Quaking in our sleep...

At eleven o’clock last night, a strange phenomenon occurred in Tolon.  There was a low rumbling sound, and the ground shook.  Ms. Govender had been looking a bit tired, and we wondered whether she had finally fallen asleep and started snoring.  Turns out we did her a disservice – last night, our region of Greece was hit by an earthquake that reached 5.2 on the Richter scale.  Quite obvious it wasn’t Ms. Govender then – her snoring would have been much louder than that!

We breakfasted this morning to the sound of waves gently lapping at the water’s edge just below us.  It was slightly cloudy this morning and so those with sea view rooms didn’t get the spectacular sunrise they were looking forward to, although the views were still pretty special.  We checked out of our hotel – which had been a big hit with everyone – and were soon on our bus heading for the theatre at Epidaurus.  Epidaurus is probably the best preserved Greek theatre, and is still actively used for performances throughout the summer months.  It is famous for its acoustics – a coin dropping in the orchestra can be heard at the top of the auditorium without any need for special amplification.  We likened the acoustics to school assemblies: Mr. Greetham needs a microphone to be heard by everyone in the school hall, but the ancient Greeks at Epidaurus were clever enough to design the theatre so that every member of the 12,000 strong audience could hear the actors’ words.  This year, unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to perform anything in the orchestra, although Hala, Haya and Nadine H did see a girl from another group perform a beautiful song to the assembled crowds.  How did they manage that, and no one else?  As soon as we arrived at the theatre, these three were desperate for the toilet - they waited until we walked all the way up to the theatre, and consequently had to walk all the way down again before getting a chance to explore it.  Hence, they missed Anna’s tour.  They got their own little tour back up to the theatre, Mr. Suter kindly agreeing to escort them back up so that they didn’t completely miss the experience.  We did have an acoustic check from Ridaa, however - her loud screech as a minuscule spider fell off a tree and crawled down her leg while listening to Anna certainly echoed around the theatre.

Heading back to Naphlio, we completed the journey some of us had started yesterday when we climbed the stairs to the Palimedes fortress, only this time it was a lot easier as we drove up.  The only difficulty was squeezing the bus through the narrow streets of Naphlio, as the local Saturday market was in full swing.  We made it to the top, and proceeded to explore the summit, some 365m above the town.  Most exciting for our children was the prison cell where a defeated Greek general, Theodoros Kolokotronis, was kept locked up by the Turks who ruled Greece at the time.  It is barely 1m by 2m and has no light at all – he gradually went blind.  We weren’t going to allow the children to stay in it long enough for that to happen, but it was quite an exciting scrimmage as all 27 of our children tried to fit into it at once!  There are some spectacular views to be had at the fortress, but there are also some very high unprotected walls which four anxious teachers and our guide kept the children very far away from – we were all safely accounted for on the bus again!

Next port of call was Mycenae, and we stopped first at the Tomb of Agamemnon or Treasury of Atreus, whichever you prefer to call it.  The structure itself was found when a shepherd lost a lamb down a hole – which turned out to be the tomb.  The tomb itself had actually been plundered at some stage in history – given that it was probably sealed up some time around 1500BC there was plenty of time for that to happen – so there were no real clues as to what it was used for.  The children thought that it was called a beehive tomb as there were so many bees inside, but they were simply enjoying the cool air.  It was actually named for its shape which, funnily enough, is like a beehive.  From there we made our way to the citadel of Mycenae itself, reputedly the home of Agamemnon, who accompanied his brother Menalaus to Troy to try to retrieve Menalaus’ wife Helen.  He wasn’t particularly lucky, Agamemnon, because after ten years away fighting, he was murdered on his return home by the man his wife had taken up with, Aegisthus.  Mycenae was excavated by Heinrich Shliemann who, upon discovering the gold face mask that is now in the National Archaeological Museum, telegrammed a Greek newspaper to say, "I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon."  Chances are it isn’t actually Agamemnon, but it’s a good story.

With so much packed into this morning, lunch was well anticipated: cheese pastries, salad, stuffed tomatoes, veal, rice and fries, and ice cream and sour cherry sauce for dessert.  After gorging ourselves, we went to see a pottery making and painting demonstration which was really a very clever marketing exercise to generate interest in the pottery that the shop also sold.  Parents, can we advise you have plenty of super glue ready to hand when the children arrive home – despite several notes to carefully wrap their clay goodies and to carry them in hand luggage if they are fragile, we are sure there will be some calamities en route.  Huge excitement was generated by the shop proprietor, who gave each child a raffle ticket and then proceeded to award three prizes.  Reyad, Halal and Jamal were the lucky recipients.  Karl has to be commended on his shopping skills this week - a steadfast refusal to do any!  Saroufim family, we hope you are not expecting presents.  

And so back to Athens, and more food, and the end of a busy time spent here in Athens.  Karishma said she felt like she had been here for a month - to which the teachers concur! – but there is lots of excitement this evening as the children prepare for the journey home.  We’ve had a fantastic week here, and as you’ll have seen from the blog we have packed an awful lot of activity into our short time here.   In our time here, we have not received a single negative comment about the children – they have been an absolute credit to themselves, their parents and the school.  All the feedback we have received has been positive, with most of the people who did stop us to find out who we are and where we are from amazed at the ages of the children and somewhat taken aback that children so young have been allowed to travel so far from home – not something Greek children, or parents, would do.

So lights are going out now, we have a lie in tomorrow before we begin our trek home.  The children are excited about seeing you all tomorrow evening – we’d imagine you are just, if not more, as excited!  Until tomorrow, yassos!