Patmos...called "The Jerusalem of the Aegean Sea"...is where the final chapter of the New Testament of the Christian Bible was written while John of Patmos was supposedly exiled from the Roman Empire... Some of our group visit the cave where he lived, near the site of the Monastery of St. John, built on one of the island's highest points...others stroll the harbor town, walk the narrow streets, shop, or grab a bite to eat...After Patmos, it is time to return to ship for our whole group dinner...a lovely meal shared together, with celebratory music played by crew members in honor of a birthday boy's special day! After dinner, we head to bed to try and catch up on sleep; tomorrow we will awake at the island of Crete, for a visit to the ancient ruins of the Minoan palace of Knossos -- built around 1900BC!
The sun is shining and the wispy clouds are blowing off as we leave our ship, boarding a bus at the port city of Heraklion to drive to Knossos. The hills are colored with wildflowers and noisy songbirds are as excited as we are to see the sun. Along the path into the monument, oranges are dropping from trees, and Mrs. Noble finds out the hard way that they are ornamental and most definitely not tasty! Our new guide walks us slowly through the crowded palace grounds; this is the quiet season...how crowded does it get by mid-summer??! The 4,000 year old palace is in ruins, and much has been rebuilt in modern times to show how it would have looked back in the day, but there are still small sections intact. The elements have eroded the stones until they are but crystalline skeletons of their former solid shapes. We tour past storage jars the size of wheelbarrows, a throne room, the king's and queen's chambers, one of the world's oldest theaters, and reproductions of colorful frescoes: dark-haired men and women, dolphins, event the famous bull-leaping painting from our Journey Across Time textbook!
At this point we have been traveling for almost two weeks, with early mornings and busy days, so despite the historical importance and simple beauty of this site, sleep deprivation stalks our group, finding easy prey among the kids (and adults)! If we are going to truly enjoy our afternoon in Santorini, we are definitely going to need to nap on the boat...
The sun is shining and the wispy clouds are blowing off as we leave our ship, boarding a bus at the port city of Heraklion to drive to Knossos. The hills are colored with wildflowers and noisy songbirds are as excited as we are to see the sun. Along the path into the monument, oranges are dropping from trees, and Mrs. Noble finds out the hard way that they are ornamental and most definitely not tasty! Our new guide walks us slowly through the crowded palace grounds; this is the quiet season...how crowded does it get by mid-summer??! The 4,000 year old palace is in ruins, and much has been rebuilt in modern times to show how it would have looked back in the day, but there are still small sections intact. The elements have eroded the stones until they are but crystalline skeletons of their former solid shapes. We tour past storage jars the size of wheelbarrows, a throne room, the king's and queen's chambers, one of the world's oldest theaters, and reproductions of colorful frescoes: dark-haired men and women, dolphins, event the famous bull-leaping painting from our Journey Across Time textbook!
At this point we have been traveling for almost two weeks, with early mornings and busy days, so despite the historical importance and simple beauty of this site, sleep deprivation stalks our group, finding easy prey among the kids (and adults)! If we are going to truly enjoy our afternoon in Santorini, we are definitely going to need to nap on the boat...
Most of us do catch up a bit and are in good spirits as our ship glides into the massive volcanic crater of Santorini...like a super-sized Crater Lake...past a Wizard Island of cooled lava, still leaking hot spring water into the sea...then take small boats to the shore. Some of us take a bus across the island to the stunning village of Oia. Others climb on donkeys to take the zigzag path up the steep caldera walls, to the white stuccoed village of Thera, perched atop the cliff's edge like snow capping a brown ridge of hills. The village is a maze of twisting alleyways and cute shops and lovely restaurants with terraces of tables with unbelievable views of the caldera's crescent rising from beneath the sea...
We take taxis down the outer slope of the island, gently dropping in elevation to the shore, where mountains of buoyant pumice spill across the land and find their way to the beach, where a few of us test out our Aegean Sea body surfing skills in the still cool waves... Back in Thera we catch a beautiful sunset, then jump in the gondola for a quick ride down to the dock, then back on our shuttle boats and back to the ship for the night journey back to Athens!
We take taxis down the outer slope of the island, gently dropping in elevation to the shore, where mountains of buoyant pumice spill across the land and find their way to the beach, where a few of us test out our Aegean Sea body surfing skills in the still cool waves... Back in Thera we catch a beautiful sunset, then jump in the gondola for a quick ride down to the dock, then back on our shuttle boats and back to the ship for the night journey back to Athens!
In the morning we disembark for the last time, say goodbye to the Celestyal Olimpia, and load the bus for our last day in Greece. We visit the Olympic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, drive by neo-classical university and government buildings, and park at the base of the Acropolis. Our new tour guide walks us up through the excited crowds of adults and teens and young school kids who are making their way the tree-lined pathway. This the most crowded site we have been to, but it does not detract from its majestic beauty...rather it reinforces that this place is still a living part of the spirit of the city. Passing through the Propylaea (entry way), we find ourselves confronted with possibly the most iconic structure in world history: the Parthenon. It soars above us, larger than it looks in photographs...and everything about this site makes perfect sense. Of course this is where you would build the temple to the namesake goddess of your polis...the city stretches off below us in every direction...to the hills and to the sea...a brilliant blue sky glows with a light of other-worldly clarity...matched by the bright stone of the Parthenon and Erechtheion...far below the cliff's edge are the various Greek and Roman theaters and temples from throughout the ages, but the acropolis is above it all...floating above the mundane life of the city below...
We stroll down the hill in the growing heat of the morning...for a walk through the Plaka district's beautiful streets...winding alleys and pastel walls close in on you, then through a gap above the walls the soaring pillars of the Parthenon peek through, a reminder that Athena is always watching over you...to the large square of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, and its tiny neighbor, the Byzantine-era Agios Eleftherios church, which is no larger than a classroom and lit only by a couple of dim colored glass portholes...then off for shopping and lunch of fresh roasted gyros and spicy peppers and beautiful Greek salads topped with hefty slabs of fresh sheep feta...
We stroll down the hill in the growing heat of the morning...for a walk through the Plaka district's beautiful streets...winding alleys and pastel walls close in on you, then through a gap above the walls the soaring pillars of the Parthenon peek through, a reminder that Athena is always watching over you...to the large square of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, and its tiny neighbor, the Byzantine-era Agios Eleftherios church, which is no larger than a classroom and lit only by a couple of dim colored glass portholes...then off for shopping and lunch of fresh roasted gyros and spicy peppers and beautiful Greek salads topped with hefty slabs of fresh sheep feta...
After lunch, we split our group in two: some go on an adventures to the incredible and overwhelming National Archaeological Museum and a ride on the subway...the others visit the new Acropolis Museum...built on piers above the ongoing excavations of an ancient Roman town! A repeated theme within the walls of the crisp, light-filled Acropolis Museum: many of the statues and decorations of the Parthenon are being preserved here, but many others have been taken away during the ages...to the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris and elsewhere...and an ongoing effort to return these items to Athens has not yet met with much success...who can claim rightful ownership to the artifacts of history?
We head to our hotel for an earlier dinner (still late by American standards), and to pack our bags one last time...our bus to the airport picks us up at three in the morning, so it is early to bed and early to rise! Tomorrow we fly to Paris...to Salt Lake City...to Portland...and then ride the bus home!
We head to our hotel for an earlier dinner (still late by American standards), and to pack our bags one last time...our bus to the airport picks us up at three in the morning, so it is early to bed and early to rise! Tomorrow we fly to Paris...to Salt Lake City...to Portland...and then ride the bus home!