Greece -- Athens, Olympia, & Temple of Poseidon

I can not believe how wonderful Greece was. We went to the Acropolis. On top, is not only the Parthenon - but also, the Temple of Athene NMike, The Stod, and Dionysus' Theatre. A little ways off is the super columned Temple of Olympian Zeus. We drove for 4 hours to the site of the ancient Olympics. In the site was the training grounds, Temple of Zeus and Hera and the ancient track. The Temple of Zeus was almost all rubble, but one of the columns stands to show how tall it was. We then ran 4 laps on the ancient track. We had it all to ourselves for a long time! On the way back, we drove to the Temple of Poseidon. It is on a cliff and we also had it all to ourselves. I hope we have a fun last week of travel!

Acropolis...












Parthenon...














Ancient Olympia...











Starting Line at Ancient Olympia Track

Temple of Poseidon...

* The last picture isn't actually the Temple of Poseidon in Greece :-) Does anyone know where it is from (except Nonni, Mimi, and Pa).

Greece: Santorini

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty! Our hotel had a great view, 2 floors, and a jacuzzi. The first few days we just hung out at the hotel with the occassional walk around. One day, Carson and I spent 5 hours in the Jacuzzi. Later in the week, we went to the volcano and hot springs. At the volcano, we had a nice walk across the lava (not flowing). The hot springs were unenjoyable -- cold and not very much worth a long freezing swim to get there :-) On the last day, we traveled around the island to go to both red and black sand beaches, see some other sights, and catch the sunset in Ia (ee-ah). I had the most lazy and relaxing time of my life.

Turkey - Istanbul

I had the nicest time in Istanbul. It is a very clean and exciting city with the nicest people EVER. It is the only city in the world that is on two continents (Europe and Asia). We stayed in a small, but stupendous hotel near Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. First, we went to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The inside of the Blue Mosque was beautiful. A Mosque is a Muslim church. The Hagia Sophia is a 1500 year old church which was eventually turned into a Mosque. We also walked around an ancient underground cistern that was dark, wet, and cool! We took a cruise down the Bosphorous which is the waterway that divides Europe and Asia. We met a friend of my mom's from High School in Istanbul whose name is Jennifer. She is a writer and she was so nice. She gave us a box of the best Turkish Delight ever. It was covered in Chocolate. We ate the whole box in just a few days!

We had a really great time in Istanbul!

Jordan - Amman with Friends

Jordan is a really great country with a ton of fun stuff to do. It is bordered by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

I had a fantastic time with our friends in Amman (the Capitol of Jordan). We met them during our tour in Egypt. The kids (Rhys, Rahdika, Carson, and I) played, made a band, and watched movies. We ate a scrumptious home cooked dinner. It was really nice to see our friends.

Jordan - Wadi Rum

I had a phenomenal time in Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a big desert area in Jordan. It is where Lawrence of Arabia lived. We stayed in a Bedouin camp with the Bedouins who live in the desert. We took a jeep ride through the desert with a Bedouin named Aboud. He showed us a few sites and then he started driving really fast through the desert and flying over big sand dune cliffs. I was in the back of the truck with no seat belt on. After that, we took an evening camel ride deeper into the desert to watch the sunset. When we finally got back to camp, we ate a deliciously delicious dinner of rice, lamb, beef, chicken and pita bread. Our room was a tent with a cloth door and lit by candle light. My family had a great experience in Wadi Rum.

Jordan - Petra

Petra was AMAZING! Petra was a city built by the Nabataens over 2000 years ago. They were a desert people who controlled the trade routes. Most people think that Petra was just the treasury building, but it was actually a whole city. When you are walking in, you see an Obelisk tomb. To get to the treasury, you walk through a siq. A siq is a very narrow canyon. After walking through the siq, you get to the main attraction -- Al-Khazneh (or the Treasury). It was delicately hand carved into the side of a mountain. All of the buildings were carved into mountains and use the styles from the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other desert people. After a long but enjoyable additional walk up about 1000 steps, we reached a monestary in the mountains. It was very beautiful.

Jordan - The Dead Sea

Jordan has been a tremendous hit so far. The Elliott's would like to thank John DeBlasio for helping us set up our trip here. We stayed in a super Marriott with 3 swimming pools, 4 or 5 restaurants, and the Dead Sea. We had a delicious dinner with John, his Jordanian business partner Walid (who took care of most of the trip details), and Walid's family. We also played in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has 7 times more salt in it than the ocean. You can float so high you can even read a book without it getting wet. You can't play in it too long though. The salt starts to sting after a while. The sea is the lowest point on Earth. It is over 400 meters below sea level. We also caked ourselves in Dead Sea healing mud. It is supposed to make you feel younger. Carson said that he felt like he was 3 (Carson is actually 6). I can not wait to see Petra.

Jordan - The Biblical Part

Once we got to Jordan, we went to a church in Madaba. Madaba is famous for it's Mosaics. Inside the church, there were a lot of beautiful mosaics. We then went to Mt. Nebo which was where Moses finally saw the promised land and then died. From the top, we saw Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho. We then went to the River Jordan and saw where Jesus was baptized. Across the water was Israel. I can not wait to go to the Dead Sea.

Cairo Egypt and Trip Friends

I had a superb time in Egypt with my tour buddies. We ate a delicious good bye dinner and went to eat ice cream. My favorite tour guide ever is Sam. He is from Egypt and worked in Virginia. I can't believe he wrestled with us, let us play his computer, and even bought us chocolate and ice cream. Our friends from the tour are Joe and Finn (age 10) from Australia, AND Jennifer, Matt, Radhika (age 8), and Rhys (age 7) from America. Jennifer, Matt, Radhika, and Rhys live in Amman Jordan. I hope we can see all of our new friends in the future.

Hurghada Egypt

Hurghada was a very pleasant and refreshing stop. It is a beach town in Egypt on the Red Sea. Almost all of the tourists in Hurghada are Russian. We took a boat tour on the Red Sea and went snorkeling twice. The boat took us to an island where we made sand castles, splashed around ans swam a lot. At our hotel, there was a beach where we made a super giant sand castle. Some of the parents danced with the Russians on stage. I had a great trip to the beach.

Luxor Egypt

I have had the best time in Luxor! There are a lot of temples and tombs around Luxor.

We went on a hot air balloon over the Nile and saw all of Luxor. We went to the Temple of Karnak and saw the sound and light show. It showed what happened and who did what. Karknak temple is dedicated to the god Ra. It is one of the biggest temples in Egypt and has giant pillars everywhere.

We also went to the temple of Hatshepsut. We call her hot chicken soup. She was the only female Pharoah and she even wore a false beard. Her temple looks huge because of how it is built, but looks pretty small up close.

We also went to the valley of the kings and saw King Tut's tomb. All of the tombs were built in the new kingdom (about 1500 BC) and hidden in a valley. Some of them are huge. We don't really have good pictures of the valley of the Kings because they don't let you take pictures in the tombs. I also had a chance to ride a donkey. On the other side of the mountain, there was a village of the people who worked on the other tombs. We visited there ancient village and tombs.

We are now heading off to Hurghada to go swimming. It is an Egyptian beach town on the Red Sea.