Greece

On Saturday, March 14, we flew to Athens for a week of touring ancient ruins. Josh’s sister Jessica and her friend Ashlee joined us for their Spring Break from college. We began in Athens, which is a huge city, containing 40% of the entire population of the country. The narrow streets were clogged with cars, people, and motorcycles, and I was glad that I didn’t have to drive.
The spot where the apostle Paul preached to the Athenians has a beautiful view of the city. Jessica and Ashlee stopped for a picture, but they did not preach.
The highest hill is the Acropolis, with the famous Parthenon. Unfortunately, the Parthenon is covered in scaffolding right now.
Next to the Acropolis is the Ancient Agora (Market), with ruins of an ancient village. There were lots of columns and statues. Throughout Greece we found that many statues were headless. I guess the heads break off easily.
After Athens, we stopped by Marathon and then headed to the town of Delphi, which is set on a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley full of olive trees.
The ancient ruins at Delphi include many buildings, a large theater, and a stadium. At one time the Oracle of Delphi would inhale sulfurous fumes and give vague prophecies to her visitors, but there is no oracle working now. Most oracles had to be over 50 years old, so we don’t qualify for the job yet.
There was also a large ancient gymnasium, with a big bath.
Our next stops were Thermopylae and then Mt. Olympus, the tallest mountain in Greece and the home of Zeus. We hiked partway up it, in the snow.
Next we drove to Meteora, a rocky, mountainous area where several monasteries are perched on top of huge cliffs.
The views were beautiful, and we got to go inside a few of the monasteries. A monk in one of them explained much of the history and art in his monastery. Women were required to wear skirts, so we made quite a fashion statement.
After Meteora, our next stop was Epidauros, home of a huge ancient theater that is still in use today. The unique shape of the theater makes it easy to hear the actors even from the highest seats.
Ashlee and I found a huggable tree.
Finally we drove to Ancient Corinth, another ancient city with partly destroyed walls, columns, and statues. The building where Paul was put on trial is still mostly standing. The site was overrun with a big group of American tourists visiting places important in Paul’s life, and another big tour group wielding Bibles. What a rowdy crowd.
At the end of our whirlwind tour we spent our last evening in Athens again, so that we could send Jessica and Ashlee off on their early morning flight back to the US. We were all funned out.