Greece is Great!
Jan Migenda
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In 2016, I did a guided tour through Greece with a group of Irish students! From Athens to Sparta and more ... enjoy lots of history!
Blog Posts
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Curiosities at Hosios Loukas
This is the last post from the monastery, I promise! There were just some curiosities that I think you would need to see: Sometimes it's the little things that you normally overlook walking by: This platoon of ants carrying a large breadcrumb seems insignificant next...
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Boeotia
Time to take a break from the cloister as the weather was really nice. The final view from the restaurant in the sunset showed us some hills, trees and the sea in the distance ... meanwhile, we had a Greek salad (of course)! Look at this lovely sunset over Mount...
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Delphi: Introduction
Delphi - a famous place. It even has a programming language named after it (we learned to use it in school). After a short trip by bus, we arrived in the small village nearby, made our way past overpriced souvenir shops (40€ for a SD card for a camera!) and came to...
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Delphi: The Centre of the World and the Oracle
Delphi was considered to be the centre of the world in Ancient Greece. How come? This oval stone (unfortunately a bit broken over time) is the Omphalos, the navel of the world (or at least a copy of it). According to legend, it fell down from the sky as a meteor after...
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Delphi: The Temple of Apollon
Delphi not only had the famous oracle I wrote about in my last post, but also a sacred site with many temples. I will now introduce them to you: The Hall of the Athenians was built after the wars against the Persians to store the spoils of war inside. It was built like...
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Delphi: Theatre and Stadium
Finally, Delphi was not only a religious, but also a cultural centre! Read and marvel! The theatre of Delphi was home to the first Pythic Games which consisted in singing along to a kithara. They were held every eight, later every four years. Think of it as an ancient...
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Delphi Museum 1
The Archeological Museum in Delphi offers some mixed findings from the site. Be curious and explore! Here, votive weapons and bronze infantry helmets in the Corinthian style are to be found in the section about warfare. Someone took this photo of me (with bad posture)...
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Delphi Museum 2: Marble and Music!
The second part of the museum contained lots of marble in the form of inscriptions and statues. Check it out! This inscription is written in Latin, but it's not classical Latin. It's from the Hellenistic Period or Late Antiquity as the dedicator's name L. Aimilius is...
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Olympia
We left the sacred site of Delphi for Olympia, not without seeing something less sacred in town: These condoms with 3D imprints of original ancient erotic scenes found on ceramics. A great souvenir ... with something similar, I won the "best/worst souvenir contest" our...
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Olympia 2
The areal of Olympia is actually quite big: The gymnasion, palestra and many temples cover much space. You see the remains of the columns ... what's missing is also the roof and the paint. The most famous temple in Olympia, the Temple of Zeus, hosted a statue of Zeus...
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Olympia Museum
Besides the temples and the famous stadium, Olympia also has a museum which we saw (of course). These small horse figures made from clay, bronze or iron were votive gifts to make the preferred party win. Over all the years, many of them were accumulated. Here, another...
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Olympia Museum 2: Highlights
This is the second part of the Archeological Museum of Olympia! A rare find enriches the collection: The helmet of Miltiades! (It is signed hence we know it is this one.) Miltiades was a famous well-educated general who played a crucial role in beating the Persians at...
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Bassae and Messene
After seeing so many artifacts, marble inscriptions and statues of Zeus, Venus and Augustus et cetera it was time to go outside again: We saw the Temple of Apollon in Bassae, UNESCO world heritage site, and arrived in Messene. The thick city walls defended the city in...
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Messene Museum
Just as if we had not already seen enough musea, we also had to enter the Archeological Museum of Messene. Actually, every museum shows something new, so no time is wasted on repeating stuff! First, there were some elaborate flint arrowheads on display ... we may label...
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Mystras
So we were on our way to Sparta when we passed a ruined city with the remains of a great castle on a hilltop: Mystras. Climbing the hill was a bit of work, but the view over the landscape was rewarding, as you can see! The story of the castle begins in the early 13th...
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Mystras 2
In many churches of Mystras, there were Byzantine frescoes with stories of saints depicted in vivid colours, unfortunately a bit bleached over time, but hey, who are we to complain about such works of art? The churches had a clearly Orthodox style with round arches;...
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Sparta
Finally ... THIS. IS. SPARTAAAA! Yes, we arrived in this former military centre of Greece which played an extremely important role during the Persian invasions. Lykourgos counts as a famous commander, and also the rigorous physical education is still famous, as many...
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Lerna + Nemea
As you might already know, Greece is full of ancient legends. Sometimes they explain great events of history ... ana example can be found here: Lerna is a place where a palace from the Early Helladic Period, the so-called "House of Tiles", stands. Also, there have been...
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Nemea Museum
Nemea not only had the temple and stadium from my last post, but also a small museum honouring the games. This awesome speech/quote was to be found near the entrance, clearly visible for every visitor. These archaic figurines in clay represent women, one of them with...
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Epidauros
Epidauros is a UNESCO world heritage site on the Peloponnes. It is famous as a sanctuary to Asklepios, the god of healing. The archeological site shows the following buildings: The gymnasion (sports complex) was used for therapeutical purposes. In its centre stands a...
