named the Cadmeia in his honor, that became an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center.

Thebes was, according to legend, the birthplace of the mythological pan-Hellenic hero Hercules. It was also the place where the Sphinx – a mythical creature with a woman’s head and a winged lion’s body – appeared to terrorize the area until her riddle was solved. She asked passersby to identify the creature that might have two, three, or four feet, could move in air, water, and on land, and moved slower the more feet it had. Oedipus solved the riddle (which was “man”) and in a rage the Sphinx leapt to her death from the Camdeia. Another mythological story connected to the city is the legendary expedition of The Seven Against Thebes (and subject of the play of the same name by the 5th century BC tragedian, Aeschylus), but list of myths doesn’t end here.

Strategically situated on a low plateau of Boeotia, Thiva was first inhabited around 3000 BC. From 2500 BC there is evidence of food and wool production and storage. Trade, both local and further afield, is suggested by the presence of precious goods such as gold, silver, ivory, and Cycladic influenced stone vessels. From 2000 BC the site expanded with the first presence of stone cists and pits for burials and shaft graves which contained precious objects. From 1700 BC the settlement became more populous, and the site reached its Bronze Age peak during the Mycenaean period. There is evidence of palatial buildings of two stories and with wall paintings, greater fortifications (probably of a Cyclopean nature and referred to in Homer’s Iliad), workshops (especially for jewelry), and stone-built aqueducts with terracotta pipes. Clay Linear B tablets and seals suggest the site was an important trading centre in olive oil, wood, livestock, wool, and leather goods. The end of this period is marked by evidence of earthquake and fire damage.

Following the Dark Ages in Greece (c.1100 to 700 BC), Thiva re-emerged as an influential Greek city-state and for the next four centuries the city would be a constant rival to Athens and Sparta for regional dominance. In 480 BC Thebes sided with Persia when Xerxes invaded Greece (though a contingent of 400 was sent to Thermopylae and remained there alongside the Spartans to the end), and the city was a major protagonist in the Peloponnesian War from 431 to 404 BC, siding with Sparta against Athens (yet in 403 BC they secretly supported the restoration of democracy in Athens in order to find in it a counterpoise against Sparta).

In the 4th century BC, two Theban leaders achieved long lasting fame: Pelopidas, who was the subject of one of Plutarch’s Lives, and the brilliant military strategist and student of philosophy, Epaminondas. These two generals, Pelopidas campaigning in central and northern Greece and Epaminondas in the Peloponnese, were largely responsible for Thiva’s greatest period of regional dominance.

An unusual feature of the Theban army was the Sacred Band of Thebes. This was a military corps founded by Gorgidas and consisting of 300 infantrymen linked in homoerotic pairs, the idea was that soldiers would fight better if their lover were at their side. The Sacred Band, used for the first time as an independent unit by Pelopidas, defeated the Spartans at the Battle of Tegyra in 375 BC. Even more decisive was the Battle of Leuktra in 371 BC, where the Spartans were roundly defeated and where the victory monument set up by the Thebans is still visible today. This was sweet revenge for Sparta’s imposition of a garrison at Thebes from 379 to 376 BC. Victorious, Thebes created a new Arcadian capital at Megalopolis and was now firmly established as the most powerful city-state in Greece. Incidentally, a young Philip II, the future king of Macedonia, was captured by Pelopidas whilst campaigning in Thessaly and taken hostage to democratic Thebes where he studied military tactics. The Sacred Band remained undefeated until 338 BC and the invasion of the Macedonians.

In 364 BC Pelopidas was killed (but victorious) in the Battle of Cynoskephalai. Two years later, Epaminondas fell in the Battle of Mantinea against a Spartan and Athenian led alliance. With the loss of their two great generals, Theban dominance began to wane and Sparta and Athens would become the two major players in Greece. In 338 BC Thebes joined old rivals Athens and Corinth in order to face the invading army of Philip II of Macedonia in the Battle of Chaeroneia. Thebes ended on the losing side, the city was destroyed by Alexander the Great – Philip’s II son (except for the house of the poet Pindar and the temples), and the population was sold into slavery.

After Alexander’s death, Thebes was re-established in 315 or 316 BC by Cassander, perhaps in his desire for fame, however the city-state never returned to its former prominence or power. From the 10th century, Thebes became a centre of the new silk trade and by the middle of the 12th century, the city had become the biggest producer of silks in the entire Byzantine empire, surpassing even Constantinople.  The Frankish dynasty de la Roche made Thiva its capital – the castle built by Nicholas II of Saint Omer on the Cadmeia was one of the most beautiful of Frankish Greece. Latin hegemony in Thebes lasted to 1458, when the Ottomans captured and retained it until the War of Independence in 1832.

The fact that the modern town lies directly upon the historical site has created difficulties in reconstructing an accurate history for the ancient city. It is also the reason why Thiva has so few vestiges of its prior glory, except for the archeological museum, which sadly was closed for renovation. However, as a history buff, I couldn’t skip this town, so we stop in the center for 30 minutes and wandered around.

From Thebes (100 km and 1.5 hours), our route took us to the place that enchanted me from childhood – Delphi  (book recommendations are here). Myth says that Zeus sent two eagles (one to the west and one to the east) in order to find the omphalos, or navel of Gaia (Mother Earth). The eagles met in Delphi, establishing the center of the world. Dominating the slops of Parnassus, for over a thousand years this picturesque site played the most important role in deciding the destinies of the states, kings and regular people. It met its visitors with a statement “Know Thyself” inscribed on the Temple of Apollo, a warning or even a threat that Pythia’s Oracle won’t be understood unless you know who you really are. It is still very much a mystery place!

In remotest antiquity the site was perhaps of only limited importance, however, in Mycenaean times, from 1400 BC, Delphi, the “rocky Pytho” of Homer, was a sanctuary of a female deity Ge, who gave oracles through prophetess. Mycenaean Delphi was destroyed by a rock fall towards the end of the Bronze Age. Delphi prospered again in the 8th century BC when it was for the first time associated with the cult of Apollo. According to the Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo, on this site Apollo killed the Pytho, a female serpent who guarded the prophetic spring Kassotis. He built his first temple in a wooden grove at Delphi and gave oracles in the shrine of Ge through a Pythia (priestess), who sat bound at the mouth of a chasm in the earth from which “vapors” arose. The first priests of Apollo were Cretans whom Apollo, disguised as a dolphin (hence the name – Delphi) guided to this place from a sea voyage. After seeing this barren rocky place, marines appealed to Apollo worried that they wouldn’t be able to survive here, where the god replied that they would live effortlessly from the offerings of his worshippers and surely they did! In the mid-8th century BC the brothers Trophonios and Agemedes, who were famous for their exploits, built the first ashlar masonry temple of Apollo.

Later in the blog I will describe in more details the buildings and traditions associated with Delphi, but now, I would like to spend more time talking about what made Delphi so famous – the Oracle of Delphi. Greek mythology speaks of many prophets (such as the Oracle of Dedona, Pyrkooi, Amphictyon etc), however, no sanctuary surpassed Delphi in reputation, wealth and power, and not only in Greece but through all the then-known world. Apollo himself spoke through the Pythia. Originally it happened only once a year, probably during Apollo’s birthday in Feb-March. From the 6th century BC onwards (as the popularity and demand increased), the Oracle prophesied on the 7th day of every month, except for the 3 winter months when Apollo, according to the myth, left the sanctuary and Dionysus (god of wine and revelry) took over his place. Originally, the Pythia was a woman over 50 y.o. who left her family to enter the service of Apollo and lived in a special dwelling in the sanctuary. She didn’t have to be rich, from a good family or particular beautiful. Once the patronage and the reputation of the Oracle increased, two more Pythias were added. In addition, cities that had a permanent representative at Delphi were given the privilege of promanteia, which meant that they could consult the Oracle on any day if “the gods were willing”.

The ceremony went in the following order. At daybreak, the Pythia would go to the Kastalian Spring to purify herself, she would drink from the other sacred spring Kassotis and chew laurel. Priests would ceremoniously escort her to the inner shrine (adyton) of the temple of Apollo. The Pythia would sit on the sacred tripod (the chair of Apollo), by the mouth of chasm at the site of the omphalos. The visitor first paid for the service of Oracle, then drew a lot for order of preference and waited for his turn around the outside altar. When his turn came, he would be brought to a special seat at adyton and seated behind the curtain without seeing the Pythia. He would ask her a question (either in written or oral form) through one of the priests who would read it to the Pythia. She, hypnotized or drugged by the vapors coming from the fissure in the ground, would reply in incoherent words, incomprehensible shouts and shrieks which the priests would interpret into hexameters, write them down and give them to the visitor. (It has been speculated that a gas high in ethylene, known to produce violent trances, came out of this fissure, though this theory remains debatable). The ambiguous answer was interpreted by the visitor as it pleased him and, only if the future turned out otherwise, did he see the true answer. One of the most famous oracles is the reply to Croesus, king of Lydia, who asked if he would defeat the Persians. The Oracle replied “If Croesus crosses the River Halys, a great power will be destroyed”. Croesus interpreted the oracle in his favor, crossed the river between Lydia and Persia with a great army and was defeated. The Oracle had been right again.

Important to mention that Delphi was also famous for its Pythian Games, that took place every 4 years in the end of August. It lasted 7 days and was very different from other Games, as besides having the “traditional” sport contests, they also held drama and musical competitions. Winners were prized with the laurel crowns and the right to set up their statue in the sanctuary.

Since the 8th century BC Delphi exerted considerable influence throughout the Greek world (and even Egypt), and the Oracle was consulted before all major undertakings: wars, the founding of colonies, before entering marriages and so forth. Despite the raid from Sulla and Nero, the site relatively flourished till the time of emperor Hadrian, who is believed to have visited the oracle twice. By the 4th century BC, Constantine the Great looted several monuments, most notably the Tripod of Plataea, which he used to decorate his new capital, Constantinople. Despite the rise of Christianity across the Roman Empire, the oracle remained an active pagan centre throughout the 4th century. Hagiography has it that in 362, on behalf of his emperor Julian the Apostate, Oribasius visited the Delphic oracle, now in a rather desolate state, offering his emperor’s services to the temple and, in return, receiving one of the last prophecies by the Delphic Pythia:

Tell the emperor that my hall has fallen to the ground. Phoibos no longer has his house, nor his mantic bay, nor his prophetic spring; the water has dried up.

The Pythian Games continued to be held at least until 424, however, the decline was inevitable. The site was completely abandoned in the 6th or 7th centuries and the small and insignificant village of Kastri was founded on the site.

The large archeological site of Delphi is divided in two by the Spring of Kastalia. The east side is the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, the Gymnasium, the east cemetery etc. and the west side is the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Stadium, the ruins of the city and the museum. Excavated in the later 19th century by the French Archeological School, it is on the list of the UNESCO- protected World Heritage Monuments. Entrance fee is €9, please allow yourself at least 3-4 hours. It is not longer the sacred place, but please remember to be respectful of the site and its sanctity.

We parked along the road by the Kastalian Spring. The purifying water of the spring gushed from the slopes of the Phaedrida, called Hyampeia in antiquity, and flowed into a narrow gorge, where myth had it that the dread guardian of the oracle Pytho(n), the son of Earth, had its lair. The stone fountain of the same name was built along the side of the road that led to the precinct of Apollo in the early 6th century BC. It supplied the sacred oracle with water, which served for the purification of both priests and faithful who entered the sanctuary. During the long use over the century, the Kastalia spring of the Archaic period which is mentioned by Herodotus, Pindar and many other poets, underwent many repairs and alterations. In the present day, it consists of a rectangular basin divided into a central and two side chambers. The facade of the central chamber was decorated with semi-columns and four (or seven) bronze lion-dead spouts. In the 1st century BC, the archaic fountain was replaced by another construction deep in the rock, at a distance of about 50 m from the earlier one. The niches above the basin, which were rock-hewn, received minor votives by pilgrims, normally figurines offered to the water-nymph Kastalia. During the Ottoman period, one of the three large niches was converted into the apses of a small church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Even today, the cold and clean waters of the Kastalian spring continue to flow from a smaller and to be sure less impressive fountain.

We decided to check out the Sanctuary of Apollo first. The area is located on a steep slope at the base of the western Phaedriada, today called Rodini. It is believed that Ge was originally worshipped at the same site, which was later connected to the cult of Apollo and the role played by the Oracle. The site of the sanctuary was surrounded by a built enclosure wall in which entrance gates were opened on the east and west. Throughout its history the city expanded multiple times and so did the walls. The first stone temple of Apollo and most of the treasuries (the small, temple-shaped buildings that housed votives by cities in memory of military victories and noble deeds) were erected in the 6th century BC. The elegant Treasury of the Siphnians, the restored Treasury of the Athenians, the treasuries of the Corinthians, Megarians, Boeotians were all built in the 6th century BC. The nuclei of spatial arrangement in the precinct were primary the Temple of Apollo and the Sacred Way, which after starting from the main entrance in the south-east corner of the enclosure, followed the winding course to terminate at the temple in front of the large altar, a Chiot votive. Over time, hundreds of valuable votives were set up along the road, including statues of gods and mortals, tripods and other works of art mounted on inscribed bases, columns and stelai, giving the precinct the appearance of a unique open-air museum even in antiquity. Today, only a few of these are preserved. The enclosure wall was extended northward to include the theater, built on steeply sloping ground. The city’s ancient Stadium is 500 m beyond the sanctuary but accessible via a small ascending path. The city must have been fabulous when all the buildings were still standing surrounded by the wall of Apollo, however, it still took my breath away the moment I stepped on the Sacred Way.

The sanctuary of Apollo was accessed through 5 small entrances, the main entrance and beginning of the Sacred Way, over which the processions for the Pythian Games and other celebration passed, were at the site were the Roman Agora was built (p.1). The tiled square outside the main entrance betrays its Roman construction, especially on the north side where there were shops at the back of the Ionic stoa, in which visitors and suppliants could buy small offerings to Apollo, such as figurines, small vases, tripods etc. Plinths and bases, some of which are preserved, supported statues of Roman emperors and other important people. The columns of the stoa have been restored (1977) and marble architectural fragments have been assembled in the stoa and shops.

The messengers sent to inquire of the oracle entered the sanctuary just as we did after being purified in the Kastalian spring. Cities-states throughout Greece erected buildings and statues dedicated to Apollo on either side of the Sacred Way. Today, only bases are preserved, together with a wealth of inscriptions that makes the Delphic sanctuary the largest open-air library of authentic ancient texts. Among the most important monuments at the start of the Sacred Way were:

• Cercyraian Bull (p.1a). According to Pausanias (a 2nd century AD traveler), a bull in Corfu (then – Cercyra) left his field every day to go down to the sea and to bellow on the shore. Once a herdsmen noticed that and followed the bull, he saw plenty of small fish in the sea but neither him nor his people were able to catch the fish. Finally they sent a messenger to Delphi with a question of what they should do and Pythia told them to sacrifice the bull to the gods of the sea. Once they did it, they were able to catch all the fish and sell it at a vast profit. With a tenth of it they built two bronze bulls as the gifts to Delphi and Olympia.
• nine bronze statues dedicated by the Arcadians after they plundered Laconia in 370 BC (p.2)
• the votives of the Spartan admirals (38 in total) following their victory over the Athenians in 404 BC (p.3)
• 13 bronze statues of the Athenians following the glorious historic victory over the Persians in Marathon (p.5)
• the votive of the city of Argos to glorify its victory over the Spartans in 457 BC, etc. (p.7)

If you look back at the first turn of the Sacred Way, you can imagine the street that must have contained over a hundred bronze statues of gods, demi-gods, mythical representations and historical personalities, generals, admirals, a bull, the Trojan horse, groups of equestrian fighters and, probably, many other offerings which have disappeared. They must have presented a wonderful picture of Greek mythology, religion, history and art.

One of the monuments to watch out for along the Sacred way is the sacred omphalos of Delphi (p.28a) which, according to the myth, was thrown by Zeus once he established the center of the world. As I mentioned earlier, omphalos, together with a sacred tripod and a prophetic laurel were in the adyton of the Temple of Apollo, where the Pythia pronounced her oracles. Beneath the omphalos was the tomb of Pytho(n), son of the first prophetess Gaia, or that of Dionysus, the sanctuary’s second god. The omphalos was covered with a woolen net with attached bands of wood, called the agrenon. According to Pausanias, at the points where the bands were tied between them were precious stones carved in the shape of gorgons, while two golden eagles were affixed to its top. There were many copies of the sacred omphalos at the sanctuary, among them the one in the middle of the Sacred Way (the original one is in the Museum of Delphi).

At this point a small square, like a stair landing, is made by the Sacred Way turning a corner, while another flatter road comes from the south gate of the temple. We are at the ruins of the Sicyonian and Siphnian Treasuries. I mentioned earlier that the treasuries were small temple-shaped buildings dedicated by the Greek city-states and their colonies at sanctuaries. They often housed precious votives of the cities that had dedicated them. The Sicyonian (also called Sikyonian) Treasury (p.16) was built around 500 BC out of porous stone and in Doric order. Excavations showed that two earlier buildings were found at the treasury’s foundation, one of these buildings is dated to around 580 BC and would have been circular in plan (a tholos); the second, dated to 560 BC was rectangular in plan with surrounding columns. Five relief metopes displaying mythological subjects, a superb example of 6th century BC sculpture, belonged to the latter building and today are on display in the Museum of Delphi. It is thought that this building was erected to house the chariot of the tyrant of Sicyon, Cleisthenes, who had been victorious in the first Pythian Games in 582 BC.

The Siphnian Treasury was one of most beautiful buildings at Delphi. According to Herodotus and Pausanias, the treasury was built with the dekate, i.e one-tenth of the income from the exploitation of Siphnos‘ gold and silver mines. Apart from its foundations, it was built entirely of shining, transparent marble and stood out for its richness and elegance in the sanctuary of Apollo. Its facade is distinguished for its exceptional ornamental compositions. Two Korai, set between parastades (the ends of the side walls) on the western facade, supported the weight of its lavishly decorated entablature. The frieze with its masterful scenes surrounded the entire structure to a length of about 10 m, parts of which are still preserved in the Museum of Delphi.

After the Siphnian Treasury, we came to a large turn, the so-called “Crossroads of the Treasuries”, which is surrounded by the treasuries of many Greek cities. All of these, including the treasuries of the Boeotians, the Megarians and the Thebans, date to the late 6th century and early 5th century BC.

The Treasury of the Athenians (p.30) is one of the most famous offerings and, since its restoration in 2004, is perhaps the hallmark of the sanctuary of Delphi. Built of white Paros marble, it was dedicated to Apollo Pythios and commemorated either the establishment of Democracy in the city of Athens, following the collapse of the Peisistratid tyranny (510 BC) or the Athenian victory against the Persians at the battle of marathon (490 BC). But it is certain that Persian arms from this Athenian victory were displayed on a triangular base running along the south side. The small structure is of Doric order, with two columns between the facade pilasters. 30 relief metopes of its frieze represent the exploits of two celebrated heroes, Heracles and Theseus, as well as Amazonomachy (the original decorations are on the exhibit at the Museum). The walls of the Treasury were covered with numerous inscriptions, including two paeans to Apollo supplemented with the musical notation of the ancient melody on the south wall (138-128 BC). In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD the monument was used as the Delphi pawnbroker’s office, according to epigraphical sources.

Nearby are some of the oldest and most holy ruins at Delphi – Spring of Ge and the Rock of the Sibyl (p.35 and p. 36). The latter, known from Plutarch and Pausanias, must have fallen from the Phaidriades thousands of years ago and was believed to be a site where the first Sibyl began to give oracles when she came from Troy.

On the opposite side from the Rocks of Sibyl lies the Halos (p.37b), a building-free place used for Septeria, a religious drama which was held every eight years. Drama contained the reenactment of the god Apollo’s slaying of the serpent Pytho, performed by a boy whose both parents were alive. Taken by the members of the Labyades up the Doloneian stairs (p. 37a), the child would point to the serpent’s nest and the torchbearers would set it on fire. Then everyone had to leave without looking back, as Apollo did when he fled to Tempe to be purified. By this part of the Halos the chryselephantine objects, the silver bull and other finds were found under the paving of the Sacred Way in two pits in 1939.

Next to the Halos, the colossal Naxian Sphinx (p.41), mounted on an Ionic column 12 m in hight, rested on the base in the 6th century BC (today it is in the Museum). The Sphinx, which was connected with the myth of Oedipus (mentioned earlier in description of Thebes), was a mythical being of Eastern provenance. In ancient Greece, sphinxes were linked with tradition and primitive cults, and were frequently considered the guardians of tombs and sanctuaries.

On the same level looking towards the ascending Sacred Way is a long Stoa of the Athenians (p.42), built to house the trophies from the Athenian’s naval victories. It was 30 m long and 4 m wide and on its facade there were seven monolithic marble columns (four of which survived) holding a wooden roof. At its rear, the Stoa was supported by the polygonal retaining wall of the Temple of Apollo. It was built during the years 510-470 BC and had the inscription notes that the Athenians dedicated the stoa, the ropes from the boat and the prow figureheads to the god after defeating the Persians. The building appears to have been constructed with public funds to promote Athens’ important and leading role in the victory against the Persians.

The famous splendidly-preserved polygonal retaining wall of the Temple of Apollo was built in the 6th century BC, and for centuries provided support to the built terrace atop which the temple was erected. The blocks employed for the construction and their perfectly fitted curved joins comprised a remarkable whole of static precision, construction perfection and artistic sensitivity. Throughout the entire length of the wall, around 800 inscriptions, primarily manumission acts, have been carved.

Ascend the Sacred Way a little further where the probable base of the famous gold Tripod of Plataea (p.49a) stands. Athenians, after winning the battle of Plataea in 479 BC, spent 1/10th of their spoils to built a gold tripod supported on a bronze column 7.5 m tall in the form of a three-bodied serpent. The Phocians stole the gold tripod during the Third Sacred War (356 – 346 BC) and the column was carried off by Constantine the Great to Constantinople where it still stands in the Hippodrome today, engraved with the names of the cities that took part in the victorious battle against the Persians. Nearby, the equestrian statue of the Roman consul Aemilios Paulus (p.53), who defeated the king of Macedon Perseus at Pydna in 168 BC, was set atop a base about 12 m in length. The crowning element of the pedestal was adorned by a frieze that is considered to be the first historical relief and depicted scenes from the Battle of Pydna (the frieze is on display at the Museum). Another votive of Attalus (p.54) dates to the late 3rd century BC. This is a large Stoa, possibly two-storied, with ten Doric columns on the facade of each floor. In the 4th century AD it was converted into a cistern to supply the bath, located outside the precinct to the south, with water. Coming to the square in front of the Apollo Temple, Altar of the Chiots (p.60a) lies on the left. This large altar (8.6 by 5.10 m) was dedicated to Apollo in the 5th century BC, according to Herodotus and the inscription on it. Another inscription on the base of it informs us about the privilege of promanteia, i.e. Chios’ right to consult the oracle before other Greeks. The Altar was made from black marble, apart from the base and epistepsis which were made of white marble.

Since Temple of Apollo was the highlight of our visit, I left it for the end and proceeded further uphill. Right next to the Temple, there is the base of the acanthus column with dancers (p.68) This porous base supported an 11 m tall column with acanthus leaves decorating its body and its top. Three dancers (today at the Museum) crowned by a stone omphalos were depicted on the column (330 BC). To the east is an oblong base belonging to the Offering of Daochos II (p.70), the Thessalian tetrarch, who was a hieromnemon of the Delphian Amphictyonic League (336-332 BC) and a friend of Philip II of Macedon. The inscribed basis of nine statues is preserved, belonging to Apollo, the donor, his ancestors and his son. Next monument to the east is a horse-shoe shaped base (p.69) built for at least 18 marble statues dating to the 3rd century BC. It may have been a family votive. One of the statues portrays an elderly man, known as “the Delphi philosopher”. Higher still, attached to the north wall of the enclosure, are the remains of the famous Lesche of the Cnidians (Cnidian clubhouse) (p.77). In antiquity, lesches were places for assembling and discussions. This clubhouse was a rectangular hypostyle chamber with an area of around 180 sq m, dating to the first half of the 5th century BC. It was famous for its wall decorations painted by the renowned artist Polygnotus – Fall of Troy to the right of the entrance and the Odysseus’ Descent to Hades, to the left.

The theater (p.92) is the best preserved monument at the archeological site of Delphi and it testifies to the intellectual and cultural acme of Apollo’s sanctuary. It was constructed at an amphitheatrical location with a magnificent view to the valley of the Pleistos river. The Delphic theater hosted the musical and dramatic contests of the Pythian Games and other religious festivals. The original form of the edifice isn’t know; most probably the spectators sat on wooden seats or on the ground. The first stone-built theater was constructed in the 4th century BC. In 160-159 BC it was restored with the fund by Eumenes II, king of Pergamon. Its present form dates to the Early Roman period (1st century AD). The deep cavea had a seating capacity of 5,000 spectators. It was divided into two sections by a transverse corridor comprising altogether 35 rows of seats. Opposite to the cavea and the orchestra stood the stage flanked by two wings (paraskenia). Only the foundations of the stage survived today. Its facade was embellished with a relief frieze depicting the labors of Heracles, now in the Museum. The frieze was probably added during the restoration works in 67AD, at the time of the Roman emperor Nero’s visit to Delphi. Important to note that the inscriptions regarding the emancipation of slaves were embedded in parts of the theater walls. Frankly, if the site of the theater don’t impress you, I don’t know what else can!

On the north, beyond the enclosure wall, and a steep climb up, is the Stadium of Delphi which hosted the athletic contests of the Pythian religious festival. Initially, in the 5th century BC, a racing track was formed by leveling the ground; the spectators would sit on the ground. In the 2nd century AD, under Hadrian, the Stadium was ameliorated with funds of the wealthy Athenian Herodes Atticus (remember his theater on the south slop of the Acropolis?!): the marble seats (with backrest for the judges) for 7,000 spectators and the monumental three-arched entrance visible today were added at that time. The starting point and the finishing post of the track were marked by a row of stone slabs with square holes. It is estimated that 17 or 18 runners would compete in a race. The distance between the start and finish was one Pythian stade – 178.35 m. The monumental arched entrance at the east side of the Stadium, in front of the starting point of the racetrack, is unique in Greece. The arches were supported by pillars with niches for statues. Some of the events performed in the Stadium were the dolichos (a long-distance running race of 24 stades – appx. 4,280 m), the stadion (one-stade race), and diaulos (two-stade race) and the pentathlon, a complex competition which included race, wrestling, jump, discus and javelin throwing. The athletic contests were completed with the hoplite, a race of 2-4 stades, during which the athletes ran wearing only a helmet and greaves and carrying a shield.

A walk down gifts you with the most spectacular views of the site and surrounding mountains which are impossible to describe.

The Temple of Apollo (p.79), god of music, harmony and light, occupied the most important and prominent position in the Delphi Sanctuary. The edifice with the partially restored colonnade visible today, is dated to the 4th century BC; it is the third temple built at the same place. According to the prevailing theory, the famous Oracle prophesied from the room located on the bottom of the Temple so the sacred chasm emitting vapors could bring the Pythia to the state of delirium. According to myth, the foundations of the first temple (second half of the 7th century BC) were laid by Apollo himself. The construction of the second temple was completed in 514-506 BC with funds by the Athenian family of the Alcmaeonids. It was of Doric order with 6-columned narrow sides and 15-columned long sides. The east pediment of the temple of the Archaic ages depicted Apollo’s arrival at Delphi in triumph on his four-horse chariot. The west pediment depicted the battle between gods and giants. The sculpted decoration of its pediments was the work of the Athenian sculptor Antenor. This temple was destroyed during the strong earthquake of 373 BC. The later temple of Apollo, visible today, was inaugurated in 330 BC; it is attributed to the architect Spintharos from Corinth. It was also of Doric order with a peristyles (surrounding colonnade). Its east pediment of the 4th century BC was adorned by the figure of Apollo flanked by his mother Leto, his sister Artemis and the Muses. The west pediment, depicted the god Dionysus among his female votaries, the Thyiades. Persian shields taken as booty by the Athenians from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC were attached to the temple’s metopes along the Gallic shields, spoils of the repulse of Gauls during the 279 BC invasion. Inscribed on the walls of the pronaos (the porch before the temple cella), according to ancient writers, were the renown maxims of the Seven Sages – “Know thyself”, “Nothing to excess” and the enigmatic Delphic symbol “E”. Plutarch, when he was a priest at Delphi, wrote a while treatise on the meaning of “E” without making clear what it meant. There was also a bronze statue of Homer with the words of an oracle given to the blind poet on its base.

The sekos was divided in two: in front was an altar to Poseidon, the forerunner of Apollo, statues of two Fates of Zeus Moiragetes and Apollo Moiragetes. There was also an iron throne, on which Pindar sat, when he came to Delphi and sang hymns to Apollo. The inner part of the sekos, the adyton, I have described above. Pausanias said that the very few had the right of entry to the adyton where, among other things, the gold statue of Apollo was placed.

After 3 hours at the western site of ruins, we went back to check out the fantastic east site – The Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia –  where the goddess was worshipped as the patroness of wisdom, fertility and health. It lies below the precinct of Apollo, with an impressive backdrop formed by the “shining cliffs” of the Phaedriades and traditional olive groves. In contrast with the location where Sanctuary of Apollo was established, the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia even today continues to give the impression of a familiar, welcoming, and peaceful place. During antiquity the city of Delphi and its cemeteries developed in the area outside the precinct. As is often the case today, visitors to Delphi arriving to see the Oracle from Attica and Boeotia first encountered the sanctuary of Athena. It has been thought that the nickname “Pronaia” was given because the goddess was worshipped “before the temple of Apollo.” The use of the place dates back to the Mycenaean Age, as testified among other things by the finds of terracotta female statuettes. Research has not yet concluded whether these figurines are the remains from an earlier cult, perhaps of Ge (Earth), who was the first deity worshipped at Delphi, or if they come from Mycenaean cemeteries. The space continued to be used without interruption during the historical era. The architectural remains of temples, altars, treasuries and other buildings, surrounded by the precinct enclosure wall, are superb exampled of ancient Greek architecture. Sanctuary of Athenia Map.

In the eastern section there are preserved foundations of two Doric temples of Athena (p.1 and p.2), build of porous stone. The first one dates to the mid 7th century BC and the second to around 500 BC. This area is, as it is known today, the most ancient sacred place in Sanctuary. Remains of Mycenaean worship were found here and it was here too that one of the oldest and most magnificent Greek temples was built for Athena in about 650 BC. It was a poros peripteral in Doric order. Twelve of its capitals, of the earliest known Doric architecture, and parts of its columns were in the foundation of the second Archaic temple, which was built on top of it. They are now line up on the west side. The second Archaic temple (p.3) was peripteral, with six columns on its narrow sides and twelve on its long sides. Its interior was divided into two chambers, the pronaos (porch) and the cella, where the cult statue of the goddess stood. This temple was destroyed in the earthquake in 373 BC.

East of the second temple may be discerned the meager remains of two buildings attributed to the precinct of the local hero Phylakos. According to Herodotus, in 480 BC Phylakos and Autonoos, who was also a local hero, routed the Persians by hurling stones from the Phaidriades down on them. The sanctuary of Athena Pronaia’s important buildings also include two treasuries (p.4-5). One of them is Doric and dates to the 5th century BC. However, it is the second that is noteworthy, the so-called Treasury of the Massalians, the Greek colonists of Massalia (modern Marseilles) who came from Phocaea in Ionia. Masterfully built around 530 BC in the Ionic order of gleaming Parian marble, it had two columns on its facade with Aeolic capitals.

In front of the two treasuries are preserved the foundations of stelai on which were recorded confiscations and debts to the sanctuary, as well as the pedestal atop which the Delphic trophy for repulsing the Persians in 480 BC was mounted.

A series of various-sized altars, dating for the most part to the 6th century BC, attests to the cults of Zeus, Athena Ergane, Athena Zosteria, Eileithyia the goddess of childbirth and Hygieia. The sanctuary’s most imposting structure, the famous Tholos (p.6), with its three restored columns dominates the ruins of the precinct, as it must have in antiquity, because of its original circular appearance and the high standard of its decoration. It belongs to the decade 390-380 BC, a few years before the great earthquake, and its architect is thought to be Theodore from Phocaia in Asia Minor. The Tholos is 13.5 m in diameter and is built mostly of Pentelic marble on a crepis of three steps; twenty Deric columns outside supported the entablature and the lower roof. The metopes were decorated with sculptured reliefs of the Battles of Amazons and the Centaurs, while smaller metopes high on the outer wall, portrayed the exploits of Theseus and the Labors of Heracles. The purpose of the Tholos is unknown, however, it has been suggested that it served as a worship-place of a chthonic goddess, like the similar building in Olympia and earlier mentioned Tholos in Ancient Agora in Athens.

The later temple of Athena (p.7) was built to replace the Archaic temple in the mid 4th century BC in the western part of the precinct out of local grey limestone. It was 22.6 m by 11.55 m and its facade was decorated by six Doric columns, with no colonnade or any sort of decorations on the metopes.

On the west side of the temple, lay an older building (p.8), 12 m by 11 m, which consisted of two rooms of similar size. It dates to the Archaic period and thought to be the house of the priests.

Just ten meters to the west, there is the Gymnasium, and as you can imagine, there is a myth attached to this place. Apparently, Odysseus was gored in the leg by a boar, while hunting here with the sons of Autolykos, and his old wound enabled his maid, Eurykleia, to recognize him when he returned to Ithaca. So here, at the foot of Hyampeia, not far from the Kastalian spring, the young men of Delphi trained on a track renowned because of a Homeric hero, the wily Odysseus.

In ancient Greece the Gymnasium was used for many facets of education which are taught nowadays in schools. The area at Delphi was landscaped into two terraces with the palaestra on the lower level and the xystos on the upper. The palaestra is a building with a square inner court with eight columns a side holding up the roof of stoa. It contained the dressing rooms, training space for boxers and pankratiasts as well as a statue of one or more of the gods connected with the Gymnasium. On the west side of palaestra, you can still see a well-preserved bath where athletes could wash in cold water. The upper terrace hosted the xystos – the huge colonnaded racetrack running north-south which was longer than all the other buildings since it had to be about the length of a Delphic stade. The inner dimensions are 184.43 by 7.5 m. During Hellenistic times and later, the area of the Gymnasium was frequented by every type of teacher, poet, philosopher, orator, musician, etc… In the festival of the Eumeneia a torch race began from the Gymnasium and ended in front of the Temple of Apollo.

From the beginning of its existence, Delphi amassed a huge treasure collection, much of which is reflected in its magnificent Museum of Delphi. It plays a similar role to that of the Museum of the Acropolis in Athens, by completing the picture of Delphi and exhibiting the most valuable and important masterpieces. The principal theme of the display on the first floor is the history of the Delphic Sanctuary and the Oracle, and the finds are displayed as chronologically and thematically as possible. Several of the rooms are devoted to a group or groups of finds from a common provenance, such as from the Temple of Apollo, the Treasury of the Athenians, or the Tholos. The exhibit on the ground floor came from the city of Delphi and its cemeteries, which complements the picture of the site of Delphi. Museum has both, inside and outside exhibition areas. I won’t go over every item in the museum, but would like to point out just the major ones and the rooms where they can be found.

In the rooms I and II are assembled important finds illustrating the beginnings of the Delphic Sanctuary – fragments of Minoan rhytons, iron tripods, bronze shields and objects imported from Steve, Cyprus and the East, as well as bronze figurines, which served as individual votive offerings to the Temple of Apollo (such as one below of a small kouros, 7 century BC).

Room III is dominated by two Archaic kouroi (2.16 m high) standing besides each other, masterpieces of the Doric art of the Peloponnese and outstanding for their high artistry and historical importance. There is a great myth associated with those two statues, don’t forget to check it out. There are also several metopes and bronze sculptures worth seeing.

Room IV is devoted to the excavations done in the sacred pits with gold and ivory objects. They were accidentally discovered underneath of paving of the Sacred Way when the excavation of the Temple of Apollo was already completed, in 1939. The larger repository contained parts of three singular statues of natural size. In the second repository were the remains of a silver bull.Room V contains rare masterpieces of Archaic art from the islands of Aegean, notably the Naxian Sphynx and sculptural decorations of the Treasury of Siphnians, where the east frieze depicts the Trojan war, the north frieze depicts a Gigantomachy, west – the Judgement of Paris and the south is too poorly preserved to make a conclusion. Room also has two Caryatids, that served as columns of the Treasury’s facade.

Room VI contains the pedimental sculptures from the Temple of Apollo belonging to two different building phases.

Rooms VII-VIII contain the items found at the Treasury of the Athenians, notably the 24 (out of 30) best preserved metopes, showing the scenes of an Amazonomachy, Labors of Heracles and Exploits of Theseus. A uniquely singular exhibit in the same room is the fragments of hymns to Apollo which were incised on the south wall of the Treasury together with the notes for the vocal and instrumental accompaniment.

Room IX contains typical offerings of the 5th century BC (bronze statuettes, groups of athletes etc.), as well as the fragments of the sculptural decoration of the Treasury of Massalia, dating to 500 BC.

Room X contains parts of the sculptural decoration and architectural members of the Tholos, in particular, two Doric friezes of Parian marble.

Room XI represents the late classical- hellenistic period and is one of the most important rooms of the museum. It includes the multi-figural family votive offering of Daochos II from Pharsala, a marble acanthus column with three dancers on the top, the original marble omphalos symbolizing the center of the world and more.

Room XII has the sculptures of the late Hellenistic and Roman periods. It contains the circular marble altar of Athena Pronaia, where it was found shattered in pieces, one of the finest statues of Antinoos as well as the family dedication of the “philosopher”.

Room XIII houses one of the masterpieces of ancient Greek art, the Delphi Charioteer. The charioteer formed a part of the votive offering, the whole of which included the four-horse chariot he was driving. The chariot hid the lower part of his body, which is why the upper part now appears to be disproportionally large.

Room XIV exhibits finds which throw light on the changes that occurred in the Sanctuary with the transition from polytheism to Christianity and the demise of the Sanctuary. Here you can find the portrait-busts of philosophers and different inscriptions.

Sarcophagus, a part of a family funerary monuments, is exposed outside the Museum. It is dated to the second half of the 2nd century AD and is attributed to a workshop located in Athens. A female figure which probably depicts the deceased, is sculptured on the sarcophagus lid. The side walls depict the hunt of the Calydonian Boar, a particular popular legend in Antiquity. On the right side, appears a naked man with his horse, probably Maleager himself or one of the Dioscuri. On the main side we can see the hung of the wild boar and the dispute around its body. On the left side, Althaea, the mother of Meleager, throws a log in the fire. According to the legend, the hero would die when the log burning on the hearth was fully consumed. The west cemetery of Delphi extended in the area where the Museum stands but you can still walk around, it is a nice site that provides valuable insights into the daily life, customs and traditions of the town, which grew in the shadow of the famous Oracle.We spent the most rewarding 6 hours in Delphi and enjoyed every moment of it, not least due to a very nice overcast which protected us from the burning direct sun. Before proceeding with our journey, we stopped at one of the restaurants in town, the Delfiko Cafe, to have lunch. As always, it was simple, delicious and very inexpensive, as a bonus, the cafe offered great views of the valley below.

We drove for another 1.5 hours (85 km) through some wonderful weather patterns which entertained us with rain, sun, mixture of both, rainbows and … more rainbows.

Shortly, we reached the third site we planned to visit on our way – Thermopylae. The name means “hot sulphur springs” (and there are some in this area that you can visit now) and in antiquity it was a narrow coastal passage. Between 480 BC and the 21st century, the shoreline advanced by as much as 9 km in places, eliminating the narrowest points of the pass and considerably increasing the size of the plain around the outlet of the Spercheios River. You don’t have to be a history major to know why we made this small detour to see… nothing but a few statues and plaques in the middle of nowhere. Exactly! We came to see the NOWHERE, to feel it, to imagine it, to remember it.

In the year 480 BC in this sacred place was carried out the most astonishing and unequal battle between few Greeks and a million of Persians. The battle became a landmark in the World’s history. 300 Spartans and 700 hundreds Thespians under the orders of Leonidas, king of Sparta, decided to fight against the Persians and win or die defending the freedom of their country. According to Herodotus, the Persian army consisted of about 1,700,000 (new “reconsidered” number is 100,000 -150,000) solders under the command of King Xerxes I. According to the historical sources, the Persians asked the Spartans to give their arms up, but Leonidas replied to them with the heroic phrase, “Come and get them”. We know the sad end of this battle, but yet we came to pay a tribute to those brave men.

Even though, the site doesn’t have many monuments, it is still worth getting out of the car and taking a walk to the hill where everything took place, where blood did flow like a river and where men laid dead.

We planned to stay overnight at the hotel in Kastraki, a getaway to Meteora. Two hours later (160 km) we finally drove into this small city in darkness. I booked Doupiani House traditional hotel (€50 per night, breakfast included) which, according to reviews, had the best views of Meteora. Well, we had hard time finding the hotel (we had to call the reception a few times), but once we got there, we were pleasantly surprised. Don’t expect a 5* hotel or high-speed internet (which, we frankly didn’t encounter anywhere in Greece), or impeccable customer service (Greeks are “very relaxed” business owners), but it was clean, large and did have amazing views of the area, though, we were yet to discover this only tomorrow.

Pictures of Thebes, Delphi and Thermopylae.

The post Delphi, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

D. and I caught a very late flight from London to Athens that didn’t land till 4.00 the next morning. D. parents met us at the airport and drove us to their apartment in Chalandri, a quiet tree-lined residential neighborhood in the northern Athens, where we were going to stay for the following 3-4 days.

Thus, Greece was the second pit stop of our journey.

July 22, 2014

I like to give detailed historical previews of the cities/countries I am visiting, but in order to describe the history or the importance of Athens to the world, I would need to spend years to research and just as many to record. That is why, I am going to give just a “snapshot” of it.

Just as everything else in Greece (and you will read it in my future posts as well), the history of Athens is closely interwoven with mythology, making it impossible to extricate facts from fiction. Continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years, Athens is a cradle of Western civilization, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, and don’t forget – a birthplace of democracy. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, going back to the 11th–7th millennium BC when the earliest Neolithic settlers established themselves on the hilltop site of, what is now known as, Acropolis. By 1400 BC the settlement had become an important centre of the Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress, whose remains can be recognized from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. Athens survived a Dorian invasion of 1200 BC, but like many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 400 years afterwards.

Iron Age burials, in the Kerameikos and other locations, richly demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens, ruled by aristocrats and generals, was one of the leading centers of trade and prosperity in the region. Widespread social unrest led to the reforms of Solon in 594 BC which improved the conditions of the poor, by introducing the annulment of debt and the implementation of trial by jury. These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. Despite Persians’ double take-over of the city, Athens won the battles of Salamis (480 BC) and Platea (with help of Sparta) and its power no longer knew the bounds. Pericles (ruler from 461 BC to 429 BC) transformed the city by building Parthenon and most of the monuments on the Acropolis and the decades that followed became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy. Athens of that time we associate with names of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides (the playwrights), historians Herodotus and Thucydides, and the physician Hippocrates.

Peloponnesian Wars (431 BC-404 BC) let the jealous state of Sparta gain the upper hand, and sadly, Athens was never to return to its former glory. Nevertheless, as if drawing its final breath, Athens of the 4th century BC bore three world’s greatest philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In 338 BC, Athens was conquered by Philip II of Macedon and after his assassination, his son, Alexander the Great favored Athens over other city-states. In 186 BC the Romans defeated the Macedonians, destroyed the city walls and took precious sculptures to Rome, however during 300 years of “Pax Romana” Athens continued to be a major seat of learning; many young Romans attended Athens’ schools and Greek was lingua franca of many wealthy Romans. The Roman emperor Hadrian, in the 2nd century AD, constructed a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

After the subdivision of the Roman Empire into east and west, Athens, for some time, remained an intellectual center, however, after Emperor Justinian closed its schools of philosophy in AD 529, the city went into decline and between 1200 and 1450 was continually invaded by countries preoccupied with grabbing the bits of crumbling Byzantine Empire. The capture of Athens by the Turks in 1456 was followed by 400 years of Ottoman rule. The Acropolis became the home of the Turkish government, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque and the Erechtheion became a harem.

After 8 years of Greek War of Independence (with help from Russia, France and Britain), Greece gained back its independence and city of Nafplio was named the country’s capital till 1834 when it was moved to Athens – then, a sleepy village of 6,000. After suffering a great deal during the German occupation in 1940s, the country plunged into a bitter civil war that took even more lives than WWII. And despite recession, increasing poverty, staggering unemployment rate, unstable government, Athens and Greece in general still remain one of the world’s most visited places, partially due to its invaluable contribution to the world’s art, theater, philosophy, literature, architecture (….fill in the blank), but also because of the unparalleled hospitality of Greek people, unforgettable beauty of the country, dishes that will make you drool, sunsets that you will never forget and many more. Let’s explore, I am on this journey with you.

Since D and I arrived very early in the morning, we didn’t leave the apartment till around 11.00. We took a very comfortable and clean Subway to the Monastiraki stop (North of Acropolis map) and from there we proceeded by foot (yes, you can!) to see all the highlights of Athens.

I have to mention that every subway stop (or pretty much any construction in the city) is an archeological site with its own right. Athens not only carefully preserves these sites, but also gives a detailed background on each and every one, where it is possible. Basically, the best way to experience the history of Athens is to move from one subway station to another.

There couldn’t be a better spot to start my acquaintance with the city but at a small picturesque Monastiraki square, which houses a 10th century church, the old Tzistarakis Mosque converted into the Kyriazopoulos Folk Ceramic Museum, and is only steps away from Athens’ famous flea market, Hadrian’s Library and the Ancient Agora.

Pantanassa church is known to be built in 10th century (church attendant told us – 8th century) as a katholikon of a now-vanished monastery. The church was known as the Great Monastery,  and then later as monastiraki (“little monastery”), which eventually became the name of the whole area. St. Philothea helped to convert it from a monastery for men to a monastery for women. Since “pantanassa” means “Queen of All” in Greek (one of the traditional epithets of the Virgin Mary in Greek Orthodoxy), the Turks spared it during the invasion considering it to be bad luck to destroy anything that is associated with a name of the Virgin Mary. Luckily for us, Pantanassa church was open (free of charge, no photos) and an attendant, upon my inquiry, gave us a brief history of the church in Greek. This fascinating little place was packed with relics and icons and deserved a thorough future investigation.

Just a few steps away to the south – Hadrian’s Library (map). We bought a unified Acropolis pass for €12 which gave us entrance to 7 different sites within a 4 day period:

1. Archeological site of the Acropolis
2. Archeological site and the museum of the Ancient Agora
3. Theater of the Dionysos
4. Roman Agora
5. Kerameikos
6. Temple of Olympian Zeus
7. Hadrian’s Library

The largest structure erected by Hadrian (122 m by 82 m), the Library was built in AD 132-134 in a typical Roman Forum architectural style. It wasn’t a library as we known today, but more a cultural complex, with lecture halls, a transcription room, a library hall – known as the Bibliostasio – and possibly even a theater. The complex was built around a large rectangular inner garden with a pond.

The main room of the library, the one that Pausanias called “oikimata”, was at the eastern part of the peribolos. It had 5 large halls and 4 smaller of secondary use. The main hall, the bibliostasio, was rectangular in plan, it had a tall, continuous podium of at least two storeys that supported a series of passageways. The walls on each storey had niches with wooden cupboards in which the books were kept. The total number of niches was 40, accommodating approximately 16,800 “books”. The wider, arched niches on the main axis probably housed statues of Athena and the deified emperor. The two halls at the left and right of the bibliostasio were probably subsidiary rooms (reading and transcription rooms), the corners served as lecture halls, while the smaller rooms at the back were staircases for the upper floor.

The two corner halls of the eastern side of the monument were small somewhat sloping auditoria, used for lectures and text readings. They had marble seats and prohedriae (seats of honor) of a slightly curved form which were accessed by two staircases, along the long walls.

The Library building was seriously damaged during the sack of Athens in 267 AD by the Germanic Heruli tribe and was later repaired by Herculius, the Prefect of Illyricum (AD 407-412). In the early fifth century a tetraconch church was constructed in the interior courtyard on top of ruins. There are two versions of who commissioned the church, either Herculius or the empress Eudocia, former Athenais, daughter of the sophist Leontius and wife of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius B (AD 425-430). The main church consisted of a central hall, which ended on the east side at a semicircular apse. On the west side there was a narthex, which provided access to the main church though three gates. There is also a large atrium, which had galleries on three sides except that next to the narthex. The church was destroyed in the late 6th century, at the same place two churches were built successively – a three-aisled basilica in the 7th century and a domed Byzantine church, known as the church of the Megali Panaghia, in the end of 11th-early 12th century. It was burnt and demolished in 1885, so that the first archeological excavations could take place.

In the 12th century, the Chalkokondyli family built a small domed church of the not fully developed cross-in-square type dedicated to Saint Asomatos, adjoining part of the facade and propylon of the library. It was named Saint Asomatos because it was devoted to Archangel Michael by its synonymous founder, while because of its position at the Hadrian library’s propylon was named “Sta Skalia” (on the stairs). At the beginning of the 18th century the narthex fell into misuse and after 1843 the church was demolished. On the floor of the main temple, as well as in the narthex, were excavated eleven cist and vaulted graves, in which were buried mainly members of the Chalkokondyli family. Today, the only preserved visible remains of this church are the wall and wall paintings on the Library’s facade with depictions of the Prayer at Gethsemane, Judas’ Betrayal of Christ and the busts of Saints.

There is a small exhibition area in the Library where the colossal (over 3 m high) statue of Nike in the type of the Victoria Romana is on display together with other finds from excavation in the area. It was found in 1988 built in the foundations of the Ottoman cistern that is located near the south wing of the Library. The statue – remarkably made of one single block of white Pentelic marble – is fairly well preserved. Nike is depicted at the exact moment of her touchdown, placing her right foot on the globe, her robe (peplos) waving, her upraised arms probably holding a shield. Statues of Nikai were often made with the aim of celebrating outstanding military victories, and it is possible that the Nike from the Library was set up to commemorate Augustus‘ victory against the Parthians (17-16 BC). The statue might have been part of a larger composition by the entrance of the Roman Agora, where once stood several statues of members of Augustus’ family. The statue of Nike was probably transferred into the area of the Library where it was later destroyed in one of catastrophic invasions of the Slavs towards the end of the 6th century AD, and was much later used in the construction of the Ottoman cistern, where it was eventually found.

The most prominent remainder of the original library is a section of the outer wall, with huge Corinthian columns (made from marble from Karystos in southern Euboia) in front of the wall, on either side of the main entrance.

Even though, very few of the Hadrian Library’s original structures remain, the informative and intelligent commentaries and plaques on the site were able to fill in the picture. We leisurely spent 30 minutes there, before proceeding to Roman Agora, just 5-10 minutes walk south.

Agora means “market place” in Greek and there are few of them in Athens, most famous are the Roman Agora and just a short walk from it – the Ancient Agora. Two different places built in different epochs. Roman Agora (Roman Agora Map, free entry with Acropolis Pass) was built during the rule of the Roman Emperor Augustus, between 19-11 BC. This small but important archeological site is evidence of the fascination that Roman Emperors had for the city of Athens. Roman Agora housed the commercial activities of Ancient Athens, when the ancient Agora’s central part was taken over by large buildings and there wasn’t enough space for the commerce. Entrance to the Roman Agora is from the west, through the well-preserved Gate of Athena Archegetis which is flanked by four Doric columns. The gate was dedicated by the Athenian deme in 11-10 BC, during the archonship of Nikias and sponsored by Julius Caesar.

In the middle, there was a building (111 m by 104 m) with a large, rectangular open courtyard surrounded by stoas, shops and storerooms. It had two propyla – Gate of Athens from the west and the other propylon, on the east side, has Ionic columns made of grey Hymettian marble, with bases of Pentelic marble.

The courtyard was paved during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138). It was at this time that the inscription containing the decree of Hadrian regulating the tax obligations of the oil-merchants was placed at the main door of the west Propylon. There are several other buildings in the Roman Agora, one of them is the so-called Agoranomeion, allegedly built in the 1st century AD. The wide staircase, the facade, with three archways, and parts of the north and south walls of the edifice are preserved. The inscription on the epistyle on the facade states that the building was dedicated to Athena Archegetis and the divi Augusti.

The other extraordinary building is a well-preserved The Horologion of Kyrrhestos or Tower of the Winds (Aerides) that functioned as a sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass. 12 m high and 8 m in diameter, it was built in the 1st century BC by the astronomer Andronikos from Kyrrhos in Macedonia. It is an octagonal tower of Pentelic marble standing on the three-steps base. It has a conical roof, a cylindrical annex on the south side and two propyla. A bronze weather-vane in a shape of Triton (no longer preserved) on the roof indicated the directions of the winds, personifications of which are carved in relief at the top of each of the sides. Their names are inscribed beneath the cornice: Boreas, Kaikias, Apeliotes, Euros, Notos, Lips, Zephyros and Skiron. The rays of sun-dials are carved on each side, beneath the scenes of the winds and inside the building was a water-clock, which was operated by water running down from the Acropolis. In the early Christian period, the monument was used as a church, and in the 18th century, it was a Dervish monastery. Sadly, Tower of the Winds was all covered up for restoration.

The rest of the ruins are hard to make sense of but there are 1st century Vespasianae (public toilets) to the right of the entrance which might catch your attention.

The date at which the Roman Agora was destroyed in not known with certainty. In any event, after the raid by the Herulians (AD 267), when the city contracted within the late Roman wall, the commercial and administrative center was transferred from the Ancient to the Roman Agora and Hadrian’s Library, where it remained till the middle of the 19th century. In the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods it was occupied by houses, workshops, churches and the Fethiye Cami or Mosque of the Conqueror (1456).

Ancient Agora is located just 100 meters south-west of Roman Agora, it is a pretty straightforward 10 minute walk. Note, Roman Agora was a mere warm-up in both, size and history. Please follow this Ancient Agora Map and the picture below (courtesy Eyewitness Travel Guides), otherwise, you get lost! Keep in mind that Agora, like every city’s market place continuously grew and developed, some buildings fell in ruins while other rose on top of them. When I refer to a building that is not on the map, I will mention the closest object to it on the map.

Ancient Agora (free entry with Acropolis Pass), lying in a heart of ancient Athens, was the crowded administrative, commercial, political and social center, a true cradle of democracy, where grand ideas were born (Socrates expounded his philosophy here and in AD 49 St. Paul came here to spread Christianity). First developed in the 6th century BC, the Agora was destroyed by the Persians in 480 DC, however, it was rebuilt almost immediately and flourished till AD 267 (yes, Herulian tribe got it too). In the 10th century AD, following a long period of desertion, a Byzantine neighborhood grew up in the Agora area. During Ottoman time, it was a residential area which was demolished after Independence for archeological reasons. This site, with a multitude of temples and public buildings, housed the city’s most important events from the Mycenaean era until late antiquity.

We entered from the south-east corner (p.28 on the map) and walked clock-wise. Please allow yourself at least 2-3 hours to explore this place in details. Just as we walked in, there was a Church of the Holy Apostles (near p. 27), an early 10th century church, built to commemorate St. Paul’s teaching in Agora. The original floor-plan of the church was that of a cross, with apses on the four sides and a narthex on the west side. The disposition of the tiles on the outer walls show “Kufic” decorative patterns of eastern origin. Building went through 4 different re-incarnations and among the many medieval monuments, known to have existed in the Agora, it is the only one preserved. The few surviving wall-paintings in the central aisle are of the 17th century, however, it contains the paintings from other nearby churches as well.

The same area contained at some point the East stoa, the Library of Pantainos, the Nymphaeum and a temple.

Continuing along the southern border of the Ancient Agora is Middle Stoa and South Square (p.12 and 17). Middle Stoa is the largest building in the Agora, 147 m long and 17.5 m wide, oriented east-west, with a Doric colonnade on each of its four sides. It is assumed that at the two corners of the monument the intercolumniations were covered with high, thin panelling (like that of the interior Ionic colonnade), which separated the Stoa into two passageways of equal width. In the east section, steps and three column-drums are preserved in their original position. In Roman times the flat terrace at its north was used as the shortest way of crossing the Agora from east to west. It was destroyed by fire in AD 267.

A large fountain house (p.15) was constructed in the south-west corner of the Agora near a major crossroad of the ancient city. The building is in a poor state of preservation. It consists of a large L-shape draw basin with a floor area of just over 100 sq m surrounded by a colonnaded porch with unfluted columns. Water was brought in a great stone underground drain, which has been traced to the east for some 220 m. The new fountain house could be an indication that Athens may have suffered a period of severe drought in the middle of the 4th century BC. At the end of of the 4th century, a room was added at the north-west of the building, where the hydriai could be filled with water directly through the pumps. In the 2nd century BC the fountain house was further modified. The building was destroyed by the Roman troops under Sulla in 86 BC.

Heading north across from the fountain, there is one of the more significant public buildings of the Agora – Tholos (p.10), a round structure with six interior columns and a propylon at the east that was added in the 1st century BC. It was the headquarters of the 50 prytaneis who served as the executive committee of the Boule (Council) for an interval of 35-36 days, after which they were replaced by prytaneis from another tribe, so that by the end of the year representatives of all ten tribes had a turn in the administration. Those in office dined in the Tholos, with 1/3 of them spending all night in the building, so that there were always responsible officials on hand (!!!) In the Tholos were housed the official weights and measures of the Athenian state. It was built atop a pre-existing building complex of the mid-6th century BC, which had a similar functional purpose, and went out of use around AD 400.

Slightly north of Tholos is the New Bouleuterion and Propylon (near p.8), a rectangular prostyle building build in the late 5th century BC. It served as a new meeting place of the 500-member Boule (Council), made up of 50 citizens from each of the ten tribes, chosen by allotment each year (divisions into which, for administrative and political reasons, Cleisthenes in 507 BC organized the citizens of Athens). As a legislative body the council prepared the bills that afterwards were voted on in the Assembly of all citizens (Ekklesia of the Demos). For a time the New Bouleuterion functioned along with the Old Bouleuterion, which apparently due to lack of space came to be used only as a repository of state archives. The partial preservation of the New Bouleuterion at ground level makes it difficult to establish the arrangement of the benches on the interior. It was definitely smaller than the Old building but more sophisticated, with an amphitheater-like system of 12 levels of semicircular benches. In the second half of the 4th century BC the entranceway acquired a monumental propylon of the Ionic order, that stood immediately south of the Old Bouleuterion.

Old Bouleuterion and Metroon border the New Council building. Old Bouleuterion (p.6), built in early 5th century BC, was a large, nearly square building situated in part over the earlier building complex (early 6th century BC) that may have served as a meeting place of an early Council. 500-member (replaced an earlier 40-member body) Cleisthenic Boule met every day in the Bouleuterion to prepare the legislative bills. The building was the site of the worship of the Mother of the Gods and housed not only her cult statue (attributed to Agoracritus or less probably to Pheidias), but also the public archives of the city. Its foundations are preserved under the Metroon, a building built in 150 BC. It is a prostyle building with 4 rooms, inside which were kept public documents: decrees, law codes, financial records, catalogues of ephebes and of votives, along with legal documents. Also, the second room from the south housed the temple of the Mother of the Gods, from which the name of the building, Metroon, derives. Her altar probably stood immediately east of the Metroon, on “West Street”. From its destructions in AD 267 until Byzantine times, parts of the building probably served as a tavern, a synagogue and an oil-press.

A statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian was located near the Metroon, facing the government buildings to the west.

Along the Old Bouleuterion, across the street, ran a gallery of the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes (p.7). A pedestal, built in 330 BC, was 16 m long, enclosed by stone posts connected to one another by three wooden beams. It housed the bronze statues of the mythical heroes of each of the ten Athenian tribes (such as Erechtheus, Aegeus, Pandion, Acamas, Hippothoon, Aias (Ajax) etc). A fluctuation on the number of tribes over the years necessitated the removal or addition of statues. On the sides were hung wooden boards with announcements meant for the citizens of Athens, legal decrees coming up for vote, lists of citizens conscripted into the army, civic honorary distinctions, forthcoming lawsuits.

Between the building of Old Bouleuterion and the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes, along the road runs the Great Drain (between p.6 and p.7). Built in early 5th century BC, drain has width and breadth of 1 m and its purpose was to convey to the Eridanos River waste from the buildings of the Agora and rainwater from the surrounding hills. At the beginning of the 4th century BC two branches were added immediately south of the Tholos to bring rainwater and waste from a broader section of the Agora into the main channel.

The Altar of Zeus Agoraios (meaning “Zeus of the Agora”, p.9) is a 4th-century BC altar located just west of the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes, constructed from white marble, 9 m deep and 5.5 m wide. It was one of the first objects to be discovered inside the Agora during the excavations of 1931. Evidence of marks done by masons from the Augustan period show that it was moved from an initial source later identified as the Pnyx located outside the ancient Agora. An ancient scholar noted, “it may not be coincidence that Zeus, whose special task was to govern the political assemblies of the Athenians, should depart the Pnyx at just the time when Augustus is said to have curtailed sharply the powers of those same assemblies.”

We obviously couldn’t skip the most imposing building rising above the western part of the Agora, one of the first Pericles’ projects – Temple of Hephaistos (p.1). Built between 460-415 BC, a Doric peripteral temple, with pronaos (fore-temple) cella (inner shrine), and pisthonaos (rear temple), is the best preserved of its type in the Greek world. It occupied the crest of the Kolonos Agoraios Hill and was designed by an unknown architect (some say by Ictinus) probably in honor of Hephaestus, patron of metal-workers, and Athena Ergane, patroness of potters and crafts in general. It is built mostly of Pentelic marble, with its decorative sculpture in Parian. The east side, which faces the Agora, received special attention: it has ten metopes showing the Labors of Herakles, and the four easternmost metopes showing the Labors of Theseus. From these last, the temple and its surroundings took the name “Theseion” in recent years. The friezes show a scene from the Battle of Theseus and the Pallantides and the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs. Fragments of sculpture from the pediments are on display in the Museum of the Stoa of Attalos. The east pediment seems to have shown the Deification of Herakles, his entry onto Mount Olympus. The two bronze cult statues of the cella are believed to be the work of Alkamenes (appx. 421-415 BC).

The temple was converted into the church of St. George probably in the 7th century. In the early 19th century the church was used as a burial place for Protestants and for many European Philhellenes who died in the Greek War of Independence in 1821. The building remained in use through 1834, when it was the site of the official welcome of King Otto, the first king of the modern Greek state. Since then, until the 1930’s it was used as a museum. After spending 2 hours on the hot July sun, it was a pleasure to quietly sit in the garden surrounding the Temple and enjoy the best views of Ancient Agora and the Acropolis.

Upon coming down from the hill, we proceeded to the Odeion of Agrippa (ca 15 BC) (p.22), a grand and luxurious building designed for musical performances; it is known in the ancient sources as the “Odeion”, the “Kerameikos Theater” or the “Agrippeion” after its donor, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus. The central part of the building, which rose, as if a separate structure, above a surrounding stoa, included an oblong rectangular stage, a semi-circular “orchestra” and an auditorium built like an amphitheater, with space for around 1,000 persons. The building originally had a pitched roof, without interior support, which collapsed around AD 150. Then the building was reconstructed with the addition of a transverse wall that reduced the seating capacity almost by half. The north face took the form of a stoa, the epistyle of which supported six colossal statues of Tritons and Giants. The building was destroyed by fire in AD 267.

Gymnasium or “The Palace of Giants” (AD 410-530) was an impressive structure and included a section of the central area of the Agora, covering older buildings such as the Odeion, parts of the Middle Stoa and the South Stoa. It contained a bathing establishment, surrounded by several rooms, two colonnaded courtyards, and a garden at the south, covering, in all, 13,500 sq m. Its entrance facing the Panathenaic Way was monumental, with a triple opening and four pillars on which were placed the colossal statues of the Triton and Giants from Odeion. Originally the building was considered a gymnasium, but it was probably a palace, seat of a high administrative official.

Just east of the Stoa of Attalos, there is a Monopteros (p.24), built in mid 2nd century AD; it is a small circular building, 7.17 m in diameter, surrounded by a colonnade of eight unfluted monolithic columns of green marble, which rise from a three-stepped foundation. The roof, its form that of a tholos, bore a richly decorated geison of Pentelic marble. The structure is usually considered to have housed the statue of some deity or hero, but it is likelier that it was a spring-house. It was destroyed in AD 267.

Next to the monopteros was the bema – an elevated platform used as an orator’s podium.

And finally, the substantial Stoa of Attalos (p.23) which occupies the entire eastern side of the Agora.  Built in 159-138 BC, the Stoa was a gift of Attalos II, Kind of Pergamon. The building was 120 m long and 20 m wide and had two floors with a second series of columns on the interior and 21 shops at the back of both floors. The Stoa of Attalos was a place for Athenians to meet, walk and to do business. The Heruli in AD 267 destroyed it and its ruins were incorporated into the Late Roman Fortification Wall. The restoration, based on studies by the architect John Travlos, was carried out in 1953-1956, sponsored by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

The Stoa of Attalos houses the Museum of Ancient Agora, displaying clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century BC, as well as pottery of the Byzantine period and the Turkish conquest.

I admit, whether because of the weather or tiredness, we didn’t find/visit Arsenal (p.2), Temple of Apollo Patroos (p.5), Stoa Basileios (p.3), Poikile Stoa (p.18), Altar of the Twelve Gods (p.20), Basilica (p.19) and Temple of Ares (p.21). But most of all I regret of not locating the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios (p.4), one of the places where Socrates expounded his philosophy. Oh well, there is always another time!

We left from the same entrance where we came in and proceeded towards the Areopagus hill. It sounds a bit complicated but the route is easily distinguishable, you just aim for the Parthenon on the south. A few minutes walk, on your left (don’t miss!) the “Eleusinion in the City” used to dominate the north slope of the Acropolis. It is a shrine sacred to the mystery religion of the goddesses Demeter and Kore (Persephone), together with their mortal counterpart Triptolemos. These Eleusinian deities were already worshipped here in the 6th century BC, in an open-air shrine surrounded by a wall. In the 5th century, a small rectangular Ionic temple was built in a shrine, oriented north-south. Of this Ionic tetrastyle amphiprostle temple, with an inner shrine and shallow pronaos are preserved only the groundwork of three sides. In the 4th century BC the need to reinforce the embarkment of the temple led to the construction of a stronger retaining wall. The area north of the temple, which is at a lower level, acquired a number of rooms in the early Roman period, which have been interpreted as shops or as storerooms for grain for the temple. In the corners at the east are round bases for dedications of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. On the south and farther uphill from the Eleusinian stand a section of the Hadrianic aqueduct (2nd century AD) and remains of the round building ca. 8 m in diameter, built in the 2nd century BC and thought to be a shrine of Pluto.

The shrine was bordered by the Panathenaic Way on the west and the two branches of the “Steed of the Tripods” on the north and south. The Panathenaic Way extended from the Dipylon in the Kerameikos to the entrance to the Acropolis, cutting diagonally through the central square of the Agora. It was mainly of soil, but in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD the section in the north-east corner of the Agora and that along the west side of the Eleusinion was paved with stone.

Once you see lots of people crowding in around a small hill area, you know, you are on the Areopagus Hill. This rocky outcrop (115 m), derives its name probably from Ares, the god of war, and the Ares-Erinyes or Semnes, underground goddess of punishment and revenge. A judicial body, the Areopagus Council, met on this hill to preside over cases of murder, sacrilege, and arson (though it is hard to imagine). It was also a place of religious worship, with many sanctuaries of Semnes or Eumenides, probably located in a cavity at the north-east side of the hill. In the Mycenaean and Geometric periods (1600-700 BC) the northern slope of the hill served as a cemetery, with both vaulted tombs and simple cist graves. From the 6th century BC onwards the hillside as a whole became a residential quarter belonging to the fashionable district of Melite. Cutting still evident in the bedrock attests to the district’s many roads, wells, drains, reservoirs, floors and irregular buildings. By the Late Roman period (4-6th century AD) four luxury houses, which probably served as philosophical schools, had replaced the houses of the Classical era.

The Areopagus also associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece. Some time near the middle of the 1st century AD the Apostle Paul is said to have converted a number of Athenians by teaching the tenets of the new religion from the summit of this hill. In AD 51 St. Paul delivered his famous “Sermon to an Unknown God” from the hill and gained a conversion of Dionysius the Areopagite, who later became the patron saint of the city of Athens, and according to tradition, was the city’s first bishop. The church of St. Dionysius the Areopagite was a three-aisled basilica with a narthex at west, central apse, diakoniakon and prothesis. Built in the middle of the 16th century, it was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 1601. The church and grounds were completely enclosed to the north and west by the monumental Archbishop’s Palace. This two-storey Palace was built between the middle of the 16th and end of the 17th century and consisted of a complex of rooms which included warehouse, a kitchen, a dining hall, and two winepresses. Remains of the church as well as the Archbishop’s Palace (16th-17th century) are still preserved on the northern slope of the hill. The nearby “cave of the Furies” inspired the playwright Aeschylus to set Orestes trial here in his play Eumenides (The Furies). Persians and Turks used the hills during their attack on the Acropolis citadel but there is little left to see on the hill right now except for lots of tourists and slippery stones. Nevertheless, it offers one of the most beautiful views of the Ancient Agora and the Acropolis, better than the Acropolis itself (don’t burn me at stake for saying that, but it is true).

Alright, so here we are, approaching the jewel of Greece, the most recognizable site and building in the world – the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Remember, the Parthenon is not Acropolis, even though many people use it interchangeably, which makes it even more confusing. Acropolis is the name of a hill, while Parthenon is one of its famous buildings (Acropolis Map, i will refer to it extensively while describing the site) “decorating” the peak of the hill. Well, I was really looking forward to “meeting” the Parthenon….but it turned out to be not as breathtaking or owe-inspiring as I thought it would be. Different travel books describe it as the most beautiful building in the world, whose white Pentelic marble “gleam white in the midday sun” and rises over the city “brilliantly illuminated at night”. Well, that was not the case. I was hot, I was tired, I felt that I’ve seen more than enough for one day and the site didn’t look exciting for me at all.  But we were already there …. so, to bring some spice and excitement, I needed to do a bit of a historical digging and here is what I uncovered…

(picture credit: Eyewitness Travel Guide, Athens – I find this picture to be more visual and easy to understand).

For many centuries the Acropolis was the most important religious center of the city. First traces of occupation go back to the Neolithic period (4,000-3,000 BC). In Mycenaean times it was the seat of the king, whose megaron stood roughly on the site on where the Erechtheion was built many centuries later. After the 11th century BC it became the home of the cult of Athena, patron goddess of the city that took her name, and of other gods, and was adorned down to the end of antiquity with majestic temples, brilliant buildings and a vast number of votive monuments. People used to live on the Acropolis up till the late 6th century BC, but in 510 BC the Oracle of Delphi declared that this place should be the “only god’s land”. After the place was destroyed by Persians in 480 BC, Pericles set about his ambitious artistic plan to build the Parthenon, the Propylaia and, a little later, the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. With no shortage of money or talent, all structures were erected between 447 and 406 BC, remaining to the present day the witnesses to the Greek Classical civilization.

Time, people and the course of history weren’t very kind to the Acropolis – multiple occupations, pilfering by foreign archeologists (I get you, Lord Elgin), inept prior renovations etc. took their toll on the monuments. Needless to mention a real “blow” of 1687 when the Venetians opened fire at the Acropolis where the Turks stored their gun powder, causing a massive explosion.

There are over a couple of dozen monuments on the Acropolis and even though I wouldn’t be able to describe them all, I dutifully expose as many of them as possible. There are two entrances to the Acropolis, one is on the west side, just as you leave the Areopagus Hill and another is from the south-east corner, next to the Acropolis Museum. We entered through the west gate and exited through the eastern one. Even before we approached the main entrance, on the right side we could see a splendid structure of Odeon of Herodes Atticus (p.17), one of the two theaters on the slopes of the Acropolis.

This Roman theater seats about 5,000 spectators and is very much in use today as a stage for drama, music and dance performances held during the Athens festival. It was built by the Roman consul Herodes Atticus between AD 161-174, in memory of his wife Regilla, by hollowing out of the rock on the southern slope of the Acropolis. The theater was originally enclosed by a roof made of famous Lebanese cedar, which provided shelter and better acoustics. Behind the stage, its distinctive colonnade once contained statues of 9 Muses. It was destroyed by the Herauli tribe in AD 267 and first time excavated in 1857-1858 (completely restored in 1950-1961). In modern time, the theater witnessed the performances of the world-stars like Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Liza Minelli and many more. Due to the time constrains, we weren’t able to attend any plays at the Odeon, but it is something to be added to the “bucket list”.

Once inside (free entry with Acropolis pass), a short way along the path, there is a west gate –  Beulé Gate (near p.21) on the left, named after the French archeologist Ernest Beulé, who uncovered it in 1852. It was built in AD 267, after the raid of the Heruli and as a part of the Acropolis fortification, on the base of the monumental marble stairway, dated to AD 52, which leads to the Propylaia. It is flanked by two rectangular towers and incorporates stone from earlier building, such as the choregic monument of Nikias (319 BC) that was situated near the Stoa of Eumenes on the south slope of the Acropolis. Part of the original monument’s dedication is still visible over the architrave. There is also an inscription identifying a Roman, Flavius Septimius Marcellinus, as donor of the gateway. The gate was in used for several centuries, while rooms were added to the inner side for protection from the weather for the guards and those who entered the castle. Probably in the 6th century, the height of the door opening was reduced with the placement of a lintel. In addition, in the 11th century an upper floor was built on the gate to provide better protection of the castle entrance and the lintel was decorated with an eagle and a snake in relief. At the time of the Frankish occupation of the De la Roche dukes (1204-1311), the usage of the gate ceased, whereas during the Ottoman occupation, in 1686,  the Turks destroyed the Temple of Athena Nike, then used the marble to build a bastion for artillery over the gate.

The 8.9 m tall pedestal on the left, halfway up the zigzagging ramp leading to Propylaia, once supported a bronze life-size quadriga (Monument of Agrippa, p.21), dedicated by the Athenians to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, son-in-law and general of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. Agrippa was a benefactor of the city, as indicated by the incised honorary inscription on the western face of the pedestal. Today only the pedestal is preserved. The quadriga, which would have been mounted by Agrippa, is gone. The dedication was made between 27 BC when Agrippa became consul for the third time and 12 BC, the year of his death. Important to say, that the monument was not originally intended for the Roman general. The archeological features of the pedestal, the technical details of its upper surface, as well as traces of an earlier defaced inscription indicate that the monument was erected in the first half of 2nd century BC and originally bore the chariot of one of the Pergamene kings, probably Eumenes II or Attalus II. The deme dedicated the monument in order to commemorate a victory of the Pergamene Kings in a chariot race in Panathenaic Games. The Pergamene Kings benefited the city by funding the erection of two important public buildings, the Stoa of Eumenes to the south of the Acropolis and the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora.

Across from the monument of Agrippa, there is a small but beautiful Temple of Athena Nike (p.1) (goddess of Victory), built in 426-421 BC to commemorate the Athenians’ victories over the Persians. Designed by Callikrates, the almost square temple stands on a 9.5 m bastion (which has been used as both observation post and an ancient shrine); built of Pantelic marble, it has four graceful Ionic columns 4 m high at each portico end. Legend records the temple site as the place from which King Aegeus threw himself into the sea, believing that his son Theseus had been killed in Crete by the Minotaur. The temple frieze had scenes from mythology, the Battle of Plataea (475 BC) and Athenians fighting Boeotians and Persians. Parts of the frieze are in the Acropolis Museum, as are some relief sculptures, including the beautiful depiction of Athena Nike fastening her sandal. The temple also housed a wooden statue of Athena. The temple of Athena Nike was taken apart and put back in 3 times: the Turks dismantled it in 1686 in order to use the platform for the cannon, it was carefully reconstructed in 1836-1842, but then it was taken apart again 60 years later when the platform started to crumble. In 1998 the temple was dismantled one last time due to the faults in its floor, it was “rebuilt” in 2010 according to the information resulting from more recent research.

The Propylaia (p.2), the monumental entrance of the sanctuary of the Acropolis, was built at the west edge of the hill in the frame of the building plan of Pericles. The building’s architect was Mnesikles, who applied ingenious and innovative architectural solutions, making Propylaia as architecturally brilliant as the Parthenon itself. Its construction (437-432 BC) was interrupted by the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, and as a result the original structure remained unfinished. The Propylaia comprises a rectangular central building divided by a wall into two porticoes. Two wings flank the main building, the north wing was home to the pinakothiki, an art gallery and the southern wing was the antechamber to the Temple of Athena Nike. The porticoes were punctuated by five entrance doors, rows of Ionic and Doric columns and a vestibule with a blue-coffered ceiling decorated with gold stars. The middle gate, which was the largest, opened into the Panathenaic Way. The Propylaia is aligned with the Parthenon – the earliest example of a building designed in relation to another. It remained intact until the 6th century AD when the south wing was transformed into a single-aisle Christian basilica. In the Medieval times, Frankish and Florentine rulers converted the Propylaia into a palace and a tall tower was built at the south wing. During Ottoman occupation, in 1640, the building was either struck by a lightning or a cannonball which blew up the gunpowder stored there and caused extensive damage to the monument. The Medieval and later remains were removed during the excavations of the Acropolis in the the 19th century, in order to reveal the Propylaia of the Classical period. Reconstruction took place in 1909, 1917, after WWII and the latest one was completed in 2009.

South-east of the central building of the Propylaia is situated a small shrine dedicated to Athena Hygieia (Health) and Hygieia, the daughter of Asklepeios, who was the god of medicine. The cult of Athena Hygieia on the Acropolis is dated since 6th century BC according to epigraphical testimony, whereas the cult of Hygieia is dated around 420 BC. In the shrine, part of the rectangular altar and the cylindrical marble base of a bronze statue of Athena Hygieia made by the Athenian sculptor Pyrrhos were preserved. According to tradition (Plutarch, Life of Pericles) the statue was dedicated for the salvage of the workman who had suffered an accident during the construction of the Propylaia. However, it is more likely that the demos dedicated the statue in relation to the plague that stroke the city at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.

After passing through the Propylaia, the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia (p.4), the so-called Brauronion, lies to the right of the processional way. It was associated with the early sanctuary of Artemis in Brauron, a coastal town in eastern Attica. Artemis was worshipped as the goddess of nature and hunting, and she was the protector of girls, expecting mothers and women with newborn babies. It is believed that the cult of Artemis was established on the Acropolis in the 6th century BC by the tyrant Peisistratos who originated from Brauron. No architectural remains of the early sanctuary have been found, but at least the cult of Artemis is attested by terracotta figurines and sculptures. According to recent studies, a small temple which housed the cult statue of the goddess, was presumably located in the west part of the sanctuary, along with an altar. Pausanias, the 2nd century traveler, saw in the sanctuary a statue of Artemis, made by Praxiteles, the renowned sculptor of the 4th century BC. The colossal female head found in the area, belongs to this cult statue and it is exhibited in the Acropolis Museum.

Attached to the east side of the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia lies the foundation of the Chalkotheke (p.5), a large rectangular building (43 m by 20 m) with a Doric portico along the facade which was erected soon after 400 BC. According to ancient inscription it housed mainly bronze vessels and utensils used in religious processions, as well as weaponry.

Continuing ahead along the Panathenaic Way, you will see to your left the foundation of pedestals for the statues that once lined the path, including one that held Pheidias’ 9m-high statue of Athena Promochos (Champion) (p.6). The Athenians dedicated the statue to Athena, to express their gratitude for her contribution to the victories in the Persian War. Later sources refer that its construction was financed from the Persian spoils, however, according to the inscription with the expense accounts, the construction of the statue is dated to 475-450 BC. The exact form of the statue isn’t know, but later copies of coins of the Roman Period present the helmeted goddess standing, in a calm pose, wearing a belted peplos (robe). According to another version, the outstretched right hand held a Nike, an owl or a spear. Pausanias mentioned that her shield (resting upright against her leg) was decorated with scenes from the Centauromachy (battle between Centaurs and Lapiths), executed by the famous bronze sculptor Mys, following drawings by the painter Parrhasios. According to ancient tradition, the point of her spear and the crest of her helmet were visible to sailors at sea off cape Sounion.  Athena Promochos stood overlooking her city for about 1,000 years until Pheidias’ masterpiece was carried off to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in AD 426 and was placed at the hippodrome. By 1204 it has lost its spear, so the hand appeared to be gesturing. This led the inhabitants to believe that the statue had beckoned the Crusaders to the city, so they smashed it to pieces. What a pity!

We have already passed nine different structures of the Acropolis, but of course, every road inevitably leads to the Parthenon – the largest, most famous and glorious monument of Ancient Greece. The Parthenon (p.12) was a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Virgin). It was built on the highest part of the Acropolis, on the site of at least four earlier temples dedicated to Athena. Built in the Doric order, it was made of white Pentelic marble with a width of almost 31m, length of 69.5 m and a hight of 15 m. To achieve perfect form, its lines were ingeniously curved to create an optical illusion – the foundations are slightly concave and the columns are slightly convex to make both look straight. It has an outer colonnade (pteron) of 8 columns on the short and 17 columns on the long sides, as well as an inner colonnade (prostasis) of 6 columns on the short sides. The interior of the temple was divided into the pronaos, the sekos (cella), the opisthodomos and the opisthonaos. See plan below no.1,2,3,4 respectively.

The Parthenon was the most important building of the Pericles’ plan for the re-establishment of the Acropolis sanctuary. The temple was built between 447-438 BC and its sculptural decoration was completed in 432 BC. Iktinos and Callikrates were the architects of the temple. Its sculptures were designed and party sculpted, in collaboration with his colleagues, by the famous Athenian sculptor and a friend of Pericles, Pheidias, who also had the general supervision of the construction of the temple.

The rich sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, which through the centuries suffered severe damages and looting, consisted of 92 metopes, the compositions on the pediments and the frieze, all of which were, hard to imagine, brightly colored and gilded. Great part of the original sculptural decoration is exhibited in the Acropolis Museum. The metopes depict the battle between the Olympian gods against the rebellious Giants (Gigantomachy) on the east side, the sack of Troy by the Greeks on the north side, the repulsion of the Amazons who threatened the city (Amazonomachy) on the west side, and the scenes of battles between Greeks and Centaurs (Centautomachy) on the south side. The east pediment represents the birth of Athena from the head of the father Zeus, in the presence of other Olympian gods. The duration of the birthday of the goddess is defined by the chariot of Helios (the sun) and the chariot of Selene (the moon) at the corners of the pediment. The west pediment shows the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the protection of Attica, in the presence of the Kings who were the forefathers of the Athenians and local heroes or personifications of the Attic landscape. The frieze, of a total length of 160 m, depicts the procession of the festivals of the Great Panathenaea which concludes on the east side, with the offering of the peplos (robe), for the cult statue of Athena Polias in the presence of the Olympian gods. The frieze was damaged in the explosion of 1687 and later defaced by the Christians, but the greatest existing part (over 75 m long) of the controversial Parthenon Marbles, taken by Lord Elgin, is now in the British Museum in London. The ceiling of the Parthenon, like that of the Propylaia, was painted blue and gilded with stars.

At the eastern end was the holy cella (inner room of a temple), into which only a few privileged initiates could enter. Sculptor Pheidias created the chryselephantine (gold and ivory) 12 m-hight statue of the goddess Athena Polias (Athena of the City) with an imposing formal appearance, which stood in this cella. Her wooden frame was gold-plated; her face, hands and feet were made of ivory, and her eyes were fashioned from jewels. Clad in a long gold dress with the head of Medusa carved in ivory on her breast, the goddess held a statuette of Nike (goddess of victory) in her right hand, and in the left a spear with a serpent at its base. On top of her helmet was a sphinx with griffins in relief at either side. In AD 426 the statue was taken to Constantinople, where it disappeared, but its appearance is known from ancient writers and later copies.

Over the centuries, The Parthenon was used as a church, a mosque and an arsenal, and has suffered severe damage. I doubt I have ever seen the pictures of the Parthenon without any scaffolding, it is always under construction, renovation, addition, but I hope to come back one day and take a proper photo of it, unveiled!

East of the Parthenon lay the foundation of a small building attributed by the first excavations of the Acropolis to the Temple of Rome and the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus (p.13). The architectural parts indicate that the Temple was of the Ionic order and it featured in single circular colonnade made of nine columns, without a walled room inside. It diameter measured ca 8.60 m and its height reached 7.30 m up to the conical roof. The construction of the temple is associated with the architect who repaired the Erechtheion in the Roman Period, because the architectural details of its parts replicate those of the Erechtheion. It is possible that the temple interior housed statues of Rome and Augustus, although no fragments of sculptures have been identified to date. The temple of Roma and Augustus is the sole Roman temple on the Acropolis and the only Athenian temple dedicated to the cult of the Emperor. The Athenian deme constructed it in order to propitiate Octavian August and reverse the negative climate that characterized the relations of the two parties, as, during the Roman civil wars, the city of Athens had supported his opponent, Marcus Antonius. The temple was securely dated after 27 BC, when Octavian was proclaimed Augustus – most probably between 19-17 BC.

By the eastern edge of the Acropolis you find a building of the old Acropolis Museum (p.16), Sanctuary of Pandion (p.15), Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus (p.14) and a huge flagstaff with an immense Greek flag on it. Undoubtedly, it was the visitors’ favorite place on the Acropolis, since it provided the most stunning views of the city.

Although the Parthenon was the most impressive monument on the Acropolis, it was more of a display than an actual sanctuary. That role fell to the Erechtheion (p.9), which was built on the most sacred part of the Acropolis, where Poseidon struck the ground with his trident (and left a mark on a rock), and where Athena produced the olive tree, in their battle for possession of the city. To be precise, Erechtheion was built as an eastern attachment to another sanctuary, built in Archaic Period, dedicated to Pandrosos, the Pandroseion (p.8). Named after Erechtheus, a mythical king of Athens, the temple housed the cults of Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus. The Erechtheion is immediately recognized by the six larger-than-life maiden columns, the Caryatids (modeled on women from Karyai, modern-day Karyes, in Lakonia), that support its southern portico. The one you see outside are the plaster copies, while the 5 originals (which were removed by infamous Lord Elgin) are now on the display at the Acropolis Museum.

The Erechtheion was part of Pericles’ plan, but the project was postponed after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian Wars. Work didn’t start till 421 BC, eight years after Pericles’ death and was completed around 406 BC. Architecturally it is the most unusual monument of the Acropolis, a great example of Ionic architecture ingeniously built on several levels to counteract the uneven bedrock (west and north sides are about 3 m lower than the south and east sides). The large rectangular cella was divided into up to 4 rooms (different sources quote different numbers), but one was definitely dedicated to Athena and contained the holy olive wood statue of Athena Polias holding a shield adorned with a gorgon’s head, and another – to Poseidon, representing the reconciliation of the two deities after their contest. The northern porch consists of six Ionic columns, on the floor are the fissures supposedly left by the thunderbolt sent by Zeus to kill Erechtheus. It had elaborately carved doorways and windows, and its columns were ornately decorated (far more so than is visible today); they were painted, gilded and highlighted with gilt bronze and multi-colored inset glass beads. To the south of here was the Cecropion – King Cecrops‘ burial place. The Erechtheion complex has been used for a range of purposes, including the harem for the wives of the Turkish commander in 1463. It was almost completely destroyed by a Turkish shell in 1827 during the War of Independence.

I failed to mention (and frankly, notice) the remains of Altar of Athena (p.11), “Old Temple” of Athena (p.10), Arrhephorion (p.7) and Pinakotheke (p.3), but they must be somewhere there to be found, so please look for them!

We exited the Acropolis from its other entrance by the Theater of Dionysus, and even though it was getting dark and we were coming back the next day to check out the southern slope of the Acropolis, I still couldn’t resist and sang one of Andrea Bocelli’s operas for D. while standing in the middle of the ancient theater (luckily many people have left by then).

Well, we’ve done pretty damn great for one day, but I wouldn’t advise anybody to rush through the sites, monuments and experiences. They require time to be re-discovered and understood. They do actually deserve it.

When we finally got back home in Chalandri, D. parents were already waiting for us to have dinner at the restaurant called Tzitzikas Kai Mermigkas. Definitely try this comfy, family-run restaurant if you are in the area.

June 23, 2014

We had another busy day ahead of us, so we woke up early and went back to the Acropolis, this time – to check out in more details its southern slope as well as the Acropolis Museum. We got off Akropoli subway stop which was just a few minutes away from the site’s eastern entrance.

The south slope of the Acropolis is just as archeologically rich, as the Acropolis itself, it contains over 26 different sites, in different state of preservation, but all of them were well marked and explained. I will follow South slop of the Acropolis Map while describing some of the sites we visited (obviously, we weren’t able to fit all of them in one morning).

Next to the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, which we saw from the top the day prior, the bronze foundries (p. 22) are located. In 5th-4th century BC it was a busy manufacturing site. Excavations from 1877 to 2006 have revealed a total of four pits cut into the soft rock (kimelia) of the Acropolis that are connected with the process of casting bronze statues. The two largest pits (A and B), depth 2.8 m, are accessed by stairways and have facilities in their interior. Foundry D to the east, protected under the shed, was excavated in 2006 and has a square base of clay-plastered porous plinths at its center. During the excavation of the pit, thousands of mould fragments were collected. The extensive manufacturing activity in the area is connected either with the monuments of the Asklepieion (one of the structures on the south slope) or with those on the Acropolis; according to one view, here was the place where the statue of Athena Promachos was cast.

Just south of the bronze foundries is the Stoa of Eumenes (p.14), which was placed between the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the Theater of Dionysos, along the Peripatos (the ancient road around the Acropolis) and served as a shelter and promenade for theater audiences. The king of Pergamon, Eumenes II, donated this Stoa to the Athenian city, during his sovereignty (197-159 BC). This elongated building, 163 m long and 17.65 m wide, had two storeys. The stoa was made of a kind of island marble, which was used for the majority of the buildings at Pergamon, and is not to be found in any other building in Athens. The ground floor facade was formed from a colonnade of 64 Doric columns, while the interior colonnade consisted of 32 Ionic columns. Nowadays, a visible part of the monument is the north retaining wall, reinforced with buttresses connected by semi-circular arches. This wall was constructed in order to hold the north earth embankment in place and to support the Peripatos. It is also possible to see the Krene (spring) included in the north wall, the stylobates of the inner colonnade on the ground floor and the foundation of the exterior colonnade. Besides, a part of the substructure of the east wall of the stoa has also survived, in addition to the west wall, which suffered some changes during the Roman period, when the Odeion of Herodes Atticus was erected.

To north-east of the Stoa of Eumenes (and right above the Theater of Dionysus) is the Asclepieion (p.15), the sanctuary of the god Asclepios and his daughter Hygieia, the personification of “Health”. The sanctuary was founded in 420-419 BC (when the plague was sweeping the city) by an Athenian citizen from the deme of Acharnai, named Telemachos. The Asclepieion consisted of a small temple, an altar, and two halls, with Doric Stoa which served as a dormitory hall for the visitors to the Asclepieion who stayed there overnight and were miraculously cured by the god who appeared in their dreams, and the Ionic Stoa which served as a guest house for the visitors to the shrine and the priests. The traveler Pausanias, who visited the temple in the 2nd century AD, noted the statues of the god and his children, which were kept inside the temple. The Doric Stoa, a two-storey building with a facade of 17 Doric columns, was built in 300-299 BC, as epigraphical testimonies attest.

The Stoa integrated in o its eastern part the Sacred Spring, a small cave with a spring in the Acropolis rock. Since water has always been a significant element in the cult of Asclepieion, it probably accounts for the selection of this site for the sanctuary, and in to its western part the Sacred Bothros, which functioned as a sacrificial pit. The Sacred Bothros, a well with polygonal masonry, placed in the first floor of the Stoa, is dated earlier than the Stoa itself, to the last quarter of the 5th century BC. It served as a Well Altar, on which the Heroa, the sacrifices to the chthonian deities and the Heroes took place. During the 5th-6th century AD, almost entire area of the sanctuary was occupied by a three-aisled Early-Christian basilica. Today, you can see the ruins of most of the buildings as well as another spring, known as the Archaic fountain, two Byzantine cisterns and the foundation of a temple dedicated to Themis.

West of the road leading to the Acropolis, just south of the Stoa of Eumenes, there is a magnificent choragic monument. The institution of the Choregy, in operation from the late 6th century BC, involved wealthy Athenians who sponsored the preparation of performances in dithyrambic or dramatic contests. The events took place in the theater during the festival of Dionysus, called the Greater or Dionysia (late March- early April). The prize for the winner in dithyrambic contests of boys or men was a bronze tripod, dedicated by the patron (Choregos) to the god Dionysus, preferably in a conspicuous place near the sanctuary and the theater of Dionysus.

The monument of Nikias (p.13) was a small temple-like, with six Doric columns in front and pediments on both of its narrow sides. At the end of the antiquity (3rd century AD) the monument was dismantled and a large number of its architectural parts was transferred and used to construct the Beulé Gate of the Acropolis. Visitors can still find there the choregic inscriptions, engraved on the three central sections of the architrave of the facade, referred to Nikias, son of Nikodemos, who won teaching the chorus of the boys in the archonship of Neaichmos (320-319 BC).

The sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus (p.6) with the theater to the north of it, is the first group of monuments encountered by visitors and the earliest on the south slope. The Archaic Temple of Dionysus (p.6a) was constructed in the second half of the 6th century BC, when the cult of the god was introduced into Athens from Eleutherai in Boeotia by the tyrant Peisistratos. The Great Dionysia, the most splendid festival in honor of the god, was celebrated in the spring inside the precinct of Dionysus. During the Dionysian rituals, the believers, disguised as Silenoi and Satyrs, the god’s attendants, danced the “cyclical dithyrambic dance”, which was the nucleus of the ancient Greek drama. To the south of the Archaic temple, a second temple, called the Later Temple of Dionysus (p.6b), was erected in the second half of the 4th century BC. This housed the chryselephantine statue of the god carved by Alkamenes. All that now survives are the foundations of the temple and the base of the cult statue, made of conglomerate.

The ancient Theater of Dionysus (p.7) was the world’s first theater and a birthplace of Greek tragedy. Of the three sections of the theater (orchestra, cavea and stage building), the stage building is most closely connected with the evolution of theatrical creating. During the approximately thousand years that the theater functioned, it has therefore altered to the greatest extent. In the age of the great dramatic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes (5th century BC), the stage was a simple, rectangular, timber construction south of the spectators’ space. At that time the cavea had wooden benches and special stone seats for priests and other officials. In this phase the action of the play took place mainly in the orchestra, where men clad in goatskins sang and danced which followed by feasting and revelry.

When the theater was rebuilt entirely of aktites, a stone local to Piraeus,(Lycutgean phase, 342-326 BC), and the auditorium was extended to the foot of the sacred rock by the addition of the Epitheatron (64 tiers of rows with 17,000 seat capacity), the stage building was likewise constructed of stone. A second floor was added, the paraskenia were shortened and the facade of the ground floor received a Doric colonnade. These alterations were dictated by the development of dramatic performance (New Comedy, etc.), in which the role of the actor was emphasized more than the chorus and the theatrical action was transferred to the level of a raised stage.

The socio-political changes of the Roman period led to substantial changes in the stage building, which became higher, had an extensive proscenium (pulpitum) and a facade with elaborate architectural decoration and statues of Satyrs, who are connected with the mythological cycle of the god Dionysus. A final period of prosperity for the theater, after its destruction by the Herulians (AD 267), is marked by the so-called Bema of Phaedrus (4th century AC), which replaced the Roman pulpitum and was decorated with marble slabs taken from older buildings and showing the scenes in relief of the life of Dionysus.

The eastern parodos was the main entrance into the the theater, through which priests and officials arrived for the theatrical performances during the Dionysian festival of the city. The northern side of this entrance was chosen as the site for the erection of statues honoring the most important dramatic poets, who symbolized the perennial values of classical education and functioned as examples for participants in the theatrical contests. The completion of the “Lycurgan era” theater, also included the erection of the posthumous honorary monument to the three Tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides) in the main entrance, in around 330 BC.  The Tragedians, who served the glory of classical Athens, were represented in typical poses and in the clothes of distinguished Athenian citizens.

East of this monument the honorary base and statue of the most important representative of the New Comedy, Menander, was erected in 291-290 BC. He wrote over 100 plays, but won the contest only few times. His innovative work focused on ordinary people and he is considered to be the father of psychological drama. At the age of only 51, he drowned while swimming in Piraeus. The monument in his honor was erected immediately after his death while Athens was under the rule of the Macedonian Kind, Demetrios Poliorketes. The poet is represented seated on an honorary throne, his beardless face mirroring the new fashion introduced by Alexander the Great.

With the prevailing of Christianity, the northern part of the stage building was incorporated in the building complex of an Early Christian basilica, erected on the site of the east parodos during the 6th century AD. The area to the east of the theater of Dionysus was occupied after the middle of the 5th century BC by the Odeion of Pericles, a building used for music contests. On the basis of the literary sources and some small-scale excavations, this may be reconstructed as an almost square roofed hypostyle building.

Above the theater there is a cave (hard to find) sacred to the goddess Artemis. This was converted into a chapel in the Byzantine era, dedicated to Panagia i Spiliotissa (p.11) (Our Lady of the Cave), and was the place where mothers brought their sick children. Two large Corinthian columns nearby are the remains of choregic monuments erected to celebrate the benefactor’s team winning a drama festival.

South of the precinct wall and the roadside shrine, the ruins of a single-nave church, dedicated to St. Paraskevi, have been found. Its floor was composed of ancient marble spoils and remains of wall paintings were still preserved on its side walls. The basilica, which appears for the first time on a plan by the Venetian engineer Verneda, in 1687, had three building phases from the late Byzantine times to 1860. It had probably suffered extensive damages during the siege of the Acropolis in 1827. In its place a small chapel was built, around 1860, as a remembrance of the earlier building. Today, the remnants of the second phase of the 17th century are preserved.

South slope of the Acropolis requires a day of its own exploration. You need to equip yourself with a good map and sites’ descriptions, otherwise, sometimes it is hard to see where one monument ends and another starts. After spending good 2-3 hours on the slope, we descended to the Museum of the Acropolis, located just 300 m from the eastern entrance to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis Museum (€5 entry) –  or the New Acropolis museum opened in 2009 to replace the old one which was located on top of the Acropolis, east of the Parthenon. As the archeological work continues today, more sites and artifacts were (and still are) uncovered but weren’t displayed due to the old museum’s lack of space. The new museum was designed to accommodate the expanding collection as well as to become a bargaining chip in negotiation with Great Britain for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, stolen by Lord Elgin in early 19th century.

Apparently, there were 3 requirements for the initial museum design; it was necessary:

1. to maintain visual contact with the monuments of the Acropolis while browsing the galleries of the museum – which was accommodated by having transparent glass walls which create almost no barrier between the site and the new home of its artifacts.
2. to exhibit the Parthenon sculptures in their entirety – the 4th floor is dedicated to the Parthenon, where a rectangular, solid concrete core was built to the same dimensions and orientation as the Parthenon. It was specifically designed to receive and display the entire temple frieze.
3. to adapt the building to the archeological excavation that extends across its foundations – the building is built on 100 concrete pillars providing an impressive shelter for the site’s archeological excavation presently happening underneath the museum (which already uncovered buildings from Byzantine and Classic era).

The museum has 4 floors (in addition to the underground excavation level), but exhibits its collection chronologically on 3 of them (3rd floor is an office space, multimedia center and a cafe) – Acropolis Museum Map.  Note, pictures aren’t allowed on the ground and 1st floors (I mistakenly took a few, so, please enjoy). Located on the ground floor, the “Gallery of the Slopes of the Acropolis” houses finds from the sanctuaries that were established on the slopes of the Acropolis, as well as objects that Athenians used in every day life from all historic periods. It also contains multiple miniature layouts of the Acropolis at different times of its existence. The long and rectangular hall whose floor is sloping, resembling the ascension to the sacred hill.

The nine-meter high, naturally lit “Archaic Gallery“, in the east and south sections of the first floor, hosts the magnificent sculptures that graced the first temples on the Acropolis. It also displays the votive offerings dedicated by the worshippers, such as the Hippeis (horse riders), statues of the Goddess Athena, sculptures of male figurines, marble reliefs, and a smaller bronze and clay offerings. This floor contains the works created after the construction of the Parthenon, namely, the Propylaia, the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. The north wing displays striking Classical sculptures and their Roman copies. Five Caryatids (the sixth is in the British Museum), the maiden columns that held up the Erechtheion and a giant floral akrotirion (a decorative element placed on the brick at the end of a gable of a classical building), that once crowned the southern ridge of the Parthenon pediment are on this floor too.

The second floor has a media center where you can watch a short movie about the history of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, and see the detailed layout of the Parthenon and both of its pediments (birth of Goddess Athena and a battle between Athena and Poseidon).

The Museum’s exhibition culminates on the 3rd floor, in the glass-encased “Parthenon Gallery”. For the first time in more than 200 years, the relief sculptures of the Parthenon frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession are exhibited in continuous sequence along the perimeter of the external surface of the rectangular concrete core of the gallery (160 m). The metopes, the marble slabs with relief representation from Greek mythology, are exhibited in between the stainless steel columns of the Gallery, which are the same in number as the columns of the Parthenon.

The Acropolis Museum is a wonderful, well-thought museum which won’t overwhelm you, but will definitely fill in the blanks of the Acropolis’ monuments. Please allow yourself 1.5-2 hours at least. After grabbing a lunch at one of the places on Makrigianni street, we proceeded to our next destination – the Hadrian’ s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Along the way, different shops beautifully mingled with ancient ruins and churches. On our left, we passed the Lysikrates Choregic Monument. As I mentioned earlier, once a year, during the Great Dionysia festival, men participated in tragedy competition and the winner received a tripod as the highest honor. In the 5th century BC, those contests took place on regular rectangular bases, while in the 4th century BC, they stood on more elaborate buildings, usually resembling temples. The Lysikrates choregic monument is thought to be one and was established in 334-333 BC. The marble frieze depicted the adventure of Dionysus with pirates, whom he turned into dolphins. In 1669, the monument and its surrounding area were incorporated into the Capuchin monastery and was used as a cell, library and study room. Lord Byron, Chateaubriand and others stayed there. With the exception of the Lysikrates Monument all the buildings of the monastery were destroyed in 1824 by Omar Pasha. 

A few steps further, there is the Church of Agia Aikaterini.  The central part of the church dates back to the Byzantine period, while the narthex was added at the middle of the 20th century. According to the inscription at the altar, this church was constructed at the place where Irene, wife of the emperor Theodosius II, founded the Church of St. Theodore in the 5th century. The Byzantine part was constructed in the second quarter of the eleventh century and it is the oldest example of the cross plan with the central dome in Athens. At least since then until 1767 the church was dedicated to St. Theodore. It was rededicated to Saint Catherine in 1767 when the church was given to the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai (Egypt). In this church there are holy relics of St. Polydoros of Cyprus, St. Athanasios of Persia, and St. Triphone. These relics were brought here by the priest Cyrilos Psylas who was banished from Ephesos in 1922. The building was closed (like many churches in Greece), but we stopped to admired its beautiful facade.

Two more minutes walk and before entering the site the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we passed the triumphal arch – the Hadrian’s Arch – made of Pentelic marble. It lies on an ancient street that led from the old city of Athens to the new section built by Hadrian. It was contracted by the Athenians in AD 131-132, in honor of their benefactor – Hadrian. Despite the removal of the city’s classical artwork to Rome, he embellished Athens with multiple monuments influenced by classical architecture. The Hadrian’s Arch, which is 18 m high and 13 m wide and is in the Corinthian order, has two identical facades and is divided vertically into two distinct sections. The lower follows the form of a Roman honorary arch, while the upper imitates the traditional Greek propylon. Two inscriptions are carved on the architrave, one of each side: the first, on the side towards the Acropolis reads “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus”; the second, on the other side, facing the new city, reads “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus”. The remains of wall painting may suggest that in the Middle Ages the arch was part of a Christian church. In 1778 it was converted into a gate of the Turkish defense wall around Athens, and was known as the “Vasilopoula’s Gate” (“Princess Gate”).

You can’t miss the remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, not only because it is a well-maintained open space in the center of Athens (just 320 m from the Acropolis), but mostly because it is the largest temple of ancient Greece, exceeding even the Parthenon. Its construction began in 515 BC, during the reign of the tyrant Peisistratos (by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos), who allegedly initiated the building work to gain public favor, but abandoned it for lack of funds. It was completed 638 years later, in AD 132 by Hadrian, who dedicated the temple to Zeus Olympios during the Panhellenic festival, on his second visit to Athens. The temple had 104 columns (17 m high and 1.7 m in dimeter) – two rows of 20 columns on the sides (dipteron) and three rows of 8 columns at the end (triperon). The temple measured 110 m long and 43.7 m wide and its cella contained a gold and ivory inlaid statue of the god, a copy of the original by Pheidias at Ancient Olympia. Next to it, in typically immodest fashion, Hadrian placed an equally large statue of himself and both statues were worshipped here as coequals.

Deterioration set in the 5th century AD and continued during the following centuries due to natural causes and human activities. There was an open-air mosque during the Turkish occupation at the south-east corner of the precinct, and a look-out post was built on top of the architrave. Till 1852, 16 temple columns survived, but later that year, one of them was toppled by a gale and has been lying there ever since. Both statues have since been lost.

On the corner of Filellinon street and Amalias avenue, stands the largest Byzantine building, and one of the largest churches in Athens – Russian church of the Holy Trinity. Built on the site of the earlier christian basilica (which in its turn was built over a Roman bath), it was completed in 1031 by the Lykodimou family, hence its original name – Satira Lykodimou. Even now, the building dominates the area with its massive and impressive construction, featuring a 10 m wide dome. Through centuries, the church suffered damages from the natural disasters and wars, or combination of both. After being damaged in 1687 during the invasion of Francesco Morosini, it suffered even more destruction in the earthquake of 1701. In 1780, the Turkish governor, Hadji Ali Haseki, partly demolished the building in order to use its parts for the construction of the defensive wall around the city. It wasn’t spared during the War for the Independence in 1827 either, when it was shelled from the Acropolis. In 1847, a half-ruined church was purchased by the Russian government as a parish for the Russian community in Athens. In 1850, the building was restored, post-Byzantine paintings were replaced, side turbines and a heavy bell tower were added on orders of Tzar Alexander II and now, it is still in use by the growing Russian community. The building, like many churches in Athens, was closed but we did enjoy its elaborate facade.

After another 5 minutes walk along Filellinon street, we finally reached Plateia Syntamatos (or Syntagma Square), which is home to the Greek Parliament in the Voulí building, and the tomb of the Unknown Solder, decorated with an evocative relief depicting a dying Greek hoplite and flanked by texts from Pericles’ famous funeral oration. The square is surrounded by high-end hotels (definitely check out Grande Bretagne), cafes and shops and has a marble fountain in the middle. It is a place to manifest and to be seen, but also to watch the change of traditionally dressed guards (evzones) which happens every hour on the hour. We happened to arrived at 15.00 and witness it ourselves.

Note that the presidential guards’ uniform of short kilts and funny-looking pom-pom shoes is based on the attire worn by the Klephts (the mountain fighters of the War of Independence).

Since we planned to check out the Kerameikos archeological site, from the Syntagma square, we walked east-west via one of the most expensive streets in Europe – Ermou street. Mostly pedestrian, the street, which is 1.5 km long, is lined with expensive shops and busy cafes, however, in mid July, it didn’t look terribly crowded. For the first time in 42 hours, I wasn’t looking at something that was built in 5 century BC or earlier.

East section of Ermou street terminates at a small square which houses one of the oldest Byzantine churches of Athens – Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea.  Stranded in the middle of a square between Ermou and Kapnikarea Streets, it is surrounded by the modern office blocks and shops. Built over an ancient pagan temple, dedicated to either Athena or Demeter, its foundation is attributed to Empress Irene, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from AD 797 to 802 and it was traditionally called the Church of the Princess. The true origins of the word “kapnikarea” are unknown, although according to some sources, the church was named after its founder, a “hearthtax gatherer”. Saved from the demolition in 1834, thanks to the timely intervention of King Ludwig of Bavaria, and restored by Athens University, it is a true gem of the Byzantine Athens. After the restoration of 1950s, the dome of the church is supported by four Roman columns. Frescoes by Fotis Kontoglou were painted during the restoration, including one of the Virgin and Child.

A block south from Ermou street, there is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens or Mitropoli. When Athens became the capital of Greece in 1834, a cathedral was needed here to be the seat of the Bishop of Athens. Construction began on Christmas Day in 1842 with the laying of the cornerstone by King Otto and Queen Amalia. Workers used marble from no less than 72 demolished churches to build the Mitropoli’s immense walls and three architects and 20 years later, it was completed. The king and queen were present at the dedication on May 21, 1862 in honor of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. At 40 m long, 20 m wide and 24 m high, it is the largest church in Athens. Inside, there are the tombs of two saints killed by the Turks during the Ottoman period: Saint Philothei, who was martyred in 1559, and her bones are still visible in a silver reliquary, and Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople, who was hung by order of Sultan Mahmud II and his body thrown into the Bosphorus in 1821, in retaliation for the Greek uprising on March 25, leading to the Greek War of Independence. His body was rescued by Greek sailors and eventually enshrined in Athens 50 years later. The Metropoli was undergoing a massive restoration when we visited it, so most of the relics were covered up.

In the square in front of the Cathedral stand two statues. The first is that of Saint Constantine XI the Ethnomartyr, the last Byzantine Emperor. The second is a statue of Archbishop Damaskinos who was Archbishop of Athens during World War II and was Regent for King George II and Prime Minister of Greece in 1946.

To the immediate south of the Cathedral is the city’s finest Church of St. Eleftherios  (originally dedicated to the Panagia Gorgeopikoos, meaning “Virgin swift to answer prayers”), also called the “Little Mitropoli”. This domed cruciform church is built entirely of Pentelic marble, now weathered to a rich corn-colored hue. Dating from 12th century, it measures only 7.5 m long by 12 m wide, though the miniature size of the church is in scale with Athens of the 12th century, when it was just a village. Its exterior mixes the Classical and Byzantine styles, and is adorned with friezes of symbolic beasts in bas-reliefs taken from the earlier buildings. We enjoyed a half-hour break sitting in the shadow of these two Metrolopis.

Our final stop of the day was the Kerameikos Cemetery, which was another 850-900 m walk (10-15 minutes). The city’s cemetery from the 12th century BC to Roman times, initially Kerameikos was a settlement for potters who were attracted by the clay on the banks of river Eridanos (hence the modern word “ceramic”). Due to constant flooding, eventually the area was converted into a cemetery and “re-discovered” in 1861 during the construction of Pireos St. The site is very different from the other archeological ruins in Athens. It is the land beyond, land of the “Other World”, land where thousands of Athenians for over 1,500 years found their last resting place.

In 478 BC the Themistoclean Wall that surrounded the ancient city divided the place into the Inner and the Outer Kerameikos. The part within the wall became a residential area, and the outer part – a burial ground. To give you the visuals of what I am talking about, please see the map below (courtesy of Baedeker).

We entered the site next to the Museum of Kerameikos and proceeded around the cemetery clock-wise. The Kerameikos is crossed from north to south for a length of some 200 m by the most typical and best preserved section of the fortification of ancient Athens. The overall perimeter of the wall, which encircled the city, was about 6,500 m, and it had at least 13 gates (two most important ones I already mentioned earlier – Sacred Gate and Dypilon Gate). The foundations of the fortification wall as we can see them today were laid down in 479-478 BC at the urging of Themistocles, and remained as they were, with recurrent repairs, for about a thousand years. From Thucydides’ description we know the dramatic historical events that obliged the Athenians to hurriedly erect the new city wall after the retreat of the Persians under the pressure of the Sparta threat. This Themistoclean wall had a stone base, the rest of it consisting of unbaked brick. The overall hight was 7-8 m, topped with battlements. It was 2.5 m wide and had a moat in front of it.

The site was nearly empty of visitors, but populated by a number of slow moving turtles.

We began our tour at the Eleusinian or Sacred Way which was one of the most ancient roads of Athens. From the Sacred Gate it led to Eleusis, a distance of one hundred stades (about 20 kms). The use of the road for the procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries conferred on it a special religious importance. People who visit the grounds today walk on the same level as that of the Classical Period (5th-4th century BC). Leaving back the Sacred Gate, we immediately came across a square altar. Further above, the high “South Hill” is a mound concealing a host of mainly Archaic and Classical burials. Two grave steles at its foot mark the positions of the Tombs of Corcyraean Consuls. On the opposite bank of the river is another large burial mound – Anthemokritos. Next on the left can be seen the foundation of a small Classical sanctuary and beyond – the Tritipatreion. On the right, almost opposite, is a Hellenistic stone bridge over the Eridanos. Behind the Tritipatreion is another burial mound concealing a large brick funerary monument as well as hundreds of plain tombs. Finally, as one approaches the modern Piraeus Street, is flanked by family funerary monuments of the Classical period, like those of the Sinopeians, of Ampharete and Aristomache. One has also to imagine a similar picture of continuous funerary monuments on both sides of the road outside the present archeological area running for many kilometers towards Eleusis.

We first ventured on to the Street of Tombs (the ancient name isn’t known), which is a branch of the Sacred Way. It was reserved for the tombs of Athens’ most prominent citizens. In the part of the Street of Tombs within the archeological zone are the best preserved and most imposing and luxurious funerary marble monuments of the 5th and 4th century BC (note, those are just the plaster copies, originals are either at the Museum of Kerameikos or at the National Archeological Museum). These steles, reliefs and complete marble monuments belonged in general to family burial enclosures. It was the way well-known wealthy Athenian families and foreigners, who had settled in the city, perpetuated the memory of their illustrious members.

On the left of the road, going towards Piraeus, we came first to the relief of Dexileos, who was 20 years old when he fell in 294 BC in battle against Spartans. Next were the burial plots of the Herakleians, with the lofty stele of Agathon, Dionnysus of Kolyttos with a marble bull, Lysimachides with the marble Molossian hound and others. Pictures are placed left to right.

On the right of the road the most important burial memorial is that of Koroibos of Melite: it shows his wife, Hegeso, admiring her jewels with a servant. Here at a lower level, filled in after their excavation, are the earlier grave memorials, like one probably connected with famous Alcibiades family of the Peloponnesian War, and also hundreds of tombs from the Geometric period to Roman times. Important to mention, that ordinary citizens were buried in the areas bordering the Street of Tombs but not on the street.

In the place, where the Street of Tombs merges with the Sacred Way is the Triropatreion sanctuary, a simple unroofed sacred precinct, the place where the Athenians worshipped their common ancestors. The cult was installed here in the early 5th century BC and the sanctuary ceased to exist around 300 BC, lasting therefore two centuries. In a first phase, ca. 500 BC, the sanctuary’s position was marked by an irregular limestone block which was later used in the south wall of the second phase of the sanctuary. A tumulus was formed, with an aperture on top in order to receive offerings. According to ancient texts, the Tritopatores were worshipped regularly by the Athenian citizens in common cult: the ancestors were offered food and drink and were begged, in private wedding ritual, for the birth of children and in particular for the birth of sons.

The Ancient road, 1,600 m long, leading from the Dipylon Gate to Plato’s Academy was called simply the “Kerameikos” or the “Dromos“. It was the most official road in the city because on either side of it, in the Demosian Sema (public tombs) were buried prominent Athenians and also those who fell in the city’s battles. At the beginning of the Dromos, where was a square 40 m wide, where the Athenians congregated to honor their dead with ceremonies, games and funerary speeches. Pericles’ Funerary Oration for the first dead in the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC was one of them. In the Demosion Sema were the tombs of distinguished Athenians, like Pericles, the Tyrant – Slayers Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Cleisthenes, Thasubulos, Lycurgus and others. The excavation of the Dromos uncovered its Classical level only along the western side. The monuments bordering it are, in order, an Archaic tumulus, a Classical bath, the funerary monument of the Lacedaemonians and the peculiar “burial monument at the third boundary stone”. The east side of the Dromos has not yet been excavated.

Let me pay a bit more attention to the Tomb of Lacedaemonians (or Spartans), discovered during the excavation in 1914-1915. It is a site of 13 Spartan warriors who were killed during the heavy fighting at the Piraeus in 403 BC, when Thrasybulus overthrew the Thirty Tyrants. Among the marble blocks of the monument, on which were inscribed the names of the fallen, is one recording the deaths of the two polemarchs, Chaeron and Thibrachus, mentioned by Xenophon who, with the Olympic victor Lactates, were buried in the Kerameikos too. Here are some interesting facts I found online:

“If we look at the Spartan that is farthest to the left, we can see the lance head that killed him, still located in his rib cage. Another of these four, which I was not able to identify, has a pair of bronze arrowheads lodged in his right leg.” LaRue van Hook. On the Lacedaemonians Buried in the Kerameikos. And  in Nigel Kennel’s book, Spartans: A New History, “this tomb is briefly touched upon, stating that there was evidence that the 13 warriors have been bound, head to toe, in their phoinikis (crimson cloak), that had been pinned at their shoulders. They were also buried with no grave goods of any kind, which along with the phoinikis suggests that the Lykurgan laws of burial (Lyk 27.1-2) were adhered to.”

Dipylon (the “Thriasian Gate”), the most important gateway of the Athenian City Wall, was the main entrance of the city. Covering an area of 1,800 sq m, it was the larges gateway in the ancient world. Four tall towers at the corners created a large rectangular courtyard, the purpose being to hem the besiegers in. The towers were probably roofed and had steps to their tops; there were windows for archers on the ramparts of the walls connecting them. On the side of the city the gateway was closed by two doors, to which it apparently owed the name Dipylon (double gate). The gateway was constructed at the same time as the Themistoclean walls in 478 BC, and it lasted in more or less the same form until the Roman period. In Hellenistic times the tower were enlarged and two doors were added on the side facing away from the city, and in the Roman period a statue was erected on a large marble pedestal. The large courtyard of the Dipylon, in addition to acting as a protection and a thoroughfare, was also a place frequented daily by merchants and peddlers. It had a further function, however, as an official meeting place for the Athenians in two different situations: when there were funerary ceremonies in the Demosian Sema (public cemetery), and at the time of the Panathenaian procession to the Agora and Acropolis. As in nearly every ancient city, there was a large fountain at the Dipylon, where travelers arriving from all over Greece on their way to the City could refresh themselves.

Between the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate, stood the Pompeion, a place where preparations were carried out for the most important festival of ancient Athens, the Panathenaia, which was held every four years in the middle of August. This large rectangular edifice, measuring some 70 by 30 m, was built in around 400 BC. It has a large colonnaded court, a monumental propylon on the side towards the city, and rooms for public feasts. The building was used for storing the equipment and materials, for collecting offerings, etc of the great festival, while in its large court the Panathenaian processional ship was made ready. It was from here that the procession set out for the Agora and Acropolis. During the rest of the year the Pompeion appears to have have other uses, like that of the Gymnasium. Ancient sources mention that there was a bronze statue of Socrates by Lysippos here and painted portraits of Isocrates and comic poets. Of the mosaics and paintings only the mosaic floor depicting animals has survived, exhibited in the Museum. The Pompeion was also frequented by the Cynic philosopher Diogenes. The Classical building was destroyed in 86 BC at the time of the Roman incursion into Athens. Later two buildings were erected on its ruins, first the so-called “Storehouse” (2nd century AD) and afterwards, in around AD 400, two arcades with a street ending in a gate. It is probable that both these structures continued to be used for the preparations of the Panathenaia until the end of antiquity. In the deepest levels of the Classical Pompeion approximately 160 Submycenaean burials were found (1100-1000 BC).

Inside the city walls, next to the Pompeion, the archeologists identified three houses, given the names X, Y and Z. Z, the most completely excavated, is a large house with an area of 600 sq m. It was built in about 430 BC and with continuous reconstructions existed until the 1st century BC (or AD). It belongs to the characteristic class of two-storied ancient Greek houses, with a courtyard with a well in the center of the house and rooms around it, men and women apartments, a kitchen and storerooms. During the course of the long history of building Z, its function changed. During the 4th century BC it may have been an inn with maids, weavers and prostitutes, who served the travelers. From the 1st century BC (AD) the whole quarter of the houses X,Y and Z was turned into a district of pottery workshops and bronze smiths. Pits for casting bronze objects have survived, as well as the considerable potters’ installations containing tanks for levigating the clay and kilns for firing the pots.

We ended our tour of the Kerameikos at the Museum, four rooms of which and a courtyard contain almost exclusively finds from burials.  Please follow  Museum of Kerameikos Map for the reference. Two groups of burial monument are displayed in the first room: the first group contains a collection of Archaic tombstones, many of which were found built-in the Themistoclean Wall, where they had been used as building material during the hasty erection. The fragment of a boxed relief, the seated man wearing a himation, the lions, the “elegant” sphinxes and the noble Kouros at the end of the room are some of the most important Attic works of Archaic sculpture.

The other group near the door consists of steles of the Classical period. Among them stand out the grave relief of the young horseman Dexileos, a grand mother, Ampharete, and two women, Demetria and Pamphile. The figures are depicted at characteristic moment in their lives and radiate grandeur and dignity.

Other figures from funerary monuments are also exhibited in the courtyard. The center is dominated by a bull that came from the tomb of Dionyios from Kollytos.

In the first room of the vase collection, in Case 1, are grave-offerings from the first phase of the cemetery, especially of the Prehistoric period (2500-1000 BC). The following Case 2,3 and 4 contain vases of the Protogeometric period (1050-900 BC), a period during which neatness of form and simple linear decorations appeared, the first examples of the new spirit in ancient Greek art. The large vases of this and the following periods were used either as cinerary urns to hold the ashes of the deceased or as grave “markers” (funerary monuments). In the second room Cases 5 and 6 display some of the many grave-offerings from the Geometric period (900-700 BC), the period most strongly represented in the Kerameikos. Alongside the linear decoration, human and animal figures now become more and more frequent in vase-painting, and form the start of the Attic potter’s pictorial repertoire. In the first part of the third room in Cases 7, 8 and 9 are finds from the Archaic period (700-480 BC). The pottery was now enriched with new shapes and vase-painting made great strides in its repertoire, which becomes narrative, depicting scenes of mourners, myths, gods and heroes. With the introduction of the black-and-red-figure styles, the era began of the renowned Attic vases that were in demand by foreign markets. Cases 11, 12 and 13 contain grave-offerings of the Classical period (5th and 4th century BC). Some of the red-figure vases and white lekythoi, vessels painted exclusively with funerary representations, were the ornate creations of the Athenian potters who had their workshops in the surrounding district. The hydria by the Meidias Painter, dating to the end of the 5th century, is one of them. Case 14 brings the history of the cemetery to a close with finds from the Hellenistic to the Early Christian periods (3rd century BC – 6th century AD). Graves and grave-offerings now become less elaborate. Black-gazed pottery with simple foliate decoration gives way to unglazed pottery with the gradual disappearance of every decorative style. Jewelry becomes especially popular and frequently accompanies the body. Case 10 and 15 are different from the rest: in case 10 finds are shown from an excavation at the corner of the lera Odos and Piraeus Streets, which is an extension of the cemetery outside the organized archeological site. A communal burial of men, women and children was discovered there, buried in disorder, victims of the plague that broke out in Athens in the summer of 430-429 BC and was mentioned by Thucydides. The plague decimated the population and was the reason for the violation of the ancient burial laws. Case 15 contains finds from public and private life, which came from the Inner Kerameikos, the residential part of the city. The lead sheets with the names of Athenian aristocrats formed part of the archives of the Athenian Cavalry. Also of interest is a collection of potsherds inscribed with the names of famous Athenians who had been subject to the ordeal of ostracism.

We had an inexpensive but delicious dinner at one of the restaurants on Adrianou street overlooking the Ancient Agora and then caught a train back to Chalandri. Wow, what a day!

July 24, 2014

Today, we devoted the entire day to the National Archeological Museum, one of the best and certainly one of the largest exhibitions of Greek artifacts from prehistory to late antiquity in the world. Over 11,000 items (and growing) are housed in a beautiful 19th-century neoclassical building and take up to 8,000 sq. m. The exhibits displayed largely thematically and are very easy to navigate. Cost is €7 per person, no-flash pictures are ok, allow yourself at least 5-6 hours to enjoy this collection. Even though, I wouldn’t dare to describe every piece in the museum, I would like to point out to a few interesting sections, collections and items to watch out for. Check out the  National Museum Map for reference.

We browsed through the museum clockwise. Rooms 7-35 are Sculpture Collection and contain sculptures from all over Greece from the 8th century BC to the end of the 4th century AD, displayed chronologically. Among those in the collection, the most important are the series of Kouroi and these of Classical grave reliefs. Also, pay attention to the Dypilon Amphora – a huge Geometric vase which was used to mark an 8th century BC woman’s burial and shows the dead body surrounded by mourning women. It was named after the place of its discovery (Kerameikos’ Dipylon Gate, that we visited the evening prior).

Rooms 36-39 are the Bronze Collection – world’s largest collection of bronze statues and objects. It is famous mainly for its unique, large-scale original statues such as the Poseidon or Zeus from Artemision, the Marathon youth, the Antikythera youth, and the jockey from Artemision.

Rooms 40-41 are the Egyptian collection, renowned throughout the world for the importance of its objects, from statues to pottery, and from mummies to jewelry.

I won’t deny, room 42 – the Stathatos Collection – was one of my favorite. Its 970 objects, works of the Minor Arts, looked very much like something I would like to own myself. Also, pay attention to the museum’s more than 600 pieces of jewelry, they are inspiring.

Pretty much most of the second floor (rooms 49-63) is dedicated to the Collection of Vases and the Minor Arts. The great quantity and quality of the Geometric pottery, the early black-figure vases from Vari, the white-ground lekythoi and the red-figure vases of the 4th century BC make this collection one of the richest in the world.

The museum also houses an excellent collection of terracotta figurines, glass vessels, Cypriot antiques, Vlastos-Serpieris collection and has a beautiful garden sculptures. However the most famous rooms in the museum are 3-6, which accommodate the Pre-Historic Collection. The most important exhibits are the treasures from the royal tombs at Mycenae, the famous Cycladic marble figurines, and the superbly preserved wall-paintings from Thira in Santorini. The golden death mask of Agamemnon, found at Mycenae by Schleimann, is also there! However, it is not the mask of the legendary king, since it dates 2 centuries earlier than the time of Agamemnon.

Tomorrow, we were starting out road-trip around Greece, so after the visit to the museum, we went to D. mom to pick up a car, and on the way back to the apartment, we passed by the Olympic Stadium and stopped at the campus of the ACS Athens where D spent 6 years of his middle and high school.

By no means we were able to visit all the places in Athens, but we were yet to return in a few weeks to attend a Big Fat Greek wedding, as well as to visit the Kallimarmaro Stadium, Benaki museum, Lykavittos hill, and the first cemetery of Athens; to do some fur shopping and check out a famous flea market. Click here for Athens, part II.

Pictures of Athens, July 2014.

The post Athens, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Nevertheless, I had a few months to prepare so, I think I did pretty well:

1. Greece, Lovely Planet
2. Athens, Eyewitness Travel Guides
3. The Greek Island, Eyewitness Travel
4. The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World by John Boardman and Jasper Griffin
5. The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian by Robin Lane Fox
6. Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities by Paul Anthony Cartledge
7. The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets by William J. Broad
8. Have You Been to Delphi: Tales of the Ancient Oracle for Modern Minds by Roger Lipsey – MUST READ book if you are visiting Delphi
9. Byzantium: The Surprising Life Of A Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin
10. Greece: The Modern Sequel by John S. Koliopoulos
11. From Solon to Socrates. Greek History and Civilization between the 6th and 5th Centuries BC by Victor Ehrenberg
12. Delphi. Monuments and Museum by Photios Petsas
13. The Acropolis: through its museum by Panos Valavanis
14. Holy Meteora. Itinerary by D.Z. Sofianos
15. Vergina, wandering through the archeological site by Evangelia Kypraiou and Alexandra Doumas
16. Zakynthos. The flower of the Levant by J. Solman
17. Saint Dionysios. Patron Saint of Zakynthos by Dinos Komonos
18. A Guide to the Benaki Museum by Angelos Delivorrias

We had to spend time with D. family in Athens and Zakynthos, as well as attend his friends’ wedding, so we planned our 3 week Greek vacation with this in mind. Hence, our itinerary included:

1. Athens – capital city with its ancient Agoras and The Acropolis
2. Thebes and Delphi – have your heard of prophecies of Pythia?
3. Thermopylae – the battle of 300 Spartans
4. Meteora – suspended in the air monasteries
5. Ioannina – tranquil Northern city with rich Muslim culture
6. Vergina & Pella – two towns the most intimately connected to Alexander the Great
7. Zakynthos Island  – to visit D. grandma
8. Santorini Island – to personally witness the famous sunsets.

It was plenty to fill in 3 weeks, but I am so looking forward to going back!

The post Greece. July-August 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.