Submitted by Zeppelin Evans on the 2025 Winter program in Athens, Greece…
Visiting the Acropolis has been on my bucket list for a long time, so this was an absolutely amazing experience. Being able to walk where ancient people did (albeit not very often for most people) was important to me; seeing the temples that I have been studying, in person, was almost religious. On top of all of that, Iris was an amazing guide – I am so happy that she talked about the construction of the buildings, from the orders to the flutes to the slight curve of the bases. I also learned a lot about the history of the Acropolis after the ancient period, like the conversion of temples into churches, the various wars, and the excavations. Other than the academic part of it, the views of Athens were beautiful and put into perspective its place geographically (living in Pangrati it can be hard to imagine Athens as near the sea or surrounded by mountains). The Acropolis museum was also really interesting, especially the top floor with the “reconstruction” of the Parthenon. I never would have thought of that as a concept, so as a museum worker it was important and interesting to see how the architect and conservators handled it. This site will definitely be revisited if I come back to Greece.
To begin, I LOVED taking the ferry to Aegina. This was a part of the water that I had never been on before and the views were immaculate as well. As for the site, the temple of Aphaia and the archeological remains were really interesting – this was another site / part of Greece that I had not really heard of before. It was also a really cute little town to explore with amazing food. My favorite part (other than the ferry) was the temple and how it offered a clear view of the intricacies of construction with the U-shaped divots for lifting the gigantic pieces of rock. I also found the inscriptions on the wall interesting, as they were really well preserved and if they weren’t pointed out I would have walked right past them. I also liked seeing Athens from Aegina’s point of view, and talking about how the city-states would have seen each other in antiquity with both fighting to be seen as powerful and wealthy.
I think these sites were the absolute highlight of the trip for me. The tomb of Atreus was really cool to see, since most similar constructions are not preserved in that way. Seeing the Mycenaean Lion’s Gate in person was like a religious experience for me, since I have been studying it for so long. I also really enjoyed how Alice and David brought the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra into what we were seeing and standing on – most people do not realize that mythology and theater are steeped in reality. The grave circles were also really interesting because we saw the finds in the Archeological Museum before and then where they were found. I liked seeing the fragments of Linear B in the museum as well. Epidaurus was another really cool site – as a theater nerd seeing the best preserved ancient theater was amazing to see. The history of the site as a sanctuary of Asclepius was also interesting, especially learning about the healing practices. The stadium was beautiful as well. Epidaurus had something from every one of my interests – medical history, theater, and sport. I would come back to Greece just to see these two sites again.
