delphi and the peloponnese...check!

is this real life? I've returned from a wonderful week of traveling in southern Greece and I am still convincing myself it really happened. I'll give you a basic outline of the week and where we went. We began with the site of Delphi. It is here where the Pythian games were held as well as the site of the Oracle mentioned in most of Greek history. The views were absolutely amazing, but a task to hike up the steep mountains. I almost fell coming down, but luckily there was a huge boulder on the side of me, so my hand slapped down and caught me. It stung for a bit, but definitely better than falling completely on my butt! Anyways, we hit the first portion of the site and then the bottom half where the athletes would bathe, oil up and practice. During the break in between, we ate a picnic lunch on this awesome cliff [see below]. It was so surreal to be sitting there like it was no big deal at all, when in reality it was something so absolutely incredible. I need constant reminding that this is all real. That night we stayed in the small town of Delphi where the weather was a bit cold, but felt great.

site of Delphi.

stadium for the games.

temple of Apollo cont'd.

SUN.

reppin' cali all day.

location of lunch.

temple of Athen in delphi.

The next day we hopped into the bus and drove a few hours to Olympia where we were strongly disappointed because the site was closed. That day [wednesday] and the following day all of Greece was on a general strike. This included transportation and site workers. Yay for us! It was unfortunate we weren't able to go onto the site, but there was a road that gave a decent view. This is where I gave an on site presentation on cheating and other shennanigans that took place during athletic competitions. I was nervous because not only was it for a grade, but it was in front of a huge crowd of tourists/ people not usually in my class. It would've been in front of 10 people back in school, but this topic had to be given on site. After my initial shakey voice, I managed to get through it and a huge weight was lifted. After looking from a far, we met with a local woman to discuss efforts made by the community to clean a river near by. We walked through some bamboo, caught frogs and had the Greek national anthem sung to us by our group leader. #winning.

Olympia!

stadium for the first olympics. #nbd

jungle baby.

 Our next destination was Sparta. Ilove the movie 300, so naturally I was excited. Despite the movie not being 100% accurate [what movie is?], it was still cool going to Sparta. We even had a "this is Sparta!" moment on the edge of a cliff. I decided to rock my Bowdoin B that day and I think it was pretty fitting. The surrounding town is built on pretty much the ancient city, so it was interesting to think of being on Spartan soil.

views driving to sparta.

reppin' Bobo all day.

spartan-sized ladybug.

While in Sparta, we visited Mystra- a now monastery that is believed to be the ancient palace of Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon. This was by far my favorite site we went to during the whole trip. The buildings were amazing and the views the best from all week.

mystra in sparta.

views all around.

tunnels <3

church.

chillin' with elizabeth.

AFter our Mystra visit, we headed to Nafplion where we would be for 2 nights. This city was so awesome. Our professor told us it was almost the capital of Greece. Thank goodness it's not, otherwise it wouldn't be as beautiful. I can speak from experience with Athens.

oh, hello bug.

naplion.

this is what i love about greece.

mine one day?

i miss the ocean.

 From Nafplion, we went to Nemea. This is also a site of one of Panhellenic Games held during antiquity. The site was small, so we made our way through it quickly. The stadium was neat to walk on and some of my classmates reenacted the ways the athletes use to have foot races. It was also neat to see a Temple of Zeus. I love seeing the tall columns and imagining myself living back in those times. I like to think I would be a super awesome Greek.

nemea stadium.

aw yeah, covered this area.

temple of zeus in nemea.

been working out ;D

 Our last night we returned to Nafplion and went to the top of what use to be a fort for fighting. I'm blanking on the name at the moment, but it was insane to be at the top of the city. We walked down over 800 stairs to get back down. My knees were so shaking afterwards. A friend and I were comparing leg shakes. Ha, it was quite the experience though and I'm glad I did it.

fort on top of naplion.

see the sailboat?

herro.

views <3

I am absolutely in love with Greece and it was this past week that helped to confirm the fact that Greece was the right place to choose for my study abroad.