The Temple of Aphaia

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End Dec 09, 2008


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Flag of Greece  , Saronic Gulf Islands,
Friday, October 17, 2008

Aphaia (ah-FAY-uh) was a hunting nymph from the Cretan pantheon whose legend tells that she swam to Aegina, where they erected a temple in her honor. Eventually, Aphaia came to be conflated with the goddess Athena. So occasionally you will also see this temple called Athena Aphaia. I thought the building was stunning, especially the intact staircases on either side of the entrance.

The students were in a photogenic mood, so after several people posed individually in front of the temple, Birthday Blink Blink organized an all-school picture. These are the only pictures so far of all the students from our school together in one place. After we took the formal picture, Chopper called for a crazy pic, so that's me throwing the metal horns on the far left. Bama, you might want to forward these pics (well, maybe just the formal one) to our friend Florence. Perhaps she will find them useful in promotional material to show prospective students the study abroad opportunities available at our university.

Indy showed us some gorgeous pieces in the museum at the foot of the hill below the Temple of Aphaia, and then we went to the studio of Kyrie Nektarios, the last traditional potter in Aegina. He actually digs the clay out of the ground himself. He made two vases on his pottery wheel in front of us, then we walked through a huge garden of fired and painted ceramics and the students picked out gifts to take home.

The ferry returned us to Athens, and the students dispersed to primp for Blink Blink's birthday party. I haven't heard yet how the party went or whether Fingers was feeling well enough to go. Fingers was so sick on the day trip to Aegina that Lithe sent her back home on the very next ferry, and there was talk of getting a doctor for her. I hope she's ok. We've had a few travel casualties so far. In addition to Fingers' cold sweats, Mary Lou had a terrible flu while we were in Crete, poor Bellingham twisted her ankle stepping off the bus and was on crutches, Papia caught a nasty cold, Beach Babe broke out in hives, Wreath of Roses' eyes are irritated with allergies, and I fell down a flight of stairs. More on that later.
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