let's do the time warp again...

Anonymous

Its amazing, in one day our class traveled back 1000 years, then over 3000 year by the two places we visited today. The first stop was at a Greek Orthodox Monastery that was built in 946 and was still in use today. The grandeur of the hand places tile mosaics that covered the ceilings and the marble walls made from marble all over Greece was still very vibrate even after over 1000 years had passed. The town that this elaborately created monastery was built in though had an anything but grand story. During WW2, Nazi Germany went to this town, like many other towns in Greece, rounded up all of its people on the top of a hill that over looked the town and its surrounding areas, and then slaughter them all. No one was left alive and the town was left a ghost town. Today, however, the relatives of the people who were killed in this town during the war are seeking vengeance for their family members, and taking their case to be tried as a war crime all the way to the European Union. Unlike many other countries, Germany never paid back Greece for the terrors inflicted on its people in a monetary since that it had for all other countries, so now this town is standing up for all of the ones who cannot and looking to gain back something for the losses and the horror faced by their ancestors. Not the happiest story, but one that like every part of Greece, full of layers and layers of history. The monastery, which is the best part of this, survived the Nazi attacks and holds one of the most well preserved mosaics that cover every room in the building.

Each room was beautifully crafted and my pictures can barley to it any sort of justice. Standing underneath all of it, and gazing up at its beauty, I had a feeling like I should be celebrating Easter or something to be in such a beautify place for of religion and history, the mix of cold and warm air, and the plants starting to grow, I’m sure also added to this feeling as well. We walked all over the monastery and even got to try some of the sweets and honey that the monks make. The candy tasted of rose peddles, something that I have never had before. It tasted like I was eating Van Leriups, the flower shop from home, but in a unique jellied consistency.

Next, our bus ride took us to Delphi. Delphi is over 3000 years old and the place of many Greek myths. The Oracle is said to have lived there, as well as a popular place for worship of the god Apollo, and what Zeus proclaimed it as the center of the earth, so this place hold great significance historically. Delphi was also used a place to compete in sporting even like running, chariot races, javelin, wrestling, as well as art, like singing, acts, and other musical competitions. Today however, Delphi is a place of history and a museum to explain and show some of the great artifacts but is also surrounded by a town that takes advantage of the tourist draw by have many restaurants and shops not to far from the great historical site itself.

Walking through Delphi, I kept wondering, what on earth did this place look like before? The marble and the structures that had survived 3000 years and many earth quakes and wars still stood greatly in the place it had so long ago. I kept thinking that this place was not only ridiculously hard to build, but also that the magnificence of it had to have been breath taking. The hike winded the class up through the temples of Apollo, many treasuries, the theater and then finally at the top of the hill, the stadium. As we went into the museum, the questions I had before of wondering what this place might have looked like were answered as they had pictures, models, and paintings of that archeologist thought it may have appeared in its glory days, and wow, it was epic. The amounts of marble that had to be carved to such intricate detail as well as the height and size alone was mind blowing. The artifacts that were preserved in the museum had the same detail and craftsman ship. The statures stood higher than most people and look as if they could just start to walk and talk, with the acceptation of a few pieces missing. The mythological statures were tall for where they had thought to be placed in the many very important locations. The statues made me feel small, the ruins made be feel even small, and the fact that so many things had been going on such long ago intrigued all of my senses and I cant help but still be in the state of awe.