After the volcano

Today's adventure was the archaeological sites. Although I love Greece, and have seen more archaeological sites than most non-specialists, I've always been challenged by the imaginative task of appreciating the archaeological sites which are so often just foundations now.  These two sites are amazingly well-preserved, among the best Greek sites I've ever seen, inspiring in me a real appreciation.  We visited Ancient Thira first (the younger of the two, with ruins mostly from the Hellenistic period).  It was incredibly windy, perched on top of a mountainside.  We wandered around the old streets, got our first glimpse of pottery shards just lying all over the path (walk on them but don't pick them up!), marveled at the struggle the inhabitants went through just to get up there (it was a hike!), not to mention hauling stones around and then carving beautiful decorations onto them.  I just enjoyed the first of our archaeological sites and didn't take a lot of pictures except these two of my kids.

Alex showing Ellie something in the water with his binoculars

Jeremiah and Zois hanging out catching the view

 Next stop was Akrotiri, the bronze age site that was destroyed all at once by the volcanic eruption and hidden until it was excavated in the 1960s.  This was a site I've remembered since I saw it in the 1990s, but a lot of progress has been made since then, so it was like a new experience.

View of the extensive site, with a room with storage jars in front.

One of the pits dug to put in the columns holding up the roof.

In most of the site you have to walk around and above the ruins, but this one part allows you to go among them.  This is the admiral's house.  This is where I finally felt like I was immersed in the world and could really relate to the culture as a culture.

This basin was in a window.  I was showing Ellie the highlights and trying to help her understand what we were looking at.  Another mom with another small child was there.  His theory about his object was that it was where they charged their cell phones (cords emerge from the hole).  When asked how the ancients built the place, he thought the probably learned from YouTube.