Nuns on the Edge…of Cliffs :)

We visited the Ioannina Archeological Museum on April 6^th, which contains findings from the region Epirus between the Paleolithic era until after the Roman period. It was kind of more of the same thing from the first museum at Nikopoli, but more specific with the area around where I’m staying. I saw tablets that were inscribed with questions for the Oracle at Dodoni which I already visited! Some of the questions were kind of funny, like “Will she have children if she is partnered with me?” or “Am I the father of her children?”. It was a really cool feeling to actually see the questions that I had read about and then actually seen the place where they were used.

Then on the 8^th we had an all day excursion to the monasteries of Meteroa and the mountain town of Metsovo. Meteroa, which means ‘suspended in the air’ in greek is a significant grouping of Greek Orthodox monasteries built on the tops of standstone rock pillars. Originally hermits lived in the caves in the cliffs and eventually some monks got together and started building the monasteries. No one really knows exactly how they got the building materials and boulders all of the way up the cliffs, which is really mysterious. So all of the buildings are precariously placed on the tops of cliffs, which makes them difficult to get to, but they have an amazing view of the surrounding mountains and of the nearby village of Kalambaka. We visited the largest of the monasteries, Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron, inhabited by monks and also the Holy Monastery of St. Stephan which is run by nuns. All of the girls had to wear skirts over our clothes before entering and then we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside of the church building, which was unfortunate since that was my favorite part. Every single space inside was ornately decorated with biblical and relgious imagery, all of the way up the vaulted ceilings. Detailed paitings of martys and saints ordained the entrance room, which was actually a bit disturbing even though it was beautiful since it depicted their gresome deaths. Intricate pictures of animals and plants detailed every piece of woodwork, from the walls to the chairs. Also there were some relics of saints, so I saw some really old bone, skull and skin fragments, which the Greek Orthodox people would kiss the glass covering them and then cross themselves, which they actually do the opposite way from Catholics.

After climbing back down the 109 steps from the top of the monastery we went to lunch at the foot of the cliffs, which was amazing just like last week’s lunch. They served us multiple courses of appetizers, greek salad, and souvlaki (hunks of meat roasted on a skewer) with potaoes and rice. Once we finished lunch we all went to the cute ski town Mestovo and chilled for the afternoon. It is definitely a tourist stop because the entire town square was filled with buses of people visiting the town. The town reminded we a lot of Ioannina since it was surrounded by mountains, but much, much closer to to town. They are known for their cheeses so Kacey and I bought some, which was delicious even though we weren’t quite sure exactly what kind of cheese it was actually. We just explored the town and shopped before heading back to the university.

School is in full swing now, and I’m actually in class longer than  I would be at UW, but the work load is much easier. I’m learning so much Greek! Just hearing other speak it all of the time and my language class is now better suited to my previous knowledge base. I’ve been taking advantage of the nice outside track they have here even though its about as far across campus as you can get. I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable here and its only been 2 weeks so far! This Friday we’re going to Thessaloniki, which is clear across the country but I’m excited to see more of the country. Γεια σας!

The Entrance to Hades...duh, duh, duuuuh :)

On April 1st we went on an all day excursion and went to several awesome sites. First was the Archeological Museum in Nikopoli, which had a ton of ruin from the Roman period when the city was at its peak. This is where Octavius defeated Antony and Cleopatra, so they called the place 'Victory City' or Nikopolis in Greek. The museum was full of statues of emperors and gods, clay pots, coins, and tablets, but the coolest part was the section of sarcophagi, which was one of the main exports of the area. Walking around the huge sarcophagi was kind of creepy, but treatment and fascination with the dead was really important to the ancient Greeks, which has to do with the next place we went to on the excursion.

Next up was the Nekromanteion, the supposed location of the Gates of the Underworld. Luckily it was a sunny, beautiful day in paradise over here, or else this excursion would have been super creepy. The Greeks believed that at this entrance to Hades one could communicate with the dead. So people would travel to the temple, get drugged by the priests as to be in a state to communicate with the spirits and then hopefully talk with their dead loved ones. Kind of crazy, right? However the purpose of the conversation was usually not to catch up with the dead person, but rather to try and discern a prophet from them as it was believed that the dead could tell the future. The temple above the actual underground entrance area has been worn down over the years, just fragments of walls with no ceilings remaining. Entering the actual underground temple wasn’t all that exciting, since it was just a set of metal stairs leading into the ground, but the room was pretty cool. I felt like Indiana Jones was going to storm in and find some secret passage way or something. It was pretty dark down there, but the flash on my camera obviously takes that away from the image.

After that we headed to Preveza to have lunch, which was amazing! The lunches on the Friday excursions are prepaid for as part of the program and so far they have been delicious. I look forward to them all week long :) We ate at a restaurant on the edge of this cliff on the sea and we were the only people there too. The view reminded me of Hawaii so much. We had fresh bread, an appetizer plate, Greek salad, and juicy hunk of chicken with potatoes. They really like their potatoes over here, since it’s pretty much served with any dish. You even get french fries in gyros, which I love! After that we just spent the afternoon in the beautiful beach town Parga. I put my feet in the Ionian Sea, which was kind of cold, but definitely warmer than the Puget Sound would be right now J We just wondered along the beach and through the town, which was pretty empty, but that was during siesta. Pretty much everything shuts down here from 2-5pm for people to rest! We did find one souvenir shop that was open and I had a good long conversation with the owner entirely in Greek, which was exciting and fun. During the couple hour bus ride back to the university most people just fall asleep, but I’ve been trying to stay awake on the rides to see as much of this beautiful country as I can.