At 4.00 am on Sunday 24 October, 25 pupils accompanied by Mr Peel, Mrs McMillan and Mrs Triantafilou-Armitage arrived at Gatwick airport, ready for a Greek adventure with 3 aims: to experience many of the Classical marvels of Greece (and sources on the Classical Civilisation GCSE); to enjoy the physical beauty of Greece’s sea, mists and mountains; to feast on the social and culinary delights of dining in Greek tavernas.
After landing and boarding our coach, our first stop was the oldest known stone theatre in the world, in the coastal village of Thorikos. This was possibly the birthplace of western drama, and so an obvious place for the noted thespians of Manor House to admire. We then moved on to Cape Sounion, which has a beautiful temple of Poseidon (with Byron’s graffiti still visible on it) and stunning panoramic views of the Aegean sea; and a nice café.
After check-in and dinner in our Athens hotel, Monday was an early start to the first visitors of the day into the National Archaeological Museum. This stunning museum has an unrivalled collection of Bronze Age and Classical Greek treasures, not to mention 80% of the source objects for Class Civ GCSE. From there we moved to the Acropolis, on which the famous Parthenon could be seen without scaffolding for the first time in decades (albeit in heavy rain for our visit). After lunch in a taverna, serenaded by Greek musicians, we explored the ancient Agora and its museum, then the Pnyx. This was the slope on which Athenian democracy functioned, as its citizens voted on motions debated by the great statesmen of the age, such as Themistocles and Pericles. After these 20,000 steps, we returned to our hotel for dinner,
Tuesday saw us complete our business in Athens with a visit to the Acropolis museum, which has great views of the Acropolis itself, and the perfect space to show ALL of the Parthenon frieze marbles, when one day we get round to returning the ones Elgin stole. We then drove up into the mountains, to visit Delphi, via a delicious lunch in a mountain taverna. Thankfully the sun made a rare appearance for our visit to Delphi, home of the Delphic Oracle, which all felt was a magical and mystical place, up high in the mountains with spectacular views down to the sea.
After a one-night stay in Delphi, we headed for Olympia, on Wednesday. Torrential rain made us abandon our plans for lunch in the port of Naupaktos, so we ate in a taverna in Olympia itself. We enjoyed running down the competitors’ tunnel and out into the ancient Olympic stadium despite the rain. We then had a 90-minute drive down to Zoe Resort, venue for our last two nights, in torrential rain accompanied by a thunder and lightening firework show for the whole journey. We gave our driver, Vassilis, a standing ovation for getting us there safely.
On Thursday we blinked in the sunshine, and set off to visit Nestor’s palace, up in the hills amidst Olive groves. We then set off on a mile walk to reach the stunning natural beauty of Voidokoilia beach. The gods gave us hot sun for the first time in our trip. We lay on the sand, paddled and even saw some flamingos. We then had lunch in a quayside taverna in Pylos, with panoramic views of Navarinho Bay. We then returned to Zoe Resort for a free afternoon of pool or beachside chilling, before our big final day.
On Friday, we started with a visit to the breath taking theatre at Epidauros, amazingly preserved and with perfect acoustics. From very high up at the top we could all hear Jesse’s short performance of “Ave Maria”. After lunch in a nearby taverna, we finished off our Classical trip with an exploration of the remarkable and intriguing citadel of Mycene, famous for its 3500 year old Lion Gate, and immense fortifications.
The behaviour of the girls, it goes without saying, was angelic and perfect throughout the trip, making it a pleasure to take them.
Manor House School, an Independent School, in Bookham Surrey, offers both Classics and Latin as GCSE options.
