After a three year hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic, 25 educators, including old and new friends of the ExL program, met in Athens Greece to resume the yearly Study Tours which are the highlight of our online educational program.
The 2022 Study Tour encompassed a visit to many of the classical sites in the Peloponnese with two days on the island of Hydra. Our opening event was a tour and dinner as guests of the Benaki Museum. Our guide was Pavlos Geroulanos, great-grandson of the founder of the Museum, former Minister for Culture and Tourism, and a friend and supporter of the ExL program. At dinner, we were joined by Eva Kanellis, a member of ExL’s honorary Board, and Iliana Lazana of the American College of Greece.
As in years past, we started our exploration of Ancient Greece with a trek up the Acropolis to stand in the shadow of the Parthenon, the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, and one of the finest examples of Greek architecture. Symbolic of Greece itself, the Parthenon is never out of site as you walk the streets of Athens.
Led by our guide, Mara Kanari, a storyteller and modern Greek bard, we traversed the mainland of Greece, visiting the Oracle of Delphi on the southwestern slope of Mount Parnassus, the ruins of the ancient site of the Olympics amid the judas trees with their vivid pink blooms. Then we were off to Nafplion, a seaport town still showing the influence of the Venetians dating from their control of the area. There was a bit of time to relax and enjoy dinner and Greek dancing at a local taverna before we set off to visit the site of excavations sponsored by the American Schools of Classical Studies where we were greeted by Associate Director Dr. Ioulia Tzonou and Steinmetz Fellow Eleni Gizas. We enjoyed a visit to their small but informative museum before braving the rain for a short but wet visit to the site which dates from 6500 BCE.
After lunch we are off to visit Mycenae, one of the major centers of Greek civilization which is best known as the home of Agamemnon and the site of Heinrich Schliemann’s extraordinary archaeology research. Nearby, we visited the Treasury of Atreus also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon, one of the best preserved tholos or beehive tombs constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BCE.
A visit to the Asclepeion at Epidaurus, the celebrated healing center of classical times, featuring the ancient theater, renown and admired for its exceptional acoustics, is highlighted for the adventurous by a climb to the top of the theater where the view is amazing. Reboarding our bus—nicknamed by Gregory Maguire the purple centaur— we were dropped off at a small pier at Metochi, a small boat waiting to motor us to Hydra.
Always a favorite with the Fellows, Hydra is one of the Saronic Islands located in the Aegean Sea, and a gathering place for artists and writers. We arrived at the one main town, known simply as Hydra Port, which consists of a crescent-shaped harbor, around which is centered a strand of restaurants, shops, markets and galleries. We enjoyed the scenic walks from the Port to get a better view of the sea and the island life. Donkeys are the island’s taxi and delivery mode of transportation. The next day focused on enjoying the island, either by relaxing or participating in a watercolor workshop led by our artist-in-residence, Gareth Hinds, or a writing workshop led by Tanya Lee Stone and Sarah Aronson, this year’s Kindling Words Fellows. At the end of the workshop, everyone scattered to catch the beautiful sunset visible from many vistas on the island before enjoying dinner in one of many local tavernas.
Groans abound the next morning as we rise early and catch the first hydrofoil back to the mainland. Our first stop was a visit to the Agora of Athens where we are met by the esteemed archaeologist, Dr. John Camp, who has been director of the dig since 1968. We were honored to have him as our guide and he led us to a section of the site which is currently being excavated and not open to the public. Mara took over from the professor and gave us a thorough look at the Museum and other parts of this large and important area of Athens which was a gathering place for commercial, civic and assembly purposes. The afternoon is spent at the National Archaeological Museum which houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. The visit synthesized our time in Greece and put many of our own explorations into perspective.
Our last full day of the Study Tour was Good Friday. Gareth Hinds gave us insight into his work and process and his talk continued after we board the bus which will take us to site of the Battle of Marathon and the tumulus, a ceremonial funeral mound of the 192 dead Athenians who bravely defeated a much larger Persian force. The victory at Marathon captured the collective imagination of the Greeks along with the tale of the messenger running 26.2 miles to Athens to deliver the news fueling the creation of the modern marathon race. Many credit the Battle of Marathon as the birth of democracy.
After lunch by the sea, we returned to Athens by way of Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon—an important ancient Greek religious sanctuary sacred to the gods Poseidon and Athena. Sounion was the setting for several episodes in Greek mythology and is specifically mentioned as a place of religious significance in Homer’s Odyssey. In some myths it is the spot where the Athenian King Aegis threw himself into the sea in despair at having sighted the black sail of his son Theseus’ ship returning from Crete and his battle with the Minotaur. Theseus had promised to show a white sail to indicate his safe return but he forgot and so his father needlessly killed himself. The Aegean Sea is named after the unfortunate king.
For our last evening in Athens and our farewell, we gathered on the rooftop of our friend and supporter Nikos Trivoulidis in Plaka for music by Zach Tarpagos, a flutist with the Greek National Operate and readings by Gregory Maguire from his own work; a tandom reading by Barbara Harrison and Mara Kanari, in both English and Greek, of the poem Ithaka by Cavafy, and the Mary Oliver poem Night Flight read by Mary Lee Donovan. From outside we can hear the crowds of faithful worshippers carrying candles and singing softly, following the procession of the Epitaphos, the symbolic bier, decorated lavishly with flowers and bearing the image of Christ in honor of the cruxifixction.
The next morning, the Study Tour is officially over and the Fellows disperse. While some fly home to be in their classrooms on Monday morning, most of the Fellows traveled to Aghioi Apostoloi, a small traditional village near Petries where we joined our guide Mara and her family for the celebration of a traditional Greek Orthodox Easter. At midnight we walked to the small village church, full to overflowing with anticipation of sharing the light representing the eternal light of Jesus. At midnight the congregation passed the flame from candle to candle until each holds the light in our hands. At the same time fireworks go off, the loud cacophony incongruent with the solemnity of the occasion, but an intrinsic part of the celebration. “Christos Anesti — Christ is risen” is shared amongst all.
Easter Sunday presents an opportunity to relax while the traditional lamb is roasting. During the Easter feast, there’s a traditional challenge called tsougrisma. Everyone receives a brightly dyed red egg. Holding your egg, you tap the end against the end of your opponent’s egg, trying to crack it, without cracking your own. It’s a game enjoyed by children and adults alike.
Early on Easter Monday, we say farewell to new and old friends, with most of our fellow travelers flying home and a few flying to Crete where they spent the rest of the week exploring the northern coast of the island with a special visit to Knossos, the site of the largest known Minoan settlement.
Stay tuned — photos of the Study Tour will be posted to the website very soon!