Ancient Mycenae

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January 12, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We took a day trip to Mycenae.

The archaeological site of Mycenae comprises the fortified acropolis and surrounding funerary and habitation sites. Most of the visible monuments date from 1350 to 1200 BC.

We stopped into the little museum first.

We were so excited we go to wander all over the ruins and explore.

The Lion’s Gate is still magnificent, even headless.

We even walked down into a cistern. We used our phones as flashlights.

The tombs of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon are enormous.

Adult tickets are €8 and kids are FREE!
Ticket is valid for the Archaeological Site, the Museum, and the Treasure of Atreus.

The Treasury of Atreus is across the street. We just walked, but there is no sidewalk. There is a little trailer with ice cold water that’s super affordable.

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Nafplio Day Trip

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January 11, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Nafplio is a picturesque little town.

We drove up to Palamidi Fortress.

I can’t imagine hiking up there to the top.

It’s €4 for adults and FREE for kids.

It wasn’t as clear a day for views as I would have liked.

After enjoying the views and exploring the castle, we drove back down to the town. We parked by the docks and beelined for gelato.

Next to the best gelateria is this lovely church.

The Church of the Panagia is especially magnificent inside.

Outside the church is an interesting mosaic.

The streets are just magical to walk around.

Liz was excited to see this cupcake shop, which is apparently quite wonderful, but we were stuffed from lunch and gelato.

We used Rick Steves walking tour.

We bought komboloi beads at the recommended best worry bead shop.

It was a lovely detour to visit Nafplio!

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! Check out our Greek trip itinerary here.

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A Weekend in Athens, Greece

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January 8, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

I planned a weeklong trip to the Peloponnese. Athens was priority to see all the ancient ruins.

We loved exploring Athens.

We flew into Athens from Thessaloniki on Ryanair.

Where we stayed:

Best Western Hotel Museum that had a lovely breakfast buffet for €8/person. It was plentiful. Best Western Europe is not like Best Western in the USA. They’re really nice in Europe!

After we checked into our hotel and parked our rental van, we set off to explore the city!

We purchased combo tickets for €12 per adult (kids are FREE!) that include all the important sites in Athens.

How the combo ticket works:

You get a ticket strip with one BIG ticket (Acropolis) and 5 small tickets – Ancient Agora, South Slope of Acropolis (2 theatres), Roman Agora, Temple of Zeus, and Kerameikos (cemetery and museum). The tickets are good for 7 days.

Buy the tickets at a smaller attraction like Hadrian’s Library or Temple of Zeus where there are no lines.

Our first stop was Hadrian’s Library.

Ah, how I do love libraries.

The kids were excited to see this column capital up close after studying Greek architecture.

Then, we walked through the Plaka district towards Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus.

Gelato helped us on our way.

A gorgeous view of the Acropolis and Hadrian’s Arch from the Temple of Zeus field.

I can only imagine how HUGE the Temple of Zeus must have been.

Day 2

We hiked up to the Acropolis.

We were a little disappointed we couldn’t touch the Parthenon. I want to touch it!

We walked down to see the Ancient Agora.

One of the stoas is recreated as a museum. There are many temples and ruins here.

We walked by the Parliament building to see the changing of the guard.

In the late afternoon, we visited the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

We loved seeing Agamemnon’s Mask and all the pottery we’d learned about!

Hours:

Mondays: 13:00-20:00

Tuesday-Sunday: 09:00-16:00

Tickets:

€7 for adults and kids are FREE!

Day 3

We drove back in from Kalamata to stay in Athens before flying to Thessaloniki.

The last afternoon of our Peloponnese tour, we visited the Acropolis Museum. I’m so glad we didn’t miss this!

Photography is only allowed at a few exhibits.

The upper level is a recreation of the Parthenon. Breathtaking.

General admission is €5.

April to October:

Mondays 0800-1600

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays 0800-2000

Fridays 0800-2200

Saturdays and Sundays 0800-2000

November to March:

Monday through Thursday 0800-1700

Fridays 0800-2200

Saturdays and Sundays 0800-2000

We loved Athens – the food, the people, the sites. It’s a charming city.

Check out our Eating Through Greece post too!

View our MAP of where we ate in Greece!

Check out our whole Greece itinerary here.

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Ancient Olympia

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January 7, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We took a day trip to the ancient city of Olympia.

This is where athletes lived and trained during ancient times.

There are many temples and training buildings in great condition.

Tori ran around the Olympia stadium.

The entryway into the stadium:

Outside the entrance were statues erected from fines of athletes who cheated. On the bases of the statues were the athletes’ names and nature of penalty. I think we should reenact this practice.

The track is 212.54 m (697.3 ft) long and 28.5 m (94 ft) wide and surrounded by grassy banks on all sides. All the seats were made of mud and on the southern slope there was a stone platform, the exedra, on which the Hellanodikai, the judges, would sit. The stadium could hold 50,000 spectators.
The games were held between 776 BC and 393 AD. The games were held every four years at the beginning, and the middle of the “Great Year”. The Great Year, was a way that people in Greece would determine the difference between solar and lunar years.
There were three stadiums constructed. The first one, (Stadium I), was created during the archaic period. It was mainly used to hold games for the contestants of nearby city-states of Greece. (Stadium II) was built to the east of the first stadium, this was built to add on events. In addition, a racetrack was also built. It was built ideally next to a large hillside that served as a natural sitting area. The third stadium, (Stadium III), was built mainly to hold larger audiences. Along the embankments surrounding the stadium are large wells that not only served as water offerings, but also served as votive offerings, mostly of bronze.
For all participating city-states, a sacred truce was made by the three kings Iphitus of Elis, Lycurgus of Sparta, and Cleisthenes of Pisa. The truce ensured that no one would be hostile towards one another and it also ensured a suspension of any executions for the duration of the games. From the lists that we have of victors from these Olympic games, we know that the Olympic games eventually brought in many champions from different parts of the world. Champions were from as far as Sicily and Northern Africa. See more.

Guests and patrons stayed in a fancy house with a mosaic pool and lovely courtyard.

Here’s what it used to look like:

Alex liked the Philippeion, commissioned by Alexander the Great.

I just wanted to see the workshop of Pheidias!

The building was erected in the second half of the fifth century, when Pheidias, after completing the sculptures for the Athenian Acropolis, went to Olympia to work on the statue of Zeus. Excavation finds and pottery date it precisely to 430-420 BC. Later the workshop became a place of worship containing an altar for sacrifices to various gods, which Pausanias saw in the second century AD. In the fifth century AD, a Christian basilica was erected over its ruins.
The workshop, a rectangular hall oriented east-west with an entrance on the east side, had the same dimensions (32 x18 x 14.50m) as the cella of the temple of Zeus, probably to facilitate the construction of the statue. Built of shell-limestone, it was divided into three naves by two rows of columns. The statue probably stood in the central, wider nave. It had a wooden core which the sculptor revetted with gold, ivory and glass plaques. These were worked in the adjacent south wing of the workshop, which sheltered the craftsmen. A wealth of excavation finds, including clay matrices for the folds of the statue’s robe, pieces of ivory and semi-precious stone, bone goldsmith’s tools, glass flower petals and a most important small black-painted oinochoe inscribed Pheidio eimi, or “I belong to Pheidias” all come from this area. See more.

There’s a nice museum where we cooled off and saw some of the artifacts from the workshop of Pheidias.

The girls liked the statue of Victoria Nike.

This was one of our favorite trips. It was the least anticipated and we were so pleasantly surprised. It was quite warm that day and the ruins are extensive. There’s a shop by the parking lot for treats and a nice cafe in the museum where we got ice cream.

Combo tickets for adults for the ruins and museum are €9 and kids are FREE!

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Ancient Epidaurus

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January 6, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

I’m so glad we took a detour to visit Epidaurus with the best-preserved theatre from the ancient world.

The theater was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. In Greek theatres (opposed to Roman ones) the view of the lush landscape behind the skênê is an integral part of the theatre itself and should not be obscured. It seats up to 14,000 people. The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd, and amplify high-frequency sounds from the stage.

I tested the acoustics. The kids ran up to the very top of the theatre and I performed a monologue from Antigone.

It was epic.

Two older ladies were seated off to the side and applauded and said they’d been waiting a long time there for someone to come perform!

On the other side of the museum are the ruins of the Temple of Asclepius.

It is said to have rivaled the major sites the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia and Apollo at Delphi. This temple was built in the early fourth century BCE but only foundations remain of the Doric temple, which consisted of six columns by eleven, measuring 80 feet in length.

A nice little museum is there with many treasures from the Temple of Asclepius.

The kids loved the well-preserved columns and statues in the museum.

Tickets to all the sites of Epidaurus are €6 for adults. Children are FREE!

We loved seeing the theatre and the ancient temple of Asclepius. It’s a great side trip that didn’t take too long.

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Kalamata Beach Weekend

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January 6, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Kalamata is a darling beach town.

We rented a van with CarRentals.com to explore the Peloponnese. We drove from Athens to Kalamata.

As we drove through, it reminded me of the Destin, Florida, area with its shops, boat dock, and oceanfront restaurants.

We wanted to stay on the beach and we loved the Akti Taygetos Conference Resort. It was just far enough from the strip to feel secluded.

We played at the pool all afternoon.

The restaurant at the hotel was sufficient.

Pasta, pizza, salad, hamburgers, and grilled pork. All fresh and delicious!

And that gorgeous sunset.

Alex loved romping on the steps and petting the kittens.

The breakfast buffet was to die for.

A hot and cold bar, pastries, and drink station. Local delicacies and universal favorites. Something for everyone!

I really loved the steamed milk on the hot plate. Café au lait!

Breakfast Buffet at the Hotel AKTI TAYGETOS

We took some sunset photos on the little beach.

We loved the beach and climate, food and people! We long to go back to Greece!

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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2 Days in Thessaloniki

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January 5, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We traveled from Frankfurt to Thessaloniki on our way to Athens. We had a couple days to explore this lovely city at the end of our trip.

We stayed at the Athina Airport Hotel. We rented a van with CarRentals.com.

We explored the many beautiful churches, walked around a lot, ate lots of fun food, and visited a couple museums.

My favorite was the Catacomb of St. John the Baptist.

We loved seeing the statue of Aristotle.

The White Tower

Alex was especially thrilled to see this enormous statue of Alexander the Great!

We took a boat tour around the bay on a replica of the Argo.

I don’t normally go in for silly tourist things, but this was fun and only cost a drink each and we needed a break from walking and a treat!

We all enjoyed the Museum of Byzantine Culture and Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

The Archaeological Museum was really very good, lovely displays, and a great summary after all our travels to review.

The displays were in English and explained many aspects of daily life in ancient times, such as beauty routines, toys, weaving, decorations, jewelry, and glass.

The Byzantine Museum was a peek into our medieval studies next year.

Gorgeous mosaics, treasures, and icons.

One room showed a recreation of a house with mosaic floors and frescoed walls. Lots of pottery and lifestyle exhibits.

We bought the combo ticket: €8 for adults. Kids are FREE!

November 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016
Daily 9.00 – 16.00 (Winter opening hours)

I’m so glad we spent some time exploring Thessaloniki – there was so much to see and do!

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Our Greece Itinerary

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January 4, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

I’d looked at cruises and travel packages but none of them really did what I wanted.

In our homeschool, we studied ancient times in history this year and I wanted to go to Greece to see the places we learned about.

I’ve always wanted to go to Greece!

I used Airhint to find great flight deals with Ryanair. I used Booking.com for hotels. We rented a van in Athens and in Thessaloniki with CarRentals.com.

We flew from Frankfurt Hahn to Thessaloniki, then to Athens. We drove all over the peninsula, then back to Athens, flew back to Thessaloniki and explored for a couple days, then flew home to Frankfurt Hahn.

I wish we’d had more time to explore some of the islands and some other historic places.

Here’s our itinerary for our weeklong tour of the Peloponnese:

We arrived late into Thessaloniki, ate a lovely meal at the hotel and crashed before our next morning early flight into Athens.

Athens

We rented a van and parked it the whole time we were there. We spent 2 days exploring the city on foot. It’s charming and friendly.

We were able to spend the afternoon at the Parthenon Museum and have the best meal of our entire trip before crashing our last night before flying back to Thessaloniki.

Mycenae

We retrieved our rented van and drove all over the Peloponnese. We visited the archeaological site on the way to Kalamata.

Kalamata

We spent 2 nights at this beach resort. It was a much-needed rest.

Olympia

We took a day trip to the training grounds for the first Olympics while staying in Kalamata. We were surprised how much we loved this!

Nafplio

We visited this picturesque town in the morning on the way back to Athens. Great views and a bead shop.

Epidaurus

We stopped by the temple of Asclepius and the ancient theatre in the afternoon on the way back to Athens.

Thessaloniki

We rented a van and spent 2 days exploring this lovely city before flying home.

Check out our Eating Through Greece post!

Tips for traveling in Greece:

I bought Rick Steves’ book on Athens and the Peloponnese for my Kindle app on my iPad mini so I got to view it as we walked around. It was SO helpful!
Be very aware on public transportation. We didn’t even use it, but we still put our extra money and passports in our hotel safe so it wasn’t a worry. We were even warned about the metro and the Central Market by our hotel clerks.
Restaurants serve ice-cold pitchers of tap water. I love that! Be aware that some places add a charge for it. We noticed a Euro or two for water and bread on some of our bills. It didn’t bother us because we needed it after walking all day long, but you can always ask and decline if you’re on a budget or gluten intolerant.
English is spoken very well almost everywhere. Euros are the accepted money. ATMs are widely available. Cards with the pin and chip are accepted at most restaurants and shops. Cash is still needed for lots of places.
Don’t throw anything – including toilet paper! – into the toilets. There are handy little containers to place everything into beside the toilets. The pipes are apparently so easily clogged in Greece that this is the solution.

We loved our trip to Greece.

We’d love to return someday and explore the islands and other cities we didn’t have time to see.

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Eating Our Way Through Greece

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January 4, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We fell in love with the food in Greece.

We love the olive oil and oregano and fresh salad! We love the bread and grilled meats – and Tori and I love the fish!

Where we ate in Athens:

Enteka for lunch the first day.

Kid-friendly. Affordable. The staff is very friendly and fun.

Amazing souvlaki and gyros. Fresh and quick.

We went to the Horiatiko Bakery for treats.

It just beckoned to us every day as we walked by.

Super friendly. Gorgeous, pleniful selections of cakes, pastries…BAKLAVA.

Street food!

Roasted corn on the cob.

Pretzel and sesame bread rings.

Nuts and coconut strips.

The kids loved it all.

One morning, we went to Grand Dionisos for omelets.

I finally got to try Greek coffee (Ellinikos Kafes). It is SO good. We bought a set to bring home!

It’s thick and sweet and gorgeous. It comes in these little copper pots that make the coffee taste better than anywhere.

After the Acropolis, we had lunch at Dia Tauta, a touristy little place on Adrianou, near the Ancient Agora. We were starving and got a couple platters of mezes that were plenty for all of us! Delicious salad, bread, olives…and pitchers of ice-cold water kept coming! This was a place we noticed a small charge on our bill for that, but it was well worth it.

The advantage to having a teenager is that we can let the kids have street food in the hotel for dinner and go out for a date!

Great local mezes at Rozalia in the Exarcheia district.

We got zucchini fritters (Kolokithopita), meatballs (Keftedes), hummus, gorgeous salad, and wine.

Amazing organic local food at Yiantes – also in the Exarcheia district.

I wanted to try Taramosalata (fish roe dip) and I LOVED IT. My husband? Not so much. We also got some hummus so he was happy.

I got the fish with onions and tomatoes (Psari spetsiotiko).

Aaron got the hamburgers (Mpiftekia). These are not ordinary hamburgers. They are flavored with cumin and oregano and oh, so moist and tender!

The best food we had in Greece was at To Kati Allo, around the corner from the Acropolis Museum.

We felt like family staying for dinner. They didn’t have my first choice from the chalkboard menu – he said it wasn’t good enough quality to serve – so he kept bringing us dishes of everything they had.

Roast chicken, roast pork, stuffed zucchini (Kolokithia Yemista), ratatouille (Briam), salad, pita, and this amazing tomato rice pilaf (Pilafi me Saltsa Domata).

He hugged and kissed us when we left.

We all plan to go back someday. It was that good.

Where we ate in Kalamata:

We ate at the hotel the first night and had lovely pork chops and pasta with salad. Even simple food in Greece is just amazing.

Look at that gorgeous sunset!

The second night we ate at Lemoni.

It was expensive and there was a huge wedding party that arrived a few minutes after we did. I think we might have done better at one of the cafés on the beach strip.

I got the fish special and it was good. Tori got this shrimp spaghetti that was good, though not fresh. I think since it was the end of the season, they didn’t have as much to offer. The chicken souvlaki Liz got was tough but flavorful. But you don’t go to a restaurant on the dock and not get seafood.