6-19 A new show in the old theater

Today we arrived back in Athens and left the cruise ship. We got off the boat and onto a buss to a Temple of Poseidon at Sounio. Atop a cliff to the water, this acropolis was way to scenic to adequately capture with pictures. All that was left on the site were a few columns but there use to be two colossal statues there that we then saw at our next stop: the archeological museum.

The archeological museum was great because it was a very extensive collection and all the pieces were organized by their time period. The center part was pre-historic (aka incomprehensibly old). The perimeter of the building was filled with sculptures. Because it was chronological, you can really see the development of the art of sculpture, which is awesome.

After dinner we went to the ancient Greek amphitheater at the Acropolis to see a show. We had no idea what it was going to be when we bought the tickets, and it turned out to be and interesting mix of orchestra, chorus, modern dance, projections, and poetry. Although the performance itself was not so much for us, it was still ridiculous to be sitting watching modern theater in the same place where the ancient Greeks watched the earliest forms of theater.

6 -18 The Oldest City

This morning we went to Crete and visited Knossos, the Minoan palace. The Minoan are considered the first civilization in Europe and the ruines date back to 2500 BC! I’m always blown away by how advanced these old civilizations are. They had theater; They had plaster and made frescos; they had the original sliding doors; and they had three water systems including underground pipes and a flushing toilet! 4500 years ago!

From Crete we sailed to Santorini for an unbelievably short visit. We basically ran around for the 40 min that we had trying to see as much and take as many pictures as possible. It was gorgeous and I wish I could have had more time to soak it in. To get back to the boat I took a terrifying (but fun and scenic) donkey ride down a steep zigzag path. I felt like I was going to fall off and this picture perfectly reflects the way I felt.

6-17 The Old City

Another early morning and another bad guide (though not as bad). We spend all of today day in Rhodes but the first part we spent in Lindos. Lindos is a great little town and the main sight is the acropolis.

After Lindos we went to the old city of Rhodes and explored on our own. It was realy cool! It’s a fully intact Middleville walled city/fortes that is still a fully alive. There are residences, shops, and restaurants in 500-year-old buildings. I also loved the old city because we had what will probably be the best meal of the trip. We found a restaurant tucked in a beautiful courtyard shaded with and ivy roof and we asked what the waiter recommended. He set us up with huge platter of delicious traditional Greek foods.

Big News: Kevan is going to meet me to backpack Spain!!! We were supposed to do this summer after senior year (and had been “planning” it since 8th grade) but I broke my ankle. Now, he bought a ticket and it is actually going to happen!

6/16 Tuesday in the ruins with Gorge

Today we had an early morning for the scenic tour of Padmos. I really liked Padmos because it was the “real” version of Mykonos. There was a town hall, residence walking around, uneven walls, and even some dirt! We had a great guide who gave us a really informative tour of the town of Hora. St. John wrote the Book of Revelations while he was in exile on this island and that is the theme of the rest of the sites (St. Johns Monastery and the cave, tuned chapel, where he apparently wrote the book) We had some free time in Skala and I got to try a Greek frappe (which surprisingly I liked) and the traditional Padmos pastry.

Our second port of call was Kusadasi in Turkey but the reason for this port of call was to go see Ephesus. Ephesus is supposed to be fascinating but we got gypped and got George, the worst guide ever. Although I learned close to nothing, the rebuild facade of the ancient library was pretty impressive. We had time to explore Kusadasi but there was nothing very interesting at the port either. This turned out to be a pretty disappointing stop.

6/15 De Delos

Today we went to the famous Mykonos. We started with a tour of the ruins on a small adjacent island called Delos. Delos is the Mythological birthplace of Apollo and Ardemis but it became a major free trading port in 5th century BC. The most impressive thing about Delos was just how intact it was.

We arrived back on Mykonos just in time for some gorgeous light so we spent some time taking photos. The highlight of dinner was watching the sunset over the water. There was a lot of build up for Mykonos (at least in my head) but it felt like being in Disney world instead of the real place. Everything had smooth, perfectly clean white walls and everywhere you looked there was tourists and shopping.

6-14 Istanbul

We spent today hitting up all the major sites in Istanbul. We started off with Tokapi Palace (the Royal Palace of the early Ottoman Sultans). This was probably my favorite stop of the day because I loved the stories related to the palace and peaceful ambiance of the gardens. The famous attractions in the Palace are the treasury and the relics. I was more impressed with the boxes and thrones that were just totally covered with emeralds, rubies and diamonds than the large spoon maker’s diamond that it is known for. I can see how the relics related to Muhammad could be really powerful for a believer, but if you ask me, they lost all credibility when they displayed a stick that they claimed was Moses’ staff.

Next we went to Ayasofya. Although it is now a museum, Ayasofya was originally a church build in 537 when Istanbul (then Constantinople) was the first Christian city. It was the largest church until the 15th century and it was converted to a Mosque when the Ottoman Empire took over the city.

After Terkish meatballs for lunch, we continued on to the Sultan Ahmet Masque (the Blue Masque). The huge surprise of the Blue Mosque was running into Kimberly Nelson! (a girls from my sorority) She just happened to be standing about 4 ft away from me in the mosque! What a crazy small world!

Our last “site” was the Basilica Cisterns. This was basically a huge underground room with rows of mismatched columns going through it. (70 x 140m) It had a very cool feeling that reminded me of Luray Caverns.

We had some extra time before we had to be back on the boat so we walked around some areas including Galata, a Jewish area. The security around the synagogues was like nothing I had ever seen. There was a wedding going on at Never Shalom synagogue when we passed it and in addition to other security measures, the road was blocked off and there were 2 security guards at each end of the street wearing bullet proof vests under their suits. We did not get to go in any synagogues because you can only go in any of them if you get special permission in advanced (that includes a background check).

I really enjoyed Istanbul but I know I only scratched the tip of the iceberg. I definitely hope to go back and explore more of Istanbul and the rest of Turkey.

P.S. To all of you who told me to take lots of pictures, don’t worry. I have already taken 476 photos. Also, I ran out of time but more on the way!

6-13 Bazaar Delight

The excitement of today did not really start until about 3:30 when we pulled into the port in Istanbul. I was struck by the view because of how unbelievably large the city is. The city covered the huge stretch of coastline.

We started off the afternoon in the Grand Bazaar. Although there are 4,000 shops in the grand bazaar, it was hard to get a really good feel for how absolutely massive it was. I was prepared for a packed market filled with aggressive shopkeepers, but thankfully it was not as extreme in these senses as I expected. We also went to the spice market and tried (and bought a lot of) the Turkish specialty candy, Turkish Delight. In the stores at the spice market they will give you a taste of the things they sell.

After a great Meza, Kebab, Turkish baklava, apple tea dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view, we ended the night at one of the best tourist trap dance shows I have ever been to. There were 3 belly dancers (one who is apparently pretty famous in Turkey) and a few examples of folk dances from regions of turkey.

Istanbul is very interesting for me because this is my first time in a big city of a predominantly Muslim state. It is very foreign to me to see minarets (the towers of the mosque) popping up all over the skyline and to hear the call to prayer from every direction as we walked through the streets.

6-12 First day on the go

Today the main event was the Acropolis. One cool thing I learned is that the Parthenon has no strait lines. Everything is curved to account for perspective so it looks strait. (The columns tilt in & the floors curve down) In addition to impressiveness of the structure itself, thinking about the logistics of designing and building the Parthenon with Bronze Age technology is even more impressive.

David (my brother) met up with us right after we finished exploring the Acropolis and we headed to our cruise boat. This is the first time my family has been on a real cruise so we will see how it suits the Fraga family style.

6-11 And we Arrived

After a pretty easy journey, my mom and dad, Nancy and Emanuel (our family friends) and I all made it to Athens. The only noteworthy things so far are the amazing view of the Acropolis from our balcony and dinner at a delicious and authentic (aka tourist free) Greek restaurant in the Plaka district.

Coming attractions

Hey!

So I have been writing daily blog posts on my computer, but I'm not able to post them yet because of some silly complications. Bottom line, the trip is awesome and there is lots more info and photos to come.

XOXO
Andrea

Pre-Trip

Hi Friends!
I set up this blog so we can keep in touch through out my two months abroad. Tonight I leave for Greece where I will probably have more limited access to the Internet, but I will try to keep this updated with what I have been up to. I also want to hear about what you guys are up to so feel free to send me e-mails!
XOXO
Andrea

P.S. I'm sure most of you already expect this, but i appologize a head of time for the frequent missspelling i'm sure you will find in my posts :)