The Black Lung Boosts the Local Economy! Part 3: The Black Lung Considers a Change of Venue

Previously, on The Black Lung: Italy at last.

When we first booked our trip, we were supposed to spend 1 day in Greece and 2 in Turkey, but because of unrest in Turkey, that got switched to 3 days in Greece. No offense to Turkey, which I've heard is great, and of course I would never wish unrest on anyone, but Greece is the best. Seriously, it's amazing, and I will go back there one day.

The first place we went in Greece was Olympia. We actually docked in Katakolon, which is a tiny town that was super cute when we drove through it. But our big excursion was about 40 minutes away by bus, in Olympia, the site of the Ancient Olympics!!! The modern Olympics are just about my favorite thing ever, so the ancient Olympics totally seemed like my jam. Sure, there was no swimming, but all the sports were done naked, so it balances out. JK, women were not allowed to watch the Olympics in ancient times. :(

First things first-the financial crisis in Greece is real. As we were driving to Olympia, we passed a lot of very scenic countryside with lots of bags of trash along the side of the road. Our tour guide, who was super proud of being Greek (a theme amongst Greek tour guides), was also super embarrassed about their trash problem. I guess having no money means not having all of the awesome civic workers you and I take for granted. Say what you will about the trash in the Greek countryside, but these people know how to maintain some awesome ancient ruins. The remains of ancient Olympia consist of some awesome partial temples to Zeus and Hera, plus places where the athletes trained and performed. I think it must have looked pretty amazing in its heyday. There were remains of stone columns, giant stone blocks, and pedestal bases for statues all over the place.

In front of what I think is the athlete training area. According to our guide, many athletes in the Olympics died from dehydration. Drink lots of water, guys. Also note the pretty trees! 

BTW, we were not anywhere near Mount Olympus-apparently when the Greek pantheon made its way to this part of Greece, they named the city/sports stuff in honor of the Olympian gods. Also, I have had more than one person ask me if the Greeks still worship those dudes. I totes laughed, because I'm a terrible person. But no, they absolutely don't. As we learned on a different day in Greece, 97% of the country is Greek Orthodox, which is pretty darn similar to Catholic as far as I can tell.

I also really loved the flora in the area. The trees were great. They probably weren't ancient, but they were really pretty. One of the coolest things we saw was the actual ancient stadium where the sporting events were held. Apparently some events from the 2004 Olympics in Athens were also held there! I think it was discus, or possibly shot put. We also saw the location where the Olympic torch is lit every time there's an Olympic Games. We had just missed it by a couple of days, too. The actual location is very lame looking, but it's a cool tradition.

Leanne is also super into the stadium. The Ancient Greeks did not run in circles like modern people. They ran back and forth in lines. Whee!

After we saw all the coolness of the ancient ruins and had to wait for the stupid tourists who got lost (is it so hard to stick with the guide???), we got to boost the local economy by shopping! I bought the most delicious pistachio creme there. It's kind of like peanut butter, but a lot less thick. It's so good. I wish I had bought more, even though it was $$$. I also got some great earrings (and resisted buying the matching necklace, something that I would fail at later in vacation) and the most delicious baklava at a little cafe. I have made it my new goal to learn to make baklava that tastes even half that good.

The Temple of Zeus! That guy was the worst.

Did you know that Greece (which is totally not called that by Greek people-it's called Hellas) has about 10,000 islands? Most of them are super tiny and not inhabited, but about 200 have people living on them. The next day we went to one of them, Mykonos. Apparently, it's super touristy, but I can totally see why, because it's amazing, and Bonnie and I are going to move there someday. We just need a librarian job and an occupational therapist job for English speakers.

On the water taxi. We were so happy/seasick!

Anywho, because of the specific excursion we went on that day, we took the water taxi from the port to the main town, and even though the water was choppy, the weather was windy, and people were legit getting sick, it was a wonderful view. After we got to town, we took a half hour boat ride to the Island of Delos, which was our tour. Fun fact-when I went to use the boat bathroom, a lady ran in front of me and started barfing. JK, it wasn't fun, it was the worst.

Anywho, in case you didn't know, Delos is the mythical birthplace of the twin god/goddess Apollo and Artemis! Apparently, Hera was super ticked that Zeus had an affair with Leto, the twins' mom, and she forbade anywhere on earth from sheltering Leto. Poor lady was just pregnant for a long time. Eventually, Delos offered her shelter because it was already a sucky place, so it had nothing to lose. But Delos became super great, so it worked out. The island is pretty small, about 6 km long and 2 km wide, but about 25,000 people used to live there! That's a lot of people! It was a very prosperous place, too. One way they made all their $$ was from the slave market, which is a bummer. The island basically has no natural resources. They relied on rain water for drinking, and they got their food from other islands nearby. And it was against the law to give birth or to die on Delos. So if you were way pregnant or looked pretty terrible, they would row you over to a neighboring island to take care of things.

Apparently we visited at exactly the right time of year, when there were beautiful flowers on the island. The rest of the year, it is brown.

The House of Dionysus! It's called that because this mural is totally Dionysus riding a leopard. 

This was another super fancy house/maybe a bank. They don't really know. And look, a dove!

Our tour guide told us that about 25% of the island is currently excavated, but archeologists still live on Delos, and are slowly but surely working on more. Apparently, a lot of the island's artifacts are gone, some because of looters after the city fell (they thought Apollo would protect them, and he blew it), and a lot because of neighboring islanders. During plague times, people thought they would be protected from disease if they whitewashed their houses with lyme, which you totally get from burning marble. So a bunch of the awesome marble was carted off and used to make people's houses white, and probably not safe from the plague at all.

In front of the Temple of Apollo! Maybe it's because I don't know that much about him, but he seems pretty cool for a Greek God. 

In front of the Terrace of the Lions. These dudes are guarding the sacred lake where the gods were born (since drained because, mosquitoes). And look how windy it was!

After we left Delos, we spent the rest of the day on Mykonos. What a great island. According to a friendly shopkeeper, they get cruise ships pretty much every day for about 8 months of the year, and the other 4 months, nothing happens there. The town looks like the stereotype of a Greek town-all white buildings with beautiful blue accents. And there are cats everywhere! We really enjoyed wandering around the town, especially after we turned off the main drag and explored the tiny side streets. We also got some delicious chicken gyros (they don't taste the same as the ones I've gotten in the US). I got a vanilla milkshake that was also super different from what you'd get here but delicious anyway, and we all got some ice cream. Hours after the milkshake, don't judge me. I was very excited to see that they sold Kinder Bueno ice cream. If you're not in the know, Kinder Bueno is my very favorite candy ever. And it is delicious in ice cream. We were very sad to leave Mykonos at the end of the day. I think we could have happily stayed there for several days and had an awesome, relaxing time.

Mykonos! One thing we loved about Greece was how incredibly beautiful the water was.

Wandering the streets, we met a clown on stilts, and he made me this balloon dog. I named him Killer.

Cats of Mykonos. I started a photo series of street cats and dogs in Greece, and I decided I shall turn it into a calendar to benefit homeless pets. I'm not sure if all of these cats were actually homeless, but some of the did look really sad.

The sign that prompted us to go exploring the city. We never did find the library, but it was worth it anyway.

With Bonnie on one of the little side streets of Mykonos. And this was one of the wide streets! It was really pretty there.

On the hills above town. Seriously, you can all come visit me when I move there.

And that's it for the relaxing parts of Greece. Stay tuned for next time, when the Black Lung sees some super foxy Greek policemen.