By: Kelly McKenna

Most of us had been in a cave before, but the cave of Diros was something different than we had experienced before. Descending into the cave wearing our bright orange life jackets, we boarded boats to explore. The cave is about 14 km and we explored about 1,300 meters on the lake and the other 200 on pathways. The cave has millions of tiny stalactites hanging off the ceiling and stalagmites at the bottom of the lake. The lake itself reaches 90 meters below the surface in the deepest areas. The only animals that inhabit the cave are spiders and eels; and, although we did not see any spiders, we did get to see a foot long eel swim past our boat. After finishing our tour of the cave, we headed up to Sparta where we explored and found a playground to play on before dinner and a trip to an ice cream parlor.

Before leaving Sparta, we visited the Olive Museum, where we learned the history of olives and olive oil. Our bus driver was then kind enough to take us to the top of a mountain so we could climb down, visiting the different churches and the Fortress of Mystra as we went. We learned how the Ancient town of Sparta had been destroyed and those churches and palaces on the hill were all that was left from the Ancient times in that area.

After the walk down the mountain and lunch, we traveled to the city of Nafplio, a port city with a shopping area that had sidewalks that doubled as roads. After learning the best ice cream shop in the city was closed, we went to the next best shop and ate our ice cream on the way back to our hotel. We set out again before dinner in smaller groups with some going shopping, some getting lost, and some even finding a mini fair in the park across from our hotel and rode the bumper cars before heading back to the hotel. After dinner, a large group of us went back to ride the bumper cars again and then relax with another trip to the ice cream shop before turning in for the night. Tomorrow, we will be leaving Nafplio and heading to Mycenae and the Corinth canal on our way back to Athens. Our trip will then wrap up with a day cruise around the 3 Saronic Islands.

By:  Kelly McKenna

In the little town of Kalampaka, Greece, you don’t see the village so much as the cliffs and mountains above it. They are absolutely breathtaking, and if you look close enough, orange terracotta roofs can be seen. These are the monasteries of Meteroa. While definitely not an easy walk, visiting the Greek orthodox churches contained within these religious centers was well worth the 300 steps it took to get there. To respect the religion, we didn’t take pictures inside and the females in the group used wrap-arounds as skirts over our pants.

After leaving Kalampaka, we drove to the small town of Delphi, which is built on the side of the mountains. On the way to Delphi, we stopped to see a hot spring of water coming down the mountains as well as monuments to the Spartans and Thespians of the Battle of Thermopylae. A few of us ventured to take off our shoes and put our feet in the hot spring and found it very refreshing. After arriving in Delphi and touring the museum of the ancient city, we toured a smaller town further up on the mountain. While walking on the city streets, there was a staircase that went off up a hill. After the many steps from the monasteries the day before, I thought it would be a bright idea to climb the hill to the top of the town. Of course we had to stop half way up to play on the seesaw and swings on a playground we found, but at the top of about 265 stairs, we received a beautiful view.

After arriving at our hotel in Delphi, a few of us decided to go out and look around the different shops. We ended up walking to the end of town and coming back down another road. While passing one store we remarked about the Spartan armor in the window but continued walking until the store owner invited us in. We went in and he told us that because we are students and it is the off season, he would give us discounts. We ended up buying multiple items and getting a few magnets for free. This store was a big topic at dinner, so afterwards almost everyone on the trip went back to the store. The owner of the store was very good at persuading us to buy souvenirs and after leaving the store for the night we collectively nicknamed him the “magic man”, because your money seemed to just magically disappear.

Today we toured the ancient ruins of Delphi and were joined by two cats that we promptly named Apollo and Artemis because the temple at Delphi was dedicated to Apollo. After leaving Delphi we set out for our trip to Olympia, stopping on the way for lunch and a tour of an Orthodox church. We stopped by a seaside restaurant for lunch and ventured out to the shore, skipping rocks and exploring a rock pier. Our group has really enjoyed the trip so far, becoming very close through inside jokes such as Panos, glue, and keeping our tally of cats we have seen (58 in four days). Tomorrow we will be exploring Olympia, visiting the museum and ancient Olympia along with shopping in town.

By: Kelly McKenna

After a long three days we are repacking our bags to head out of our Athens hotel in the morning. After heading out of Nashville on Wednesday afternoon, our group had a short layover in Atlanta before our 6-hour overnight trip to France. When we landed in France many people in our group were tired and disoriented from the time difference. Though we didn’t get as much sleep as we had wanted on the overnight flight, most people made up for it on our final flight to Athens.  Upon arriving in Athens, we were greeted with a tour of the city.

A long nights sleep reenergized us for the today’s visit to the Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis Museum. Both museums had many artifacts from ancient times. The Acropolis Museum focused on pieces from the Acropolis and surrounding areas and the Archaeological Museum had different items from around the country. After an enjoyable lunch, we headed up the hill to visit the Acropolis itself. Many photos were taken of both the Parthenon and also the surrounding areas of Athens with buildings going on for miles. Athens is unique with the tallest building at only 28 floors and most buildings are about 5 or 6 stories tall.

Instead of coming back to the hotel and relaxing after a long day of walking, we decided to go out as a group and shop in the commercial part of Athens. Many different things were bought before returning for a late dinner around 8:30. We are expanding our horizons by trying new foods and learning some short phrases to help us speak to locals. One of the favorites has been Greek yogurt with honey, eaten by many as dessert last night and also breakfast this morning. Tomorrow morning we will be traveling to Meteora to visit the different monasteries that seem to be suspended in the air by sitting on top of rock pillars. With such an exciting start to the trip, we can’t wait to see what the rest of Greece brings us.