Friday, May 16th - Sunday, May 18th (Weekend Excursion)

On Friday, we had an extensive exam based on the previous days' lectures about early European history and the Enlightenment. So after class from 10:00-1:00pm and lunch, most of us had a group study session for the majority of the afternoon to prepare. After the exam, my roommate Mark and I went to the gym across the street to workout and then get dinner with the group afterwards at the local Captain George's restaurant. I'm really glad I got a month membership at the gym because I've been taking advantage of it a lot during our free time.

Saturday was the start of our weekend excursion to the mainland. We left from the Ariti Hotel at 8:15am and caught the 9:00am ferry to the mainland. From there, we took a bus from about 10:45am - 2:30pm to the city of Vergina in northeastern Greece. In this small city, archaeologists found several tombs and artifacts of ancient Macedonians, including Alexander the Great's father Philip II. After digging and finding everything, a museum was actually constructed right on the site of where everything was found. The museum is called the 'Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai.' We had a tour guide take us around and show us all sorts of cool things from Philip II's tomb, to ancient weaponry, armor, and golden crowns used in burials.

The entrance to the museum, located beneath an artificially constructed mound

Philip II's tomb entrance

 

Golden crown used in royal burials & golden container housing the bones of the deceased

Alexander IV's tomb, son of Alexander the Great

From there, we drove to the Hotel Palladion and after checking in, we went to a group dinner at a local restaurant. It was one of the best meals of my life, as they brought appetizer after appetizer before our main entree and all the food was delicious. The appetizers included bread with olive oil, zucchini patties, fried cheese, eggplant, Greek salad, and grilled mushrooms. Then after being completely full with that, we had trays of different types of meat brought to us for our entree. All in all, it was delicious and we all had a good time.

Sunday we went to the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Philanthropinon on a nearby island in the morning. This monastery was amazing and every inch was covered in icons and religious paintings from several centuries ago. The paintings were incredibly detailed and the colors were intense.

From here, we traveled to Dodona where there are the remnants of the ancient oracle dedicated to Zeus and an amphitheater where ancient Greek plays were performed. The amphitheater is currently undergoing restoration, but the temples around the oracle are simply foundations of stone because the Romans destroyed them when they invaded Greece. 

After Dodona, we traveled to Sivota Beach where we relaxed and ate at a water-side cafe.