Safe & Sound Arrival Back in Victoria!

Our third trip to Greece came to an end very late last night upon our arrival in Victoria well past midnight ... 24 hours since we arrived at the airport in Athens to begin our trip home! With a ten hour time difference, it certainly made for a long day.

Overall, this has been another incredible adventure lasting twelve days, from beginning to end. The time seemed to fly by, a good sign as it usually means everyone is busy and enjoying the breadth of experiences for the group. Our last day in Athens was a great way to end the trip, visiting the Acropolis museum and then the site itself is inspiring and amazing when one considers just how lucky we are to learn about and experience it all.

Upon reflection, there are so many people to thank for making this trip possible. In Kyparissia, our local people 'on the ground' who are instrumental in the planning before we arrive and who are present during many of our excursions and activities: Yannis, the coach of the NOKY triathlon club, our resident expert on the region, and so helpful with activities such as the triathlon, the River Neda/waterfall activity, transporter of bikes, and host of the dinner and party; Patrick and Heidi Woodgate who also accompanied us on excursions and who helped with many logistics ahead of our arrival; and to the Kyparissia community which welcomed us with open arms, including the staff of our hotel who did everything possible to make our stay memorable. In addition, Marc and Clare Vincent, and their family, were fully involved in making the trip go as smoothly as possible, joining in on every activity and  contributing in every way possible to the success of our students' experience. You will also have noticed the hundreds of photos linked to this blog, the majority of which were taken by Marc Vincent, our ' SMUS Greece Trip Official Photographer'!!!

I would be remiss if I didn't thank my Middle School colleagues who accompanied us on the trip, Richard DeMerchant and Catherine Cade. This was their first time as part of our travel group and they were awesome! You can probably tell from the blog just how full each day is, and they both were fully involved in every aspect of the trip, from start to finish.

Finally, special mention to Riley Doland who planned just about every part of this trip and who could not even join us this year! Planning this experience for our students began way back in the fall and has taken hours of her time. Mrs. Doland initiated this trip three years ago and we all hope she can resume leading the group on next year's trip. It was a privilege for me to go on this trip with her in 2015 and 2016. We had a great time this year, but we sure missed her.

It won't be long before we will start to plan Greece 2018 for our Grade 8 students lucky enough to experience the natural wonders and history of this amazing country.

Xavier Abrioux

Greek Party

On Sunday night, we were invited over to Yannis' house to party with locals, live Athenian musicians and great food! When we first got there we learned how to make these really cool figurine Greek statues made out of plaster. After, we walked down to the beach and played a few fun games to pass the time before heading for some food. On the way, we noticed there were animals like turkeys, ducks, dogs and cats in cages and roaming around. They looked really happy to see us. We ended up eating Greek salad, then moved on to pork with potatoes, which was delicious. Finally, the band got out their instruments, which consisted of a guitar, a bouzouki, and a mandolin. After dinner, we listened to some music and did some dancing. The band played a little more, and when we were parting and saying our goodbyes, we received 3 gifts: A jar of jam (flavours apricot and one in Greek),  a bottle of olive oil, and a random statute of one of the plaster figures we made. They had things like the statue of Nike, the victory goddess, or Apollo. The party was really fun and I bet the kids next year will really look forward to it.

Marshall

Day 10: Athens and the Acropolis here we come!

Day 10 Photo Album

Last day ☹! We woke up in Napflion and slumped downstairs to a fantastic fancy buffet with all sorts of pastries, eggs and toast toppings. I think that everyone was a little surprised to see the variety. There was even Nutella which I am sure Maddox enjoyed fully. After the buffet, we loaded into the vans and drove along the A7 to Athens for just under 2 hours. When we neared Athens, the traffic started slowly building and also same as the wind. As soon as we veered off the highway, the old cracked and yellow buildings were surrounding every spot possible, reaching up to the clouds (not really). The streets were packed with motorcyclists wearing and not wearing helmets and with people going somewhere important or milling around trying to sell goods. Surprisingly there were not many skyscrapers but the buildings were still tall.

We drove to our hotel - sometimes getting delayed by ongoing traffic - and met our tour guide (Theodora) for the afternoon. She guided us to the subway (or what I like to call the underground) and we boarded and unloaded at the Acropolis Museum. I was surprised how the underground system worked because it looked like people could bypass the ticketing process easily. As we approached the hotel we could see a reproduction of the old Athens city under a thick layer of glass underneath were we stood. Our guide guided us past a large lineup (whew!) and we started our experience in the museum. We stopped at a large amount of exhibits dating back way before the Acropolis was built (over 2500 years ago!). Our guide also talked about stories relating to the exhibits, including a myth about how Athena was born out of Zeus's head! Makes me wonder how that is possible. After visiting the interestingly designed Acropolis Museum, we headed up to the real thing! The Acropolis! As we walked up the glassy stairs to the large plateau, the views intensified the higher we walked. At the very top we could see an almost 360 view of the 5 million habited Athenian buildings. 2500 year old marble blocks lay around waiting to be preserved back to its original shape. If you did not know, the Acropolis was being preserved but it is very slow progress. One side is finished but the overseer of the project mentioned that it should take another 3 decades to complete, which is a ridiculously long time but it makes sense for such a delicate process. And because of the renovations, we were not able to enter the building, but I didn't mind because this was all I really wanted to see because the appearance of the building was enough to impress me alone.
Anyways, enough from me, I need to go for a well earned swim...
-oliver

After we went to the Acropolis, which was very cool. We went out to town and explored and shopped. For me I like going out to town. One of my favorite things on this trip was going out to town and exploring, because I like to imagine that I have a lot of freedom. I enjoy buying gifts for my family members because I know they care a lot of about me and appreciate it. I enjoyed the Underground ride because it was very different than what I am used to. It was very crowded and we needed to stay together close together to stay safe. For me being in Greece was a very good experience, I had Oliver to teach me common sense. I learned about how Greece is a very beautiful place and you can do many activities (including the River Neda walk which unfortunately I couldn't do 😢). Overall, Greece was fantastic and I had a great time and would encourage more people to take the opportunity to go to Greece next year.

Shae

ps. We are staying at the Hilton in Athens and it is AMAZING!

Day 9: Nafplion

Day 9 Photo Album

Our group left the hotel early to travel to Nafplion. This town is in a beautiful location, since it is on the water and surrounded by tall mountains where the Palamidi Fortress stands on the other side.

Shortly after lunch in the town square, we were met by an enthusiastic tour guide that said that we were going to skip all the "boring things" and gave us background on the different buildings and history in the area, and I was definitely surprised by the unique color in much of the architecture. One of the things that he mentioned was how one of the castles in the town was built near the beginning of the period of neoclassical architecture, which was a mix of the ancient ideas with more modern methods. At one point, we sat on the street lined with palm trees and restaurants with a view of the Bourtzi Castle as we sat and listened to the tour guide.

After finishing the tour, all of us went to our hotel rooms to have a chance to relax, then had a chance to hike up to the Palamidi Fortress. Apparently, it doesn't really have 1000 steps. Only 857. The view at the top of the deep blue water, surrounding landscape and colorful town, as well as the historical Bourtzi Castle standing alone in the ocean was incredible and something that was unique to anything that I had seen before. 

Overall, this has been one of my favourite days of the trip, and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

Stefan

Day 8: Ancient Messini and a traditional Greek lunch!

The Temperature at Ancient Messini today!

Day 8 Photo Album

Exploring Ancient Messini was the perfect way to end our stay in Kyparissia. Leaving at 8:00 AM, we arrived at Ancient Messini before the afternoon heat, and were fascinated by what we saw. Messini was once a city lived in by the Greeks, but the city was attacked and destroyed by the Spartans, and then abandoned.

Even though Ancient Messini was not left in a very good condition, it has one of the most impressive Greek Stadiums, which we visited at the beginning. As we walked down the long rows of stone benches, we started to realize the size of the stadium, and how many people could fit inside. Used by the Greeks as an athletics track, we saw a portion that had been closed off by a shot wall of stones. This was just one of the places where the Romans had altered the stadium for their purposes, turning this part of the track into a gladiator arena. At the end of the stadium, we also saw a mausoleum, built by a rich Roman family.


Continuing on, we stopped to get some water from the Fountain of Arsinoe, a water source that used to supply the city. While walking to the amphitheater, we saw the agora, or marketplace, with a treasury in the corner. After passing more ruins of buildings, we arrived at the amphitheater, now reconstructed and used for entertainment and performances such as TED X. Here, we got to preform our own joke, riddle, story, or skit. After fun time in the ruins of Ancient Messini, we were hungry, and headed to a delicious lunch at a restaurant in the town above the ruins. We then returned home to pack and get ready for tomorrow.

After staying in Hotel Kanellakis for eight nights, I think we will all miss the kind staff and nice hotel rooms. However, after an amazing day, we are looking forward to visiting Napflion tomorrow.

Nadia

Day 7: Exploring Mushroom Bay!

Day 7 Photo Album

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Today was definitely one of my favorite days of the trip so far. We got up early at 7:00am and drove for an hour, accompanied by Mr. D's excellent music and many renditions of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now". After making a quick stop in Paris (or at least seeing an Eiffel tower statue) we made it to Pylos and Navarino Bay. Pylos bay is a beautiful deep blue cove connected to the ocean through a channel, in which the rocks lean towards each other and make the bay look like a mushroom, or the Greek letter omega. The first thing we did was a relatively arduous hike in the hot sun to a cave called Nestor's cave that gave us an excellent view of the whole area. We then continued our hike to the top of the huge hill where the ruins of an ancient fortress built for the battle of Navarino lay. Everyone met at the top, overlooking the beautiful scenery, and then we climbed up a section of the fortress wall and walked along the edge. With the wide open ocean to our right, the overgrown inside of the castle to our left and only a 3 foot-wide wall under our feet, I was quite nervous. The prospect of tumbling hundreds of feet into the sea or 15 feet into the brambles was a little daunting. However, everybody made it along the wall unscathed. After that, we walked back down the hill and back for a swim in Pylos bay. This was my personal favourite part of the day, as the hypersalinated was very easy to swim in. It was really nice floating along on top of the water until, of course, you got a wave in your face.

Amalia

Day 6: Apollo's Temple, Caving in the River Neda and the Tour de la Pelopponese!

 Day 6 Photo Album

When we all got up for the day of Apollo's Temple and the walk in the River Neda, the whole group was excited. We made a stop at an outdoor amphitheatre right above the River Neda. The view was incredible and there were so many mountains, trees, and the river right below, hidden by hills, not to mention a great view. Did I mention a great view? Apollo's temple was covered in a giant tarp, to preserve it from the weather. The view inside was very nice and almost all of the columns were preserved quite well. I heard that they were restoring the temple and it would be fully restored in about 50 years. After that, we got ready for biking down the mountain where Apollo's temple was on top of.

Marshall

Yesterday was a great day! After visiting Apollo's Temple, we biked down the mountain it was on. We started off and collectively gasped at the view of the steep drop into the river valley, littered with small towns and winding roads scattered across the mountain sides. As we sped down the mountain, slowing down only for the sharp turns along the winding roads, a hot breeze - which felt like mist - came up and added to the beauty of our postcard perfect ride. At one point we could see each other across a valley, which was truly a magical moment. Continuing down, we wound our way through several small villages, observing the very small town lifestyle. As with all good things, it had to come to an end, and we took a break under a big tree for lunch.

Logan

Today we went to the River Neda, named after the famous nymph i Greek Mythology. It was an amazing day and very cool to see the river where Zeus was born. Because of my love for Greek mythology, I was really excited to be there. Yannis and some of the kids we met in the triathlon accompanied us which made it even more special.

We wandered through the river which was a bit slippery in places and my Keen's really came in handy. It was hot but the water helped cool us down. The scenery was beautiful throughout! My favourite part of the journey was when we came across a cave where we were greeted with a surprise - bats! We were able to swim i the cave with the bats overhead which was awesome. The next section was also very beautiful. Because it was more remote, it seemed more untouched and you could imagine how Zeus felt way back when.

At another section of the river we found some ropes which we used to climb up the rocks to get to two pools of water connected to the water fall. There were 7 foot drops which you could jump off of into the water. The brave ones jumped off bit I didn't use the experience to get over my fear of heights....maybe next time.

We then took a trail to the van. That is when we ran into a little bit of trouble. One van had a flat tire ad another got caught on a rock. Just a little hiccup at the end of a fabulous day!

Samuel