Monday, the 19th, we left at 7:30 am via bus for Southern Greece. Our first stop was at the Corinthian Canal which was dug to connect the Aegean with the Mediterranean Sea. We visited ancient Corinth, where Paul went & worked & saw the bema where is the exact spot where Paul stood before Gallio. There is also a stone in the ground with the inscription of Erastus, who was the director of utilities & is named in the Bible. We climbed up the deep ascent to the acropolis of Corinth & walked through the remains of several ancient buildings. About now I'm wishing I was in a lot better shape!! We stopped over next in Epidaurus to see the Sanctuary of Asclepeios, the ancient god of healing. Here is the best preserved theatre in all of Greece & our group stood in the middle of this 12,000 seat theatre & sang. It has such amazing accoustics, that a person can stand in the middle & drop a coin or tear a piece of paper & it can be heard all the way at the top!! Really amazing!!
We overnighted in Epidaurus. The next morning we headed out early to Nafplion, the first capital of modern Greece. We drove (thankfully) to the top of a mountain where the Palamidi Fortress was located & climbed around in many of the ancient ruins. It was really fun exploring this area as it looked like something you might see in the movies! It had a beautiful view of the harbor all around & then we descended the 800 steps back down to the city. We also visited the tomb of Agamemnon which is a well preserved beehive style tomb as well as the ancient city of Mycenae.
The next morning we set out to see ancient Olympia where the first olympic games were held. There is still remains of the huge temple to Zeus, as well as from a large fountain & other buildings. There is also the field where races were held. Of course, several of our students lined up at the starting line & took off!! They reported, though, that it was much further than they thought to the finish line!!
This was a great trip with nice weather 2 of the 3 days & wildflowers are starting to bloom all over!! We did have some of the biggest, juiciest oranges ever & the orchards down there are just loaded with them!!
It's back to school to another week of classes!! We rarely have more than 7 or 8 days of school between trips, so it won't be long & we'll be heading to Northern Greece!!
