This post should have appeared last week, but we found ourselves in the 8th circle of hell while we dealt with Verizon over our total inability to access the Internet. We’re back, but for how long is anyone’s guess.

We certainly took things in stride and were an easy bunch to manage, although I think being a tour director is akin to pushing water uphill with a broom.

On our next to last day in Greece we awoke in the port of Athens, had a final breakfast with the wonderful crew of the Harmony V, and headed for the tour bus. Our final guided tour was at the Benakis Museum, a private museum founded by Antonis Benakis, which housed a wide range of collections including Islamic, Cycladic and Byzantine art, and pieces from the Bronze Age, Mycenean civilization, Iron Age, Dark Ages and 18th century. The museum is in the Benakis family home, which in and of itself was worth the price of admission. I kept walking around and thinking, “Who needs this much space?”

Interestingly, there is nothing in writing about the Cycladic civilization, so there are a lot of questions about some of the artifacts found. I’d seen these round objects I thought looked like the early version of the George Foreman grill and thought they must have been frying pans used over an open fire, but Lina says the jury is still out. Some of the guesses were indeed frying pans, but also mirrors, tambourines, salt measures or even (because of the holes in the top) a calendar to track women’s cycles.

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There was a large collection of religious icons, and having Lina as our guide we learned a bit about the process of painting an icon. These wooden “canvases” were soaked in seawater and dried so they wouldn’t change size. They were covered in bee’s wax, then linen, and the gesso base coat was made from vinegar and eggs. The monks who painted these icons fasted for 40 days prior to beginning these creations. While many don’t bear marks of the artists, the icons from Crete were signed and there is also another signed El Greco icon here. Early Christian graves contained paintings of the dead, and this was said to be the precursor of the Byzantine icon.

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The Benakis has an outstanding collection of jewelry; lots of gold and semi precious stones that any of us would be happy to wear today. And for a small fortune you can buy replicas in the gift shop.

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Museums are much more interesting with someone to point out the good bits. Like the practice of mixing olive oil with sand and smearing it on their bodies that the Olympians utilized to prevent sunburn. We saw the vases and urns used for the concoction, and I think there was a collective, “Ewww!” when Lina told us they’d use a special tool called a strigil to scrape the mixture off of their sweaty skin and save it so it could be used to heal dermatological ailments. Serious eww.

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While viewing a statue of Pan, the half goat – half man flutist, Lina told us his name is the root of “panic” because he became very noisy and disruptive if disturbed from his nap. I think I knew him.

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This museum houses the largest collection of costumes in Greece. While all of them were beautiful to behold I was taken with the wedding gowns, most woven with gold thread. The men that wove these gowns would travel from place to place, creating their masterpieces and then moving on to where they were needed next.

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We wandered through the rest of the museum and met for lunch on their beautiful balcony, where we could watch the soldiers training for the changing of the guard that happens in front of Parliament. There were a couple of them that just couldn’t seem to get the steps, and the instructor kept stopping them and making them repeat it again. I think the instructor was looking forward to a couple of cold draughts when the day was over.

We had the afternoon to ourselves, and I was able to get a bit of shopping done. The textiles in Greece are beautiful and I’m now the proud owner of a white linen tablecloth embroidered with lavender flowers, and I found my favorite body cream – Mythos Olive Oil and Pomegranate – to take home. I like it so much I had a case shipped to me when we were last in Greece, but I think the shipping cost more than the body cream.

Our last evening was a group dinner at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant with a view of the Parthenon. We took group photos and shared stories, and Lina told us stories of other trips. She said we were her favorite group. We certainly took things in stride and were an easy bunch to manage, although I think being a tour director is akin to pushing water uphill with a broom. She did a magnificent job.

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Next up – my favorite things…

Deborah