Here's a bunch of pictures from my earlier trip to Greece.
2026 update: Yeah, tonnes of HDR, and it has aged poorly. I decided to keep the photos as they were once processed (just like all the other ones on this website) to document my progress.
This is Santorini, the only Greek island I went to. Santorini was created in a volcanic explosion, and here you can
see its crescent shape. Prior to the explosion (which took place sometime before 1600 BCE) it was a single island;
now it is an archipelago of several small islands.
The main island of the Santorini archipelago is also called Santorini. The total area of the island is 73 km2
(whereas the total area of the archipelago is 90 km2).
Taken at night on the Leoforos Syngrou street. On the right hand side is what probably
used to be an entrance to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Its construction began in the 6th century
BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, but was only finished by the Romans under the
Emperor Hadrian, whom we met in my Jerusalem gallery.
This is the first building erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world,
opened in 1888. Its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas, did not live long enough to see the completion. His head is
now buried underneath his statue (seen on the right hand side).
Speaking of erections, here's a statue of a satyr. Satyrs acquired their goat-like aspect through later Roman conflation with Faunus.
They were associated with fertility, as you can see.
This is my friend, Khen of ancient beauty, whom we met in my Middle East, Assorted gallery, and who was my genial companion
and proud tripod bearer for the trip.
Parthenon is a temple dedicated to the Greek Goddess Athena. Its construction began in 447 BC and ended in 432 BC.
It was much later turned into a church, then into a mosque. In the Ottoman period ammunition was stored there, and during a
Venetian bombardment it exploded, causing severe damage. Some of the surviving sculptures were taken to the British Museum
where they are to this day, even though the Greek government has been trying to get them back since 1983.
It is now being partially restored. If you are wondering what it might look like when it's finished, google Parthenon in Nashville,
where a full scale replica is.
This is the view from my hotel. The island on the right is where the volcano is.
The part of cliff sticking out into the lagoon is where I decided to go on my last evening
in Santorini. I didn't take my phone, I was hungry, but I went there anyway, and almost did not come
back after falling inside a volcanic tunnel and sliding down to the edge of the cliff. I still have
scars on my hands after pushing them into the gravel surface, trying to break. Stupidity at its best!
But I survived, proving once again that stupidity is not at all dangerous. I could then take this picture.
It got cold and windy though, and I didn't make it to the very tip of the cliff sticking out into the sea,
as this volcanic rock was very soft, and everything was breaking off and falling many metres down.
