Travel

Greece: June 2018

In June 2018, my friend and fellow English teacher Rob Williams and I went on a 3-week trip through 8 cities in 4 countries in Southern Europe. For 10 of those days, we visited 3 Greek islands and the capital of Greece, Athens.

We landed in Chania on Crete and then went by ferry to Santorini, then Mykanos, and then onto Athens.

CRETE

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands, the 88^th largest island in the world and the fifth largest is the Mediterranean Sea. The capital and largest city is Heraklion.

We met up with 14 friends at a beach hotel in Chania to celebrate our friend Matt’s 40^th birthday.

We all went to the port to go out on a glass-bottomed boat and go snorkeling.

After snorkeling, we had a delicious dinner and I tried snails for the first and the last time 😊.

We also visited the ancient ruins of Knossos which is the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete and has been called Europe’s oldest city.

Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the name Knossos survives from the ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete. The palace of Knossos became the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture.

In the first palace period around 2000 BC, the urban area reached a size of up to 18,000 people. In its peak, the palace and surrounding city had a population of 100,000 people shortly after 1700 BC. The place was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, 1380-1100 BC. The reason why is unknown.

Afterwards, we visited the Heraklion Archaeological Museum which contains what is considered the best collection in the world of Minoan art.

A model of what Knossos looked like before being abandoned.

Views walking distance along the water from our hotel and the nearby beaches in Chania.

SANTORINI

We took a 3-hour ferry from Crete to the island of Santorini. I had been to Santorini once 20 years before in June 1998, and there were a lot more tourists as now cruise ships regularly visit the island. The total land area of the island is 35 square miles.

Santorini is what remains after an enormous volcanic eruption that destroyed the earliest settlements on a formerly single island and created the current geological caldera (a large volcanic crater). It is the most active volcanic center in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The region first became volcanically active around 3-4 million years ago. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization.

Here are views of Oia, the most popular tourist destination located in the northern tip of the island.

	Views in and around Oia

We stayed in the capital city of Fira which sits at the top of a cliff looking down at the lagoon. Here are some views around Fira.

One night, we had dinner at a restaurant in Fira where the owner smashed plates on the floor following a Greek custom of smashing plates and glasses during celebratory occasions.

One day we hired a driver to take us around different spots on Santorini island.

The city of Pirgos	The steep cliffs on the caldera side of the island

Kokini Amos (Red Sand Beach)
Perissa (Black Sand Beach)

MYKANOS

We took 3 ½ hour ferry from Santorini to the island of Mykonos also known as “The Island of Winds.”. Mykonos spans an area of 33 square miles and rises to an elevation of 1,119 feet at its highest point. There are over 10,000 in habitants, most of whom life in the largest town, Mykonos Town, which lies on the west coast and is where we stayed. Mykonos is known for its vibrant nightlife and connections with the LGBTQ community.

In Greek mythology, Mykonos was named after its first ruler, Mykonos, son or grandson of the god Apollo and a local hero. The island was also said to have been the location of a great battle between Zeus and the Titans and where Hercules killed the invincible giants having lured them from the protection of Mount Olympus.


Paradise Beach

DJ party at Paradise Beach
Dinner on Paraga Beach at sunset
Taking a boat taxi to other beaches along the coastline

Elia Beach

Mykonos Town

ATHENS

Athens is one of the world’s oldest cities with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence starting somewhere between the 11^th and 7^th millennium BC.

Athens is the capital of Greece and at the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire. The city is still dominated by 5^th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel topped with ancient buildings like the colonnaded Parthenon temple.

The Acropolis of Athens

This is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. The Parthenon is a former temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Atehnian Empire was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order with right columns at the façade, and seventeen columns at the flanks, conforming to the established ratio of 9:4.

While there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as far back as the fourth millennium BC, it was Pericle (c. 495-429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the site’s most important present remains.

The Plaka

Is the old historical neighborhood of Athens clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and has a labyrinth of cobble-stone streets mainly for pedestrians and is full of shops and restaurants.

Ancient Agora

The Agora was a large square on the northwest slope of the Acropolis, where social and religious activities, commerce, outdoor theatrical performances and athletic contests were held. It was the heart of the ancient city and the center of Athenian democracy. From the 6^th c. BC onwards, the open space was gradually surrounded by many public buildings, and it was adorned with temples, altars, stoas, fountains, portraits, and statues. It acquired its final form in the 2^nd c. AD.

Hadrian’s Library

Hadrian’s Library was created by Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 132 on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens. The building followed a typical Roman Forum architectural style. The library was on the eastern side where rolls of papyrus “books” were kept. Adjoining halls were used as reading rooms, and the corners served as lecture halls.

Pictures walking around Athens