It's all Greek to Me

Here are the much anticipated pictures from my trip to Greece.  There are a lot of them, but it was hard getting it down to just this few.

This is the capital of an Ionic column on the Porch of Dionysus.  Those of you that know me fairly well probably know my love of columns.  I just love the detail in this shot.







This is one of my favorite photos of the Parthenon.  This is the back of the so you can hardly see the scaffolding that covered the front.  It was taken on my second trip to the Acropolis when the light was much better. 





The Acropolis littered with old parts and pieces of buildings.  This is the the capital of a column that was just laying around on the ground.  This is one of my favorite pictures.



This is the back of the Propylaea, which is the entrance to the Acropolis.



This is the Caryadid porch on the Erecthion.  This is the thing I was most excited about seeing on the Acropolis.  I have studied this in several different classes and have always been fascinated with the idea of using human figures as columns.  I was so glad that it lived up to my expectations. 



This is a closeup of the caryadids.  The way the Ancient Greeks could carve stone to look so flowy and gauzy is really amazing.




This is another one of my favorite photos.  I love the detail on this column base. 



This is the hotel we stayed at in Mykonos.  It was very nice and by far the best hotel of the trip.  Which is good since Mykonos was my least favorite island.  It was really pretty but nothing to do but shop or party all night on the beach.  Neither of which is exactly my cup of tea.  But still it was really pretty so we just walked around and experimented with Greek food!  I had the best hummus here on Mykonos

  



Here is pretty much what all the streets look like in Mykonos.  It was very pretty and just endless little passages like this.  It got very confusing trying to find something specific.  One day  we saw this little shop earlier in the day and decided that would make the perfect spot for a late lunch when we were hungry later, and then wandered around for about 45 minutes trying to find the crepe shop again.  We called it The Great Crepe Hunt.  You can see why they say it was built like this to confuse pirates when they would attack hundreds of years ago.




While on Mykonos we took a day trip out to Delos.  This was a statue in the museum on Delos I kind of fell in love with.  It is just so beautiful and she looks so peaceful.  It was interesting cause it's one of the prettiest statues I've ever seen but no one has any idea who made it.  I wonder what it would be like to be that talented.




This is a view from the top of the Sacred Way on Delos which leads to the top of this hill on the island which is the mythical  birthplace of the gods Apollo and Artemis.  This island is filled with ruins. It was once the home of over 40,000 people during classical Greece.  It was really neat you could see all the houses and shops, temples, theater, and public places.  Delos was one of the coolest things I saw in Greece.    





This at our hotel at Mykonos again, I just loved the doorways in Greece.  You can see the rocky hill our hotel was right next too.  The Greek islands are really pretty but it's very dry and rocky.  I was surprised how much cactus I saw.



This is me walking in the Mediterranean Sea.  I've seen the ocean from California and lived on it for 18 months in Chile and I've never seen an Ocean this color of blue. 

This is Santorini.  By far one of the prettiest places I have ever visited.  You can see how the island is like one big "C"  It is a volcanic caldera and the cities are built right on the cliff.  When we got of the ferry and saw it for the first time you can't help but be a tourist and just keep saying Wow. 

We took a trip out to Nea Kamini, the crater of the volcano.  This is the view of Santorini from out in the bay.  I really can't even use words to describe it.  The pictures don't even do it justice.

This is what the rocks on Nea Kamini look like, its just piles and piles of volcanic rock.  It's very cool!



These are the boats you come accross the bay on.  You can see the difference between the crater and the rim in the background. 

This is a view of Fira one of the cities on Santorini from the cable car we took from the port up to the actual city.  The views were awesome!

The sunset from Fira.  The sunsets were really amazing.  I've never seen anything like it. 

This is Oia.  The other city on Santorini.  I think every picture we see from the Greek Islands is taken in this city.  It was so gorgeous.    I bought this light scarf so I could use it as an added layer of sunscreen. If you look through my pictures of this day I think I must wear it in about a million different ways trying to find one that didn't drive me crazy.  I was getting blisters all over my chest and arms from the sun.  They weren't painful at all I guess that's what happens when someone who is as white as me gets that much sun that quickly.   

Jill in front of one of the famous blue dome churches all over Oia.

This is another one of my favorite photos. 

This is all the people lining up to see the sunset from Oia.  It is apparently in several books as the best sunset in the world.  You can't come to Santorini with out seeing the sunset from here. 

This is the view from where we sat and watched the sunset. 

Here's me and Jill.  See here is another attempt to deal with my scarf.  It was so windy the whole time I gave up trying to get my hair under control or attempting to wear it in any other style but a pony tale.