Earliest Ever First Day of School

Because of the way we are currently living, we have made a number of adjustments to our schooling schedule. Part of that meant that today we had our earliest ever first day of school. It's hard to believe we now have an eighth grader, a fourth grader, a second grader and a preschooler. It was a great first day, and we celebrated with authentic Naples pizza for dinner.

Goodbye, Greece. Hello, Italy.

Yesterday afternoon, around 3:00, we checked in for the ferry boat that would take us across the Gulf of Corinth and the Ionian Sea, from Greece to Italy. There wasn't a sign or person stationed anywhere to give us instructions, so we waded our way through the chaos and disorganization the best we could and finally boarded the boat a couple of hours later, right on time. We had never had the experience of an overnight ferry trip before, so we were all very excited. We played cards in the lounge, told stories on the deck, saw the most amazing sunset, and got to enjoy two pretty decent meals. We landed in Brindisi, Italy this morning, and then drove for about four hours to get to our home in Naples, where we will stay for two full weeks, ending our stretch of very brief stays. We will slow the tourism portion of the trip down a little while we are here and try to focus a bit more on school and work. We will definitely still see the sights and eat some pizza, as this is the birthplace of that international culinary delight, but it won't be quite as constant as it has been in the first part of our journey. We kicked off our time here with gelato for dinner, so I'd say we're off to a pretty great start!

One of our two cabins aboard the ferry

Goodbye, Greece.

There were tons of beautiful little islands all along the way.

A sunset for the record books

eager to land in Italy

coming into port at Brindisi

Naples is known for its lemon groves.
This beautiful tree sits across the street from our house.

Our Naples home

Gelato for dinner to celebrate our arrival in Italy

So much personality here!

We've been talking about having gelato in Italy for a year.
We were all glad to move from the talking stage to the eating stage!

Trust me when I tell you this was a mess of royal proportions just waiting to happen!

Numismatic Museum and Gulf of Corinth

 We had promised our coin collecting boys a trip to the Numismatic Museum before we left Athens, so this morning we headed over there as our last hurrah. It was really interesting and everyone enjoyed it.

From there, we headed out of the city to the more rural western part of Greece. We are staying in a charming house that smells like roses, in a tiny little coastal town (with only about six streets) called Valimitika. We spent a lovely afternoon at the mostly unpopulated, mainly unpolluted rocky beach on the Gulf of Corinth, at the end of our street. The water is the clearest water I have ever seen, which gives a sensational view of the marbled and colorful rocks on the bottom. Going to the beach is not the kids' favorite thing because, obviously, I've failed as a parent because they don't enjoy getting sandy, but today we could hardly drag them away. But, when we did, we drove over to the next little town (which is a virtual metropolis compared to where we are), Aigio, where we found a restaurant with tables overlooking the Gulf for our last dinner in Greece. We enjoyed a sampling of delicious Greek food and an absolutely beautiful sunset. 

Tomorrow evening, we will catch the ferry to Italy, but we all agree that Greece is one of our favorite places we have visited so far. 

The ceiling in the Numismatic Museum 

Owls and olive branches, which are both symbols of Athena,
figure prominently in the coinage throughout Greece's history.

These coins from Knossos depict labyrinths, which the kids were excited about
since they just heard the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Our Valimitiko home

Roses, in the garden of our rose-scented home

Love these kids and this place!

Beautiful rocks on the sea floor. We could not get over how clear the water was.

Max, getting his float on.

We love Greece!

Weston and his hot dog rocks

The little lighthouse in Aigio

The sign says this plane tree dates back to 200 A.D.

Last dinner in Greece, on the Gulf of Corinth

The food was delicious and the view wasn't too shabby either. 

Rethinking some things

My kids used to think loading the dishwasher was a fate worse than death. They would argue and whine and conive to try to get out of it. But, after a month with no dishwasher and having to hand wash all of the dishes, they all practically jumped for joy when we arrived at our current apartment and found a dishwasher. Perspective is a good thing, and we're getting a lot of that.

Temples

Today took us to the south, where we saw the Temple of Artemis and Poseidon's Temple, which are both in more rural areas. And, when we were done with all our sightseeing, we found a great little fish tavern for dinner. It was a truly lovely day!

The kids at the Temple of Artemis

I love how I captured everyone just between the columns at the Temple of Artemis

Poseidon's temple must have been truly grand in its day

The gang's all here

One of many stunning views from Poseidon's Temple

Dinner on the Aegean Sea, with Poseidon's Temple on the hill in the background

crab hunting

Weston caught one, and it wasn't too much fresher than our dinner.

Athens

We joined a free walking tour this morning, which took us all over the city and allowed us to see every major site and was really interesting. When the tour was over, we picnicked in the National Gardens, and then did a little shopping in the market area, before heading home to rest for a while. We also did a sunset hike this evening up Lycabettus Hill, where we experienced breathtaking views of the entire city.

Poseidon's Spring
According to the stories, Poseidon and Athena had a contest
to see who would become the protector of the city.
Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and created this spring.
Athena used her staff to create an olive tree, which could be used for food and
warmth and building. The people liked her offer better and named the city after her.

Hadrian's Library
Hadrian was a Roman emperor who built a huge library in Athens
during his reign, because he wanted Athens to be the cultural center of the empire.
Unfortunately, all the books were in Latin, which the common Greek people couldn't read at all. 

The Acropolis
It means "top city," and it is where The Parthenon (Athena's Temple)
is located. There are also several other lesser temples on top up there,
which is what you can see on the right hand side of the picture. 

The Roman Agora
This was the marketplace of Athens during the time of the Roman Empire.

Temple of Hephaestus
This temple has been the best preserved and sits next to the Ancient Agora.

Lycabettus Hill
According to the myths, Athena picked up a huge rock to bring to The Acropolis
to place at her temple, but while she was on her way, she was interrupted by messengers
with bad news, and she dropped the boulder to form this hill, which then became
a higher point than The Acropolis, where her temple was located. 

Hadrian's Arch
This arch divided the "old city," where The Acropolis is
(and which you can just see peeking through the arch),
from the "new city," where the Temple of Zeus could be found.

Temple of Zeus
In its prime, this temple would have been much larger than
The Parthenon. When the columns were being erected, liquid lead was poured inside
to harden and add stability to the structures. If you look closely, you can see large holes
drilled near the bottom of the columns. When the Ottoman Turks occupied the land,
they figured out there was lead in the columns and harvested some of it to make bullets.  

The Olympic Stadium
Weston, our lover of all sports, was so excited to see the Olympic Stadium,
which was built for the first modern olympics in 1896.

The Parliament Building
This was formerly the royal palace and is now the seat of government. 

The changing of the guard at the parliament building
These are Evzone Soldiers, dressed in the traditional uniform,
which is now purely ceremonial. Supposedly, the black pom-poms
on the shoes hide a blade, which was once used in close range fighting.

National Garden
We had a lovely picnic and some gigantic fun playing on the humongous trees.

Fruit Street Vendor
The kids were so excited to each get to pick out a kilo of fruit
from one of the beautifully arrayed carts on the street.

Sunset hike up Lycabettus Hill
Our tour guide mentioned this was the best place in town to see the sunset,
so we couldn't resist adding this evening hike to our agenda.

The Parthenon
The Parthenon sits on the left hand side of the picture,
while some of the lesser temples are on the right.
You can see the Saronic Gulf in the background.

The Glowing Acropolis
All of the temples are lit up when the sun goes down,
and it is absolutely stunning!