Week Three: Crete
It's finally starting to cool down in Athens and peak tourist season is coming to a close. I've mastered the metro system, have a favorite coffee shop where the owners know me by name, and have actually been able to give a couple tourists directions around the city (I was very proud of myself). All in all, I've been settling in pretty well, and Athens is starting to feel less like a foreign place and more like a home.
Last week, we took our second trip as a school (all 110 of us) to Crete for five days. It was a really great trip, but also very exhausting because our days were packed and it was incredibly hot. We left Athens on a Tuesday night from Piraeus at 8pm and arrived in Heraklion, Crete at 6am. After we exited the ferry, the first place we went to was the Palace of Knossos. The teacher that led my group around the site (an archaeologist) proceeded to tell us all of the things wrong with Sir Arthur Evan's reconstruction of the site. It was pretty hilarious. Once we finished the tour, he said he hoped Evans "burned in hell". Even if the reconstruction was incredibly inaccurate and gaudy, it was still interesting to see the place associated with the legend of King Minos.
Next, we drove and took a short boat ride to Spinglonga Islet. The Islet was a Venetian fortress and at one point was home to a leper colony.
The next day, we went to Gortyn archaeological site, which my teacher helped excavate. The most interesting thing about the site was the inscribed law code, which actually spelled out punishments for rape for both men and women.
Next, we took a lunch/swimming break at Matala beach. While we were there, we got to see the so-called "Hippie Caves". These caves once housed Roman tombs, but today are known better for being inhabited by hippies, particularly Joni Mitchell, during the 60s.
Later, we went to the archaeological museum of Heraklion, which was really amazing because I got to see a lot of the artifacts I have studied in classes, including the frescoes from the Palace of Knossos.
The next day, we went to Arkadi Monastery, a site that played an important role in the Cretan resistance to Ottoman rule. The monastery was the site of mass suicide, because, during the Cretan Revolt, the people taking refuge in the monastery chose to blow themselves up with gunpowder rather than surrender to the enemy.
On the last day, all 110 of went on a three hour hike through Imbros Gorge, which luckily ended near an ocean where we could cool down and swim.
Before we left, we had some free time at the port of Chania, so a couple of us decided to visit the Chania archaeological museum.
It was definitely hard to go back to school and do work once the trip was over.
More pictures:
Last week, we took our second trip as a school (all 110 of us) to Crete for five days. It was a really great trip, but also very exhausting because our days were packed and it was incredibly hot. We left Athens on a Tuesday night from Piraeus at 8pm and arrived in Heraklion, Crete at 6am. After we exited the ferry, the first place we went to was the Palace of Knossos. The teacher that led my group around the site (an archaeologist) proceeded to tell us all of the things wrong with Sir Arthur Evan's reconstruction of the site. It was pretty hilarious. Once we finished the tour, he said he hoped Evans "burned in hell". Even if the reconstruction was incredibly inaccurate and gaudy, it was still interesting to see the place associated with the legend of King Minos.
Next, we drove and took a short boat ride to Spinglonga Islet. The Islet was a Venetian fortress and at one point was home to a leper colony.
The next day, we went to Gortyn archaeological site, which my teacher helped excavate. The most interesting thing about the site was the inscribed law code, which actually spelled out punishments for rape for both men and women.
Next, we took a lunch/swimming break at Matala beach. While we were there, we got to see the so-called "Hippie Caves". These caves once housed Roman tombs, but today are known better for being inhabited by hippies, particularly Joni Mitchell, during the 60s.
Later, we went to the archaeological museum of Heraklion, which was really amazing because I got to see a lot of the artifacts I have studied in classes, including the frescoes from the Palace of Knossos.
The next day, we went to Arkadi Monastery, a site that played an important role in the Cretan resistance to Ottoman rule. The monastery was the site of mass suicide, because, during the Cretan Revolt, the people taking refuge in the monastery chose to blow themselves up with gunpowder rather than surrender to the enemy.
On the last day, all 110 of went on a three hour hike through Imbros Gorge, which luckily ended near an ocean where we could cool down and swim.
Before we left, we had some free time at the port of Chania, so a couple of us decided to visit the Chania archaeological museum.
It was definitely hard to go back to school and do work once the trip was over.
More pictures:
Comments
Post a Comment