I tell ya, I’ve just about had it up to here…
…with gyros! Yet no matter what we do, we just can’t stop eating them!
Maybe it’s something in the Greek beer Mythos…
…or just maybe it has something to do with all the awesome people we’ve met in Greece that always want to take us to their favorite pita palace.
Whatever it is, we just can’t stop eating them. They are so damn delicious! We’ve had souvlaki 4 times in the last 2 days. It’s making us crazy I tell ya!
And don’t even get me started on the tzatziki sauce. Oy vey!
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on September 20, 2008.
Filed under: Europe,Greece,Travel | 1 Comment »
Just continuing with my tradition of naming blog posts after movie references. Of course when I say “High City” I mean The Acropolis of Athens. And don’t you dare call it “The Acropolis” as there are many other acropoleis in Greece.
This morning we met up with our tour guide Despina at The Parliament Building.
We arrived just in time to watch the goofy changing of the guards routine.
Or was it the changing of the goofy guards?
Either way, it was quite humorous to see just how serious they were, prancing around in kilts and stomping their pom-pom tipped shoes on the ground.
Despina talked a lot about some of the ancient history as well as modern history of the Greek civilizations, including how the newer subway lines that were put in place for the 2004 Olympics had to be diverted due to new archeological finds. Everywhere you look in the city you’ll find old artifacts from thousands of years ago.
In most cities these artifacts would be quickly scooped up and placed safely away in a museum where no humans could touch/ruin them. Here in Athens however it seems as if they have such an abundant supply of these artifacts that they are on every corner without any protection from people at all. They have more marble then they know what to do with.
Apparently the Christians found something to do with it all. According to Despina they would tear monuments down and use the marble to build their churches up. Yet another strike against organized religion. She went on to explain the fundamentals of the Pagan religion which actually seemed quite civilized. In paganism gods where regular people and there was no such thing as sinning or asking for forgiveness because the gods (again, regular people) would make the same mistakes as everyone else. None of this mystery man in the sky mumbo jumbo.
Anyways, enough of my preaching. Let’s get back to the tour…
Around the corner from the orthodox church was a sponsorship monument, The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. That’s right, the ancient Greeks were the inventors of modern day advertising!
Moving further up along the ancient road we encountered The Theatre of Dionysus which was a major open air theater right at the foot of Acropolis.
The theater could seat as many as 17,000 people and included special VIP seating for some dignitaries with their names engraved in the seats!
Later on the Romans came along and ruined the theater and turned it into a fountain for their toy boats. Jerks!
Next up was the uber-cool Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
This amphitheater could only hold a paltry 5,000 people. Psht! It is actually still in use today (with rebuilt seating) for major concerts.
After fighting off the packs of wild sleeping dogs…
…and the packs of wild fat tourists coming in off of their cruise line, we reached the entrance to The Acropolis, and feasted our eyes on the Parthenon!
The great temple of the Greek goddess Athena…
…and the Dutch god Jasona!
Also on The Acropolis is The Erechtheum, an ancient Greek temple built in the honor of the legendary king Erechtheus, who is said to have been buried nearby.
In front of the temple is The Sacred Olive Tree of Athena…
…that sprouted when Athena struck a rock with her spear in her successful rivalry with Poseidon for the city.
Sacred Shamcred. We’re hungry! We want olives!
Ohh lookie here! A sacred olive.
Jay thinks it was spoiled but I’m sure it must have bestowed some magical powers upon him.
Before leaving The Acropolis, Despina pointed out Areopagus or the ‘Hill of Ares’
which is where democracy was first born when a radical politician named Cleisthenes took charge after an army from Sparta overthrew a dictatorship. Way cool!
Also off in the distance we could see some still standing ruins of ancient Angora.
Of course we just had to explore that too!
After all that walking we were beat…
…so on the way back to the hotel we swung by The Library of Hadrian…
…to check out a couple books to read while we rested up for tomorrows adventures.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on September 19, 2008.
Filed under: Europe,Greece,Travel | 1 Comment »
One more and you’re out!
Geez. Greek writing is weird! It’s no wonder it looks so similar to Russian, as both are subsets of the Cyrillic alphabet that came from Greece.
Luckily we didn’t get into the airport until around 14:00, and by the time we figured out how to take the airport train to the city center, the strike was nearly over.
I’m convinced that The Olympics do great things for cities. Similarly to Barecalona, Athens seems very well put together. So far I’m pretty impressed.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on September 18, 2008.
Filed under: Travel | No Comments »
…But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
— Muhammad Ali
It’s a totally different Muhammad Ali that The Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha was commissioned by, but it felt like an appropriate quote for this nation. We’ll get to that mosque in a minute. But first thing is first. Today we started out with Fatma at 9am at the Egyptian Museum.
We weren’t allowed to bring cameras into the museum, so just take my word for it… it’s an awesome collection of artifacts from the many dynasties of the ancient Egyptian empires. As to be expected, the stand out pieces of this Egyptian collection were all of the items discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. From the 4 gold shrines that enclosed the sarcophagus which held the 3 coffins. Even his 4 embalming containers were on display. Standing there in front of his mask, and staring into the eyes of this young king was incredible, and an honer to have the opportunity to meet him face to face (so to speak).
This dude was well prepared for the afterlife! His mummy is still housed in the Vally of The Kings, but there were plenty of other mummified corpses to check out. It was kind of creepy to see how well preserved they were. Some of them even still had their original hair attached to the skulls.
You could spend a good two days in the museum to see everything, but we had places to go and things to do, so it after a few hours we were off to the next stop.
The Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Being a Muslim herself, Fatma was able to explain a lot about the religion to us as well as some of the history behind this incredible building.
We first entered the courtyard area…
…and were instructed to take our shoes off. The reason – because during the worship ritual Muslims put their face on the ground, so they don’t want the dirt from peoples shoes on the ground. Makes perfect sense. Optionally you can even wash your body in the fountain. This sorta reminded me of the onsens in Japan where you wash your body off first before entering the spas.
Here are a few photos from the inside…
After learning a bit more about the traditions of Muslims, we left the mosque…
…on the way to go spend some Egyptian money…
…at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar. The narrow streets were lined with small shops selling everything from colorful fabrics…
…to colorful spices…
…to colorful food.
You just had to be willing to wade through a bunch of colorful people…
…who wanted nothing more than to sell you something. Some of them must have been denied sales so many times that their sales tactics had now resorted to straight honesty, and I quote “Hello, hi there, how can I take you money today?” It almost made me want to spend money there, but I had no use (or room in my bag) for natural sponges. So I walked on…
…passed the homeless pita breads.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on September 16, 2008.
Filed under: Africa,Egypt,Travel | No Comments »
Let me just apologize up front for any of you trying to read this post on a dial-up Internet connection. There are a LOT of photos to follow…
Upon first arriving in Cairo, my initial reaction was that it was very similar to Bangkok. A large city, with lots of cars, lots of dirt, lots of people, lots of chaos. After spending a full waking day in the city, not much of that initial reaction has changed. The city has nearly 18 million people in it, and it seems like all of them drive. None of their cars have any sort of emissions regulations. But they all DO have working car horns. And they like to let you know about it… as often as possible.
We woke up bright and early to meet up with our tour guide Fatma at 8am. Even this early in the day, it was already pretty hot outside. Here’s a panoramic image from the hotel room.
We jumped into the air-conditioned van and were shuttled off to the first stop of Saqqara. Along the way we got a first hand look at the realities of this developing nation. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the driving. It’s utterly chaotic. There is no concept of driving lanes despite the guides painted on the road. There is no such thing of right of way, especially if you are a pedestrian. There are roads that seemingly lead to nowhere as traffic will go for several kilometers to only get to the end of the road and everyone — and i do mean everyone — turns around and goes the opposite direction on that same road, despite the fact that the road keeps going in the other direction. It just makes no sense. So many of the dwellings were dilapidated, or at least looked it. Many demolished buildings. Many animals on the road. And many young children walking around without supervision. It was quite a culture shock.
After driving for what seemed like forever past carpet weaving schools, we came to our first stop at Saqqara which features the world’s oldest standing step pyramid.
The pyramid and the nearby tombs were designed by Imhotep, one of the most advanced architect of ancient times. The cut limestone designs have stood up remarkably over the past 5000 years.
Flanking the great pyramid…
…are various tombs where kings from both the first and second dynasties were buried.
Many of the offering tables outside of the tombs have since been destroyed (not by us)…
The similarities between Latin characters and hieroglyphics are just uncanny sad!
This was an epic moment in our lives…
… but just the first of many that the day would provide.
Next up was a short drive over to the pyramid complex of Teti. The pyramid itself is pretty much gone and only resembles a small hill now. But the chambers and corridors below it are in very good shape. The hieroglyphics all over the walls are totally legible. If you can read hieroglyphics that is. We did learn one thing about reading them… there is no preset left-to-right, right-to-left rule. They can be read and written in all 4 directions! The direction in which you read them is determined by the direction that the bird glyph is facing.
With that new knowledge under our belts, it was off to Memphis to view more kings. No, not Elvis, but King Ramesses II. This 83 ton masterpiece is flawlessly carved in solid granite. It once towered above the land below at 11 meters high.
Also in Memphis is this alabaster sphinx from the 19th dynasty, or 1200 BC.
Now, for Big Bertha…
That’s right, the Giza Pyramids!!!! The only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World!
OMG, these suckers are ENORMOUS!
Folks it doesn’t get any better than this. The great friggin’ pyramids are right there in front of us!
Er, behind us.
And under us.
It’s impossible to even capture their enormity on film. But here are a few photo to put it all in perspective.
Take just one of those steps, and repeat it over 200 times!
The great thing about having a tour guide is that she can take you to the spots that many people never see…
…and help you take photos that no one else will take.
And she can help you not fall into the typical tourist traps, of which there are many in Cairo. And instead get you the really good deals on camel rides!
Hey, we’re in Egypt! What did you expect!? Certainly not more Segways I hope!
And of course the most majestic half-human, half-lion hybrid of all time. The Great Sphinx of Giza!
What else can you really say about a day like this!? Nothing. Nothing at all. It was perfect.
Authored by: Digital Knowmadd on September 15, 2008.
Filed under: Africa,Egypt,Travel | 5 Comments »
« Newer Posts — Older Posts »
The Archives
