Then before we realised it, it was the last day of the road trip portion of our journey. In a desperate attempt to fit everything in we visited three major sites on the way back to Athens. Epidaurus was our first stop, an impressive sanctuary to the healing God Asclepius. Epidaurus has a very famous
Category: Travels
The morning we left Sparti we visited the stunning, Frankish, hilltop monastic settlement, Mystra. The Byzantine architecture fit beautifully into the rocky landscape. It was also a peaceful place and we got on to the bus exhausted, overheated and sweating but glad. Every seemed to be on the phone to their parents or girlfriends while
We crossed the huge cable bridge that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland as Tom told us about the many naval battles that had been fought in the waters around us throughout history. It was hard to reconcile the sparkling views with where Cervantes, author of Don Quixotes, lost an arm. Athenians and Spartans alike
Itea was once the ancient port of the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi. After five days in dusty, sweltering Athens getting beside the sea was relief and a half. Itea is a pleasant seasidey town and most of the shops and restaurants are on the strip along the beach. We ate that night at a table
So the main problem with writing about the Archaeological Museum properly is that I would basically need a few days and would finish up with a PHD. It’s huge. There are two floors both with dozens of rooms all filled with statues and glass cabinets. The Antikythera Shipwreck exhibit is particular stunning between the
The study tour section of the trip started in earnest at half eight on Tuesday morning after our dishevelled group staggered down from breakfast, such as it was. I was worried that I wouldn’t know many people or that travelling in a big group wouldn’t suit me (it didn’t totally in Barcelona and that group
I’ve wanted to go to Athens and see the Acropolis since I was eleven and my drama teacher started us on Greek tragedies. So when a university study trip of ten days based in the ancient city was offered to me I jumped at it like a shot. My mother was so jealous that in the
We arrived in Lyon to an evening of heavy snow. We were running late after getting the tram and two metros from the airport to our hostel on the quays of the river Saone. The Cool and Bed Hostel is clean and the staff is friendly but there’s an air of disorganisation and zero security,
Down the side of Sultanahmet mosque is a square with Egyptian obelisks brought to then Constantinople by the Romans and the Serpent Column of Greece which once stood as a Pan-Hellenic monument to the Greco-Persian war made from melted weapons of Persian soldiers and dedicated at Delphi. On the right from there is the less visited Museum
Topkapi Palace closes early in the mid-afternoon and fills up fast so if you want to see Istanbul’s most iconic Ottoman palace before the crowds at the gates become unbearable than get there before half ten. It’s 25 Turkish Lire (TL) inside and another 10 TL to see the Harem area which was in my
