I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/18325/uncensor

So ████████'s ████-██████ ████, ████/████, ████ ███████████ ████ to ██████████. ██████.

Test mess

Jen: Could she be a Jen? More info at 11.

On the issue of not posting about anything

Hey guys (i.e. anyone who actually reads this), I just want to comment on my lack of updates since, like, forever. There are three reasons for this happening:

1. I am a lazy college-aged blogger.
2. I didn't feel like writing about Greece after it already happened; it just wouldn't have the spontaneity of a travel diary.
3. I haven't been writing much about Scotland because, well, I'm in Scotland. And I've been doing work (occasionally). At other times I've just been dicking around.

I intend to write a bit about what I've experienced in the next couple of days and then (hopefully) blogging regularly after that. But that's just a plan, of course.

You should read Weary Wanderer

Before I talk about Mykonos, I've got an announcement. I know someone who has a travel blog kinda like mine, but with a greater focus on anecdotes. It's called Weary Wanderer, and the writer is in the middle of a summer Semester At Sea. She talks about different countries with every post, so don't forget to check it regularly or subscribe to it via RSS!

Delos, Greece

I'd like to apologize for the delay to anyone who's reading. There was a bit of an issue with Facebook and I slacked off.

So we went to Delos, birthplace of the sun god Apollo, at around 9 AM on June 22. Despite the antiquity of the island's religion, the island is still a protected UNESCO site and everyone save for the guards is forced to leave in the mid-afternoon.

The city of Delos was a holy site and no one was allowed to die or be buried there. Traditionally Greek people live near where there parents died, so this was a way of keeping people out of the flourishing city that lay there. I believe it was the Athenian government that did this?

The city was a melting pot by ancient standards. It had a great amount of "orientals" (e.g. Syrians and other middle easterners). The Syrians were great bankers, and their houses had windows which may have been teller windows. To the right you'll see me and my brother attempting to re-enact this. Unfortunately for him, I did not actually give him the five euro that I'm holding in the picture.





We saw a big house with a really impressive mosaic on the floor. I got a decent snapshot of it (more photos of the house at the bottom).


There are still things about this wonderful city that are still very mysterious; the archaeologists have decided to leave much of the city uncovered so that the city doesn't erode more. It's so tragic that such a wonderful place has to remain largely unexplored if we intent to preserve it; I was really taken aback by the gravity of the archaeological dilemma. More pictures and captions below!

Banker's house:

Panorama shot.

Lion sculptures:

Oh by the way there were all these lion sculptures there for some reason. They were really cool.

A whole line of lions.

Sorry again for the huge delay. I have so many photos for every day and a lot of things to say. (And a lot of things I've forgotten, unfortunately.) If I have more to say about Delos I'll make an addendum post; otherwise expect another post soon. I think.

Next time: Mykonos!

Athens, Greece

Note: If you are reading this on Facebook Notes and you can't see the pictures, click the link to the original post at the bottom or go straight to my blog at gregeveritt.com.

It took a while to get to Athens. The flight from New York to Paris was something like 10 hours, followed by a flight to Athens, which was something like 2 hours.

Needless to say, it was worth it. I'll start my discussion of Athens by describing the first thing my family and I wanted to see: The Acropolis. Every Greek city had an acropolis, which was the highest point of the city. They would build their most impressive buildings there for all to see. They would build temples to the gods.

And what better acropolis to visit then the acropolis of Athens, home of the Parthenon?

The Parthenon was shorter than I expected it to be (I expected a skyscraper, I guess), but it is a mind-blowing vista. It's hard to describe how delicate and detailed every column of the Parthenon is. There are no straight lines on the Parthenon, only slight curves. Even the columns don't stand entirely straight, as you may be able to tell from the photo to the left (credit for all the Acropolis photos goes to my brother).

There was also this building here too, known as the Erechtheum (spelling found on Wikipedia).

It was made primarily for religion, which distinguishes it from the Parthenon. Although the Parthenon was built for the goddess Athena, who was the patron of Athens, it was also meant to show off how well Athens could be rebuilt after an invasion. Although not as awe-inspiring as the Parthenon, this building was still very impressive. Like the Parthenon, no tourists were allowed inside.

There was a bit of a hike required to reach the acropolis. I don't have a decent photo of this, but the photo to the right may give you some idea of the altitude. There were some more sights we saw in Athens, which I may show you later, but none of them could possibly compare to the Acropolis

More photos of the Athenian Acropolis:

The entrance to the acropolis

Acropolis from a distance

From a greater distance, at night

Miscellaneous photos of Athens at night, taken from the old part of the city:

The Presidential mansion, I believe? I forget.

An itty bitty church

I don't think this is the old city anymore, but I still like nighttime city photography, so here goes.

In my next entry, I'll be covering our tour of Delos, the legendary birthplace of the sun god Apollo. Stay tuned!