Cruise

Mykonos:
We started our cruise on Friday and set sail for Mykonos. When we got there we had nothing but free time. It was amazing to see all the white buildings. The main attractions of the island were the windmills and the giant pelican, which I never actually got to see. When we got to the island my friend Sam and I got separates from the group because he had to call his dad. So the two of us and dr. Cox tried to find the group but we ended up just getting lost, So Sam and I went off on our own. We climbed up to the highest peek of the island up by one of the windmills so we could take pictures of the island and he ocean at sunset. After we came down we ended up finding some people and we all just sat down on the rocks to watch the sunset until we had to be back on the cruise ship at 10:30. That night on the ship we all went to karaoke and then to a disco dance. The best part was the old people dancing to pop music, they were just kind of running around.

Ephesus: Saturday we got up at 5:30 to get ready to disembark the ship for turkey! So we got off the ship in kusadasi, Turkey and drove to Ephesus. There we toured the ruins of ancient Ephesus where Paul traveled on one of his missionary journeys. Ephesus is a city that was all about the worship of Artemis, we even got to sit in the giant theater/ stadium where the Ephesians chanted great is Artemis for 2 hours, as it is mentioned in Acts. We drove by what used to be the temple of Artemis, which is now just one pillar. This temple used to be one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus is the island where John took the virgin mary to care for her after the death and resurrection of Jesus. We didn't get a chance to see the house they lived in but we did drive by the mountain that they lived on. Ephesus is also the place where Mary died and was buried until her body was taken else where by the catholic church. Before getting back on the ship we got to go see how rugs are made. They are all hand woven of silk or wool from sheep, goats, or camels. Some rugs take up to 36 months to be woven, it was incredible.

Patmos:
Saturday afternoon we arrived at Patmos, where we had to board muster boats to get to shore because the ship is too big for the port. Once on shore we got on our bus with our awesome British tour guide. We drove up to the cave of the apocalypse where John wrote the book of revelations. Then we went up to the monastery on top of the hill. This monastery is basically like a castle and in the past acted as a safe haven for the island. There used to be a lot of pirates in the area and towns people would run along their flat roofs up to the monastery to get protection. There is a space at the entrance of the fortress where they used to pour boiling olive oil on their enemies. This island is made purely from volcanic rock so it is vey barren. The roofs of the houses are flat so that they can collect rain water and store it in tanks under the houses. Patmos also has water brought to them via ships 3 times a week. And again tonight back on the ship we enjoyed some karaoke and disco partay!

Crete: 
Well today we got up at the crack of dawn to disembark onto Crete. We went and toured the ruins of the palace of king Minos.  This is where the mythological labyrinth with the Minotaur were. this ancient palace was 5 stories high, which was unheard of in that time. The kingdom was destroyed by earthquake and fire but has been very well restored. 

Santorini:
Sunday night we arrived at santorini. Again we couldn't pull up to a dock so we had to board other ships out at sea and be brought into port. The city is on top of a cliff so you can walk, take a cable car, or ride a donkey. This island is unique because it is made if volcanic rock and has an active volcano. The worst eruption they ever had caused the entire center of the island to fall into the sea.

Highlights:
One of the best parts of the cruise washers drunk people. The last night one guy singing karaoke was changing the words and it was historical. 
Watching the old people dance at the disco to top 10 unedited pop music, most of which was in Spanish.
Creeper Turks
Awesome waiters that pose and take pictures with you.
Sam some how spilling his drink all over the top and bottom of the table, his face, the floor, the couch, and Austin.
People watchin in the hallway around midnight.(the shucking British lady, creepy, bag sending workers, and the crazy Asian lady that looked like she was doing charades. 
Protests in Crete 
The mounted falcon that was in our shower when we got back. Along with the water balloons in bras and pads in shoes. 
The guy who sang crocodile Rick every night on the cruise.
Jeremy air guitarin

Devo and Eclipse

Tonight we walked down to one of the beaches, which is just a bunch of rocks out on the water and had a little devo. All of the HUHA kids and most of the HUG kids went. We spent 2 hours just singing praises to God and enjoying the view. It was so amzing to watch the full eclipse of the moon! God is so amazing an dtonight was just so powerful being able to worship him amidst his beauty. We all just surrounded each other and sang as we watched the stars, the eclipse, and the waves crashing around us. Tonight has been my favorite night so far!

Bonus Features

Ok so I don't know if anything is broadcasting on the news in the United States about the Greek government right now, but they are in some trouble. There have been several protests because of the economic situation here. We were told it is more of a moral situation dealing with black money where tons of money has just disappeared. The unemployment rate here is up to 16 or 17 percent and 1000 people are fired a day. When we went to syntagma square, which is across the street from the capital building in downtown Athens, we saw a ton of people camping out with posters of demonstration everywhere. Well today there was a HUGE riot. it was so big that it had to be stopped by the police attacking the crowd with tear gas. Things are are getting very ridiculous with all the Greeks against the politicians, now I understand why we were avoiding going there until Sunday because the protesters shouldn't have been protesting much that afternoon.

Meteora

Starting with last night while we were in the hotel, two friends and I talked with a British couple. They were very sweet. We gave them our address' and they are going to write to us. Now I have British pen pals! This morning we got up and drove up into the mountains of Meteroa to see the biggest monastery in these formations. The Monestary is on the highest peak of these mountains, so we drove and hiked up there in the pouring rain, luckily the thunder and lighting had stopped about 10 minutes before we went up. The Monestary was really different and the view was amazing! It was also really neat getting to see all the caves that are built into the sides of these mountains. These caves were once homes to some of the first hermits in Greece. One cave is full of colorful scarves that are taken up there every year on saint George day in honor of one of the monks that saved a little girl that had been wounded in the hills. One of the best parts of this trip out to Delphi and Meteora was getting to see ruins from World War II, we got to see a memorial and old buildings where the Nazis executed a ton of Greek civillians, men , women , and children. Also this afternoon on the way home, we stopped at a memorial on the battle field where the Spartans fought the Persians and 300 Greeks died.

Delphi

Today we drove 3 hours to Delphi to see the Temple of Apollo where the oracle of Delphi sat and gave prophecies to everyone who came and sacrificed. Basically she sat iver a crack in the ground where toxins came out of the ground and made her high and speak jibberish. Then priest would interpret it so the outcome could go either way. We climbed up the mountain to check out the ruins. There was a cool secret passage say that we. Could go through and it was basically an ancient playground. It was unfotunate that my camera died while we were up there zoning can't take pictures at the monestary tomorrow. We also got rained on. Then we drove 4 more hours to kalambaka at the foothills of the monasteries. Now there is a nice thunderstorm. The Greeks say this is the most unusual summer weather hey have had in years. All I can say my parents better be glad I can't bring animals back cause I would have like a bajillion cats and dogs and maybe a bunny. There was a whole family of cats at Apollos temple, they were super cute!

Mycenae

This morning we got up and drove from Tolon to nafpolia, the original capital city beater Athens. We just hung out around the sea port town, climbed up to a castle and enjoyed Zoe gelatos. Then we drove to Mycenae which is where King agammemnon lived in his fortress before he went and fought in te Trojan war. We hike up the mountain that the fortress is on, went through the lions gate and explored around the fortress. In recent excavations they found the mask of Agammemnon and a lot of other treasures up in a simple burial ground inside the fortress. We also got to go down into what used to be a natural spring that was inside the rock mountain we were on. We also went into a a burial mound/tomb that is completely conserved, the architecture of these ancient societies are incredible!!! After Myceanae we had lunch then drove back to Porto Rafti. It's suppose to be a three hour drive and we got back in an hour and a half. All we have left today is a quiz tonight around 8. Tonight should be fun because all the summer HUG students will be back from Egypt this afternoon.

Adventure to Corinth

This morning we drove down to Corinth. We visited the remains of tyevtemplenof Apollo and and entire recovered city of ancient Corinth. We saw the Bema that Paul stood at the be judged by Gallio. It was so cool being able to see and walk around through this ancient city. We walked down an ancient road that Paul walked down on his way to corinth from the port. After that we climbed the Acrocorinth. The view from this fortress was so beautiful! You could see the entire city of modern day Corinth and the Ageon sea. The sea is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom even from way up at the top. After Corinth wehax lunch by the Corinth canal that has a cool bridge that lowers into the canal when a boat needs to pass. Then we drove to epidarus. This is an old thaeter where they performed dramas and comedies. The acoustics at this place are crazy, you can hear the same from wherever you are. We stood on the stage and sang greatest commands which was amazing and we got applauded for it! After that we drove to Tolo where we are now and we have just been chillin on the beach and shoppin around. It is so nice to stay in a hotel by the ocean, the beaches are amazing!!!