Greece! Athens and Naxos June 24-July 1

Todd and Amber had never been to Greece, yet have always wanted to go. So while in Europe we made it a must do in summertime before we left the continent. On Saturday morning after the last day of school, we trained to the airport and caught an all-day flight to Greece via Oslo, Norway. Seeing Norway from the sky and experiencing a bit of it's food and culture in the airport was pleasant, and enough for Parker to want to go back. But we eventually got to Athens where we explored for 2 days before taking a ferry to Naxos island for an additional 5 days.

Acropolis museum

Cool to see the minerals used by ancient greeks for coloring

Drion with the parthenon on the hill

An ancient town is exposed under the museum.

Entering the Acropolis we come upon the theater of Dionysus. The carved detail and the chairs of the ancient peoples' were fascinating.

The whole place is littered with ruins.

What's left of the Parthenon and the litter of debris surrounding it.

The Acropolis, like many ancient sites around the world, was a walled city compound of temples on a hill with a 180 degree view.

Built during the height of the Greek empire, 5th century BCE

earthquake? that ain't right.

Nowhere in our travels had it become more evident that selfies, photos and videos are a serious business of younger generations.

Looking down on a well preserved marketplace in the Agora of Athens.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle once taught here. Maybe. Many natural caves in, below and around the walls.

Ancient ruins uncovered in a neighborhood in front of thousand-year-old-plus Greek Orthodox churches were normal sites.

Hadrian's Gate, a symbol of Roman conquest of Greece 2nd Cent CE.

We enjoyed walking the neighborhoods and visiting street cafes while enjoying views of ancient art all around us.

Day 2 we walked to the Archaeological Museum.

Some of the pottery has been dated to 3000 BCE.

So much gold.

Mycenean civilization around 1400 BCE marked significant advancement of Greek culture.

The first known Greek writing from about 1300 BCE.

They liked to play soccer naked back then.

Some kind of faun story here

Drion waiting for his parents to be done looking at all these sculptures.

Plato and Aristotle.

Thumbs up!

This map was shocking. We had no idea Greeks used to control the entire Mediterranean in between the Phonecians and Romans. It makes sense though, coming from a land of 2000 islands.

The famous Antikythera mechanism, a bronze geared machine that predicted astronomical positions and eclipses from about 200 BCE during the Hellenistic period. It wasn't until 1500 years later that a machine of such complexity was invented again.

Ancient walls of Thera, now known as Santorini, before the volcanic explosion. Archaeologists have uncovered walled cities and homes of Greek island dwellers as far back as 6600 BCE.

Typical street in residential Athens. Graffiti is prevalent.

The subway system was loud and warm, but very reliable and speedy. A great way to get around the city.

Overall, we were completely overwhelmed by the vast amount of information and detail about Greek history: The stories of their gods mixed with actual events. We often had no idea what we were looking at, how it related to other things in time, and what it's significance was. Much of what we saw was geared toward scholars and others who had studied Greek history while we often felt like fish out of water. Athens was a great place to visit, but armed with kids and ignorance we found that 2 days was enough.

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Off to Naxos island on a 5+ hour ferry ride from outside of Athens.

Found a suitable guitar pool hotel just a block from the beach.

Behind Drion and Parker is a small island called Drionisi at our local beach, Prokopios.

Drove down to Alyko beach to find these murals on hotel ruins, and our own cove beach for the afternoon.

The swimming and snorkeling was beautiful.

Greek salad and fish just about daily.

Parker and Todd in "olympic" form at Mikri Vigla beach. We all explored, swam and snorkeled around the rocks and beautiful waters before a late lunch on the beach.

Later we drove up the mountains into the interior of the island to find this 6th century Greek Orthodox church.

On the way back we stopped in for a lovely and welcoming visit and tasting at the small family winery Saint Anna.

One last swim before saying goodbye.

Greece was a treat. Naxos was perfect: no cruise ships, no commercial airport, no party crowds. Lots of beaches, locals, and a great place for families.