Greece, Part 3

I'm sure you thought I would never finish telling you about my trip to Greece. Well, a little over 4 months later, here it is!

As I said in the previous blog, on Monday we made it back to Port Piraeus, boarded our bus and drove down the coast of Attica to Cape Sounion.

Cape Sounion is the southern most point of continental Europe, at the point of the Attican Peninsula. The Temple of Poseidon, built on a site set back from the sheer cliffs and with its magnificent view of the Aegean Sea and islands, was ideally located for worship of the powerful god of the sea. In ancient times, mariners would see the white marble columns of the Temple of Poseidon and know they were close to home. The temple was built in 444 BC.

We took many pictures of this area, but really, it didn't take long to see all there was to see here. We were supposed to go back to Athens and have the afternoon free. Then on Tuesday, we were to go to Corinth in the morning and have the afternoon free in Athens again. After some begging and coaxing by us travellers, we finally succeeded in getting the tour guides to take us to Corinth on Monday afternoon. Then we had the full day Tuesday to do what we wanted in Athens.

So, we boarded our big, purple bus again, and off to Corinth we went. It was a bit of a drive, so we stopped for lunch when we entered Corinth. Just down the street from where we ate, we could see the Corinth Canal. Before the Corinth Canal was constructed, ships had to travel all around the Peloponnese, which added approximately 185 nautical miles, and several days more travel to their journey time.
The Corinth Canal, which separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece, connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf. The Corinth Canal, though only completed in the late 19th century, was an idea and dream of two thousand years ago. The work on the canal was done by a combination of French and Greek workmen. The Corinth Canal was actually based on the “Panama and Suez Canals”, and has often been referred to as the “step-child” of these canals.

After lunch, we went to Ancient Corinth. It was another site of glorious ruins. After seeing Ephesus though, it was a bit anticlimactic. It wasn't nearly as well preserved. It was awesome still, to picture Paul here in this city.

On Tuesday, some of us got an early start and went to the older area of Athens, called Plaka. We got out our maps, obtained a map of the subway, and set out. We had to walk for several blocks to the nearest subway station, then we rode it to the stop nearest Plaka. (If you go to Athens and ride the subway, watch your wallet. Some of our fellow travellers lost theirs to pick-pockets!)

We spent the whole day walking, and walking all over Plaka taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful old buildings and sights. We were absolutley, totally, exhausted by the end of the day, so we opted to take a ride on a miniature sight seeing train. We sat in the back, and Gypsy children kept hopping aboard begging for money, and trying to sell us trinkets. We made sure our purses and bags were tightly held in our laps. It was very annoying and I finally turned around and loudly told one child to get down. He wasn't startled at all, and looked me in the eye, and loudly told me something in Greek...and did NOT get down! They were very brassy, bold children.

While walking about in Plaka, we came upon a "demonstration". We gleaned some information from a policeman, who told us that a factory had closed and these people had lost their jobs. They were protesting the loss of their jobs. I don't know if they expected the factory to re-open, or what. They parked themselves, including tents in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in downtown Athens. It was quite a sight. The terrible economy situation is world wide, it it not just an "American" thing.

After an exhausting, but exciting day in Plaka, we headed back by subway again, to the hotel. There we had our last dinner together in Athens. It was sad to leave after seeing old friends, and making new ones. My friend Joyce, made a very apropos statement. She said "This trip 'ruined' me!". I found that statement quite funny after seeing ruins, after ruins.

Early, early Wednesday morning we boarded our bus for the last time. It took us to the Athens airport where we had to wait a couple of hours before they would check us in. Apparently our flight was delayed a couple of times. This was April 1st, so Bro. Saiz took the opportunity to tell us that our flight had been cancelled and we would have to stay another day. Then he said "April fool"! We believed him, because they kept delaying our flight, so it was believable. I was disappointed when he said "April fool". I wouldn't have minded staying another night!

Our flight home was extremely LONG, but uneventful. It was another wonderful and great trip that the U.P.C. Single Adult Ministry (SAM) put together. Thank you Bro. Erickson, Sis. Saiz, and Bro Walls for all you do for us singles!

My Featured Photo

I have another photograph featured on Webshots!! It is the picture above, of the famous Tunnel View at Yosemite. This album is titled "Where You Live". We were to send in pictures of (obviously) where we live. This is the picture I entered.

Those of you who have read my blog for a while, might remember that I had another photo featured. HERE

Here is the link for the slideshow to the complete album. It has some really awesome pictures if you care to go see.
slideshow

What Will It Be?

We found out today, that Aaron and Candice are having a BOY! Boys are good. I ought to know, I have 3 of them! This will make 1 granddaughter to 3 grandsons. The boys are winning. See the bar above to follow the progress.

Happy Day to All. Stay cool......

Trip to Greece, Part 2

As promised, I will continue telling about our trip to Greece.

Our Greek Island cruise continued to Rhodes Island. First we visited the city of Lindos. Lindos lies at the foot of the Acropolis and is probably one of the most beautiful places in all the Greek Islands. As you can see in my pictures, its white buildings stand out against the contrasting Acropolis above the city and the surrounding deep blue Mediterranean Sea. Lindos was built somewhere around the 11th century B.C. It is believed that Lindos was the most formidable city on the island at the time. It is also believed that the ships sent to the Trojan War all departed from Lindos.

The Acropolis lies atop a massive triangular rock. Tools found during archaeological digs have dated back to 3000 B.C. I'm not sure exactly to what era the ruins existing today date to, probably between 1000 and 500 B.C., but the massive walls that surround the city today are attributed to the Knights of St. John who controlled trade and shipping until 1522.

After we visited the Acropolis and Lindos, the bus took us back down to the water to our ship. Just as we were passing "Old Town", my friend Joyce and I begged to be let off. We were the only two who didn't want to go back to the ship to eat lunch. We wanted to find a good Greek restaurant in Old Town, and did we ever! We found some fabulous Greek food. We're pretty sure they took advantage of two American tourist ladies, by charging us too much, but nevertheless, the food was delicious.

"Old Town" on Rhodes (Rodos)is a medieval town that is still inhabited. The old town is surrounded by strong medieval walls. Massive towers and bastions project from several places, and have elaborate stonework. A wide dry moat provided the first line of defense for the town and you can still see some of the heavy stone balls that were old ammunition. One of the main streets is called "The Street of the Knights", and at the end of this street is the "Palace of the Grand Master." It actually dominates the entire Old Town. The Grand Master's Palace was built in the 14th century by the Knights of Rhodes. We had a blast wandering the streets of this old city, and taking many, many wonderful photographs.

The next morning at sunrise, we arrived on the Isle of Patmos where St. John was exiled, and wrote the book of Revelation. We went to the cave, (the Apocalypse), where they believe he wrote the book. The Apocalypse has since been converted to a church, and since we were visiting on a Sunday, a church service was going on as we all filed through. (Believe me, it was NOT a Pentecostal Church! No shouting here. They also would not allow any photography inside the cave.) We then continued on to the top of the hill to a monastery dedicated to St. John.

We left the Isle of Patmos about 10am and sailed for a few hours to Asia Minor, and the country of Turkey where we toured Ancient Ephesus. This is the Ephesus where the Apostle Paul lived and preached for a time. Ancient Ephesus is one of the most well preserved of the ancient cities, covering a very large area. As we walked the streets, it was very easy to actually get a feel for how the city must have been.

In one picture you will see me standing in front of the ancient amphitheater. This is a theater where Paul preached. It seats 25,000 people. It is still used for concerts, etc. to raise money to continue with the excavation of Ephesus.

Here is a funny story about Ephesus. In my pictures you will see the Ancient Celsus Library and just to the right of it in the picture there are two arches. These are the Gates of Mazaeus and Mythridates. The people went through these gates into the market place. So, while the women went to the market, the men went to the library. However, in the library, there was a secret tunnel that went underground, across the street to a brothel. The women weren't allowed in the library, so supposedly they were none the wiser. (Ha! They just didn't know how intuitive women are. I'm sure they had a pretty good clue as to what was going on. Just my opinion. ;-))

Another funny story. In my pictures you will see latrines...or toilets! These were built in the men's meeting halls where they discussed politics and business. They were all built side by side, so I guess you could say they would discuss business while doing their business! LOL These toilets were made of stone, or marble. In the summer, things were fine. In the winter, they got awfully cold, so each man had his own servant to sit on his toilet and warm the seat before he would use it. Oh, the life....HA (Just a side note...as a mother of boys, I sure would not have wanted to ever visit that room right after the men had their meetings!! PHEWEEEY)

We arrived back at the Port of Piraeus early Monday morning and drove up the coast of Attica to Cape Sounion. I will continue on our journey in Part 3.

Sorry, there are so many pictures in this slide show, but there were just too many beautiful pictures to choose from. Enjoy!

Still Here...

Just letting my blogger friends know that I am still here. I have been running since I went back to work April 13. I hope life slows down soon, I don't think I have much stamina left. (smile)

I promise I will finish posting about my trip to Greece just as soon as I get a free day.

Actually, I had a free day yesterday, but I took advantage of it and went to Yosemite. We hiked up to the top of Vernal Falls. They say this is an easy hike...well, maybe for people who go hiking a lot!! I rested a bunch of times, but hey, I made it. After that we hiked to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls. That one was really more like a walk instead of a hike, that's why we did it. All in all, I think we walked about 7 or 8 miles because we walked here and there also. It was a fun day. There is no place like Yosemite. It is some of God's most beautiful art!

I hope you all had a good holiday, and took time to "remember" on Memorial Day.

Trip to Greece, Part 1

As promised, I am finally going to start telling you a little bit about my trip to Greece.

On March, 25th we boarded our flight about 5:30PM, from JFK to Athens. It was a 9 hour, overnight flight. It is so difficult for me to sleep sitting practically straight up!! I was very tired from spending a busy 4 days in NYC and had ear plugs and an eye mask, but I still had trouble sleeping. I did sleep about 3-4 hours though, (not consecutively), which is more than I usually sleep on over night flights.

We landed in Athens about 9am the next morning. By the time we all cleared customs, boarded our bus and drove to the hotel, it was about 11am. When we got to the hotel, we only unloaded our luggage. We immediately got back on the bus for our tour of Athens. First we had a drive around Athens to get us aquainted with the layout. Our first stop was the Acropolis, where the Parthenon, Erechtheion and Mars Hill are located, (among others). It was an amazing feeling standing on Mars Hill where Paul preached to the Athenians about the altar they had built to their "unknown god".

Next we stopped at the Panathinako Stadium where the 1896 summer olympics were revived. It was a very pretty stadium, and I could hear the echos of the cheers from crowds long ago.

By this time, it was getting to be early evening and the bus took us back to the hotel where we checked into our rooms. Dinner was at 7pm, so most of us took a nap since we could hardly stay awake another minute!

On day two, March 27th, we woke up early for breakfast, then boarded our bus again. We were taken to Piraeus, Port of Athens. This time, we boarded our ship, The Aquamarine, for our 3 day Greek Island cruise. We arrived at our first stop, the Isle of Mykonos at sunset. Mykonos is a very beautiful island, but by the time we actually got on the island it had become dark. Because of this, I didn't get to enjoy this island as much as I would have liked.

This was the beginning of our incredible trip to Greece. I'm not sure when, but I will eventually tell you about going to Rhodes, the Isle of Patmos, Ephesus, Corinth, Sounion, The Temple of Apollo, Plaka and more....Stay tuned.

Here is a slide show of a FEW of the pictures I took of the first two days. Enjoy!

Incredible Trip!...(and other news)

I made it home last night about 8:30PM. It was sure good to sleep in my own bed, which I did, for about 10 hours.... I have some major jet-lag going on. I will post pictures and details of the trip soon. I'm too tired to do so now.

As soon as I made it back on U.S.A. soil, I turned on my phone. A text from my son, Aaron came through. I am going to be Grandma again. Whoo Hoo!!! Candice is 7 weeks, and due in late November. Why does everyone in our family choose November??? We already have 6 birthdays that month! I know, I know, it's not a choice, and there are other birthday months for us, but that is the most popular.

Aaron is a twin, and Candice is a twin.... Would love to have twin grandchildren!

Stay tuned for pictures and details of my trip.