Friday evening, I and six others hopped on a bus to Pitesti. We arrived there at 4:30 in the morning. We wandered into the first hotel we saw, the three-star Hotel Yaky, and chatted with the receptionist for a bit. The plan was to leave our bags at the hotel and reserve a room for the night so as to escape the extra-day check-in fee, but the receptionist just shrugged and said since it was already Saturday, we could get our rooms early and pay for the one night. It was a wonderful start to the day, and much-required because after that eight-hour bus trip, we were feeling like zombies. I was in a room with Ashley and Lauren, and after a two-hour nap, all of us were feeling more human.
We ate a quick bite and then hopped a maxi-taxi (sort of a large van) to Curtea de Arges, the town near Poenari Castle. Once in Curtea de Arges, we got taxis to the castle and we were finally at the destination I'd been hoping to see each trip in Romania. However, it's no easy trip - there are 1480 steps up to the fortress ruins. We slogged our way up, taking occasional water breaks. But once we reached the top, all the tiredness melted away. The views were wonderful and the ruins were neat to see up close. It also afforded great picture opportunities and I got lots of myself with other people, and good solo shots as well. It was definitely a good bonding experience.
When we left, we had lunch at the one restaurant at the base of the mountain. After that, we hitched rides back to Curtea de Arges.. sort of. Lauren, Charles and Sean managed to get their own car. I successfully flagged down a ride for myself and Chris, but Nick and Ashley stole our car, because it pulled over near them. But we let them have the car and walked four kilometres more in attempt to get another car. In the end, we just flagged down a maxi-taxi coming from somewhere up the road, so that was sort of a failed attempt to hitchhike, but it was an interesting experience.
Back in Curtea, we stumbled upon this really neat monastery that happened to be featured on the 1 leu bill in Romania, and houses the tombs of very historically-prominent people.
We managed to catch the very last maxi-taxi back to Pitesti. At the hotel, we all had lovely showers in actual bathrooms (and ours had a whirlpool, though I didn't make use of it). Then we set off to find dinner and selected Matteo's, where we had the worst possible experience: the waitress forgot to enter our orders until an hour after we'd arrived. We sat at 9:30, waitress put in the order at 11:00 or so, then we finally got to eat at 11:45. It was terrible, but we made the best of it.
After a good sleep, Sunday morning we got the bus back to Cluj. But we arrived in the city after all the other buses and trains to Zalau had stopped, so we weighed the options - stay a night in Cluj, return Monday morning and miss some work, or get taxis. We opted to just get taxis that would take us directly to Porolissum. We finally got home just after midnight.
Tuesday night was Rob's birthday, and always a big cause for celebration here. There was chicken, hamburgers and mici, and lots of beer and wine to drink as well (and tuica, of course!) That ended up being a late night, but it was worth it, because Rob got totally plastered and he was incredibly entertaining, truly in rare form. He remembered none of it the next morning, but we had great fun filling in the blanks.
That's all for now. I read Go Down Moses by William Faulkner, which was all right. And now I'm reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Maramures
Friday, July 9th: Slow day at work, Lauren and I sifted excavated dirt with a screen in order to try and find more pieces of a particular vessel that we dubbed "Man Vase"; some pieces of of pottery with a man's face, an eagle's head and wings were found, so we were hoping to find more of it, though I don't think we did or will. The popular hypothesis is that it's Ganymede being carried away by Zeus who is in the form of an eagle. It's pretty cool. In the afternoon, I levelled down trench 23b with a spade, but there's absolutely nothing there, so it was pretty boring. I did manage to get away for the afternoon water run to replenish bottles of water for all the workers.
Saturday, July 10th: Maramures! I look forward to this trip every year, since it's always such fun. We did the usual, visited the tallest wooden church in Romania (if not the world), went to Baia Mare and explored the Museum of History and Archaeology there and dined at the same pizza place we always do where the food takes ages to come out (very few Romanian restaurants are equipped to take big group orders.) We picked blueberries on a tall hilltop where you can see across to the Ukraine. Then after a stop at the Barsana Monastery (rather, it used to be a monastery but is now a nunnery) we went to the hotel. I split a room with Lauren and Vera. Dinner was slow going but after that, when the wine and beer were ordered, the party began. It was a lot of good fun and conversation.
Sunday, July 11th: We went to the Communist museum in Sighet (a former prison that had exhibits explaining the prison and Communist history in Romania), and Elie Wiesel's house that had been made into a small Jewish culture museum. We ended the trip at the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, which is always a joy. We did not, however, throw rocks at the Ukraine (there's a river that marks the northern border between Romania and Ukraine, so there's usually a contest to see who can get a rock across the way) nor the other wooden church that we usually visit. Instead we drove the long way back to Porolissum. Once there, I watched a bit of the World Cup with the others, the final game between Spain and Netherlands (though I think I was rooting for Spain) but it seemed to be dragging on a bit so I tucked in early. I heard the game went on for a good long while, but Spain won in the end.
Monday, Tuesday and today, I alternated pottery-washing and work in the trenches, so nothing terribly exciting as far as work goes. I did watch Raiders of the Lost Ark with a few others on Monday night, which was fun.
Folks have been discussing taking a trip away for this upcoming free weekend. We're hoping to go to Poenari Castle, the castle actually built for Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. I've been wanting to go for ages, so if it works out, it will be wonderful.
Saturday, July 10th: Maramures! I look forward to this trip every year, since it's always such fun. We did the usual, visited the tallest wooden church in Romania (if not the world), went to Baia Mare and explored the Museum of History and Archaeology there and dined at the same pizza place we always do where the food takes ages to come out (very few Romanian restaurants are equipped to take big group orders.) We picked blueberries on a tall hilltop where you can see across to the Ukraine. Then after a stop at the Barsana Monastery (rather, it used to be a monastery but is now a nunnery) we went to the hotel. I split a room with Lauren and Vera. Dinner was slow going but after that, when the wine and beer were ordered, the party began. It was a lot of good fun and conversation.
Sunday, July 11th: We went to the Communist museum in Sighet (a former prison that had exhibits explaining the prison and Communist history in Romania), and Elie Wiesel's house that had been made into a small Jewish culture museum. We ended the trip at the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, which is always a joy. We did not, however, throw rocks at the Ukraine (there's a river that marks the northern border between Romania and Ukraine, so there's usually a contest to see who can get a rock across the way) nor the other wooden church that we usually visit. Instead we drove the long way back to Porolissum. Once there, I watched a bit of the World Cup with the others, the final game between Spain and Netherlands (though I think I was rooting for Spain) but it seemed to be dragging on a bit so I tucked in early. I heard the game went on for a good long while, but Spain won in the end.
Monday, Tuesday and today, I alternated pottery-washing and work in the trenches, so nothing terribly exciting as far as work goes. I did watch Raiders of the Lost Ark with a few others on Monday night, which was fun.
Folks have been discussing taking a trip away for this upcoming free weekend. We're hoping to go to Poenari Castle, the castle actually built for Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. I've been wanting to go for ages, so if it works out, it will be wonderful.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Party Weekend
After the events of the last post, we all went to Pizza King, a favourite dining spot for us Porolissum folks. It was tasty as usual. From there, we headed to Diesel for drinks and to kill time until we could meet up with Ioana - a Romanian friend from last year - at the new club Level. It was a lovely reunion, and we hope to see her again soon. She had promised to visit Porolissum for the Fourth of July but her brother was ill.
Speaking of Independence Day, I had expect mici and beer but instead I went to a wedding. That's right, a wedding. Alexandru's son Cristian was marrying and I decided to join Lauren, Neville and Eric for the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony, held in a heavily-painted church in early afternoon. We thought that would be all we got to see and we'd have to head back to camp, but instead, Eric took us all to the reception and we spent several hours there.
It was an amazing time. Lots of delicious food, open bar, carafes of palinca sitting on the tables. Midway through the evening, Eric got called by someone at Porolissum who asked him to find a grill, and he disappeared for three hours. We later learned he got sucked into helping out. But he returned at about 9:00 to take us back. I'm fairly certain we're going to be in the wedding video for being the only ones to dance to Jailhouse Rock.
Back at camp, the rest of the group was getting along just fine without us, and several were already pretty drunk. Hilarity ensued until Sean and I had to be the responsible ones and try to get people either to bed or leave the camp for being too loud. Three people ended up sleeping in the castrum until early morning.
Monday and Tuesday proceeded as usual. On Monday, I cleaned some trenches, filled out some context sheets (a page detailing the information of a particular layer of a particular trench). On Tuesday, Kelci and I helped Alexandria do a rough sketch plan of a trench, then I helped Rob and Kelci with their sketches of a different trench by giving them the measurements. That was the misty morning, when we saw fog settling into the nearby (and lower) towns; it was a really neat visual.
Wednesday July 7th, the weather got really ugly. It was raining in the morning, and Eric told everyone to go back to sleep for another hour. When we all got up, there was no trench work done. Some people cleaned pottery, and others (including myself) sorted older bags by categoring them into newer bags of pottery, bones and bronze. The rest of the day was spent napping and reading, so I got that Bill Bryson book finished.
Today, once more, the weather wasn't cooperative enough for trench work, so this time my day was spent drawing worked bone and bronze artifacts, practicing the sort of sketches that go into artifacts collection books. At least it wasn't as rainy as yesterday, and even managed to be somewhat sunny and warm for an hour.
Right now I'm in the Internet cafe in Zalau with some others, and we'll have dinner together downtown. I'll probably do a bit of grocery shopping as well, get some snacks for camp. Hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant and we can get back into the field.
Speaking of Independence Day, I had expect mici and beer but instead I went to a wedding. That's right, a wedding. Alexandru's son Cristian was marrying and I decided to join Lauren, Neville and Eric for the ceremony. It was a lovely ceremony, held in a heavily-painted church in early afternoon. We thought that would be all we got to see and we'd have to head back to camp, but instead, Eric took us all to the reception and we spent several hours there.
It was an amazing time. Lots of delicious food, open bar, carafes of palinca sitting on the tables. Midway through the evening, Eric got called by someone at Porolissum who asked him to find a grill, and he disappeared for three hours. We later learned he got sucked into helping out. But he returned at about 9:00 to take us back. I'm fairly certain we're going to be in the wedding video for being the only ones to dance to Jailhouse Rock.
Back at camp, the rest of the group was getting along just fine without us, and several were already pretty drunk. Hilarity ensued until Sean and I had to be the responsible ones and try to get people either to bed or leave the camp for being too loud. Three people ended up sleeping in the castrum until early morning.
Monday and Tuesday proceeded as usual. On Monday, I cleaned some trenches, filled out some context sheets (a page detailing the information of a particular layer of a particular trench). On Tuesday, Kelci and I helped Alexandria do a rough sketch plan of a trench, then I helped Rob and Kelci with their sketches of a different trench by giving them the measurements. That was the misty morning, when we saw fog settling into the nearby (and lower) towns; it was a really neat visual.
Wednesday July 7th, the weather got really ugly. It was raining in the morning, and Eric told everyone to go back to sleep for another hour. When we all got up, there was no trench work done. Some people cleaned pottery, and others (including myself) sorted older bags by categoring them into newer bags of pottery, bones and bronze. The rest of the day was spent napping and reading, so I got that Bill Bryson book finished.
Today, once more, the weather wasn't cooperative enough for trench work, so this time my day was spent drawing worked bone and bronze artifacts, practicing the sort of sketches that go into artifacts collection books. At least it wasn't as rainy as yesterday, and even managed to be somewhat sunny and warm for an hour.
Right now I'm in the Internet cafe in Zalau with some others, and we'll have dinner together downtown. I'll probably do a bit of grocery shopping as well, get some snacks for camp. Hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant and we can get back into the field.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
My time so far
The weather is much improved; it's not been so ugly anymore and the sun's shining every day (though we do get the occasional drizzle). I've not had much excitement in the Forum, as I've been mostly levelling down trenches and cleaning walls. Some coins have been found, mostly by Romanians. And Little Claudio (there seem to be so few names in Romania, that we have to append each repeated name with a descriptor: Museum-Adi, Boxer-Cristi, Creepy-Claudio, and so on) uncovered a beautiful, mostly-intact kiln. I will have to remember to take my camera with me to work on Monday and start taking pictures of these trenches and various finds.
Canada Day was a blast. I wore my "Eh?" shirt (which has a maple leaf forming the point on the exclamation mark) and Kelci, my fellow Canadian, wore a Canada shirt as well. I made poutine for dinner, or the closest approximation of it since there are no cheese curds here but the french fries were made fresh and I made gravy from packets I bought in Canada. The meal was rather successful, and was served with a side of sausage. I also brought out the maple syrup - sadly no gogosi or crepes were made but Lauren very kindly gifted me with kurtos-kalacs, a kind of pastry usually topped with sugar, and it went well with the syrup. There were two large rolls and with my extra offerings of Smarties, Turtles and York Peppermints, it was a tasty dessert.
Lieutenant Dan visited (note: he is not an actual Lieutenant) and brought some friends and tuica just for the Canadians. I shared most of it among the group. The rest of the night was spent playing Rummy and Bottlecaps (played with actual bottlecaps, and points are awarded based in how they land when you throw them), and lots of good conversation.
Friday, July 2nd, we went to Otilia's bar, where I had a small bottle of wine for myself, and it was just a night for casual drinks and hanging-out. Tonight, the 3rd of July, we're all in Zalau for dinner. Tomorrow is, of course, the 4th of July, and there will be a much bigger party and we'll finally get some proper homemade mici. It promises to be a fun time.
I've finished my Socrates book, and I've moved on to one of Ashley's books; it's by Bill Bryson and it's called Neither Here Nor There. It's about his travels in Europe and it's rather funny.
I have to pass the computer on to someone else now, so I'll write again next week.
Canada Day was a blast. I wore my "Eh?" shirt (which has a maple leaf forming the point on the exclamation mark) and Kelci, my fellow Canadian, wore a Canada shirt as well. I made poutine for dinner, or the closest approximation of it since there are no cheese curds here but the french fries were made fresh and I made gravy from packets I bought in Canada. The meal was rather successful, and was served with a side of sausage. I also brought out the maple syrup - sadly no gogosi or crepes were made but Lauren very kindly gifted me with kurtos-kalacs, a kind of pastry usually topped with sugar, and it went well with the syrup. There were two large rolls and with my extra offerings of Smarties, Turtles and York Peppermints, it was a tasty dessert.
Lieutenant Dan visited (note: he is not an actual Lieutenant) and brought some friends and tuica just for the Canadians. I shared most of it among the group. The rest of the night was spent playing Rummy and Bottlecaps (played with actual bottlecaps, and points are awarded based in how they land when you throw them), and lots of good conversation.
Friday, July 2nd, we went to Otilia's bar, where I had a small bottle of wine for myself, and it was just a night for casual drinks and hanging-out. Tonight, the 3rd of July, we're all in Zalau for dinner. Tomorrow is, of course, the 4th of July, and there will be a much bigger party and we'll finally get some proper homemade mici. It promises to be a fun time.
I've finished my Socrates book, and I've moved on to one of Ashley's books; it's by Bill Bryson and it's called Neither Here Nor There. It's about his travels in Europe and it's rather funny.
I have to pass the computer on to someone else now, so I'll write again next week.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Back at Porolissum!
Nothing much to report for Sunday, June 20th; we went to Bran Castle and the weather behaved just enough to give us some sun and warmth. Ashley and Lauren did a good chunk of their souvenir/postcards shopping there as well.
The next day, we woke early for the 11:00 train at the Brasov station. It was delayed by about thirty minutes, so we got into Cluj at about 5:30. Our friend Bogdan was there waiting for us. It was nice to see him again. He gave us a lift straight to Porolissum. I can't tell you how great it felt to see that turn-off into Moigrad and the ride up the camp. I'm so glad to be back.
We met the new team there: Elyse, Charles, Neville, Nick, Chris, Kelci, Colleen, Zenobia and Alexandria. Rob is there as well, Zsolt will join us next week, Dan and Beth from the 2008 teams will come in a couple of weeks. So far, the team is very nice and we're all getting along well. I was most happy to see Terezia, who cooks our lunches and dinners at the site, but her daughter Ioana wasn't there. But I expect we'll see her sometime soon. We caught up with Sean who was there last year, and it was a good night.
Tuesday, June 22nd: Our first workday was spent going up to Magura hill at 1:00 and retrieving shovels and spades from the trenches there, and lugging them all the way back to camp. It was quite the hike and took me about thirty minutes to do.
The weather's been very rainy and cold. We only worked a few hours that day. Back at camp, I played cards with Sean, Ashley and Lauren.
Wednesday's weather wasn't much better. In fact, it was even colder. It rained in the morning, so we went down late again. It only drizzled from then on, but I was glad to shovel and spade in Trench 23c, because it kept me warm. I did manage to find a bit of handle and painted pottery shard.
Today, the 24th, we got in a full workday. We went down at 8:00 and came back up at 4:00. It didn't rain at all, and the sun peeked out occasionally. But it's still been about 18 degrees Celsius. I'm in Zalau now with Lauren for Internet and groceries. I've been waiting all year to get some blood orange juice and chocolate wafer cookies, brands found only in Romania.
Tomorrow, we plan to have our first visit to Otilia's, Moigrad's local bar. I'll get to see what some of these new folks are made of when they go up again those large shots of tuica. I've only had a couple shots so far, so I've been good.
As for books, I completed Rebecca and thought it was quite good. I've since been reading Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths by Robin Waterfield. It's a social and political account of the times in which Socrates lived and died, giving reasons why he was put to death. It's very informative and a fascinating read.
The next day, we woke early for the 11:00 train at the Brasov station. It was delayed by about thirty minutes, so we got into Cluj at about 5:30. Our friend Bogdan was there waiting for us. It was nice to see him again. He gave us a lift straight to Porolissum. I can't tell you how great it felt to see that turn-off into Moigrad and the ride up the camp. I'm so glad to be back.
We met the new team there: Elyse, Charles, Neville, Nick, Chris, Kelci, Colleen, Zenobia and Alexandria. Rob is there as well, Zsolt will join us next week, Dan and Beth from the 2008 teams will come in a couple of weeks. So far, the team is very nice and we're all getting along well. I was most happy to see Terezia, who cooks our lunches and dinners at the site, but her daughter Ioana wasn't there. But I expect we'll see her sometime soon. We caught up with Sean who was there last year, and it was a good night.
Tuesday, June 22nd: Our first workday was spent going up to Magura hill at 1:00 and retrieving shovels and spades from the trenches there, and lugging them all the way back to camp. It was quite the hike and took me about thirty minutes to do.
The weather's been very rainy and cold. We only worked a few hours that day. Back at camp, I played cards with Sean, Ashley and Lauren.
Wednesday's weather wasn't much better. In fact, it was even colder. It rained in the morning, so we went down late again. It only drizzled from then on, but I was glad to shovel and spade in Trench 23c, because it kept me warm. I did manage to find a bit of handle and painted pottery shard.
Today, the 24th, we got in a full workday. We went down at 8:00 and came back up at 4:00. It didn't rain at all, and the sun peeked out occasionally. But it's still been about 18 degrees Celsius. I'm in Zalau now with Lauren for Internet and groceries. I've been waiting all year to get some blood orange juice and chocolate wafer cookies, brands found only in Romania.
Tomorrow, we plan to have our first visit to Otilia's, Moigrad's local bar. I'll get to see what some of these new folks are made of when they go up again those large shots of tuica. I've only had a couple shots so far, so I've been good.
As for books, I completed Rebecca and thought it was quite good. I've since been reading Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths by Robin Waterfield. It's a social and political account of the times in which Socrates lived and died, giving reasons why he was put to death. It's very informative and a fascinating read.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Aerosmith! And Brasov.
Friday, June 18th: Sadly, I did not get to see much of Bucharest. Somehow, it´s not a city that inspired exploration. I did see a chunk of it walking down to the main mall in the centre of the city, but I failed to take pictures (alas); we were making the trip because the wheels on Ashley´s new suitcase had basically broken and, from all the dragging, became pulverized rubber. But she got a new one, and it seems to be working out nicely.
Lauren, Ashley and I spent most of the day at the hostel until about 5:00 when a very nice employee offered us a ride to the concert. I don´t think I mentioned this, but we had purchased tickets to see Aerosmith in Bucharest some time back, and the 18th of June was the day to see them. We attended the concert with two other people from the hostel who happened to also have tickets in the same area, so that was a nice coincidence - their names were Lindsay and Jacob, they were cousins from the United States.
We´d purchased the cheapest tickets, so we were at the back section of the field (each section was gated off) but we did stake out spots at the very front of the crowd, right at the partition, and we held them well.
The opening band was Reamonn, and they were all right. They came on at about 7:15, and played for about half an hour. So we were expecting Aerosmith to come on at 8:00, but they took their sweet time. If their intention was to build anticipation, it worked, because when they came onstage after 9:00, the reaction was enormous. The whole group was there, and nobody fell off the stage, which is apparently a huge feat. They played a lot of their famous songs, like Crazy, Walk This Way and I Don´t Want to Miss a Thing. I had a lot of fun, and the band performed really well, and they were great to watch.
We walked back to the hostel afterward, all five of us together. Went to bed late, but we woke up at 10:00 to get ready for the next stage of our trip, which is Brasov. We checked out at 12:00, and got a taxi to the train station with another hostel guy, Andrew. He was speedy enough to catch the 1:00 train, but we got tickets to the 3:15 (there was a 2:10 but it was one of those slow trains, that stopped at every single station and would take hours more than we wanted). In the end, the ride took about three hours, maybe more, due to holdups on the line. Once in Brasov, we ended up running into Andrew at a restaurant, and he told us that his train was going really slowly, which is probably why ours was delayed as well.
Brasov is one of my favourite cities, probably second-best after Timisoara, and I´d like to say it´s as great as I remember it, but it started raining as soon as we got in and it´s been cloudy every since. Hopefully, tomorrow will be nicer as we´re hoping to get to Bran Castle for sight-seeing.
That´s all to report for now, I think! The Porolissum team´s met by now, and they´ll be about to spend their second night together, so I wonder how they´re getting along. We´ll find out on Monday! For now, Ashley and Lauren are watching the World Cup, so I´m going to join them.
Lauren, Ashley and I spent most of the day at the hostel until about 5:00 when a very nice employee offered us a ride to the concert. I don´t think I mentioned this, but we had purchased tickets to see Aerosmith in Bucharest some time back, and the 18th of June was the day to see them. We attended the concert with two other people from the hostel who happened to also have tickets in the same area, so that was a nice coincidence - their names were Lindsay and Jacob, they were cousins from the United States.
We´d purchased the cheapest tickets, so we were at the back section of the field (each section was gated off) but we did stake out spots at the very front of the crowd, right at the partition, and we held them well.
The opening band was Reamonn, and they were all right. They came on at about 7:15, and played for about half an hour. So we were expecting Aerosmith to come on at 8:00, but they took their sweet time. If their intention was to build anticipation, it worked, because when they came onstage after 9:00, the reaction was enormous. The whole group was there, and nobody fell off the stage, which is apparently a huge feat. They played a lot of their famous songs, like Crazy, Walk This Way and I Don´t Want to Miss a Thing. I had a lot of fun, and the band performed really well, and they were great to watch.
We walked back to the hostel afterward, all five of us together. Went to bed late, but we woke up at 10:00 to get ready for the next stage of our trip, which is Brasov. We checked out at 12:00, and got a taxi to the train station with another hostel guy, Andrew. He was speedy enough to catch the 1:00 train, but we got tickets to the 3:15 (there was a 2:10 but it was one of those slow trains, that stopped at every single station and would take hours more than we wanted). In the end, the ride took about three hours, maybe more, due to holdups on the line. Once in Brasov, we ended up running into Andrew at a restaurant, and he told us that his train was going really slowly, which is probably why ours was delayed as well.
Brasov is one of my favourite cities, probably second-best after Timisoara, and I´d like to say it´s as great as I remember it, but it started raining as soon as we got in and it´s been cloudy every since. Hopefully, tomorrow will be nicer as we´re hoping to get to Bran Castle for sight-seeing.
That´s all to report for now, I think! The Porolissum team´s met by now, and they´ll be about to spend their second night together, so I wonder how they´re getting along. We´ll find out on Monday! For now, Ashley and Lauren are watching the World Cup, so I´m going to join them.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Last Day in Athens & Bucharest
Wednesday, June 16th: this was a day full of sites and walking. Our first stop was the Acropolis, which was amazing. I am so impressed with the reconstruction done thus far as it seems like it would've been very impressive already. The views were fabulous and we managed to get some good pictures of them and ourselves despite the milling crowds.
We made our way down to the Acropolis Museum and had a look around their preserved and copies of Acropolis marbles - they are not fans of Lord Elgin in that place (he took many pieces and used them as decoration in his home; when he needed some money he sold them to the British Museum, where they now remain. Greece would like them returned.)
After lunch, we walked to the Agora. The Roman forum was on the way but we didn't go in, only glimpsed it from outside. We did go in to see Hadrian's Library though. Then finally the Agora was in sight!
This place contains one of the best preserved temples: the Temple of Hephaestus. It had both inner and outer colonnades, and parts of the friezes were still there. It was after 2:00 in the afternoon when were visiting, and I turned to Ashley and said "Have you noticed there's a whole lot of trees but no shade?" She frowned a moment and agreed - trees everywhere except lining the pathways. It was about 44 degrees Celsius at this time, so we were glad to wander through the air-conditioned Agora Museum.
From there we walked to Karameikos Cemetary, another famous ancient site and included on our tickets. But it was closed! Who closes a site at 3:00? But anyway, we decided to take a cab to the National Archaeological Museum. This museum came highly recommended by friends and books. It did not disappoint. We got to see the finds from the graves at Mycenae, including the famed Mask of Agamemnon, as well as arrowheads from Thermopylae and finds from the Antikythera shipwreck. On the whole, it's a really cool place and very big so we spent a good chunk of time there.
The metro was on strike that day (it appears to have been an ongoing dispute, they were closed the day before we came as well) so we elected to cab it back to our area and we'd walk the rest of the way to the hostel. We spent the rest of the night packing and settled in for an early sleep.
Of course, the one day we get a good night's sleep and they turn on the air conditioning, and we have to wake up at 5:00 am. After a taxi ride, an airport flight (just before takeoff, I finished A Clockwork Orange) and a bus trip, we are now in Bucharest. Lauren has just arrived at our hostel and we'll be going out for dinner soon.
It feels great to be back in Romania. And in just a few days I'll be back at Porolissum. Exciting!
We made our way down to the Acropolis Museum and had a look around their preserved and copies of Acropolis marbles - they are not fans of Lord Elgin in that place (he took many pieces and used them as decoration in his home; when he needed some money he sold them to the British Museum, where they now remain. Greece would like them returned.)
After lunch, we walked to the Agora. The Roman forum was on the way but we didn't go in, only glimpsed it from outside. We did go in to see Hadrian's Library though. Then finally the Agora was in sight!
This place contains one of the best preserved temples: the Temple of Hephaestus. It had both inner and outer colonnades, and parts of the friezes were still there. It was after 2:00 in the afternoon when were visiting, and I turned to Ashley and said "Have you noticed there's a whole lot of trees but no shade?" She frowned a moment and agreed - trees everywhere except lining the pathways. It was about 44 degrees Celsius at this time, so we were glad to wander through the air-conditioned Agora Museum.
From there we walked to Karameikos Cemetary, another famous ancient site and included on our tickets. But it was closed! Who closes a site at 3:00? But anyway, we decided to take a cab to the National Archaeological Museum. This museum came highly recommended by friends and books. It did not disappoint. We got to see the finds from the graves at Mycenae, including the famed Mask of Agamemnon, as well as arrowheads from Thermopylae and finds from the Antikythera shipwreck. On the whole, it's a really cool place and very big so we spent a good chunk of time there.
The metro was on strike that day (it appears to have been an ongoing dispute, they were closed the day before we came as well) so we elected to cab it back to our area and we'd walk the rest of the way to the hostel. We spent the rest of the night packing and settled in for an early sleep.
Of course, the one day we get a good night's sleep and they turn on the air conditioning, and we have to wake up at 5:00 am. After a taxi ride, an airport flight (just before takeoff, I finished A Clockwork Orange) and a bus trip, we are now in Bucharest. Lauren has just arrived at our hostel and we'll be going out for dinner soon.
It feels great to be back in Romania. And in just a few days I'll be back at Porolissum. Exciting!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Korfos & Nafplio
Sunday, June 15th: Korfos is a difficult little spot to get to. From Mycenae we caught a bus to Corinth and waited there for the one bus that would go to Korfos but it never came. So we ended up taking a costly cab ride there. But when we arrived at our hotel, Jonathan came out to meet us, so all was well.
He took us to a cafe for beers and we had the chance to catch up a bit. Then he led the long way up a hill toward a church that had great views of the town. Korfos is a little seaside town and it's very picturesque so the sight was fantastic. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to bring along my camera, so I'll have to snag them from Jonathan or Ashley.
The three of us then headed to the beach for a dip in the Mediterranean, and we got to check that off our list. It's a bit chilly but since the day was hot, it was also welcome. Later that evening, Jonathan invited us to dinner with the rest of his excavation team and we had some interesting chats with the people there. At the end of the night, we had some time to ourselves once more and had great fun. Ashley and I got to try ouzo, which is revolting. But I couldn't leave Greece without having a taste.
Monday, June 14th: We got up early the next morning and eventually made our way back to Corinth and from there got a bus to Nafplion. This one's a city of a different flavour, somewhere between busy Athens and slow Korfos. It's very nice there and great for strolling. We went for gelato at Antica Galeria di Roma, which is owned by a Roman and naturally it was delicious (and very rich, neither of us could finish). Afterward, we took a taxi ride up to the high point of Nafplio, which is the Palamidi fortress. This is probably one of my favourite parts of the trip; the views were fantastic, and exploring the place was a lot of fun. We spent as much time looking around as we could and then took the 800-odd steps back down again.
We wandered the many streets and looked in various stores, hoping for souvenirs to catch our eyes. After a pleasant harbourfront dinner, we sat in another place with beers and watched a bit of the World Cup. Ashley's a big fan so we've been keeping up a bit. Thence to our hotel and we slept.
Tuesday, June 15th: The next morning, we got up a bit later than we'd hoped and walked to the Archaeological Museum. It was small but had a lot of really fascinating contents. We went back to our hotel, packed up and got on a bus back to Athens.
Didn't have much time to explore here but we did pick up that multi-site ticket and looked around one place, the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, which was mostly huge columns and a few small buildings. Tomorrow will be much more packed with sites. I'm very excited to see the Acropolis and the Agora.
There may be another post tomorrow, but we're planning on going to bed early because we have an early flight to Bucharest on the 17th. So, the next post may be from Romania. We shall see.
P.S. I finished Slaughterhouse-Five and have begun A Clockwork Orange. I liked the former and the latter is pretty good so far.
He took us to a cafe for beers and we had the chance to catch up a bit. Then he led the long way up a hill toward a church that had great views of the town. Korfos is a little seaside town and it's very picturesque so the sight was fantastic. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to bring along my camera, so I'll have to snag them from Jonathan or Ashley.
The three of us then headed to the beach for a dip in the Mediterranean, and we got to check that off our list. It's a bit chilly but since the day was hot, it was also welcome. Later that evening, Jonathan invited us to dinner with the rest of his excavation team and we had some interesting chats with the people there. At the end of the night, we had some time to ourselves once more and had great fun. Ashley and I got to try ouzo, which is revolting. But I couldn't leave Greece without having a taste.
Monday, June 14th: We got up early the next morning and eventually made our way back to Corinth and from there got a bus to Nafplion. This one's a city of a different flavour, somewhere between busy Athens and slow Korfos. It's very nice there and great for strolling. We went for gelato at Antica Galeria di Roma, which is owned by a Roman and naturally it was delicious (and very rich, neither of us could finish). Afterward, we took a taxi ride up to the high point of Nafplio, which is the Palamidi fortress. This is probably one of my favourite parts of the trip; the views were fantastic, and exploring the place was a lot of fun. We spent as much time looking around as we could and then took the 800-odd steps back down again.
We wandered the many streets and looked in various stores, hoping for souvenirs to catch our eyes. After a pleasant harbourfront dinner, we sat in another place with beers and watched a bit of the World Cup. Ashley's a big fan so we've been keeping up a bit. Thence to our hotel and we slept.
Tuesday, June 15th: The next morning, we got up a bit later than we'd hoped and walked to the Archaeological Museum. It was small but had a lot of really fascinating contents. We went back to our hotel, packed up and got on a bus back to Athens.
Didn't have much time to explore here but we did pick up that multi-site ticket and looked around one place, the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, which was mostly huge columns and a few small buildings. Tomorrow will be much more packed with sites. I'm very excited to see the Acropolis and the Agora.
There may be another post tomorrow, but we're planning on going to bed early because we have an early flight to Bucharest on the 17th. So, the next post may be from Romania. We shall see.
P.S. I finished Slaughterhouse-Five and have begun A Clockwork Orange. I liked the former and the latter is pretty good so far.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Mycenae
We got up early this morning, checked out of our hostel but left our big suitcases in the boss' office and packed out carryons. We were headed out for our trip to the Peloponnese. We joined up with another roommate who was also headed to the bus station; we rode the metro first and walked from the last station to the bus terminal. We did get a bit turned around (I knew we needed to triangulate our position!) but eventually got back on track. But Laura, the girl with us, got worried about getting lost again and kept wanting to ask for directions so the walk was longer than it should've been. It's definitely not a trek we'll be repeating.
Anyway, we made to Mycenae safely in three hours. Since the site would only take about two hours to explore, we hung out at the hotel for a bit, took a dip in the pool and watched the World Cup game on TV (Greece lost, unfortunately.) Then we walked to the ancient citadel and saw a lot of the things we'd learned about in school. Definitely a worthwhile place to visit.
As we were leaving, we happened to run into the one other person we knew in Greece: Jonathan, whom we had both met at Porolissum last year. His dig team hiked from Korfos to Mycenae and we caught them right before their taxi came to take them back.
So it wasn't much time to catch up but we're going to Korfos tomorrow for a proper reunion. We'll have breakfast at the hotel and then head out. What a great and strange day it's been!
Anyway, we made to Mycenae safely in three hours. Since the site would only take about two hours to explore, we hung out at the hotel for a bit, took a dip in the pool and watched the World Cup game on TV (Greece lost, unfortunately.) Then we walked to the ancient citadel and saw a lot of the things we'd learned about in school. Definitely a worthwhile place to visit.
As we were leaving, we happened to run into the one other person we knew in Greece: Jonathan, whom we had both met at Porolissum last year. His dig team hiked from Korfos to Mycenae and we caught them right before their taxi came to take them back.
So it wasn't much time to catch up but we're going to Korfos tomorrow for a proper reunion. We'll have breakfast at the hotel and then head out. What a great and strange day it's been!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Greece!
This'll be a short post, as there isn't much to report except that I am safe and sound in Greece after a short stop in New York and a long transatlantic flight. I did read Catcher in the Rye, which was... okay.
So now both Ashley and I are on the computers, and soon we'll get some lunch and explore a little bit. Tomorrow, we'll leave our heavy suitcases at this hostel and travel to the Peloponnese. We still have to check train/bus times but with luck we'll make our way to Mycenae, which is full of neat history and it will be good.
The weather here is hot but very nice when you get a good breeze. And it seems like a lot of good stuff is within walking distance of the hostel we picked. If we don't manage to see much here, it'll be all right because we're coming back to Athens for the last couple days of the Greek stretch.
I'll have more to say next time, hopefully!
So now both Ashley and I are on the computers, and soon we'll get some lunch and explore a little bit. Tomorrow, we'll leave our heavy suitcases at this hostel and travel to the Peloponnese. We still have to check train/bus times but with luck we'll make our way to Mycenae, which is full of neat history and it will be good.
The weather here is hot but very nice when you get a good breeze. And it seems like a lot of good stuff is within walking distance of the hostel we picked. If we don't manage to see much here, it'll be all right because we're coming back to Athens for the last couple days of the Greek stretch.
I'll have more to say next time, hopefully!
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