Upon arriving in Athens, we were handed some lunch and were then pleasantly surprised to find out that, due to a change in schedule, we were climbing up to the Acropolis on the first day. Despite the heat (and slightly slippery marble stairs), it was worth the climb to the top to see the Parthenon, and the equally stunning Propylaea and Temple of Athena Nike. During our journey back down to modern Athens, we also saw the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Theatre of Dionysus. In the evening, we had the first of many delicious Greek meals.
We started off the next day by seeing the Greek Parliament building, where a small group of people were beginning to meet with political intent, and so we went to the Acropolis Museum to learn about Athens’ political situation – back when the Parthenon was being built. We learnt about what we had seen the day before, and then roamed around the Plaka while eating lunch, avoiding rose sellers and rain.
We then went to the Planetarium, where we were mesmerised by the life-sized astronaut costume in the gift shop. We learnt a bit about the earth’s weather (that was attempting, though failingly, to make our day miserable), as well as the atmospheres of the planets, and their aurorae.
Finishing the day with a bit of sun at the beautiful Modern National Library, we, equipped with ice cream, played hide and seek and giant chess in its gardens.
On Wednesday, we experienced an immersive Virtual Reality presentation on Ancient Olympia, which included a live quiz. Once again fighting the impulse to spend the rest of the day at the giftshop, we left for Marathon. We saw the battlefield and learnt about the battle that had occurred there, and then we were able to ponder over the events while we had lunch.

We arrived at Delphi in the evening and had a bit of time to walk through its beautifully lit streets.

The next morning, we went up even higher, through Delphi’s ruins all the way up to the stadium. We went back down to visit the museum, and then left Delphi. Our next stop was Arkoudi, where we had lunch, and then we continued to Olympia.
On Friday, we were able to see the buildings we had learnt about in the presentation a couple days before, or at least what remained of them. We saw a building that had fired red bricks, which meant that it was rebuilt in Roman times.
We raced at Olympia’s ancient track, and then continued our journey.
My personal favourite site was Messini, founded later than the previous sites in the 4th Century BC. When we first stopped for lunch overlooking the city below, we all noticed that these ruins were different from all the others we had been to- there were no other people! With the site to ourselves, we especially loved the huge stadium and the theatre, where we took a group photo; with Mr O'Donovan on the best seat. Perhaps finding the ruins a bit quiet, we planned on bringing the Ancient Greek theatre back to life tomorrow in Epidaurus with a special performance…
The road to Nafplion, where our hotel for the final two nights was, was long but through the stunning peaks of the Peloponnese. In the evening we enjoyed some ice cream with a Russian singing competition going on in the background.
Saturday morning was very dramatic. On an early morning visit to Epidaurus, the Year 11 and 13 students put on a sensational production of Euripides' Medea in the ancient theatre. Lead roles were highly contested with Rafael a (very) convincing Medea and Evan and Tobiasz her (soon to be) murdered children- thankfully for us though, there were no children hurt in this show's production!
In the afternoon, we had free time to go around Nafplion. Many sweets and souvenirs were bought but we also enjoyed walking around the historic streets of the city- the first capital of Greece after it gained independence in 1821.
On Sunday we visited the Bronze Age site of Mycenae where the palace of Agamemnon (who also killed his daughter!- albeit as a sacrifice) once stood. His associated tomb, cut into the mountain nearby, was very impressive, despite smelling strongly of bat droppings.
Before flying back to London that afternoon, we stopped in Loutraki for lunch and to take a last look at the Mediterranean that had been with us for the whole journey.
We would like to thank the Year 13 students, who had each researched a site to help Dr Sini Spencer out. We would also like to give a special thank you to Dr Sini Spencer for all the insightful information on absolutely everything that we saw at these sites, as well as everything Greek, and to Mr O'Donovan and Miss Hayward for their generous care throughout the trip. We had a delightful time!