Greece and the Greek Gods

WE LEARN ABOUT GREEK MYTHS
Before heading to Greece, we read the Stephen Fry's delightful book all about Greek myths, called "Mythos".  Definitely worth a read.


"MYTHOS: THE GREEK MYTHS RETOLD" by Stephen Fry
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35074096-mythos

Here are some of my favorite Greek gods:
Athena, She burst forth from the head of Zeus, fully formed and ready for war.

Statue of Athena, atop the Presidential Palace in Athens

Aretemis; Also the daughter of Zeus. She was the Goddess of the hunt, and wild animals. Also an avowed virgin and the protector of young children.

Statue of Artemis at the Ephesus Museum

Model of the Temple of Artemis, at the Ephesus Museum

Actual site of Temple of Artemis, with one reconstructed pillar.

My least favorite:
Hera & Zeus. Basically Zeus spent a lot of his time chasing other women and Hera was very jealous. And not very forgiving.

Zeus and Hera

Apollo, atop the Presidential Palace in Athens

I wondered what happened to the religion based on the Greek mythology, since no one seems to believe it today. And maybe even back then, maybe they knew a lot of it was fictional. Hard to tell. I read an article that said that the belief in Greek myth faded away and was replaced by Christianity. He said that all of the vices of the ancient gods made them hard to believe. Also he said that the Greek mythology was banned and people who believed it were hunted down. So, another good motivation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd-wZOZyTrs

The Greek myths started during the Bronze age, but in the 18th century it became part of the oral tradition of Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology

"Around 700 BC, the poet Hesiod’s Theogony offered the first written cosmogony, or origin story, of Greek mythology."
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology


FUNNY GREEK GODS
by SNL
Check this out! Hilarious!
This skit will make you laugh as the Greek Gods attempt to come to the aid of Greece during their financial crisis. "We do have a god in charge of finance, right?" asks Zeus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcaHutZQiIA

Update in Athens

UPDATE 
March 19, 2019
ATHENS, GREECE

360 Video of Khevron and Lareena

Castles and Calendars: Where we've been!

Mooses at Peles, Castle

Bran Castle - "Dracula's Castle"

Greetings.

We are in Bucharest, Romania, today. We saw two castles while we were here: Peles Castle and also Bran Castle, also known as "Dracula's Castle" (though I think more than one has this claim).

Tonight we will flying to Athens, Greece.

Khevron has updated the map and calendar of our travels.
Here they are:

CASTLES AND BUCHAREST:
We stayed in a hostel in Bucharest, the Antique Hostel, and they sponsored a new tour that went to Peles and also Bran Castle that was 20 Euros cheaper than the standard tour (but had only been going a week). We took it but the guide was new and we took too much time and partly, this was our fault, eating lunch too long. But he said, take your time. So, we arrived at Bran Castle at 5:00 PM and it had closed at 4:00 PM.

So, we were fairly upset. We told him we wanted to stay in Bran and he helped us find an accommodation and dropped us off at a fairly nice hostel, called Casa Miracole. The woman there was very kind, though she didn't speak much English. The next morning we went and saw Bran Castle and made our way back to Bucharest by bus, then another bus, then another bus, then the metro.

Our complaints about the tour fell on unsympathetic ears and we were never sure if the owner of the hostel had organized this tour or not (because he sometimes acted as if he had and other times denied that this was his tour). And at one point, he demanded to know how I had gotten his phone number to text him. I told him I'd found it on the website. Anyway, he alternately apologized and also blamed us for getting to Bran late. And then tried to guilt us into being the reason for the guide to get in trouble and maybe lose his job.

Overall, the entire debacle has left a very bad taste in our mouths. And I, for one, will be glad to fly to Athens!

BRAN CASTLE
is a national monument and landmark in Romania. It is called "Dracula's Castle" but the connection is pretty thin, as I understand. It does have a connection to Vlad the Impaler, on whom Dracula was said to be based. But the castle is not in the spot described by Bram Stoker, and also isn't crumbling. Still, it's an amazing castle.

BRAN CASTLE PHOTO ALBUM (FB):
PART ONE:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10219757557068930&type=3

PART TWO:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10219757626750672&type=3


PELES CASTLE:
Peleș Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inauguration was held in 1883. It was constructed for King Carol I.

PELES PHOTO ALBUM (FB):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10219757254821374&type=3


KHEVRON'S MOOSEADVENTURES PAGE:
Here he puts up the maps and calendars of where we've been.
http://khevron.tripod.com/khevron/abroad/

Peles, Castle, in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, Romania.

Outside view of Bran Castle.