Swimming in the Mediterranean!

Swimming on the black-sand beaches of Perissa.

Santorini!

After a fun 2 days on Crete, we took a morning ferry to the small island of Santorini. It was quite windy as we rode the ferry; windy enough that if you stood on the one side of the ferry, salt spray would blow forcefully into our mouths. Mmmm! The delicious salt water of the Mediterranean. Finally, after a rocky 4 hours, we arrived on Santorini. Disembarking at the ferry terminal in Santorini was quite entertaining as the wind had picked up quite a bit more, making us have to run off as soon as it was safe and forcing the cars to wait between waves to drive off. Santorini used to be a larger island, but centuries ago, a volcano occured and collapsed upon itself, creating the islands of Therasia, Nea Kameni and Santorini as it is today.--Colleen

Athens to Iraklion

After a great time in Athens, we took a night ferry to Crete, landing in the capital city, Iraklion, early the next morning. We had beautiful weather on Crete, which made seeing the sights of the city that much more enjoyable. We took a walk along the port to the old Venetian Fort and then walked beyond it down a sea wall that was lined with what looked like giant concrete jacks. They were quite fun to climb upon--until you fell in between them and broke your arm...hahaha just kidding! hahaha ;]--Colleen

Athens and the Temple of Zeus

After seeing the Akropolis, we continued walking and came upon the Temple of Zeus. The construction on this temple began in the 6th Century BC during a time when Athens was ruled by tyrants who dreamt of building one of the largest temples in the ancient world. However, due to the circumstances, construction on this temple was not completed until around 600 years later during the 2nd Century AD when Emperor Hadrian was ruling.
The rest of the pictures are various sights we saw while walking through the streets and markets of Athens and also the view from our hotel.--Colleen

Mars Hill and the Acropolis

On our way galavanting to the Acropolis, we stopped by the famous Mars Hill, where the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians about 1950 years ago. The whole hill is made of raw marble, most of which is smoothed out from thousands of years of rubbing Greek and foreign feet. From this perch, you can see the entirety of western Athens, from the port of Piraeus to downtown Omonia, to the Ancient Agora, to the foothills of Attica. It is really breathtaking. After leaving the Hill, which is usually packed with people, we headed up the hill to the Acropolis, a clearly visible landmark from almost anywhere in Athens. There are no steps up to Acropolis, it's just marble flagstones and slabs that lead up to the front gates. We got our tickets from a previous vendor at the Library of Hadrian, which cost me 12 euro (not Colleen, she got in for free), and allowed you into any of the Archaeological sites in and around Athens. The Acropolis has several Archaeological sites besides the Parthenon, but the Parthenon is definitely the largest and most impressive!--Jesse