The Squeaky Wheel Gets to Greece

We just got home from a week in Greece, yes the actual Greece with the Parthenon and Olympics and riots and all.  It was absolutely wonderful.  There weren't any riots and everything was remarkably cheap.  Plus, the normal crowds were non existent.  Everyone was so glad to see some tourists, even my wily crew, they were more than accommodating.  The price for Greece and London were the same, I would highly recommend everyone to visit.

Our family in front of the Parthenon.

We started out in Athens visiting the Parthenon on the Acropolis.  Unfortunately, it was so amazingly cold this day that the little guys only wanted to hang out on the south side, out of the wind.  They didn't seem to care about seeing the olive tree that Athena planted or the crack in the monument put there by Poseidon.  The rest of us wandered around and marveled at the engineering feat that put giant stone blocks and beautiful statues on top of a mountain. 

We also climbed Mars Hill where the apostle Paul preached to the Greeks during his missionary service.  The kids thought it was pretty cool to be walking in a place where Jesus's apostles actually walked and preached.  We also visited the ancient Greek market where Socrates did all of  his philosophizing.

Miriya and Taylor, on top of Mars hill, contemplating Paul as well as the beautiful view of Athens.

Here we are at the Agora (marketplace) walking in the footsteps of Socrates.

At the modern main square, eating gyros and chasing pigeons.  Those gyros were the yummiest 3 euros I ever spent.

We then went to Delphi where we learned all about the oracle and how she made prophecies about everything from love to war strategy and how they actually came to pass.  Pretty cool to have a woman prophet. 

At Olympia we visited the very first Olympic stadium and athletic training grounds.  They have the original marble starting blocks in the race track and actually let you stand on the them and race.  That was a photo opportunity not to be wasted.  This is also the location of the one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, the collosal statue of Zeus.  We saw the temple and contemplated the fate of the statue.  (No one knows).

Tom and the little guys practicing their wrestling moves at the training ground.

Here we are, lined up on the original olympic starting line.  There are 2 grooves, one for each foot.

We ended in Mycenae where we visited the city where Homer lived after the Trojan war.  We talked about the Trojan war and the tricks that the Greeks played on the Trojans. 

Except for the first day where it was very cold and windy, the weather was in the 50s and sunny.  Nick and Isaac did well with the jet lag and I think everyone is further culturally enlightened regarding the origins of western philosophy and art.  As always, there were some travel misadventures.  I will let Tom tell about these in another post.