Day 1: We left Jerusalem as about 3 o'clock on Sunday morning (the 8th of November), in order to get the airport for a 7 o'clock flight
When we arrived in Athens we were all a bit bleary eyed, and the realization that we were in Greece hadn't quite sunk in. On our way to the hotel, our tour guide realized that today was the day of a major marathon, and the main streets (on which our hotel was located) was closed. This posed a little bit of a problem, and we had leave our luggage behind for the time being, and take the Subway to the hotel. The train station is Athens was one of the cleanest stations I had ever seen, it was quite beautiful. We finally made it to the hotel, had lunch, then walked to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The view, the sights, the building, everything about it was incredible. It was unreal to be standing at the foot of the Parthenon, and have everything I've learned since 6th Grade came flooding back. This is when it hit me, that we weren't in the United States, or Israel. We were in Greece and we were standing at the foot of history (The pictures do not do it justice).
The Acropolis
View of Athens from the Acropolis
After the Acropolis we went to the Greek museum, then to dinner, but by this point everyone was pretty much faded from all the travel, and it was an uneventful night.
Day 2: Today we visited a couple synagogues, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardic. Both were spectacular but the Sephardic one had just been recently remodeled, and was new, and wood paneled and very beautiful.
Newly Remodeled Sephardic Synagogue
From there we went to the Jewish Museum of Athens. This museum contained the entire history of the Jews in Greece, going back centuries, dating pretty much up until the present. There was a small section on the Holocaust as well.
Background Information: Close to 90% of the Jews in Greece perished in the Holocaust. Most of them were from Athens and Thessaloniki (which we would visit later in the trip). Due to this, the Holocaust section of the museum was very somber, and was a sort of dim lit room with a lot of personal artifacts.
From the museum we went up a cable car to the top of a mountain and ate lunch over looking the entire city of Athens. Then we returned to the hotel, at which point we were on our own for dinner. I as well as some friends, on the advice of the hotel staff, went to this small family style Greek restaurant that was delicious.
Another thing to mention is that our hotel had a 9th floor restaurant that had a completely breathtaking view of the Parthenon lit up at night. So, that evening I spent some time up there.
Day 3: We packed up and left Athens, our end destination for the day was Delphi, but there were several stops along the way. First we went to Chalkida a small city about 1.5 hours away from Athens. Chalkida has a Jewish population that dates back 2,000 years. We met with two community members at the synagogue there, and they told us a little bit about the community and the congregation. Because of Chalkida's proximity to Athens many Jews in the area go to Athens for regular prayer, and go the Chalkida synagogue for High Holy Days. Due to rain, our stop at a Jewish cemetery had to be canceled and instead we had lunch on a pier in Chalkida right on the water (which was also gorgeous) and then made our way to Delphi (Home of Apollo the sun god, and the Oracle of Delphi) for the night. Along the way we stopped at this overlook, and although it was completely freezing the view was incredible (you may notice a theme, that everywhere we went to was so incredibly beautiful. I'll put pictures up, but they don't do it justice).
Skyline from overlook on the way to Delphi
City (Not Delphi) On the Side of the Hill (From the overlook)
When we arrived in Athens we were all a bit bleary eyed, and the realization that we were in Greece hadn't quite sunk in. On our way to the hotel, our tour guide realized that today was the day of a major marathon, and the main streets (on which our hotel was located) was closed. This posed a little bit of a problem, and we had leave our luggage behind for the time being, and take the Subway to the hotel. The train station is Athens was one of the cleanest stations I had ever seen, it was quite beautiful. We finally made it to the hotel, had lunch, then walked to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The view, the sights, the building, everything about it was incredible. It was unreal to be standing at the foot of the Parthenon, and have everything I've learned since 6th Grade came flooding back. This is when it hit me, that we weren't in the United States, or Israel. We were in Greece and we were standing at the foot of history (The pictures do not do it justice).
The Acropolis
View of Athens from the AcropolisDay 2: Today we visited a couple synagogues, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardic. Both were spectacular but the Sephardic one had just been recently remodeled, and was new, and wood paneled and very beautiful.
Newly Remodeled Sephardic SynagogueBackground Information: Close to 90% of the Jews in Greece perished in the Holocaust. Most of them were from Athens and Thessaloniki (which we would visit later in the trip). Due to this, the Holocaust section of the museum was very somber, and was a sort of dim lit room with a lot of personal artifacts.
From the museum we went up a cable car to the top of a mountain and ate lunch over looking the entire city of Athens. Then we returned to the hotel, at which point we were on our own for dinner. I as well as some friends, on the advice of the hotel staff, went to this small family style Greek restaurant that was delicious.
Another thing to mention is that our hotel had a 9th floor restaurant that had a completely breathtaking view of the Parthenon lit up at night. So, that evening I spent some time up there.
Day 3: We packed up and left Athens, our end destination for the day was Delphi, but there were several stops along the way. First we went to Chalkida a small city about 1.5 hours away from Athens. Chalkida has a Jewish population that dates back 2,000 years. We met with two community members at the synagogue there, and they told us a little bit about the community and the congregation. Because of Chalkida's proximity to Athens many Jews in the area go to Athens for regular prayer, and go the Chalkida synagogue for High Holy Days. Due to rain, our stop at a Jewish cemetery had to be canceled and instead we had lunch on a pier in Chalkida right on the water (which was also gorgeous) and then made our way to Delphi (Home of Apollo the sun god, and the Oracle of Delphi) for the night. Along the way we stopped at this overlook, and although it was completely freezing the view was incredible (you may notice a theme, that everywhere we went to was so incredibly beautiful. I'll put pictures up, but they don't do it justice).
Skyline from overlook on the way to Delphi
City (Not Delphi) On the Side of the Hill (From the overlook)After all my trip posts are up I will post a link to a Picassa web album with more pictures.
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