Classicists Explore Beautiful Ancient Sites in Greece

In the final week of the Easter holidays, 70 girls and 8 staff gathered for the Classics trip to Greece.  They got to school at the rather early time of 1:30 am on Monday and boarded the plane around 5:00 am.  Monday and Tuesday were spent in Athens admiring the ancient sites.  Their first stop was the Theatre at Thorikos, which is a beautiful deme theatre overlooking a beach where they stopped to eat lunch.  The group then went on to the Temple of Poseidon which is an amazing structure on Cape Sounion.  This was their first gift shop of the trip.  They then headed to the hotel for a buffet dinner and some much needed sleep. 

The next day the group went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon.  This gigantic, beautiful structure, dedicated to Athena, was not all that caught their eye (ciao).  They then visited the New Acropolis Museum to see some of the beautiful sculptures that were being preserved there.  The pupils were allowed a little shopping time before they got on the bus to go to Delphi.  After arriving in Delphi, they went straight to dinner at a restaurant where they celebrated Sophie's (L6CSK) 17th birthday with some delicious birthday cake. 

Delphi was a beautiful sight to see and a stunning walk up to the top to see the old running track used in the Pythian Games.  They also visited the Temple of Apollo, many treasuries and a classical theatre.  The views over Mount Parnassus were fantastic and the sculptures beautiful and amazingly preserved.  The group were given shopping time before heading to Olympia and they had a nice little wander round the town of Delphi.

The next day in Olympia was beautiful.  They enjoyed a tour of the sanctuary and a race on the old running track from the first Olympic Games.  Well done to Maisie (11α) who won the pupil race and Mrs Colleen Swire who won the staff event!  After visiting the museum and going into the gift shops, they finally headed to their last destination of the week, Tolo. 

The final day was spent visiting the Theatre of Epidaurus and the Fortress of Palamidi: they managed to walk down the 901 steps to get to the bottom and the town of Nafplion.  This gave them an opportunity for their final shopping spree and from there they sadly travelled back to the airport.

The entire trip was a wonderful experience which is all thanks to Ms Carmel Landowski who organised it all, and also Ms Dani O’Laoire, Mrs Melanie Mitchell, Mrs Colleen Swire, Mrs Maria Davy, Mrs Sue Macey, Mrs Jane Moseley and Mrs Joanne Brereton who all accompanied the girls on the trip.  It was an amazing experience that the pupils will never forget.