Nafplia Palace Hotel - Villas Nauplion

... who walked there before me. It’s so hard to describe the emotional feeling you get when you get to physically be somewhere like this.

Seeing Mycenae was crucial to our time in Greece. It helped us better understand the things we’d been seeing in other places, up until that point. And as you will read in the Athens blog entry, it really let our minds and experiences come full circle with understanding ancient Greece and our world’s history.

Hi everybody,

As you all know, we are back in the states! I haven't had time to finish writing the last three blog entries but I will as soon as I am able. I just wanted to let you guys know so you can check back over the next few days.

I hope everyone is excited to read about Athens because that was our last city and it was epic. Check back soon!

-Michelle

... ground and some solid foundations but it’s still cool to see the large size of the sanctuary and use your imagination when you’re walking around the grounds. Asclepius, the son of Apollo, was the god of healing and it’s said that he built this sanctuary to hold the ill. Among all the rubble you also come across a huge field area which was used for exercise and sports in ancient times.

... 8217;s amazing how the ancient Greeks came up with the idea of an amphitheater and their designs are still used today: amphitheaters, coliseums, stadiums. The most effective way to pack people in needed little improvement it seems.

Had a nice picnic lunch perched at the very topmost seats and enjoyed eavesdropping on everyone’s conversations while they walked through the theater.

... with a tiny church. Nafplion was the first capital of modern Greece after the Greek War of Independence (1821 - 1828). Our hotel was an 18th century mansion converted into a 5-room bed and breakfast. We were in the old part of the town which was built long before cars and the streets are very narrow but people still drive in the wider ones. Parking was quite a challenge ...

... ranging from the surgical -- see the picture -- to the spiritual. You would make certain offerings and undergo certain rituals and then sleep on the ground in the designated building, the idea being that the God would come to you in a dream and indicate, generally in a very metaphoric way, how to cure your illness. Did it work? Certainly for some people, as the appreciative votive offerings depicting successfully-treated body parts would suggest.

... br>Yep! This is where you should stand and speak so that everyone in the the theater will hear you talk!











This is an olive tree! I've always thought it would be much ...

... carved out of rock 15 m below the surface. In Mycenaean times it was fed by a tunnel from a spring on more distant higher ground. We didn't have a flash light and it was really dark down this shaft. We did have the video camera and its light provided a little light. We started down the slippery stone steps to the bottom. My cute little leather shoes were not the type to be doing this type of exploring ...

... who need to bring something before them. The official would enter from the back, kind of like you enter a stage. Two rooms with benches sat on ground level on both sides of the bema where VIPs sat. The Jews brought Paul before Gallio, the proconsul, but he said that it was a Jewish matter and wouldn't hear it. Right before this, Paul had been pretty discouraged, and the Lord had told him not to be afraid. I'm sure Paul never thought that thousands of years later, a group of ...

Headed off early this morning to check out the ruins at Tiryns. Those Greeks sure new how to move rocks. Some of the blocks in the walls weighed two tons. Learned a little about this early fortification. The next stop was to visit the ruins at Mycenae -- these were very interesting since much more has been excavated and I got a better sense of the people that occupied this site. The view looking over the ...