It’ s all Greek to Alfie Leyland( Coll:, 25-)
The Wykehamist
The JP and MP Classics Trip
It’ s all Greek to Alfie Leyland( Coll:, 25-)
This Easter, thirty-three Wykehamists embarked on an extensive tour of mainland Greece, predominantly exploring the coastal Peloponnese. Whilst the central focus was visiting ancient sites, we also went to several Venetian, Byzantine, and Ottoman settlements, giving students a comprehensive understanding of Greek history from 3000 BCE to the modern day.
Landing in Athens, after a late night at the hotel and a hurried removal of alcohol from the room fridges by our assiduous tour guide Alex, we drove to the Archaeological museum, which houses dozens of artifacts from across ancient Greek history, where the dons gave us an enlightening overview of Ancient Greek art history. We then moved on to the Agora, the central marketplace and democratic forum of Classical Athens. Here, we saw the well-preserved Hephaestion and visited the house of Simon the Cobbler, a good friend of Socrates. This was where he argued with the Athenian youths, including Plato, about philosophical matters. We then went to the Acropolis, the heart of Classical Athens, famous for its impressive Parthenon and intricate metopes.
On the following day, after leaving the Acropolis Museum, we arrived at the fabled city of Mycenae. The Mycenaean world, much like the Classical world a thousand years later, was one of warring cities, the most powerful of which was Mycenae, home to the legendary king Agamemnon. Despite its age, the site is remarkably well preserved, with the Cyclopean walls and impressive Lion Gate still standing after over 3,000 years.
Driving to the coast, we came to Nafplio, a modern Greek city originally named after Nauplius, the mythical navigator of the Argo. The city was the capital of Greece from 1829 to 1834 after the country gained independence, before it was moved to Athens. Upon arriving, we explored the town, buying souvenirs and ice-cream whilst the dons enjoyed a brief pub-stop, before going to our hotel a few miles outside of the city.
Returning in the morning, we climbed the 999 steps to Palamidi Fortress, an eighteenth-century Venetian stronghold with eight bastions, built to control the Argolic gulf. Falling into Ottoman hands as Venetian power declined, the castle played a significant role in the Greek War of Independence from 1821 to 1827, notably captured by war-hero Kolocotrones in 1822.
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