Dirt, Dunes, and a whole lot of Food

View on the Areopagus in the sun with the acropolis in the backgroud

This past week has been spent by being jet lagged, thrown into culture shock, getting down in dirty in trenches, meeting new friends, and embracing the beautiful culture that surrounds me. As each day passes by in Athens, I grow to love this city even more than I ever could have imagined.

Trench kitty that meets us on site everyday

The first day of class began promptly at 6:30am on Wednesday where we all met the professor John Karavas in front of the CYA academic center to venture out to Voula, where are excavation site would await us. First walking to the metro station from CYA (about 20 minutes by foot) for a 20 minute train ride to a bus stop, where we would then take the bus the rest of the way to Voula (about a 30-40 minute ride). We then met with the other site directors and toured around the small site of Aixonides Halai, thought to be a monastic community as there are two Christian churches in the same area.

Soon after being oriented with the site, we were split into groups and given a 10x10 foot unit to begin the excavation process. Let me tell you, this day completely sucked. It was cold, rainy, and digging up top soil is just not fun at all. Lo and behold, we ended the dig early because of weather and got to enjoy a long bus ride back followed by the cancellation of classroom time (I think John knew how beat up we all were, I even fell asleep on the bus back). I then went back to my apartment and promptly took a 4 hour nap, which was much needed for my aching body.

5:45am rolls around the next morning and it's time to be up and ready for class again. This day was already promising as the temperature was higher and the sun was out (of course not until after we arrived in Voula). Making progress in the trenches (I'm told by my classmates to use that word loosely) my group got down past the top soil level and began to see more structural looking rocks. We began to assume that it was taking the shape of a wall that housed a shop overlooking the main square as the surrounding previously excavated units provided that context. We also found tiles and pottery sherds, even Athenian black wear sherds which are actually a rarer find even though we are still near Athens. After working (playing) in the dirt and getting a beautiful ocean view nearby, we packed up and headed back to the city.

View of the beach walking to the other site

Repeat the first two lines of the last paragraph and that's how the following day began. On site we continued our investigation of the wall formation and are now more convinced that part of it is the result of a collapse of the building due most likely to a fire (there was ash, charcoal, and a change in soil composition that lead us to believe this). Once we wrapped up on site, another director (a colleague of our professor) invited us to visit her sites that were just down the It beach from our site. We walked along the coast (pictured above) to the site of an excavated ancient road that led down to the shore. It soon will be in the process of preservation and restoration in the coming year and open to the public. Further up the beach we got to see remnants of a house that belonged to a wealthy person which most likely controlled part of the harbor and trade in the area (there was another smaller road found that led from the house to the larger road). We took the bus back and made plans to meet other people working on the site that were former CYA students for dinner in Monastiraki.

Part of the ancient road leading to the water

Ruins from the house near the harbor

I was so exhausted after the week that I slept for 12 hours Friday night and didn't rise until 11:15am Saturday morning. This day was spent relaxing at a cafe (Kekkos) with my roommate Katie and drinking delicious freshly squeezed lemonade sweetened with honey and splitting a donut. Later we met with the other roommates and trekked over to a larger store to get some living supplies for the apartment, which was followed by stopping at a Cretan shop and getting some cheese. That night we made 4 cheese grilled cheese and tomato soup and watched Designated Survivor followed by Shrek (like all cute roommates do).

Fresh lemonade with honey from Kekkos

Today was incredible as ever, and although there are not very many stores open on Sundays, the flea market is popping. We traveled back to Monastiraki (20-30 minute walk) for the open flea market and shops. There were so many trinkets like old cameras, coins, art, and some straight up junk to look at and buy. I ended up purchasing an arm band made of metal (??) after we lunched at a restaurant with delicious food (I got a club sandwich which was delicious in case you were wondering). We ventured back to the Areopagus and got some more non snowy pictures of the city and the acropolis and then found a gelato shop where I got some more fresh lemonade and finally made our way to an orthodox church from 1840 which was absolutely stunning. I got to see the interactions between the Greeks and their church (which involves a lot of kissing, crossing, and praying).

19th century Orthodox church

Now I sit and type as we wait for the group to come to my apartment for a potluck dinner/gathering later where there will be a large assortment of snacky foods and drinks. Looking back on this week, it has been full of adventure, awe, exploration, and lots of sleep. I look forward to the next week in the dirt followed by the arrival of the rest of the students and then orientation. I guess that's all for now, yasas!

*Disclaimer* I am not really allowed to post pictures of the excavation site online so I'll try my best to describe what it is, but no promises.