Greece part II

I spent the first day in Athens running all over. I think I saw almost every temple, ruin, and forum monument constructed in the history of Athens. It was an amazing day. I saw the Parthenon, the theatre at the Acropolis, Mars Hill (the aeropagus) where St. Paul walked and spoke. Mars Hill was used by the Greek philosophers to make important civic decisions. When Paul stood on the rock at Mars Hill, he saw a tribute to the "unknown god". It was there that Paul made his comparison to the one true God who had raised Jesus bodily from the dead. Many of the philosophers (who were stoic) did not believe in a resurrection - let alone a bodily one. It's ironic how all of Greece is now filled with people who believe in a bodily resurrection.

Not that the Greeks are perfect. In fact, I've had some unpleasant exchanges with some of the locals today. The Greek army was out in force today for the Good Friday service. The Metropolitan bishop was there, the king? of Greece and other important folk. Before any politicians arrived, I tried to enter the church in spite of a wall of soldiers blocking the steps. One of them asked me what I was doing. I told him I was going into church and he said no, it's too full. He then changed his mind and said I could look for a minute. Yup, it was a Greek orthodox service.

I met up the next day with a Brit named Steve and a Moldovan Peace Corps worker named Evan who is from LA. We ended up heading down to Corinth together and exploring the ancient ruins at the bottom. A local Brit and his Bostonian wife gave us a ride to the tope of Akro Corinth, a huge mountain fortress which once housed the temple of Aphrodite with 1000 prostitutes. The view from the top was amazing. you could seen the water on the Adriatic and Aegean seas and the very point where Greece connects with the lower Peloponnese peninsula, the very small 6 km stretch of land that has seen the Spartans march through as well as thousands of others through history.

At the top I met a Baptist pastor named Adam from Missouri. He's got a Baptist church in Athens of all places. Not quite orthodox.

Steve, Evan and I hiked, hitched, bussed and made our way to Mykenae where the ancient ruins of the palace of Agammemnon lay. Agammenmon's and his brother went to Troy to rescue Helen. Turns out in this very palace that Agammenmom's wife through a net on him when he returned and bludgeoned him to death. Their son Orestes fled out the back gate of the palace and returned to bring justice upon his mother and new lover. Ah, the birthplace of Greek tragedy. We explored the Tholos tomb, a huge honeycombed shaped hive of burial goodness. (We actually hopped the fence on this one because it was closed Easter Sunday and we really want to get in).

Steve and I headed to Nafplion where we hiked a 999 staircase to a 500 year old Venetian fortress on the water! We did it all with our backpacks on - people were giving us the strangest of looks.

I rushed back down to Corinth and took a train to Patras, and made it to the ferry station and got a 10 euro ticket on a super fast overnight ferry to Ancona, Italy! I feel like I'm on the Titanic. There's 50 men's dorm beds, and I'm the only one in there so I have a gloriously large bathroom to myself. This morning I woke up looking at the blue Adriatic, went down to eat breakfast and saw dolphins jumping next to the boat!!!

Some funny cultural moments - Greek taxi driver -total Euro music blaring and Euro glasses corrects Evan on his pronunciation - it's fiCCHHuuutio, not fitio. he did that 10 times. (the same taxi driver tried to charge us 3 times as much by taking us in a circle so when had to call him on that.)
I approached three old greeks playing backgammon at a bus station and said "anesti" (which is short for Christ has risen). They all looked at me and mumbled christos anesti and smiled.
Ordering an Ouzo beverage at the local Greek restaurant and getting a shot of hardcore licorice tasting goodness.

Okay pictures soon, I promise, I am in Italy soon!!