Altnew Challenge 1

I saw Altnew March Challenge and it instantly brought back memories of our trip to Greece and Santorini...It was AMAZING!!

I had fun creating some cards with Altnew's Pattern Play - Circles

I love the color combo. 

A couple of pictures from our trip. Truly spectacular!

Love this church with the caldera and ferry in the background.

Greek National Museum

The National Museum was FANTASTIC, the artwork beautiful.

Aphrodite and Eros

Artemis

Dionysos

Goddess Themis

Poseidon missing his Trident

 Statue of Aphrodite

Statuette of Athena Parthenos

Athens

Here are a few pictures from our holiday visiting Greece in September 2007.

Athens was beyond words. I studied Interior Design in college and had learned about the Greek effect on design and have seen pictures of their beautiful art and architecture, but to see it in person was beyond description. I cried when I saw the Parthenon. A dream of mine was fulfilled.

Acropolis and Parthenon view from Filopappou Hill - Our favorite picture of the Acropolis

We used Athens as our base. While we were there we stayed at the Adams Hotel which was perfect for our traveling needs. The Acropolis was a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. We were in the heart of Athens. We couldn't have found a better place to see this amazing city.

THE PARTHENON!!!

Acropolis Erechtheon

Caryatid Porch

Theatre of Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Temple of the Winds in the foreground. I love this night view.

Remaining Columns to the Temple of Zeus

Agia Triada

Agias Marinas

John Theologos

 Kapnikarea church

Little Mitropolis Church

We loved the Children's Park near our hotel

This girl loves to spin

Hadrian's Arch. On the northwest side (towards the Acropolis), the inscription reads: This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus).The inscription on the southeast side (facing the Olympeion) reads:
  (this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus)

Temple of ZEUS. Fifteen columns remain standing today and a sixteenth column lies on the ground where it fell during a storm in 1852.

Being Cool in the Agora (ancient shopping center)

Ancient Agora Stoa of Attalus II. It's been restored and was fasinating to walk through.

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion) at sunset

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion) Interior Detail

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion)

Greek Islands

More pictures from Reed's Sabbatical. I prepping for our trip I came across this amazing site by Matt Barrett. I used it to plan most of our time in Greece. I highly recommend his site! A couple of years into our marriage, Reed and I had discussed taking a cruise and seeing the Greek Islands. We discovered a Mediterranean cruise wouldn't do justice to what we wanted to see, so when his sabbatical came, it was easy to decide where we wanted to go. We took an island hopping tour for 14 days and had a marvelous time.

Delos is the sacred island where Apollo and Artemis were born.  It is a short boat ride from Mykonos, the first island we visited. Since the island is very sacred to several groups of people, they have built temples to the gods.

Mykonos

Paros, another small island, was interesting to visit. We took a bus inland to the city of Lefkes. The streets were built to thwart pirates, they go all over the place. We saw the beautiful Ayia Triada Church from a distance and somehow found it. We also found a Byzantine Road that has survived over the years. We could have walked back to the coast, but the bus was easier and cooler.

Naxos a small island where we rented a glorified dune buggy to tour the island. Ms. A LOVED the car!

Filoti Agia Irini

Santorini was breath-taking. It was amazing to see the remnants of a HUGE volcano. Reed went scuba-diving to the center of the caldera which is growing. Unfortunately the archaeological site of Akrotiri was closed.

Crete was our final island, because of a ferry delay, we were only able to have three days instead of four. We made the most of our time only missing a couple of places on the east side of the island. Knossos was amazing. It was partially rebuilt, which made the visit more rich. Chania (pronounced Hania) was enjoyable. Our hotel was right by the beach, which was fantastic.

Knossos

Throne Room

Some fun Playing in the Mediterrean

Collecting and Lining up Rocks