Seeing Greece brought the readings alive
Students from Meadowdale High School on their very last stop on a cruise through the Sea of Crete set off on an excursion on Santorini island that felt like a triathlon. It wasn’t exactly a three-course sporting event of swimming,Mulberry Handbags, cycling and running – but it was close, said photography teacher Jill Van Berkom, who went on this year’s Meadowdale Photo Club trip.
First course: Van Berkom, along with six Meadowdale students and two alumni, hiked up the active Santorini volcano until they could stand inside its giant crater and look out over the entire island. It was probably 100 degrees out,Chanel Sunglasses, making it a very hot climb, but the gorgeous view and the nice breeze at the top made it worth it.
“We could see and smell the volcano, just like at Mount St. Helens,” Van Berkom said. “And there was the sulfur smell and you could see steam rising and could feel the heat under our feet.”
Second course: The travelers hopped into a boat and were transported to the Santorini hot springs near the Palea and Nea Kameni islets. At an anchor point about 50 meters away from the hot springs, the group was told they’d need to swim the rest of the way. Everybody was able to swim the distance, but it wasn’t easy.
“Almost everyone took the plunge into the sea, and we swam free-swim as far as I’ve ever swam in my life,” Van Berkom said. “I even had a camera around my wrist, but we managed to swim over to a shallow point in the hot springs and have fun in the water and take pictures.”
Third course: The group then took a bus to the top of the island where they could enjoy the sunset and see the town laid out in front of them. To get back down the hill, the tour guides gave them three options: Walk it, take a cable car or ride a donkey. A majority of the group from Edmonds chose to ride a donkey.
“Riding the donkey in Santorini was a highlight on the trip,” said junior Ava Ivdetski, an honors English student who went on the trip. “We had to go down this steep cliff with a windy path and it was really scary but really fun at the same time.”
The tour started and ended in Athens. The travelers explored legendary sites of ancient Athens, as well as Delphi, Argolida and Pilos. Half way into the trip, the group went on a four-day cruise that stopped at several islands and cities in and around the Sea of Crete.
Since a majority of the students on the trip had taken or will be taking photography, it’s no surprise the students,Wholesale Gucci handbags, armed with big digital SLRs, took literally thousands of photos, Van Berkom said.
“We took a ton of pictures,” she said. “From getting up early on the boat to catch the sunrise to taking nighttime pictures of the Acropolis of Athens, every possible way that we could exploit this gorgeous situation that we were in, we took advantage of.”
Ivdetski, who read ancient Greek literature in her tenth-grade honors English class, liked visiting the Acropolis of Athens, the Parthenon and the different museums. Seeing Greece really brought the readings alive, she said.
“I finally understood what Homer was talking about in the stories, by seeing the actual monuments and relaying it back to everything,” she said.
Harris enjoyed experiencing the Eastern Mediterranean culture, because it’s very different to American culture. The streets in Athens were really narrow, to the point where everybody lived closely, were friendly and seemed like one big family, she said.
From Edmonds Beacon; excerpts, edited by Greece Travel Blog