Half Day in Greece

On Tuesday, January 20th, we left Egypt on a flight from Cairo to Athens. Spiros, our bus driver who will be with us for most of the trip, met us at the airport. Spiros also drove the Classics group that Dr. Krentz led in 2005. We are in a double-decker bus with tables on the first level and a great view on the top.

After arriving in Athens, we drove to Thorakos, the site of an ancient Greek theater. It is not a well-known or particularly important site, and it was completely open to visitors. The area was stunning. The theater is under a hill, and we decided to climb to the top. There was no path up the hill, so we had to climb over stones and make our own paths. Once we made it to the top, the view was spectacular. We could see civilization, countryside, and water for miles, and it was breathtaking. (Though maybe I am biased – my breath had also been taken by the exertion of the hike). ☺ Though the sites we saw in Egypt were beautiful, I could tell right away that Greece is more beautiful and spectacular compared to the Egyptian desert.

We also visited the Temple of Poseidon and the dismantled Temple of Athena. They were each on hills overlooking the Aegean Sea, and again the view was beautiful. The Temple of Athena is completely dismantled and only contains stone formations. Dr. Krentz had us explore the site and try to formulate a plan of how the temple was constructed. This was interesting but also challenging since evidence was lacking and we had only just seen our first Greek temple – the Temple of Poseidon.