Cameron's experiences

Cameron Wellman

Travels in Ancient Mediterranean

Travel Journal

I would like to begin my journal in retrospect, first of all I would like to say that this trip was amazing, I am sure it will be one of the best journeys of my life, I owe a great deal of this to the professors, who enhanced every location we went to with their knowledge. I would like to explain the approach I took to this journal, I am not an honors student, or classical studies, or history, so my knowledge on most of the topics that I came across on this trip were very limited. However, I approached this trip as a student of Anthropology, which I am. The mythology portion of this trip was very interesting, but I found the ongoing excavations and the modern culture of Greece to be the main topics in my journal entries. Although we experienced each day on our trip together I really hope you enjoy some of my thoughts during our journey.

5-13-08

Well we are off, we have actually been traveling now for almost 10 hours but once we get off this plane we will be out of the US and at our destination of Athens Greece. The trip is going great so far, no travel delays, my anticipation grows as I watch the monitor that shows the distance we cover, inch by inch, it’s like watching the clock on a Friday afternoon, you know it makes time go by minute for minute but you just cannot help it. We have 26 people on our trip; I would have liked it if the group were smaller so that we don’t create a crowd everywhere we go, but oh well. I have not really been introduced to anyone yet but I am looking forward to meeting some interesting people on this trip. Breakfast is being served now on our plane and we should be there shortly, I can’t wait.

5-14-08

We have now arrived and settled in to our hotel, sitting on the rooftop patio writing this I cannot imagine a better classroom. The view is incredible, not only on the roof of the hotel but anywhere that overlooks the buildings of the city has a terrific view. I have already ventured out to explore, and I am very surprised at what I saw. I had a postcard image of Athens in my head and I now realize that Athens is a city like any other, so it naturally has dirty streets, stray animals and graffiti everywhere. Another surprising feature is the amount of ancient ruins that go unnoticed. A person could be walking and come across an unmarked ancient structure and not have a clue what it is. I came across an Ancient Roman cistern that was unmarked and fenced off and only after several minutes of looking for a label did I finally spot a small inscription labeling it. I cannot wait to see more of this diverse and intriguing city.

5-15-08

Today has been a very exciting day; I have experienced the highs and lows of what this country has to offer. The day started out great, we drove around the city for a while sightseeing until we stopped at the Temple of Zeus, this is the first temple that we have come to, and it is unbelievable how massive that it was. Although there are only a handful of pillars still standing out of the original 160, I was still able to picture how grand of a scale the temple had been. While waiting for the bus to take us to the Acropolis the group stood beside a very busy street with cars speeding by. I am very surprised no one got hurt, this is a very different scene then back home. When we arrived at the Acropolis I was sad to see that there were so many other tour groups there, I hate large crowds, it really takes away from the experience for me. Our tour guide, Dionysia, took us first to the Areopagus, to avoid a lot of the crowds. This is a small hill compared to the Acropolis, but it still had a great view overlooking the Ancient Agora. After that we finally make our way to the top of the Acropolis, this was one of my most anticipated moments of the trip. Seeing the Parthenon was amazing, the view from atop the acropolis could see the whole city, no wonder the most sacred monuments were placed up here. As great as all of this was I was distracted by something up there, The Greeks were in the process of rebuilding/ renovating everything up there, so all of the staging and construction equipment made the atmosphere a little less inviting. Also, I am not really a proponent to the reconstruction of ancient sites, I believe that they should be protected and preserved but kept in the condition they were found, in order to respect the people who built them. Passing through the massive Ancient Agora after Acropolis I am surprised again at the scale of everything that was built so long ago. We make our way to the Temple of Hephaitos, one of the best preserved temples in Greece. I really enjoyed this, because it was in great condition considering how long it has been standing. As if the day was not already interesting enough, this is when it got really interesting; the group decided to split up, one small group when to the hotel, another went with Professor Passman to get some lunch, and the last group went with Professor Bregman and Professor Ogle the Trinity Institute in Athens. I chose the later which required a trip by the metro to the destination, I always love to see what a city’s public transportation is like. Arriving at the metro station was like any other place I have ever been. I felt very comfortable and safe boarding the train; I covered my pockets and walked cautiously. I was close to the back of the group, and when I was just about to get on, a fury of people came rushing on the train from behind, and when the rush stopped and the doors closed, I realized that my wallet had been plucked from my front pocket without my knowledge. Looking out the window I saw three well dress men fleeing the scene. I lost almost everything I had, with the exception of my passport. This is by far the lowest travel moment of my life, but also the most exhilarating. To make matters worse, Professor Bregman was also pick pocketed at the same time. My day was very interesting and for the record books, I have no money right now, but I know I will be ok, all of my new friends as well as the professors have offered me all the support I need until I can get money from back home, everything will be alright.

5-16-08

All in all today was a better day, although we did have to wake up early and then ride on a bus for three hours. Our destination was Delphi, which just might be the highlight of my trip. Along with the ancient and sacred significance of the site, the setting was hard to ignore, set high in the mountains, the view from all directions was spectacular. This site was very special to me. It is no wonder why Athenians would travel the 99 miles in three days just to get here. A student came up to me today and mentioned just how ambitious the Ancient people who built this must have been, building way up on a mountain like this, it requires a lot of devotion to the gods. The day could not have been anymore perfect, although there has been another crime committed. A girl had her credit card stolen today, which leads me to make the assumption that there is a petty crime problem in Greece, or maybe we are just easy targets.

5-17-08

Today was a beautiful day, although I slept a lot of it away, finally curing my jetlag. The rest of the day was spent shopping and exploring the wooded area that lay just beyond my window. Several of the students traveled to the top of a hill where we found the Monument of Philapappos, and I would say the best view of Athens yet, easily outdoing the view from the Acropolis. We also noticed that this wooded area was massive, like a large park in the center of Athens. We stopped and listened to the flutes of a Greek dance theater that was practicing their routine, and made our way to the prison where Socrates was kept. Along the way we came across a modern Greek wedding, it was beautiful. Today was extremely rewarding through our aimless wanderings.

5-18-08

Today was another event filled day, with three stops on the menu. The first stop was Eleusis, which was very surprising to me, at first glance it appears to be a very small site, but it is actually very deceiving. I really enjoyed this because the majority of this stop was a lecture, where we sat on the monuments and listened to the professors. It gave me the feeling that I was experiencing the same thing the people who built this did in Ancient times. On our way to Corinth we stopped for lunch along the Corinth canal, an engineering marvel, and one the most impressive modern things I have seen in Greece. Next was our stop in Corinth, which was a large ruin in the midst of a massive mountain top Acropolis, which I wanted nothing more to do then to climb to the top of, I really wish we had the time, I know it would have been worth the effort. Corinth was very fascinating, and I believe everyone was impressed to find that the majority of the excavation was credited to a Maine man. The last stop was to Epidaurus, a large sprawling site with great views. It reminded me a little of Delphi, but just not so high up. This is where the highlight of my day came, when we arrive at the theatre in Epidaurus. I just had to run to the top, just for the experience. As I sat there taking in the views and catching my breath, I received a gift that allowed me to fully enjoy and experience what the Ancient Greek Theatre was like. Professor Ogle began singing, it was beautiful, words could not even describe how much that made my day, and I heard many other students say the same. I would like to take the time here to thank her for that wonderful experience. Thank you.

5-19-08

Right now I am sitting in my cabin sailing to Crete; I am so excited this day just flew by in my anticipation. This morning was spent finally receiving money from back home via Western Union and then buying all the souvenirs I had already picked out but could not afford. After we checked out we went to the Athens Archaeological Museum, which was amazing. I surprised myself at just how many things I recognized, many of the frescos from Santorini, the Mask of Agamemnon, the Lyre player, the statue of Aphrodite, and many of the friezes. I also enjoyed their display of Minoan writing, which I did my paper over and have a lot of interest in. After the museum we traveled straight to the port of Piraeus and boarded our massive ferry to depart for Crete, our voyage will take 8 or 9 hours but I can’t help but wonder just how long it took the Ancient Greeks to make the same voyage.

5-20-08

There is such a difference between mainland Greece and Crete. I really do not feel like I am in the same country or geographical location. Today was a very relaxed day where I unwound myself from the speed and hassle of the city of Athens. After a short nap in my room and then a longer nap on the beach, I went for a swim, did some shopping and saw some local traditional dancing during dinner. I really liked how mellow today was, it allowed me to get perspective on what I need to accomplish from the rest of the trip.

5-21-08

Today has been great, it seems like each day of this trip has been a highlight for me. It is only two o’clock in the afternoon, and already I have seen one of my most anticipated archeological sites, Knossos, as well as the Heraklion Museum, that contained many recognizable items. Knossos was amazing; after I got over the fact that most everything standing was a reconstruction, which I do not agree with, I was astonished at just how large of a site that Knossos was, it really seemed to go on forever. I can see how they know that this is the site of the story of the labyrinth and the Minotaur. I know that the double bladed ax is a common symbol in Minoan culture, but I was very surprised to see all the original cravings out in plain sight unprotected. At the Heraklion Museum I impressed myself with how many objects I recognized, I am more familiar with Minoan culture then Ancient Greek. The highlight of this trip was to actually get to see some Minoan script in Crete, so seeing Linear A and Linear B was amazing, but to actually see the Phaistos disk was unbelievable. I have heard about this a long time ago and for some reason it fascinates me, it was an honor to see it in person.

5-22-08

We are currently driving back to the hotel from our event filled day that was full of surprises for me. Our first stop was at the ancient city of Gortyn, which was very beautiful, it was in a very nice setting surrounded by two thousand year old olive trees. At the start of our tour our tour guide, George, took us across the street into an olive tree grove. There the ground was riddled with pottery shards. This olive grove sat on a two thousand year old Roman ruin that George informed us that everyone knew about but no one cared. I could not believe what I was hearing, so much history and culture laid beneath our feet but no one would take the time to dig it up. In the actual site of Gortyn was a beautiful church that was still partially standing and then the highlight of Gortyn was a wall that contain the first law code of Europe predating the Roman occupation of Crete by 500 years. This was so impressive to see that the social structure was so advanced back then that they had rules for marriage and ownership and crime and everything you could imagine. I was very impressed by this. Lastly we came to a tree that always had leaves even though it was an evergreen, this was the site of Zeus and Demeter encounter where Zeus was in the form of a white bull. From there we headed to the site of the Palace of Phaistos, where the Phaistos Disk was located. This place was beautiful, set on the side of a large hill overlooking the country side. Walking up to it I kept thinking that this was like a mini Macchu Picchu, although much older and smaller. The place was amazing and from the site you could see the highest mountain on Crete that contained a cave where a lot of pottery was found. From Gortyn we traveled to Matala for lunch, swimming and exploring Ancient Roman burial tombs in caves high on cliffs overlooking the sea. This was very surprising, I never expected to see such a beautiful beach in Crete. I just got back from Hawaii three weeks ago and I was stunned by the beauty of this beach. Along with the beauty of the beach the caves and tombs were amazing. None of them were preserved as the result of a 1960s hippy encampment, but were impressive to say in the least.

5-23-08

I am on a cruise ship now sailing back from easily the highlight of my trip; we have just visited one of the most picturesque places of my life, the island of Santorini. It was so beautiful and worth all the time it took to get there. There are a lot of people that are disappointed with the trip with the planning, but I would pay that same price to go back any day. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see any of the archeological sites, but I was happy with what I did see and experience. I ate in a nice local place overlooking the caldera, I tasted a lot of local wine, I visited a large church along with its worshippers, and then I rode a donkey down a massive cliff to return to the boat, which was probably the highlight of the day. I did not want to leave this place, it was incredibly beautiful, and despite the tourists it was very relaxed in an old world where modern worries seemed inexistent.

5-24-08

Today is the last day here and I am really glad we get a chance to reflect. I spent a lot of the day by myself walking on the beach and thinking about this entire trip. This has been a great journey with a lot of ups and downs. I feel I have gained a lot from this trip, not only knowledge about the classical world, but a lot about myself as well. With it being the last day here it is so bittersweet, on one hand I am extremely homesick and cannot wait to return, but on the other I am in paradise and I don’t ever want to leave.

5-25-08

We are on the bus now driving from Portland to Orono, it has been a long day, I am not quite sure how long we have been traveling, but I believe it’s close to 26 hours. This trip was amazing, and I would really like to thank all of the Professors for such a great time and for their support for me during the trip, you all made this a wonderful learning opportunity for me. I think I have gained a new interest, the classics have grown on me because of this trip, and I cannot wait to learn more about them. I have always been acquainted with Greek mythology, but now since I have actually been to the places, I think I can have a better respect for the material. This trip also reinforced my love for archeology which I think that I will pursue for a degree. I am still interested in cultural Anthropology which I also got a big taste of here, so this trip has definitely reinforced my interest but also made it harder for me to narrow down a plan for a career.

At this time I would like to just write in some of the stuff I left out of my entries. I would like to start by listing some of the food that I tried in Greece that I had never before had, I think this was one of the best cultural experiences. Between mainland Greece and Crete I tried at least five meats and fish I have never tried before: swordfish, octopus, goat, ox meat, and rooster. Also I found that an American place that I went to “taste” Greek cuisine before I left, is a horrible substitute for the real thing in Greece. Thank you all once again for the time of my life and I really hope you enjoy some of my thoughts.