Peloponnese: Mystras.

This was NOT Sparta. . . 

However, it was a Byzantine/Middle Age castle atop a mountain that OVERLOOKED Sparta. . . And we had to drive through Sparta to get there. 

This site is special for a number of reasons.

For one, It is one of the few castles that date from the Middle Ages, that was built in Greece. There was this awkward time when the west tried to take Greece over blah blah. Bottom line, it didn't stick, but there is defiantly some influence there. Its significant because it is a living fusion of Ancient Byzantine conceptual structure as well as Middle Aged styles. 

Mystras is also just about the only Byzantine structure that still stands and was/is not just a church.

Mystras had three monasteries on this mountain top during its prime. It had a max of 20000 people at once, living in this city in the mountains. If you put this in perspective in Ancient times, living in a city of 20000 on a mountain top is not an easy life.

Despite the location, Mystras became a center for Byzantine. The Emperor to be went there to study and prepare  for the throne. And it became a thriving city of thinkers and students. 

Today, you can visit the 3 churches on site. There is a Nunary there still today, however we didn't get a chance to meet or talk with any of them. One church is very clearly in use still, Original fresco's still in tact. It was beautiful and ornate as all Greek Orthodox churches are. 

Another church was empty save its fresco's. Its in the process of being restored little by little. The last church combines two period style of church. It is structured off of the side of a cliff and resides next to the old monastery, which now stands in ruins. You can explore these grounds a little, visit old storage rooms and see where the nuns of the time slept. 

We hiked all the way to the top of the Castle and looked over the valley all around. It was beautiful, as most places in Greece are. Then, we hiked down to the very bottom, exploring the connection between the past and the present as we went along. There are building that are being restored. There are unearthed foundations of old buildings. The wild gardens are still maintained today by the nuns who still stay there.

It was a beautiful example of how the Ancient City looked and operated and a very interesting opportunity to see how it became what it is today.

For more pictures, Click here!!

The password is "Mystras"

Peloponnese: Nauplion

A picturesque Sea-side town. . .

During our travels around the Peloponnese, we had the pleasure of staying in Nauplion. It is a beautiful town that comes right up to the water. It also has some interesting history, naturally. 

Island Castle.

The city has a giant fortress, The Fortress of Palamidi,  that spent some time being occupied by the Ottomans. The area has a few old Mosque in town, which were converted back to Catholicism, and back again. 

The area had a few old structures, one of which was out in the middle of a super tiny island off the harbor. 

When we went up to the fortress, there were old canons still in place. We talked about the history and walked around the remains on the hill top. 

The city was beautiful from all angles. The water just felt so close. The Sea water here in Greece might be one of my favorite things. Its so nice to watch the waves crash along the shore and the harbor. It's so perfect and blue. And along the ancient structures, Its just an incredible site to see. 

Nauplion just had a cute little air about it. It was small and cozy and clean. Every building was beautiful and there were flower vines spilling out of balconies. 

We visited a museum there and found some really wonderful places to eat.

Those waves.

The best part, however, was having the best gelato in Greece. This Italian man makes his gelato, Opan- Italy style. We ended up getting it twice while we were there. 

I think Nauplion is one of the best places I visited thus far. It just had such a homey feeling to it and it was so lovely. 

The museum had some interesting things as well. It is located in an old Venetian building in whats called "Constitution Square." The building is just as lovely as its two floors of artifacts. 

For more pictures, Click here!! 

The password is "Nauplion"

Peloponnese: Mycenae

Home to Agamemnon. . .

The ancient ruins of Mycenae, the center of the Mycenaean world, and  the resting place of the infamous Agamemnon from the Trojan War.

Old tombs.

Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigineia, by Artemis' command if he wished to have victory over the Trojans. The sacrifice was very unholy. Aside from the fact that it was a human sacrifice, she was also gagged and slaughtered naked. Her father tricked her into coming amongst the troops, thinking she would marry, when in fact, she was being baited. She was gagged to keep her from cursing her father before her death. It is believed that the curse uttered off from the lips of a dying person was the most wicked and forceful of them all. As they lifted her up to be killed, her marriage gown fell off her body. Iphigineia was then associated with Artemis, sharing her duties of attending children through their rights of passage and such.

At Mycenae, we visited the tomb of Agamemnon and wife Clytemnestra. The site itself has a lot of grave circles and markings in it. But was much like other sites we've seen.

Sarah in the Tunnel

Something particularly interesting is the fact that there is some kind of tunnel, man made, that leads to an area that could have been a reservoir. We're not entirely sure what its function was, but there are a few theories out there. We got to go down into it. We lit candles and walked 100 feet below the entrance to where there is some water in the bottom. It was pitch black in there, and people were trying to get pictures of it with the flash of their camera.

 For more pictures, Click here!!

The password is "Mycenae"

Peloponnese: Epidaurus

Healing at the Temple of Asclepius

For the week of October 29th, CYA headed to the Peloponnese for our second official field trip! 

Our first stop was the healing sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. 

Asclepius was just a regular old Greek when he discovered a nack for medicine and healing. Usually, the realm of healing was Apollos. When Asclepius' methods got popular, people raved all over the ancient world. Someone called upon Delphi and asked if Asclepius had anything to do with Apollo, and Apollo confirmed this. From then on, Asclepius became a deity and relieved Apollo of some of his healing responsibilities. 

The sanctuary had a giant theater (which still has perfect acoustics), a place for guests to stay over night, a place for the Hospital, as well as many other amenities that sanctuaries had. It also had many commissioned pieces of art to serve as offerings from the wealthy who had been healed there. 

What is particularly interesting about this temple, is that it was meant for healing in general. When people were ill, they often went to sanctuaries to make offerings in hope that the gods would heal them. However, Asclepius had its own ancient medical practice which goes against some of the principles of sacred law within a sanctuary.

There is not allowed to be blood shed within in the sanctuary. If women were menstruating, they were considered impure and were not allowed to enter. Women who had recently given birth were also not permitted within Sanctuaries. Above all else, there could not be a death within the sanctuary. All these things brought miasma, or negative energy, into the sanctuary if these conditions were not met. Naturally, having a hospital in the middle of the sanctuary would cause problems. From what we know, people would be asked to be taken outside of the sanctuary walls if they were about to die or give birth.It was a beautiful location, as all Greek sites typically are. They really had an eye for scenery. What I think was most interesting about it, was that the scenery really hasn't changed since ancient times. Its still in a rather secluded area, the near by hills haven't been developed and there is just a wonderful sense of peace there. It is easy to see why people would have flocked there. 

For more pictures, Click here!!

The password is "Epidaurus"

Mt. Parnassus!

Rock Climbing and Cave Adventures. . .

 

Mouth if the Cave

The weekend of October 19th, I decided to get in on a trip to Mt. Parnassus. The trip was advertised as a weekend with out door recreation, adventures, and some time for relaxation. Only 5 CYA students we in attendance. 7 girls in the Grad program at Athens college joined our group, as well as two Greek University students, Bill and Aris. 

We made our way up to Parnassus in the early evening on Friday and arrived at the coolest looking year-round camp I've ever seen. We had some time to settle into our lodgings- comfy cabins, before dinner. Our first activity of the weekend was after dinner, when we all went swimming in a hot spring not too far from the camp. It reeked of sulfur, but it was hot. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold at night in the mountains.

The View

The real fun began early the next morning. We went hiking around Mt. Parnassus. We made our way to a Monastery that was carved into the side of the rock. It was pretty cool. It doesn't appear to be in use anymore, but there is a bell on it you can ring. Its relatively tiny. Right next to it, there is a cave. The mouth of the cave opens up at the bottom of the hill, and opens up again just above the monastery. Shelby, a fellow CYA student, climbed the outside of the cliff to get to the upper mouth of the Cave. I, however, climbed from the inside of the cave to the top. It was a tight squeeze but awesome nonetheless. 

Icons in Churches

Walking down the other side of the hill, through the valley proved to be a bit challenging for us. There is an entire side that is basically loose gravel sloped down hill. Our trail required us to cross it completely. Fortunately, only on student went down, and it wasn't a bad slip. We visited 2 or 3 other little churches built around the slopes. They are very old, and still have their early fresco's on them. They are still in use, but they're tiny. They're still decorated in with beautiful icons and trinkets. It was difficult to get pictures of them because they were pretty dark, we had to depend on our flash.

By the time we got back to camp, everyone was exhausted and ready for a good meal, which is exactly what we got! Afterwards, everyone kind of temporarily fell off the face of the earth and napped, many of us fell asleep by the pool. On the concrete. Still wearing our hiking cloths.

Nat, Aris and Bill

By the early evening, everyone was feeling slightly recharged. So we decided to learn some archery. There were some Katnis feelings fluttering around as we took turns shooting the target. I wasn't too bad. One Grad student managed to shoot a bucket out of eye shot. Some of us decided to test out the trainer rock climbing wall. We even got Nadia, a CYA advisory, to try.

With dinner, came some little adventures. After the meal, as the wine was flowing, our host and our new Greek friends decided to show us a game. The Table Game.

Tower Climbing

You get as sturdy wooden table and the point is to get completely around it (on top and bottom) without touching the floor. It required some serious muscle and weird finagling of leg positions to get it right, but i just kept ending up on my head. 

I retired early that night, feeling completely exhausted and ready to sleep.

The next day, we headed out again to visit some old ruins, compliments of King Philip of Macedon. They were beautiful and view of the country side was amazing. We climb up an old tower and atop an old wall. It was a very peaceful moment.

Wall walking.

We also got to rock climb on some real cliffs! I've never used rock climbing shoes or climbed actual cliffs before, so this was quite a treat for me. There was a smaller slope everyone tried and got up. The more difficult one was only conquered by a select few of us. Yes, US! I managed to climb up to the top of a 90 ft cliff. It was awesome and horrifying and incredible all at the same time. A few other students tried, one or two gave up. But it was still a good time all around.

We left Parnassus that day.

It was a really nice opportunity because for the first time, we got to have adventures in a smaller group of people. We relaxed and really enjoyed every minute of it. I got to know people within CYA and the Grad program that i'd hardly talked to the entire time i've been in Athens.

For more pictures, Click here!!

The password is "Parnassus"