When a four-day excursion to the Peloponnese includes hiking to the summit of an acropolis for a view of the Corinth Canal, sitting in an ancient Greek theater, sleeping in a cabin-like hotel in a remote mountain village, and running 200 meters on an ancient Olympic track, a plethora of stories clearly needs to be shared.

As a class, we traversed to the other Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, on Saturday morning, traveling by bus first to the ancient site of Corinth. On the way, we crossed over the Corinth Canal, a project that was completed around the same time as the Panama Canal. The canal provides a safer and shorter passageway for ships traveling between the Saronic and Corinthian Gulfs. At Ancient Corinth, we had a guided tour by the director of excavation, Guy Sanders. He led us behind ropes prohibiting public entry to areas of the site, so it was absolutely thrilling to have the one guy who knows everything about the site show us around and share the back story, providing anecdotes and helpful facts on the geology and geography of the area. At one point, he led us down to an ancient spring house, and we could see tourists looking down at us with looks of bewilderment as to how to access the area.

Our next stop was the Acrocorinth, or the Acropolis of Corinth. On a side note, many people (and I was one of them) refer to the acropolis in Athens as "The" Acropolis, but many cities in ancient times had an acropolis, which literally translates as "the high point of the city," with acro as high and polis as city. They were essentially defense measures. Compared to the Athenian Acropolis, the Acrocorinth is much higher in scale, as it was a good 20 minutes of steep hiking to the summit, where we could see remnants of the original fortress. From the summit, we could also see the Isthmus of Corinth and the two gulfs connected by the canal.

We then visited one of the sites I have been anticipating to see for the last two months--the ancient theatre at Epidaurus. I could not get over how intact the theatre still is; we walked all the way to the top, and Professor Hurwit stayed down in the performance area to demonstrate the acoustics of the theatre; he dropped a coin in the "prime" spot, and we could hear it so clearly from the highest row. As with the Theatre of Dionysus, I tried to imagine myself as a Greek in antiquity, watching the tragedies of Sophocles and Aristophanes.

Our lodging for the night was in the beautiful harbor town of Nafplion. In the evening, a group of us went to a local winery for wine tasting. The owner shared four Greek wines with us, discussing each in detail, as we observed the color, smell and ultimately the taste of each. There were first two white wines, and then two red, as well as ouzo and rocky. He had a young son and daughter who helped pour the drinks and pass around the cheese and olives. All around Greece, it's so refreshing to see the thriving family businesses.

A small group of us then went to dinner at a nice tavern along the waterfront. I shared a dinner of linguini with fresh shrimp with a friend --between the two of us, we still could not complete the dish. It was one of the most delicious meals I've had here in Greece--the shrimp was perfect. Before we called it a night, we went to the "best" gelato place in town, an authentic Italian joint where the workers greet you with "Ciao." Two scoops of pineapple and mixed berry filled my cone--a refreshing treat.

Day two was spent exploring the ancient sites of Tiryns and Mycenae, palaces of the ancient Mycenaean civilization. In class we discussed the functions of the palace, learning the different areas and rooms and their purposes, as well as learning about the Mycenaean's' religious practices and pottery. As with all of the sites we've visited, it's much more impressive to be walking across the grounds of the site while looking at the plan we've discussed in class beforehand. Mycenae is the site of the famous Lion Gate, which you may have heard about.  

From Mycenae we traveled to Adritsena, a small village in the mountains in the northwest corner of the Peloponnese. We stayed in cabin-like rooms with the most gorgeous views extending to the horizon. What a contrast to Athens; the fresh was air was, well, refreshing. Part of me ached to stay there for the next month, getting to know the locals. There's only one main road, and since we arrived on a Sunday, virtually all of the few stores were closed. I diverted from the road to explore some of the side streets, finding the most beautiful and charming houses. I came across this old iron gate that led into an abandoned garden, full of all kinds of plants and trees; I couldn't help but think of "The Secret Garden."

On Monday we visited the Temple of Apollo at Bassia; it's one of the temples that has faced the most destruction, after earthquakes and the fact that it's built near the top of a mountain and has therefore been exposed to the elements more significantly over the years. It's also unique because it stand on a north-south axis, whereas most other Greek temples stand east-west. Conservationists have placed a large tent over the temple to limit more exposure, and they're slowly moving the temple a few meters forward to more stable ground. This stimulated some discussion from our professor as to whether such tampering with the past is archaeologically ethical or not. I'm on the fence, as I covet palpable history existing for many more generations, but maybe there is a certain point where you treat temples and other ancient buildings as having lives of their owns, and you let nature take its course.

Monday evening was spent exploring Olympia, site of the first Olympic Games and a colossal bronze-ivory statue of Zeus, one of the original wonders of the ancient world. We saw the remnants of the temple, as well as the foundations for the gymnasium where athletes trained and the hotel where family members and friends stayed when the competitions occurred. We saw where the Olympic Flame was lit in front of the altar to the Temple of Hera. Perhaps most exciting, we explored the stadium where running events occurred. It's roughly 192 meters in length, and you could see where the original starting blocks stood. We took turns running--how cool is it to say I ran in the stadium of the first Olympic Games!

Tuesday morning, we visited the museum of the Ancient Olympic Games, where we saw bases for victory trophies, tripods, shields, as well as a large floor mosaic depicting athletic, poetic, musical and dramatic competitions. Our last stop in the Peloponnese was the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, the "crescendo" according to Professor Wede. He was absolutely right. In the center of the museum stand the remnants, but more often quite intact, sculptures from the metopes and pediments of the Temple of Zeus that stood at Olympia. The  metopes represent the 12 labors of Herakles, a myth describing the tasks, including the slaying of the Nemean lion, the mortal son of Zeus must accomplish to earn the status of hero and immortality. The west pediment depicts a centauromachy, or a battle between Greek Lapiths and centaurs, half-human and half-horse creatures, after the centaurs get a little too inebriated from wine at a wedding. One of the sculptures is virtually unbroken of a centaur wrapping its hoof around the bride, and the bride jabs her elbow into his face. These sculptures emit such extraordinary depth, and I found myself gawking at them, drawn in by their impressive force. The east pediment represents the oath of Pelops (after whom the Peloponnese is named) and Oinomaos before their chariot of race; Zeus, the judge of the race, stands in the center. It was truly amazing how these colossal sculptures, so intricately detailed, and most of all, still intact, are around for us to observe millennia later.

Now I'm back in Athens for two days before a small group of us travels to northern Greece on Thursday night to spend the weekend climbing Mt. Olympus, exploring waterfalls at Edessa, and viewing the monasteries on top of sprawling cliffs at Meteora.