Another weekend trip is in the books!
After a 3-day visit to the Peloponnese last weekend and a super busy few days of class, The Athens Centre group went on another 2-day weekend excursion to Delphi and Thebes. Our bus left at 7:30 am promptly (groan). I remember getting on the bus in Athens and then waking up in Thebes. It's been a jam-packed and tiring 3 weeks here, man. The first stop (after a cheese pie and double cappuccino at a bakery, of course) was the Archaeological Museum of Thebes. One of the professors (Dr. David Scahill) who led this trip had special access to the museum since he'd done excavation work there, so we were the only ones inside at 9:00 am. This museum was definitely one of my favorites in Greece thus far. The first part of the building was designed to look like an excavation work room, which I thought was really clever and unique. The artifacts, obviously, were absolutely stunning and plentiful, given that the museum was literally built on top of an excavation site. You can actually the site through the glass floors that are present in certain parts. Several artifacts (specifically 5 brilliantly blue and ornately decorated beads) found by Bucknell students were also displayed throughout the museum, so that was awesome as well. Another thing I love about Thebes: this is the city associated with Oedipus, the ill-fated king of Thebes who fulfills his tragic prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother despite desperate attempts to avoid such disaster. A ton of mythology is tied to this particular ancient city as well, including the Riddle of the Sphinx. When Dr. Scahill started our tour, he asked the group who knew the story/riddle, and I excitedly raised my hand to answer. To summarize, in the tale of Oedipus Rex, the Sphinx is causing trouble within Thebes, specifically drought, famine, and disease. In order for the problems to cease, someone must correctly answer the Sphinx's riddle: "What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?" The answer is....man (crawling as a baby, walking as an adult, and using a cane as an elderly person)! Next was a brief visit to Ismenion Hill, a site where one of my classmates participated in an archaeological dig two summers ago. It's basically just a small, but fairly steep hill covered in semi-filled in holes. There was also a decent amount of modern garbage, too, unfortunately. However, I did find some nice snail shells at the site (and I made sure to really check well for any living creatures inside them. Not making the hermit crab mistake again. RIP, Sheldon and Permit Drab). After the Hill, we grabbed some lunch in Thebes at a really delicious (and cheap!) taverna. Four of us split 4 different appetizers (grilled cheese, fried zucchini, fried eggplant, and potato/cheese croquettes) as well as an order of calamari. So tasty. The eggplant also came with a ton of garlic sauce that was essentially straight puréed garlic. By the time I finished eating, I felt like people could smell me from about a 50 ft radius. (Good at keeping the boys/vampires away, though.) So I went in search of gum to lessen the overpowering scent (I ended up buying 2 packs just to be safe). Then we had the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Delphi, which we all slept through entirely. Once there, we spent about an hour down at the site examining the 2 Temples of Athena. The landscape around this place was picturesque, especially since the weather was perfect. Not a cloud was in sight, and we actually were able to take off our heavy winter coats the entire visit. We listened to Dr. Scahill give us the low-down on the site, saw a cat prancing around the ancient rocks, found a sign for the temple that was written in braille, and took a great selfie (that I dubbed the #DelfieSelfie. Still proud of that). After our first dose of Delphi, we checked into the Acropole Hotel and then explored the (very) little town at Delphi. The town is literally 2 short streets filled with many hotels and tourist shops. Down the first road, several of us wandered into a jewelry store where the owners promptly made a killing. Most people purchased at least one item, if not more. Personally, I got this gorgeous sterling silver ring made of conjoined olive branches dotted with turquoise. I really love the idea of olive branches. Beyond its attractive appearance, the olive branch has historically been a symbol for peace and forgiveness. It just calms my mind and heart a little after experiencing certain hardships in my life. I got this ring for a good price, too. My bargaining skills have vastly improved since being in Greece. Intense exchanges for fair deals between seller and buyer is very common here, unlike in the States. Haggling is, frankly, expected a lot of the time. Even at restaurants, consumers will demand to see the food they're ordering before they order it, and will sometimes head straight into the kitchen (this has already happened for me!). Anyway, the jewelry salesman originally wanted 50 euros, but he brought it down to 35, and then to 30 after I questioned whether I had enough money for it/whether the ring was worth it. Granted, the prices were pretty arbitrary in the first place (especially given the sign outside claiming, "Deals you cannot refuse!"). But it really is a nice ring and I felt I got a decent deal, so I was pleased overall. An hour later, we had dinner with our profs. In sparse words, it was terrible. The place was vastly overpriced to begin with, and our specific waiter couldn't understand English. He kept saying that everything we tried to order on the menu they didn't have. A brief summary of our dialogue: "What's your house special today?" "We don't have that." "Okay, what's your soup of the day." "We don't have that. I couldn't tell you." "Okay...then what's your special drink you have listed on your menu here *points*?" "We don't have that." Ugh! It was aggravating, let alone when one of the guys tried to order something "on the rocks." That immediately got us a dirty look and a "On a what?!" Poor Tony was exasperated from just trying to make a simple order. Generally, it was rather disappointing after a long day of traveling and exploring sites. So to make up for it, our table just drank a ton of cheap wine. I was a little worried that our one prof would judge us, but earlier in the day he'd given us the bad idea of heading to the town's discotheque, so maybe not. He seems like a pretty chill dude, actually. Once we finished dinner, we headed to the disco just to check it out (the pamphlet for this place was so ludicrously terrible that we had to at least take a glimpse. It had several clearly posed photos from the '90s/'00s and only 2 words inside: must do!!). However, this supposedly fabulous disco was closed. The lack of decent marketing clearly had a negative effect. Ah well. - Hannah
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11/20/2023 09:04:21 am
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Hannah BisbingStudent @ Penn State. Figure skater. Writer. Traveler. Coffee fanatic. Foodie. Semi-professional people watcher who recently returned home from backpacking around Europe. All photos taken by me, unless otherwise noted.
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