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Samantha Salmond

ENGL 219 D

Dr. Heather Marcovitch

October 15, 2010

Greece:

Exploring Myths and Ruins

The first time I had seen a pink pelican up close was on a small island in Greece called

Mykonos, where this particular pelican was like a celebrity. The people of Mykonos know him

as Pelican Petros, as he is the only pelican on the island. My travel group and I were amazed by

how close we could get to Petros and some of us even touched him. Our tour guide Christiane

Pohl considered us lucky; not all travellers get to meet Petros. It was the small experiences like

this that made Greece memorable. On our twelve day trip we learned about history, listened to

myths and visited many beautiful places. Travelling Greece was full of experiences that I want to

experience again. Greece is just a small country full of big places that I think everyone should

experience at least once.

The history of Greece is like a bed time story; the myths are more interesting then the war

stories we hear in Canada. Throughout the duration of our trip Christiane told us a lot of the

myths. Every historic place we visited was full of stories; I found myself completely awake and

alert unlike the sleeping I usually did in social 30-1. Grecian history is based on at least twelve

gods and goddesses. The most memorable myth I was told was about Apollo. Apollo is the god

of prophecy and light and his temple is located at a place called Delphi. One of the myths we

were told at the temple of Delphi was why ravens are black. It is said that Apollo used a white

raven to communicate with one of his lovers, Koronis. One day Apollo received word from the

white raven that Koronis had committed adultery which angered Apollo so much that he asked

Artemis to kill her. He then turned the raven black for tattling on Koronis. This short myth was

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very moving and powerful. I could almost picture it happening. This is the feeling we

experienced every time my group and I were told stories at the ruins.

Greece is not only famous for its myths but also for its many ruins and for the origin of

the Olympics, and I was so very lucky to visit many of the places including Olympia. The history

behind these places is so interesting and the architecture is absolutely amazing. As we walked

into Olympia on the well-used path I couldn’t take my eyes off the huge column in front of me,

all around it were large circular stones that appeared to once be stacked like the column. In the

background I could hear my friends gasping at the size of this place. Behind the columns is a

large stone pad about the size of a swimming pool and just as I was about to ask, Christiane said

“Welcome to the temple of Zeus”. Not only are the ruins worth seeing but so are the many

islands surrounding the mainland.

One of the islands of Greece is Santorini. This island appears in the movie Sisterhood of

the Travelling Pants. Like Lena from the movie my friends and I got the opportunity to ride a

mule into the town and see the beautiful white stone houses with blue roofs. Every island and

ruin was a new exciting sight, which never once became boring.

To me one visit to Greece was only a sample; to get the most out of Greece I would tour

it more than once. The islands, ruins, and myths are worth going back to see and experience

again. Olympia and Delphi are already hundreds of years old; people should experience their

beauty and history before they are gone forever. These places and myths give wonderful insights

into human nature and many modern practices like the Olympics. For some one trip might be

enough, but not for me.