After slogging through a final 27 hours transit, we are safely back from Greece!
The simple thing I will say - probably multiple times - is that I loved Greece and if you ever get the opportunity, you should go. Not just for the history - the landscape itself is amazing and we may have literally eaten our way through it.
I have something like a thousand photos and videos for review and a lot of thinking to do, but did want to leave you with a taste of what we saw:
Climbing to the Acropolis - Athens
The Parthenon - Athens
The Ancient Agora of Athens. The Temple of Hephaestus is in the background.
A mosaic from Pella, the ancient capital of Macedon where Philip II and Alexander the Great were born.
The gold crown and funeral casket of Philip II - Aegae, Modern Vergina
The Monastery of The Great Meteora, dating from the 14th Century - Meteora
Corfu City, Corfu
Crossing between Corfu and Mainland Greece
The alter Screen of St. Charalampos - Preveza
The Harbor of Nafpaktos. The current building dates from the 15th Century by the Venetians, but the harbor itself dates back to Classical Greece
The Treasury of the Athenians - Delphi
The Theater of Delphi, looking down on the Temple of Apollo
The Stadium of Olympia, where the original Olympics were held 776 A.D. to 393 A.D.
The Bourtzi, a fort built by the Venetian in the 18th Century - Nafpalon
The Lion's Gate - Mycenae. This represents one of the earliest known sculptures in Europe, dating from 1250 B.C.
The Treasury of Atreus - Mycenae
Welcome back TB. Looking forward to moar please.......photos and commentary both.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Happy to oblige.
DeleteI'm glad you made it back. Those photos look great. We in America don't appreciate ancient civilization like the Euros and Eastern cultures do. At least if you don't consider older Native American true civilization.
ReplyDeleteWe do not, but that is partially because we seem to have a dislike of anything that is older than our country.
DeleteOne wonders what Native American civilizations would have left if they culture was not so oral. Who knows that the Socrates or Plato of North America was here and we would never know it. Certainly the cultures of South and Central America (Incas, Mayans, Aztecs) give clues that some of their equals in technology and art were here.
A taste indeed! Tantalizing.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, so much amazing history and thought provoking things.
DeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteSTxAR, it was amazing. We trailed Paul for a while, stopping in Thessaloniki, driving by Corinth, and of course being in Athens, including standing on the Aeropagus.
DeleteWelcome back home. Amazing what 'ancient' civilization' built.
ReplyDeleteThank you!. Yes, it is amazing how such "primitive" people made things that have endured time and we cannot produce something that lasts five years.
DeleteI wish the Library of Alexander in Egypt had not been burnt. That probably held unbelievable stuff. I got to go through the Museum of Antiquities once and could have spent 3 days in there.
ReplyDeleteReading through Diogenes Laertius' books Lives of Eminent Philosophers, he lists so many books by philosophers of which we have nothing. Oh, that we had the Library of Alexandria or Ephesus still preserved.
DeleteThe wife and I are discussing where to go next year for our 25th anniversary and right now it's a tossup between Tahiti and Greece. Your really cool pictures are not making it easy to decide. ;-)
ReplyDeleteEcho Hotel, I am (perhaps obviously) not a neutral party, but I am going to completely advocate for Greece. There are beaches with sun and sand if that is what is desired - or many other options!
DeleteWonderful information. Great photos and history. As has been said, good that the history has been preserved.
ReplyDeleteGlad you all made it back safely, TB.
Be safe and God bless. Stay cool, if you're in the "heat belt"! :)
The crowds in the first picture about did me in from ever going but the subsequent pictures are more my speed.
ReplyDelete