The Greek mainland

To come to the place of the ancient Greeks has been an important goal of mine ever since I studied a couple of classical studies papers at university. The myths were epic to read and the art was interesting. It was also the origin of the Olympic games, which is something I am passionate about. A shame I've been a little too lazy to get there as a competitor and not just a volunteer.
Delaying this trip to Greece has also been a contributing factor to staying in Europe. New factors have come about to keep me in Europe, so still not coming home in hurry for those that are curious.
So with some excitement I jumped on a bus out of Albania and headed for the city of Trikala in central Greece. It was a place I hadn't even heard of a week before starting my trip, however I got told by a friend that if in Greece I should go to Meteora. So I did. And am glad I did. Meteora is an area where what looks like giant boulders stick out of the ground. Some of these rocks ate close to 700m high. What makes this more remarkable is that the are a number of monestries and nunnaries located on top of or within the rock face. In the modern error there are roads catering for tour coaches and electronic cable cars to carry building materials. But if you think about when they first existed, these access routes would not have existed, meaning there existence is quite remarkable. Also it left monks and nuns isolated to worship and to leave and return, at some places they had to be manually whenced up in a net. A Greece must see. But be prepared to walk about six hours, although one you see one monestry you have seen them all. Unfortunately both nunnaries were closed so can not comment on similarity.
The next day I headed to Athens, but made an important detour on the way, that of Delphi. This is an exceptionally important place in Greek times. Here was where the Oracle of Delphi could be found who would babble nonsense which would be translated by prophets. This was apparently one of the signs for the attack of Troy. The area also conveyed significance as you can find the Temple of Apollo and Athena, with somecolumns still standing. There is also a well preserved amphitheatre and stadium. Wasn't so excited about getting on a bus, but would mean I would finally get to Athens.
I arrived into Athens late in the evening and stayed in athenstyle, a highly recommended hostel that had no character and was a let down, but will talk about hostels at a later stage. First day in Athens I went on an interesting walking tour with a classics major. Was very informative and provided some good explanations of some of the archaeological sites. As well as some not ancient Greek sites. Afterwards the fun began, starting with the new acropolis museum. This was great, displaying many of the real monuments and remains of the acropolis site. The best part being the top floor where they have used the remains of the metopes, friezes and pediments, and casts of the ruins that were stolen in the 1800s and are in other museums to recreate what this part of the parthenon would look like. However, having been here it made the national archaeological museum look lame, especially because the area I wanted to see due to my studies (the vases) was shut due to bad economic times and was only open a few hours a day.
Obviously, for me the acropolis was amazing, although I would prefer they didn't rebuild, as I think the sites look much more genuine in ruined state. Within Athens there is also the best preserved Temple, which was dedicated to the God of fire, the ugly God whos name I forget. The 16 columns of the Temple of Zeus is also really cool as it gives an idea of how big his Temple would have been.
But the place I loved most was the panatheneic stadium, an ancient stadium with phenomenal design that was reconstructed to host the first Olympic games of 1896. It is amazing, made of marble and looks nicer then all other Olympic stadiums. It is also sized by the old measurement of stadia. It was also used for another Olympic sanctioned games in 1906. Did anyone know about this? I didn't. I had a little run on the track and spent ages just soaking up the majesty.
Oh, when in Athens, don't watch the changing of the guard. Rubbish, slow, and the match is based on a horse stomping. Haha.
Now in Mykonos checking out the Islands.

Joshua