Last Stop in Europe

We are in Munich and are ready to depart! Next stop is Charlotte where we will board the bus for Smith Street. The girls will contact you from the road with an arrival time.  See you soon!

Farewell Greece!

It was a hot day in Athens, but we did not let that deter us from making the most out of our last day in Greece.

We started at the site of the remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus where we examined the still-standing columns of the massive temple built during the Hellenistic and Imperial Roman times.

We then continued to the Panathenaic Stadium, an Olympic stadium that was built on the site of an ancient original.  There the girls ran their own chariot races on the track in teams of three. 

After the victors were announced we made out way to Syntagma Square to watch the ceremonial changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Before the ceremony began, we were able to shop one last time in Athens on the ever fashionable Ermou Street.  Once we returned to the square we watched the guards elaborately march before the tomb.

We then rode the subway two stops to the Archaeological Museum.  Before we explored the artifacts housed inside, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of sandwiches at a nearby restaurant.  The museum was filled with an array of remains from Greece's diverse history.  The remains most enjoyed by the group were the golden Mycenaean Mask of Agamemnon and the Zeus or Poseidon of  Artimissium.

After returning to the hotel we changed for dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant in Plaka, where we enjoyed an assortment of small dishes, such as stuffed grape leaves, Greek salad, fried zucchini, fried calamari, and baklava.

We ended the night and our trip by driving up to the highest peak in Athens, Mount Likavitos, where we watched the sunset and wrapped up our tour with our fantastic tour guides, Adam and Blake.  Adam concluded the tour by reading a poem written by the Greek poet, Constantine P. Cavafy:

As you set out for Ithaka

hope the voyage is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians and Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians and Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.

May there be many a summer morning when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you come into harbors seen for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you are destined for.

But do not hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you are old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you would not have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

We are getting up early to go to the airport.  We will post one last blog entry from Munich!

Dawn to Dusk on Homer's High Seas

As Homer might say, today we awoke when “Dawn with her rose red fingers” illuminated the Athenian horizon. This early wake up call had good reason; we were off to the docks to catch a touring ship from Athens to the neighboring islands! As we neared the ferry we would board, our tour guide Adam pointed out a nearby recreation of an actual Greek trireme ship, adding to our running list of impressive Greek contributions to modern civilization. Bearing this in mind, we boarded the boat.  

Once underway, the brisk sea breeze and vast blue panorama ahead invigorated even the most stubborn snoozers.  A band on our deck played traditional Greek bouzouki music, and several lively members of our crew participated in the traditional Greek dance lesson!

Our first stop was the island of Hydra, a picturesque fishing village encircled by Corinthian-tiled roofs, cool teal doorways, and white stairways climbing into blue oblivion. Here, the girls rode donkeys through the narrow winding streets and submerged themselves in salty cerulean waters beneath the shadow of staggering crags. Eventually this reverie was interrupted by the inevitable call of the ship’s foghorn, signaling it was time for lunch en route to our next location.

When we arrived at stop two, the island of Poros, the wonderment continued. We found an island dotted with pastel houses, wrought iron balconies, and brightly colored doors bearing fanciful door-knockers. No sooner had we discovered a fisherman surveying the day’s haul in the square and learned the word “Megaro”—huge--than the foghorn sounded, yet again.

 Then it was off again to our final stop, the island of Aegina, where the first coins in the Greek world were minted. There, colorfully adorned horses pull passenger carriages at the speed of Helios, and pistachio everything—pistachio gelato, pistachio cream, pistachio bark—lines the market shelves.  Of course, from Aegina’s sandy beach, the siren song of the sea beckoned again, and the group enjoyed a second swim in those clear waters before it was time to return to the ship.

After all the sun-drenched excitement, the group was ready to partake in the Greek practice of “Siesta” naptime, just as we observed one languid carriage operator doing in Aegina. We spent the golden hours of the day returning to Athens and soaking in the view. As we neared the city by water, we took in the expansive vista, noting as we passed Island of Salamis how we could almost imagine what it would have been like to watch the Persian wars unfold from this vantage point and just how majestic the Parthenon looks sitting atop the Acropolis.

To finish out this divine day, we headed to dinner again at God’s Restaurant, a traditional Greek restaurant in our neighborhood, where we feasted on traditional dishes of Souvlaki with baklava for dessert. Tonight, we rest our weary sea legs at last and sleep the sleep of true voyagers.

Kaliniechta, Ms. Rhett