July 1st, 2009- On the Road Again!

Today we checked out of the Airotel Parthenon and left Athens for the remainder of the trip (until we go home). We drove approximately 15 miles to the Temple of Demeter in Eleusis. This is where the mystery cult initations took place. Because of the similarities in characteristics, when Christians came through, they put up a Church to the Virgin Mary at the top. It was also very pretty and very simple.

There was a museum at the top that had all the statuaries from the temple. The ladies who worked there kept yelling at us because we were setting things down on this bench. Apparently, it was from the 1st Century AD, but we had no idea-there was no sign and it was next to the other benches that were okay to sit on. I'm pretty sure those ladies hated us. We were the only ones there and were most likely ruining their otherwise normal and quiet existence. I highly recommend visiting this place if you get to Greece anyways. Just don't touch the bench.

After Eleusis, we went to Corinth, making a pit stop at the canal. It is very high and reminds me of Indiana Jones. A few of us brave souls ventured to a smaller bridge under the main road. I'm not sure if McCoy knew we were down there...it sort of looked like a Vietnam bunker and was a little creepy, but we survived and got great pictures!

We then headed over to Acrocorinth. Acrocorinth is this huge rock much like the Acropolis with a temple to Aphrodite on the top. I challenge anyone to be more dedicated to their religion...that was quite a climb. One girl almost had an asthma attack and another girl had what they call in competitive eating a reversal of fortune. But eventually, we all made it to the top. The site is quite disappointing after a long hike like that. We all wanted there to be some great reward for our efforts, but there was basically a foundation square of rocks and that was it. We basically ignored the actual historical site and just focused on the view. After reaching the top, a bunch of us wandered back down looking at the much more facinating medieval and 19th century fortifications, which, as opposed to their ancient counterparts, were actually still standing. There was even an old cannon!!!

Back at the bottom, we visited Ancient Corinth, which was pretty neat. There were a bunch of columns and was similar in appearance to the Agora and the Olympion in Athens. One of the mor interesting places we saw was where Paul spoke to the Corinthians.

Oh, and one last note...on the way down from the hill, I had a full out epiphany! I had no idea what BAMF meant at all and then it seriously just HIT me! It was a good feeling. PS- Acrocorinth is a bamf. Pictures soon, I promsie (and by soon, I mean July 20th, 2009 at the earliest).