Castle of the Knights, Kos

  

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/koscastle1_en.html

and

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/koscastle2_en.html

It was constructed in the 15th century by the Knights of the Order of St John that ruled the island for about 200 years.

Platani, Kos

 

 

This weekend I added also a page on Platani of Kos island.
Platani : http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/platani_en.html

Iskander Kebab in the photo was really yammy.

Potami, Koumeika, Balos, Marathokampos in Samos

  

This weekend I added three pages about Samos island.

Potami : http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/samos/potami_en.html

Koumeika and Balos : http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/samos/koumeika_en.html

Marathokampos : http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/samos/marathokampos_en.html

Asklepieion

 

Added 4 pages about the Asklepieion (Sanctuary of Asklepios) of Kos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/asklepieion_en.html
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/asklepieion2_en.html
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/asklepieion3_en.html
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kos/asklepieion4_en.html

Huge sanctuary occupying three terrace of a hill. Telling you the truth there is not much left of the buildings, but the site has fa fabulous view of Kos and Turkish shore in front. 

Lesser Propylaia of Eleusis and Italian Agora of Delos

  

This weekend I added an entry of the Lesser Propylaia to Eleusis section, and another of the Agora of the Italians to Delos section.

Agora of the Italians (or Competialists or Hermaists)
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/delos/delosagoraitalians_en.html

Lesser Propylaia
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/eleusis/eleusisspropylaia_en.html

Great Propylaea, Eleusis

  

Yesterday, I added two entries to Eleusis.

Great Propylaia
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/eleusis/eleusisgpropylaia_en.html

Sacrificial Altar (Eschara)
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/eleusis/eleusiseschara_en.html

Eleusis

  

Four pages of various monuments in Eleusis were added.

Hiera Odos
Temple of Artemis
Sacred Well
Ploutoneion

Eleusis (Elefsina in modern Greek) is an extensive archaeological site near Athens. Regardless of its size and historical importance, it is not very popular to the tourists, probably because it lacks in any major monument, I mean, for example, there is no still standing temple there. And the place is not really attrative; Elefsina is now an industrial area of Athens, and there is scarsely anything recommendable (well, except this site).
Even so, it is certainly a must site for the antiquity lovers.

Mykonos Archaeological Museum

  

A page on the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos was added.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/mykonos/mykonosarchmus_en.html

This museum was built to house the finds from the island of Rheneia, uninhabited island in front of Delos. As the Athenians prohibited no one to be buried, more exactly to die, on Delos, the Delians had to be buried on Rheneia. So in the museum there are many grave monuments. This photo is one of them; the man evidently died in the sea.

Ag. Eleftherios and Panagia Gorgoepikoos Church in Athens

   Ag. Eleftherios and Panagia Gorgoepikoos church is a small Byzantine church, situated next to the Metropolitan cathedral of Athens. I added several new photos to the preexisting page.

http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/byzantineathens/mitropolistop_en.html

Remarkable is the mixture of Classic and Early Byzantine spolia, inserted into this small middle Byzantine church. Everytime I go there, I cannot stop admiring its eccentric beauty.

Corinth Archaeological Museum

  

Uploaded a page on the Archaeological Museum of Corinth (Korinthos) with 10 photos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/korinthos/korinthmuseum_en.html

This picture here is a marble head of Nero, obviously when he was very young. As it is from the Julian Basilica, it must be a part of the group of Julio-Claudian family statues.

Mykonos

  

I added new photos to the Mykonos Island top page and another page of the Mykonos town.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/mykonos/mykonos_en.html

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/mykonos/mykonostown2_en.html

I did not have good memory about Mykonos, mainly because it was too cool for summer (it was beginnings of Septermber 2003), and we were constrained to stay a day more on the island because of strong wind.

We did not go to beach (it was really too cold), but heard that there were nice beaches reacheable by boat.

Holy Apostles Church in Athenian Agora

  

I added five new photos to the page on the Church of Holy Apostles in the Agora of Athens. Formally there were only two photos.

http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/byzantineathens/holyapostoles_en.html

This is the oldest church (early 11th century) that remains in Athens which does not have early Christian basilica. Reason being that in the Early Christian period, the Athenian often reused the old temples as church, like Parthenon and Hephaisteion. The new churches were surely build, like the one in the Hadrian's Library, but any one of these is standing now.

Metamorphosis (Sotiros) Church in Athens

  

A page on the Metamorphosis Church in Upper Plaka was added.

http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/byzantineathens/sotiraki_en.html

This small Byzantine church, built between the end of the 11th and the early 12th century, is also called Sotir Church or Sotiros Church, in contrast to the other Metamorphosis Church (Kottakis Church) in Lower Plaka.

Naxos, Levkada and Cefalonia

  This weekend I added a page on the Catholic Cathedral and Kastro of Naxos. I don't have much information on these items, and I hope to add in future.
This part of the town was constructed largely in the Crusader period.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/naxos/naxoscastle_en.html


 

I added also a page on Nidri of Levkada (Levkas); telling the truth the place was not so impressive. We would like to return to Levkada, because we did not see much of it, but not interested to go back to Nidri.
This is a statue of Aristoteles (Ari) Onassis standing in Nidri.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/lefkada/nidri_en.html


 

I also corrected some of the links in Kefalonia section; now I think much easier to browse from a page to another. The page on Vlachata is a new addition; it existed in the past but has never been linked from other pages.

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/kefalonia/kefaloniatop_en.html

Portala, Naxos

  

I added a page on the gateway of the Apollo Temple in Naxos, called Portala (Big Gate).

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/naxos/naxosapollo_en.html (with 5 photos)

It is so symbolic and beautiful. In a certain sense, it is like Venus of Milo, it is more beautiful because it is not perfect.

Chora, Naxos

  

I added one page on Naxos Island and another about Naxos Town, also called Chora (as usual...)

Naxos Island

Naxos Town (with some lovely photos of cats).

We went there at the end of August 2003; it was end of the season and there were not so many tourists around. What I remember of Naxos is that the food portion was always enormous; at taverna, my husband and I used to order just one plate of pasta, one plate of meat and one salad for two of us, and it was just a right quantity.

One difficulty was that there was not enough public transport, but it might be better now.

This is an island where we definitely want to go back.

Mesta, Chios

  

During the weekend I uploaded three pages on Mesta, Chios.

Streets of Mesta

Church of Taxiarches

Old Taxiarch' Church and Village Gate

In this photo is the iconostase of the Old Taxiarch's Church (it is so called because there is also a new one). It was curved out from wood, and was made by only one person; unique example of the Greek religious art. We were told that it was made from only one tree, but we remained a bit uncredulous. The monk who made it is said to have lost sight after tens of years of work.

I still have some other photos from Chios, but this week I want to start uploading some pages on Naxos where we visted in 2003.

Kaisariani Monastery

This weekend I uploaded some pictures of the Kaisariani Monastery in Athens.

Kaisariani Kathorikon

Fresco paintings inside the Katholikon

To go to the monastery, we took a bus from the city centre to the nearest point, and from there we had to walk a rather difficult road (as the pedestrian sidewalk was not adequate and car-traffic was heavy) for about 20 minutes; it is hardly a convenient place to go, if you don't have a car. As the monastery is quite small, the accessible parts are limited, and it is not a museum, probably only those who interested in Byzantine architecture really enjoy the visit.

Unfortunately the Dafni Monastery has been closed for a long period, and there seems to be no immadiate plan of reopening because of risky condistion of the buildings.

Pyrgi, Chios

In this weekend I added three pages on Pyrgi (or Pirgi), Chios Island.

The village is so beautiful with buildings decorated with geometric patters. It is even more colourful at the end of summer when the locals start to make sun-dried tomatoes (as you see in the photo).

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/pirgi_en.html

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/pirgiagapostoli_en.html

http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/pirgivari_en.html


The village is in Mastichochoria (southern part of Chios where the mastic is produced), and its prosperity derives undoubltedly from this local and exclusive produce. Although there are quite a lot of tourists, it does not lost its charm of small village with merry local inhabitants.

The village has also a Byzantine church with splendid fresco paintings.

Captives Facade & Temple of Apollo(Corinth)

 

I still have many photo from Chios, but I decided to do some of Corinth where I went in 2003.
This is image of one of the statues from the Captives Facade, constructed in 160-170 to commemorate the victory of Lucius Verus on the Parthians. The young man represents an Eastern (presumably Parthian) captive.

The new pages are:

Temple of Apollo
Captives' Facade

Now that I see, the quality of the photos is not satisfactory. It is because they were shot with my old 2 mega pixel Canon Pixus. I need to return to Corinth to do the better job.

Anavatos and Food in Chios, and Piraeus

Finally I added some pages first time in this year.

First, 2 pages on Anavatos, Chios; famous medieval ghost-town.
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/anavatos_en.html
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/anavatos2_en.html

Next, a page on food we had in Chios; we enjoyed it very much.
http://www.mesogeia.net/trip/xios/xiostaverna_en.html

Last, a page on the area around the station of Piraeus (Pireas, or Piraias).
http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/pireas/station_en.html
This is most interesting area of Piraias; there still remains the feel of old port town.

peponi

I have had difficulty in publishing photos in this blog. I don't think it was my fault because I did succeed once. Now I downloaded "Picasa", and enabled alternative method of uploading photos. This is a text version; melons in a market in Piraias.

Lysikrates Monument

Returned from Greece on 8 January.

Uploaded a page on the Lysikrates Monument in Plaka (Athens).

http://www.mesogeia.net/athens/places/plaka/lysikrates_en.html