Before we left this morning for Pireus, to meet up with our ship, I took some pitures of the beautiful views from our hotel, the Santa Marina

We are off to Piraeus to join another group and go on a boat to some of the Greek Islands. We stopped to take a picture of Arachova, and stopped for a picture of Mount Parnassus behind the plain of Thebes.

NW of Thebes: view of Mt. Parnassus. The plain of Thebes is a major cotton-producing area. It used to be a lake, but was deliberately drained in the early 20th c AD to prevent the spread of malaria. This area was the stronghold of the Bronze-age Myceneans. Thebes was the home of Oedipus.

The plain of Thebes is a major cotton-producing area. It used to be a lake, but was deliberately drained in the early 20th c AD to prevent the spread of malaria. This area was the stronghold of the Bronze-age Myceneans. Thebes was the home of Oedipus. We also stopped by the Monument to Greek Resistance in WW II. We came into Orchomenos, a small village. In the 15th c BC the people of Orchomenos had a sophisticated hydraulic system to raise and lower the lake by siphoning it out to natural deep caverns through a channel that could be plugged with a big rock (navel).

We went to see the Tholos (round) tomb of Minyas, dating from the 13th c BC, and the Ancient Theatre, dating from the 4th c BC. This area was one of the two major centers of the Mycenean world. The tomb was made by first excavating the area, then a beehive shaped tomb with a vaulted roof and a corridor to the central tomb was built from marble rocks. The huge lintel is a single stone. A side area was created, perhaps for actual burial, or perhaps for treasure. The entire tomb is then covered with dirt. To move the rocks to create the tomb, they did not have pulleys, but rather used stone ramps. The Mycenean civilization flourished from about the 16th c BC and declined in the 11th c BC when there was a first great migration to Italy, where they learned a lot about hydraulics from the Etruscans.

We visited the Monastery of the Koimesis Skripou built in 847 AD using ancient pillars and stones. The circular stones in the exterior walls come from slices of ancient pillars. Under the church (and shown through a glassed-in cut in the floor) is the tiling from a yet older building, and a well for holy water from the older building. Outside there were buildings with cells for the monks, and paintings.

We're on our way south to Piraeus, Greece: We drove on to our lunch stop, where we found out that the bus had sprung a leak in its oil system. Poor Spiro had to load all our luggage onto a sister bus, and we all had to squeeze on the second bus with all its passengers and drive on to Athens and Piraeus.

We embarked on our huge sail (and also power) boat, the Pan Orama, and set off almost immediately for Poros, an island close off the Pelliponese coast. The seas were running quite high, and Martha almost immediately got very seasick. She retired down to her cabin (a BIG mistake) until Arthur chased her up to the deck and Kerstin gave her a Dramamine pill. Even so, Martha skipped dinner and stayed out on deck.

Entering the straits of Poros one immediately sees the island’s beautiful town on one side and the coast of the Peloponese with the densely green Galata on the other side. It is from that particular strait through which ships pass that the island took its name, since Poros in Greek means “passage”. The island is located 32 nautical miles from Piraeus. It covers an area of 32 square kilometers, and has a population of approximately 4,000 inhabitants. The town of Poros is built amphitheatrically on the two rocky hills of a three-cornered islet called Sphaeria. Its houses, lacking any particular architectural plan, are piled on top of each other with colorful windows and facades, roofed with terracotta tiles. History: Poros in ancient times consisted of two islands: Sphaeria and Kalavria, divided by the sea. Today they are joined by a small cape. Kalavria is very fertile and full of olive trees. In contrast, Sphaeria is arid and rocky, formed by volcanic material. Poros has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but the prosperity of the island came when Ionians founded the sanctuary Poseidon that became the center of the Ionic amphictyonic league during the classical period. Poros followed the historical evolution of Greece and especially that of Athens and neighboring Troezen. Highlights: On the top of the first hill stands the beautiful clock tower, the trademark of the island built in 1910. The other major highlight is Poros’ waterfront, which is the center of life on the island. The famous orator Demosthenes, chased by his enemies, shut himself in the temple of Poseidon in Kalavria where he drank poison in 332 BC. The inhabitants of the island buried him in the courtyard and every year honored him.