It's all Greek to me

Yiasus. So I have returned from blue skies, alfresco dining and cheap wine to cold, pissing rain and buggered up Sainsbury's online orders but, still, I have my photo's to keep me warm. The whole collection is at Flickr (there are loads but it was quite a photogenic holiday).
Think I'm going to pull together some themed-groups over the next few days but for starters here are the World Heritage Sites we visited which tallied a whopping eight in the end (really like that sightseeing).
First off was Delphi, home an oracle and like the Switzerland of Ancient Greece. It's built right up in the most beautiful mountains and you can see the sea in the distance.

Delphi

Next was Meteora which has the most strange but stunning rock formations and then, for extra tourist appeal, over the years monks and nuns set up monasteries on top of them as a safe haven. Originally rope ladders and pulleys would have been used to reach them. Some still use such a system for deliveries and decrepit religious visitors.
Unsurprisingly the area is also quite a draw for climbers and Bond film crews.

Meteora

The Greece 2008 tour then headed onto the Peloponnese. Ancient Olympia first, to peruse the place it all started and of course it was all done in the nuddy back then.
The site is far bigger than this picture shows with remains of temples, hotels and buildings for the officials but this is the competitors entrance to the stadium which still has its original starting line for the races - in marble, naturally. I like to think they had a sign in the tunnel that said: 'This is Olympia' that all the athletes touched just before running out into the stadium. Cheats were fined and the money used to make bronze statues of Zeus which lined the route into the stadium, the cheaters name and misdemeanor were carved into the base.

Entrance to the Olympic stadium

Driving high up into the moutains outside Olympia there is the Temple of Vasses which is in pretty good shape for its age. Its location would have given it the most commanding presence for miles around. Sadly it is now shrouded in a tent primarily to protect it from the harsh seasonal elements while it is restored but it could be permanent. There is still a massive wow-factor though as you walk through the gap in the canvas and first see it.

Shrouded Temple of Vasses

 
Moving away from classical Greece, Mystras, our next stop was a byzantine town built on a steep, knackering, mountain slope. A few buildings and a lot of the original streets and steps are intact but a lot is now in ruins. The only remaining inhabitants are some nuns but the whole place has a Tintagel-esque, mystery, magical feel. You could spend hours exploring and I loved it.

The fortress which crowns the town of Mystras

Our fifth Worth Heritage Site was Monemvasia. Think of Mont St Michel in France or St Michael's Mount in England and you get the idea: Rocky island with an ancient town built into it. Originally it was connected to the mainland but an earthquake separated it. There is now a causeway but once at the city wall no motor vehicles have access. (Something I should have planned for, I thought, when hauling my two-weeks worth of luggage over the cobbled streets to our hotel.)
The upper town is pretty much in ruins apart from a church but the lower town is very much inhabited. Its narrow cobble streets linked by steep steps create a maze like terrain but nonetheless everywhere seems to have the most amazing view of the sea and mainland.

Monemvasia

Two more to go. Epidavros which is the the world most well preserved ancient theatre and still hosts live performances. The acoustics are quite incredible, you can hear a coin being dropped on the marble slab in the centre of the stage from the back row, as demonstrated by the stream of tour guides. Unfortunately some tourists with far less talent than gall like to test the acoustics in their own way.

Epidavros

And finally for all those that have got this far, what has to be the most well known, the Acropolis in Athens. Breathtaking it is despite being rammed with tourists and in particular, apologies to my neighbours here as no offence is intended, drawly-accented Americans. (Do Greek-American's all inhabit the worst part of the US for nasally, whiny accents or something?).

Acropolis, Athens