Athens, Eye of Greece

I can't believe we only have nine days left here in Oxford. It's gone by so fast! Thanksgiving break was a fun and relaxing week. I finally made it to Greece! We had an amazing time, even though our group did not communicate particularly well.

Monday, November 24 & Tuesday, November 25

Our plane took off from London in the snow, so now at least I've seen snow in England! We spent most of our time in Athens, but took a few day trips as well. Athens was very neat and there are ancient ruins everywhere. We started our day out on Monday heading immediately to the Acropolis. The entire Acropolis is littered with bits and pieces of stone - a column here, a statue there. On the very top of the Acropolis are three temples, the most famous being the Parthenon. Though scaffolding marred our view (no surprise there), it was amazing! I've dreamed of seeing the Parthenon for years and it was almost surreal actually being up there. My batteries died at the Parthenon and my brand new spare set didn't work, so I didn't get quite as many pictures as I would have liked. The city of Athens sprawls out from the foot of the Acropolis. One one side, the Aegean shines silver in the sun breaking through the clouds. On the opposite side, gleaming white houses stretch to the surrounding mountains.

The Parthenon

Up against the Acropolis is the Aeropogus. It was here that Paul preached to the Athenians, using the altar to an unknown god as an illustration. This scripture is even posted in the rock face, though I did a very poor job of deciphering it. From here we walked down to the Agora and another temple. It is such a beautiful oasis in the center of a busy city. Within the Agora is an old church from the 11th century. Lunch that day was chicken slouvaka, a sort of Greek version of an American kebab, and Greek yogurt and honey for dessert.

Temple of Zeus

On Tuesday we slept in a bit and then headed across the street to the Temple of Zeus. We had a lot of fun there and took a ton of photos. Afterward we walked around and shopped in the Plaka, which is full of fun tourist shop. Dinner was from a little grocery store that also sold olives. These delicious olives were the huge Mediterranean olives that Dad always refers to at Passover.