Athens, Corinth and Mykonos!

After leaving Berea, we drove past Mount Olympus. Very beautiful, cloud covered, and only visible from our speeding bus.

Athens

We arrived in Athens in time for dinner in the hotel’s awesome dining room. Sunset over Athens – what a sight!

A short stroll after dinner led to a magnificent old gate…

And a nighttime glimpse of the Parthenon.

The Acropolis is the name for the whole “Sacred Hill.” Probably the most famous structure of the Acropolis is the Parthenon, shown below.

Our tour guide was lots of fun! Her name is Iota – the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet, and she pronounced it as “Yota.” Almost like Yoda from Star Wars.

The Acropolis is fascinating – almost unbelievable. Mostly built in the 5th century B.C., it’s amazing how much is still standing!

Entry is done by walking up to the Propylaea, the magnificent gateway.

Once through that awesome gateway, you can see other buildings, like the Parthenon. Here you can see our long time friend Freda and her family. We had no idea they would be on our tour, so it was a fun surprise!

Rumor is that Rolls Royce was inspired by the Parthenon when they chose the shape of their radiator shell.

The Erechtheion is most famous for its gorgeous “Porch of the Maidens.” I guess they are actually called “Caryatids,” but that sounds too much like a noisy insect to me.

The Parthenon is interesting from any angle. The sheer size, the detail of the surviving relief carvings, the methods of construction are all amazing. The pillars taper towards the top – this visually makes the whole structure seem taller. (It probably was slightly easier to lift those top segments up there, too!) The flutes or ridges on the pillars ensures that light and shadow always combine to make them more eye appealing.

The pillars, or columns, were made in sections, which had to be perfectly matched to keep the taper consistent all the way to the top. In the picture below, you might notice a column that seems to be sliding somewhat precariously apart.

It’s hard to walk away from the Acropolis!

Whole family turning our backs to the Acropolis.

Mars Hill, where Paul debated with the Athenians, is the bare rock in the center of this picture. Not much to see when you stand on it, but it feels special to be right where the Apostle preached!

Corinth

On our way to old Corinth, we stopped by the Corinth Canal for some lunch. This canal connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It was built in the 1890’s.

The canal has an interesting back story. It cuts across a narrow spot of a peninsula, making it easier for ships to go from one sea to the other and not have to sail all the way around the huge peninsula. The ancient Greeks and Romans would have loved to make a canal there, but didn’t have the technology to do it. So they built a road, pretty much where the canal runs. Ships would unload cargo at one end, then cart it down the road, and load it into another ship. Cumbersome, but still easier than going all the long way around.

Old Corinth

Paul, in his Biblical letter to the Romans, mentions Erastus, the city Treasurer of Corinth. Skeptics long said this was not likely true; that the name and place did not make sense, and used this fact to disparage the Bible. In the late 1920’s, excavations in Corinth revealed parts of this road. In a prominent place are the words, in Latin: ERASTVS. PRO. AED. S. P. STRAVIT. How’s your Latin? Mine is nonexistent, so here’s the translation: Erastus, in return for his aedileship, laid the pavement at his own expense.” An Aedile was a public works administrator… The point is, this showed that Erastus was indeed in office when Paul said he was, and another objection to Biblical commentary is removed.

Yota shows writing on the pavement stone

The letters don’t photograph well, but they are there!

A museum in Corinth had lots of statues, including some references to Christianity. The inscription in Greek on the stone below reads “Συνα]γωγὴ Ἑβρ[αίων,” translating to “Synagogue of the Hebrews”.

Lots of ruins are visible in old Corinth, but a particularly interesting area is this platform where they would hear and judge cases. In front of the platform is this short pillar, which they say dates from the same time as the rest of the area. It was supposedly where a convicted person would have to bend over, to receive his punishment in the form of lashes from a whip. Could this be the stone Paul was whipped over for preaching the Gospel?

Before glass mirrors were invented, polished metal had to suffice. These mirrors have lost their polish! But mirrors like this may have been inspiration for Paul to say “Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face…” (A looking glass was a mirror like these.) Paul is saying that now we don’t understand everything well, but the time is coming when we will see God face to face.

Athens Again

Just so you don’t think our whole time was spent in old ruins, we did find time for Gelato! And Crepes! Yay! The shopping streets were very pretty after dark. And cooler too!

Finished with our brief tours of Athens and Corinth, we boarded a cruise ship headed for Mykonos.

Looks like frostbitten old watermelon-man

Mykonos

Mykonos has two nicknames – the party island, and the windy island. I didn’t catch any parties, but I can certainly attest to the windy part.

There isn’t much in the way of sandy beaches, but some of our family wanted to go swimming. (I’m the part more interested in the scenery.) More on the swimmers in a minute.

So while some stayed to get wet, I wandered through the island, hoping to find the famous windmills.

At the end of the island there are ruins of a castle/fortress, but above the ruins stands a church.

The town has a maze of tiny, usually crowded, lanes lined with shops for souvenirs or food. If you’re not afraid of people, or claustrophobic, it makes for interesting exploration.

Finally – the windmills on top of the ridge at the far end of the island. Built in the 16th century, they were used to mill wheat, and are Mykonos’ most famous icons.

Famous or not, they seem to be out of working order today. I’d love to see these in full sail, churning away!

A couple of churches were on my way back to the beach where I’d left the rest of my family.

By the time I got back to the beach, it was really windy, and I wasn’t surprised to find they had left. I figured they had gone back to the ship, so I did too. It turns out they’d gone looking for me, and I beat them back to the ship by a few minutes.