YEAR 8 TRIP TO GREECE
A six-day adventure exploring ancient ruins, Greek history and culture, the sea and shopping, with a memorable mishap along the way.
Towards the end of June, the Year 8s went to Athens in Greece for six unforgettable days. On the first day we visited Mycenae, a place full of ruins on a hilltop, where we learned about the Greeks’ defence system and storage for water and materials. We also visited Nemea, which had an ancient stadium where the Nemean Games( similar to the Olympics) were held, and the Temple of Zeus, which still has many columns standing.
The next day, we were set the gruelling task of climbing 1000 steps up a mountain to reach the Palamidi fortress, made for protecting Nafplio and the harbour from invaders, only to discover our classmate had accidently thrown her phone in the bin, causing a search party to go back three hours later and dig through bin bags for 10 minutes until it was found! On the third day we took a ferry trip to two different islands, Hydra and Spetses, where we had a wonderful lunch, explored the towns and went swimming at the beach.
Finally, on the day before departure, we visited Epidaurus where we saw the ancient theatre, which has amazing acoustics: a person sitting at the very top could hear the people on the stage. It also had the sanctuary of Asclepius, which people used to believe would be able to heal them if they stayed there overnight; it was dedicated to the god of medicine, Asclepius.
The same day we visited an olive farm called Melas, where we learnt about the production and upkeep of olive oil. Alongside these fun activities during the day we also got to enjoy going to the beach every evening and exploring a nearby town which had many shops in which to buy ice creams, magnets, jewellery and even muffins!
Overall, this trip taught us about the amazing history of Greece in a fun and interactive way, so thank you to Mr de May for organising such a wonderful trip and to Mrs Dyer, Miss Dorrington, Miss Cripps, Miss Won, Mrs Duran-Oreiro, Mr Ellis, Mr Kirby, Dr Hartley and Mr Khanna.
Lizzie Gwyther, Year 8
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2024-2025 97