For those of you (mom and dad) who think that we've been having nothing but fun, this post is for you. Tuesday, we spent the majority of the day exploring the two ancient ruins of Thira and Akrotiri. We took a bus up the winding roads to the top of a mountain and then walked through the blasting wind to Ancient Thira. At one point I was concerned that our professor's little daughter was going to blow off the mountain! Although the pictures here may just look like a bunch of rock formations, it's actually the remnants of what was once a relatively large city. I was surprised by how big it was. As we walked through the agora (the center and heart of every ancient Greek city), amphitheater, roads, houses and business-type structures, it was almost as if we were traveling back through time. It really is amazing to see structures that were built all the way back around 12th century B.C. They really knew how to build sturdy and reliable buildings, even without all the modern-day tools we use now.
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| A sanctuary to the Egyptian Gods |
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| One of the roads that winded through the city. |
Like many of the places in Greece, Ancient Thira was directly on the top of a mountain. This helped to keep outsiders from raiding and invading the city, and let me tell you from experience: I wouldn't have even attempted to ransack this place way back then. We only had to walk up about 1/4 of the mountain and it was quite the workout- plus the strong winds. One thing is for sure though, the citizens of this city had an incredible view.
Our second stop of the day, Akrotiri, was even older than the city of Ancient Thira. The site was completely covered and sheltered by a building to continually preserve what remains of the site. Although there was no guided tour of the site, we are lucky enough to have our own archaeologist (one of our professors) as our informant. It made the site visit much more interesting to have different items and formations pointed out by someone who knows a lot about archaeology and the process of it.
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| Beautiful pottery that was very well preserved. |
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| Bed frames that look extremely uncomfortable if you ask me! |
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After taking a trip back in time, our group split up in search of food. Eight of us decided on this quaint little restaurant right on the water. The view from these restaurants never gets old to me! It's so relaxing the way Greeks do lunch too. It's not rushed and no one is complaining that their food takes too long. The way of Greek eating involves valuing the conversation and company of those you are with and I truly enjoy it. It's the best way to get to know people and we aren't distracted by cell phones and texting because none of us have service here!
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| Post-lunch picture right by the restaurant with one of my classmates, Nick. |
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We had some spare time before we had to load up on the bus so we decided to hike over to the Red Beach. I'm not sure why it isn't called Rock Beach because that's what we found! The water was filled with large, slippery rocks, making the trek out to open water quite a task, A few of us are in a dedicated search for a cliff to jump off of somewhere in Santorini. Alas, today was not our day to find the cliff. The water was too shallow and full of the rocks. Oh, well maybe tomorrow!
Even though our days are jam-packed with activities, we somehow find energy to continue exploring and walking around Santorini even at night! Tonight we got to watch and celebrate with the Greeks as the Greece soccer team beat Ivory Coast 2-1 on a injury-time penalty kick. It was so heart-warming to see how excited the locals got as the ball sailed through the goal, and even our small group found ourselves jumping up and down and cheering along as well! We may be American, but when in Greece...cheer on both teams!
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| L to R: Sarah, Mark, Dallas, me and Nick cheering on the Greece soccer team! |
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