Today was definitely NOT one of those days. We are in Delphi, Greece, which is about 3 hours northwest of Athens. It is pretty close to the Gulf of Corinth (which will eventually lead to the Aegean Sea) and is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life. It is a city embedded into mountains and rocks and surrounded by olive groves. Part of our group climbed up a mountain today actually, and we could see really far off into the distance. It was a great experience though... I have not been feeling very good over the past few days... I have a cold and
my lungs feel like they are covered in mucus (yum, right?)... and I didn't think that I could handle walking up the mountain. I decided to go as far as I could handle, so another girl and I went at a slower pace. We ended up losing the group, but caught up with one of the leaders and his daughter about halfway up the hill. We soon took a wrong turn, ended up on the back side of the mountain (where you couldn't see the water), made up our own path to get back to the correct side of the mountain, saw a pig farm, and eventually found ourselves at the top... at least 3/4 mile higher than the shelter that we were aiming to walk to. We saw our group at the shelter but it was too far away and they couldn't hear us. We somehow cut our own paths (again) to get to the shelter, and then cut our own path (once more) to get back to the original path we started on. It was a wonderful adventure and it was really fun! It took us about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish, and I would say we walked at least 8 or 9 miles up the mountain. What a workout!Anyways, that wasn't the original point of my blog. Today was the day we visited the Sanctuary of Apollo and the Sanctuary of Athena, which was the topic of my site report. The point I am trying to make is how much more people are able to get out of a site if they know a lot about it beforehand. Everyone on this trip had to write a 10-page paper before we left on a certain aspect of Greek culture or a site that we were going to visit. Then at some point during the trip, each student has to give a presentation before or during the corresponding site. My paper was on Delphi, so today was my site report.
The presentation went well, thanks for asking =) But it was so much more interesting for me to be at a site that I have researched and know the historical background for before going. It was phenomenal for me to see the actual Temple of Apollo and the theater and stadium and Tholos in the Sanctuary of Athena.
Moral of the story: Do research on a place before you visit it. The site will mean that much more to you when you arrive.
But I climbed a mountain today and am trying to get over a cold, so I am exhausted and am going to leave you all now and get a good night's sleep before we travel again in the morning!
On a final note, more pictures from facebook! Follow these links to see them!
http://cord.facebook.com/album
http://cord.facebook.com/album
4 comments:
I'm pretty much jealous of everything you're doing. =[ I want to go to greece sometime in my life. And I will DEFINATELY research where I'm going. Thanks for the tip! Have fun and get better!
I see from your pictures in facebook that you've come across some snow (nothing like making you feel at home, right?). Just curious as to where it was and how much, etc. MN Mary
Wow even in Europe you can't escape the colds going around ;)
I've been thinking about your little blizzard story, and you are right it is incredibly rare. Weather looks to be a lot better for the next while.
Here is the forecast for Athens (I know its not exactly where you are) but Greece is not too big, and climates remains pretty consistent.
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/16716.html
I have been trying to find the Greece version of the weather service, but no luck so far..I'll keep you posted.
Matt
you need to post again! i'm out of the loop! =]
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