Grecian Odyssey, A Student's View (Day 8)

The Honors Program just completed its Grecian Odyssey tour, where thirty-five students and two staff members traveled to Greece from May 6th through the 16th. We asked our students to blog about the journey, so each day is written from the perspective various students.  Today's post includes contributions from Rachel Frey, a junior Dietetics major; Derek Van Lehn, a sophomore Early Childhood Education major; Serena Hollis, a sophomore Biology major; and Alyssa Srail, a sophomore double majoring in Spanish and Early Childhood Education.  We hope you enjoy reading about our journey!

We started off the morning at our hotel in Athens, the Galaxy Hotel. Waking up back in our first hotel we started out in was nice. It was more comforting to know we had a few more nights left here and we no longer had to rush to repack our suitcases up to move on to another city. We rode the bus to Cape Sounion along the Saronic Gulf, named so for the ancient king Saron. Cape Sounion is located at the southernmost part of Greece. In ancient times it served as a military center because of its proximity to the ocean and ability to travel great distances from there. It was also home to the temple of Poseidon. The foundation built in the 6^th century BC, it was made in a Doric style and stood for many years, paying tribute to Poseidon. Some people know how Athena won a contest against Poseidon for the city of Athens to be made in her honor and came to house her main temple, but another part of that story is that Poseidon was given Cape Sounion as a consolation prize.

As we traveled, our tour guide told us the story of how the Aegean Sea got its name from the Greek myth of the Minotaur and King Aegeus. According to legend, Athens was forced to pay a tax of 14 youths to king Minos to feed his monster. After a while, Theseus, the king’s son asked to be sent so that he could defeat the Minotaur and free Athens of its tribute. The king agreed, but asked Theseus to sail home with white sails if victorious. King Aegeus waited and watched every day for his sons return from this location. One day he saw the ship’s sails on the horizon; even though Theseus had been victorious he had forgotten to change the sails and King Aegeus threw himself into the sea in despair, thinking his son dead.

On the Temple of Poseidon, our tour guide pointed out an example of historical graffiti; Lord Byron’s Signature. Lord Byron was an English Poet who was very involved in the Greek freedom movement.

Even though we didn’t spend much time at the Temple, I think visiting the Cape was one of my favorite sites. After we were done walking around the temple, we were given free rein to explore the surrounding cliffs that led to the ocean. I was among the first to climb down and explore the water’s edge, it was a remarkable experience. The water was incredibly clear, as it had been most of our trip, but what elevated this experience was seeing sections of the temple laying in the water as if they had just fallen in, untouched by any restoration efforts to the temple. I enjoyed climbing around the rocks at the edge of the cliffs with my other friends that were able to venture down despite some of their initial shock at having to do so. The area was beautiful, the water was clear and vibrant shades of turquoise and blue. Once we got out of Athens metropolitan area, the sea was framed by mountains in every direction The Temple itself was beautiful although my favorite part was exploring the area around it. There were colorful flowers and the view of the Mediterranean was stunning. I was able to climb down and wade in a little along with exploring the rocks. I found a spot away from everyone and just sat for a little while taking it all in.

For lunch we went to a local Greek restaurant, when we walked in the owner said there was no menu and asked if we wanted meat or fish. I was a little nervous, but ordered the fish. I wasn’t expecting it, but the fish I ordered was a whole fish (head and everything!). It was actually pretty good and I was glad that I had ordered it since I would most likely not have ordered it if I had known what the fish would be like.

When we were done there we traveled back to Athens and, after saying our goodbyes to Christiana, we had a free afternoon to further explore the downtown area of Athens. My group ventured into “Old Plaka” a nicer shopping area where we purchased some souvenirs, mostly small trinkets for our families. We also found a shop that sold lukumades, fried donuts that are usually filled with honey, and enjoyed trying those before traveling back to our hotel. 

Dinner was at a traditional Greek tavern and featured live singers and dancers who performed a variety of traditional dances from different islands and regions. It was interesting to see the differences between the dances; it showcased that although Greece is one nation, every part of it is unique and different. Throughout the night some of the performers came out into the crowd or called volunteers up to come and dance with them on stage. Many of our people participated and had a lot of fun with it, whether it was dancing with the performers or with our friends. When it got late, we left and went back to the hotel together, after stopping briefly to take some pictures of the Acropolis lit up against the night sky. We all returned to the hotel and went to bed, satisfied with the adventures we had had for the day.