Christina's Greece
Christina Laganopoulos
The only part of the Parthenon that was not scaffolded, but I guess two thousand year old buildings need a lot of maintenance. The Acropolis is the sort of place where you take lots and lots of photos hoping you will get some great shots you can frame and hang in your home to say things like "That? Yes, I took it when I was last in Greece", but most of them end up having scaffolding and people's heads in the way.
The Calf Bearer. A famous sculpture we've all seen in books on Greek art. Also the only photo that was not blurry of the ones I took inside the museum without a flash. At first you feel happy looking at this sculpture of the round-eyed smiling man carrying a little calf on his shoulders, and then you remember he's taking it to the temple to sacrifice it. Of course, last week I ate one in a wine reduction sauce, so I'm not in a position to judge.
Erectheum. These are reproductions of the Caryatids. The real ones are in the Acropolis Museum behind glass. And at the British Museum, too, of course, along with all the other things Lord Elgin stole/saved, depending on how you look at it. Oddly, in the museum, they will not allow you to take a photo of yourself posing next to these or any other art - you are only allowed to photograph the art itself. They get really angry if you try to stand next to something and say cheese, but they never tell you why.
Temple of Olympian Zeus. This looked so impressive in photos. Then you get there, and it is still impressive and very tall - but it stands alone in a huge vacant lot with a few benches and many napping dogs. We sat down on one bench a cute dog lay next to. He eyed us warily but didn't move. Until my 10 year old nephew started singing. The dog got up, walked behind the bench and barked loudly at us so that we got scared and ran away. Having restored his peace and quiet, the dog went back to his shady spot and resumed napping.
I think this is supposed to be Dionysus. This was in the Agora. It sat in phallic fashion atop a high pillar.
Ruins of a church in the Mani town of Limeni.
This is me fussing with my hair while sitting on the bridge leading to the ancient ruins at Methoni. The signs there all said NO PICTURES but we felt that was unreasonable, as did all the other tourists. Originally built in the 13th century, it was added to by several conquering people up to the 19th century. But all you get to see is me fussing with my hair.
King Nestor's Bath, Nestor’s Palace. This was tiny, as I imagine most people were back in the day. They think the step was a later addition to assist the aging king. It was pretty much the only thing left standing in the entire palace, so I guess the quality construction means the king took his bathing pretty seriously.
Meteora. These monasteries are perched high on mountain pinnacles. I'd have taken more photos, but the roads to get to these things were as steep as the monasteries' perch, and we were too afraid to stop in most places.