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Back from my Greece trip!


kirispupis

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Hello everyone,

I've actually been back for a couple of weeks now, but I thought I'd share a couple photos that I've processed so far and provide what I learned from the trip.

Itinerary:
- One week travelling myself across Attica, Phokis, and the Peloponnese
- One day in Athens by myself at the beginning and one day to meet up with my wife
- Three days in Santorini together
- Three days in Mykonos together
- Three days in Kefalonia together

I visited the following ruins, most of them myself.

  • Various sites around Athens
  • Sounion
  • Corinth
  • Acrocorinth
  • Delphi
  • Olympia
  • Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai
  • Mystra
  • Sparta
  • Messene
  • Napflion (castles)
  • Epidauros
  • Mycenae
  • Tiryns
  • Agiosthena
  • Eleusis
  • Delos (near Mykonos)
  • Akrotiri (Santorini)
  • Same (Kefalonia)

The following are things I felt worked well.

  • Every site I either hit the first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon. This did wonders for thinning out the crowds and most places I either practically had to myself or literally had to myself.
  • I stayed close to the action, so many places were just a walk from the hotel. 
  • I did research before I went and was already aware what I wanted to photograph

In terms of my favorites, I liked Corinth, Olympia, and Messene the most. Corinth was easily the most photogenic while I loved how nature has grown into Olympia. Messene gave the best indication of what an ancient city actually looked like. Delos was also very interesting. Delphi was pretty, but somewhat of a letdown since it's kind of like "ancient Disneyland". 

Some things I did realize fully were:

  1. The places written as 'top things to see' aren't necessarily the "top things to see." They're just what the tourism board wants you to see.
  2. Humans are a herding species

On the first point, take the temple at Bassai. It was completely awe inspiring. I visited it during the middle of the day, during the peak crowds, and there were only two cars in the lot. This is because the windy roads and distance from Athens make it difficult for buses to reach it. Similarly, Messene was easily the top site in terms of condition of the ruins, but it's too far from Athens so isn't advertised as much.

In terms of herding, this was nowhere near as apparent as Santorini. There are literally sites online that detail the top Instagram spots. At each one, there are long lines of people waiting to get the exact same photo. For sunset, those same sites say that you need to be in a particular area of Oia. So many people herded that way during sunset that I found all the popular IG locations empty, so I took all my photos of those spots at that time, which also happened to be when the best light was. 🙂 

Overall, it was a great trip. I'd certainly love to go back and see northern Greece. There were also spots in the southern Peloponnese I simply didn't have the time to reach. Finally, there are a ton of islands I still want to see.

Here are a few photos from the trip. I'm nearly done processing the lot, after which I'll work on the pile of coins that has accumulated on my desk. 🙂 

Corinth

corinth.jpg.617356018b3d230cb7c3083e23591a7c.jpg

 

Delphi

delphi.jpg.92eb3332cdb6ac30aa6173de083e425a.jpg

 

I'd expect even your cat to know where this is

parthenon.jpg.9b5b617153cce180027c5dc65f39e7ec.jpg

 

Acrocorinth

acrocorinth.jpg.7d4cd486fa598164f558a99ab0e5b772.jpg

 

Bassai

bassae.jpg.6b2d6eedf5a1cea63ba00fd38d2dd430.jpg

 

Corinth

corinth2.jpg.377b089eb936ed3a5ff5a1ec4c78e67e.jpg

 

Olympia

olympia.jpg.6801ff62a8e6393a117852d8af636208.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Severus Alexander said:

My cat is dumb, I showed him the photo and he said "Meowcenae." 😾

 

Maybe your cat will like these photos of cats I took on the trip. There are so many of them!

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331A9750-Edit.jpg.b1b154fc862e503c619c4e0119d04e20.jpg

331A9836.jpg.262c1ac37dd3f9c887fb40e1bf910a54.jpg

331A9324.jpg.d28d350904036229c8aa5d6a6d1593ac.jpg

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10 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

Maybe your cat will like these photos of cats I took on the trip. There are so many of them!

I confess that I don't actually have a cat any more... I miss him dearly!  But I imagined what he would have said...  (Sadly I'm allergic so it doesn't really make sense to have one. 😢)

In any case, the excellent cat photos are much appreciated.  (I get a cat calendar every year.) I especially love the first photo!

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