Almost Wordless Wednesday

Excuse me, a little privacy would be in order.
Thanks to Zoolatry for our lovely new Christmas header.

Tummy Tuesday

Eric always gets to show off his big tummy on Tuesdays, but I beat him to it today.

Mancat Monday

We haven't been for a walk for the last three days because it has been bitterly cold. The furthest we have been is out in the garden, but today the wind dropped so mum asked if we wanted to go out in the fields.

Flynn: Hmm, I don't know if this was a good idea. I've got frozen toesies in this icy grass,

Eric: You're right, I don't think I want to put my feet in it.

Nope, a walk was definitely not the best idea.

Flynn: I had to floof my fur up and even my tail to keep warm.

I managed to stop for a few minutes to check the smells on the grass though.

Eric: That's enough for me. I'm going back in by the fire. Are you coming Flynn?

Easy Like Sunday

I hope you all have a nice relaxing Sunday.

Suppertime.

I didn't like the food mum gave me last night.......

So I went and caught my own supper.

Rasslin'

I'm not sure I trust Eric, he's got a funny look in his eye.

Arghhh! I knew it, he rolled me over.

You better watch out though Eric, I've got good bunny kickers.

Watching and Waiting and Athens Photos.

Mum is showing more of her photos so I will sit here and watch this mouse hole. Wake me up when she's finished.

Our next stop was Athens, the Greek capital, and of course the Acropolis. We had always thought of the famous building at the top of the hill being the Acropolis, but Acropolis in fact means city.


When we got right to the top we could look down into the Theatre of Herodes Atticus which was built in 161AD and is still used for festivals and concerts.

We could look across and see the Temple of Hephaestus which was built in 449BC. It is the best preserved Ancient Greek temple in the world.

Then we got to the Parthenon which we had always thought of as the Acropolis. It is undergoing restoration to preserve it for future generations. If you look carefully you can see parts of the pillars are lighter than the rest, particularly at the top. This is done deliberately to show what is original and what is restored.

The ancient Agora. This was a very important gathering place for justice and commerce, and also for athletic and theatrical performances.

More of the Agora.

The old Royal Palace now known as the Presidential Mansion.

The Changing of the guards is held every hour.

Very different to the Buckingham Palace changing of the guards.

The Panathinaiko Olympic stadium built for the first modern Olympic Games of 1896. It is built entirely of white marble. (Even the toilets are all marble!!)

The Running Man built entirely from sheets of glass to represent the Marathon runners.

Wordless Wednesday

Tummy Tuesday and Mykonos.

It has turned a lot colder now but at least the rain has stopped. It was good to get out and have a lovely roll in the dirt. Over to mum.


Our next stop was the island of Mykonos. No ancient sites to visit, just chance to stroll around the pretty Greek island town. All the streets are very narrow with very little room for the cars.

They get even narrower........

and the alleyways narrower still.

The windmills of Mykonos.

Looking between the windmills, our ship can be seen in the distance.

I have seen this unusual looking church in photos before but did not know the story of it. Below, I have copied some text from the Greek tourist site which describes it.

The special thing about this church is that it actually consists of five small churches that were built one on top or next to the other. The church of Agios Efstathios is the centre of this complex, surrounded by the churches of Agios Anargyros, Agios Sozon and Agia Anastasia. On top of these four churches, there is the church of Virgin Mary, which looks like a dome.
The five churches were not contructed at once, but gradually along centuries. The oldest church is Agios Anargyros, which was built in late 14th century. The other churches were built in the 16th and the 17th century, while there were renovations till 1920.

Mancat Monday and Ephesus, Turkey.

Mancats on lookout duty.

Our next visit was to Ephesus in Turkey. St. Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians here, and it is also believed that St. John wrote his gospel here.

These were shops. The mosaic pavement outside would originally have been covered.


* The Magnesian Gate.

We went into the Terrace Houses which have not long been open for viewing. The walls were all lined with marble which was broken into millions of pieces during the great earthquake. Archeologists are trying to put them back together panel by panel like an immense jigsaw puzzle.

Wall paintings in one of the rooms of a terrace house.

All the rooms had paintings on the walls.

A mosaic centrepiece on the floor.

The Library of Celsus stands at the end of the main street.

The Odeon (theatre) which was used for public meetings and plays but not fights.

*I am hoping that I have the names right but we saw so many ancient sights that it is hard to remember all of them.

Easy Like Sunday

I hope you all have a nice relaxing Sunday. I will.

Holiday Photos - Rhodes.

We had already scheduled our post for today before we heard the sad news that two of our close friends had gone to the Rainbow Bridge.

Inigo was such a handsome boy and fought his illness bravely. He was much too young to be called to the Bridge and we will miss him dearly.

Miss Patches from the Great Piney Woods was one of our very first friends and helped us out with our blogging problems when it was all new to us. Although she no longer blogged regularly we still had the occasional updates, and she also fought her battle valiantly. She will also be greatly missed.
Play free, healthy and happily at the Bridge dear friends. You will never be forgotten.

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Can you believe mum is still taking over our blog? Well this is what I think of it!

Our next port of call was the beautiful island of Rhodes. We walked around the old walled medieval town which shares it's name with the island.

Hippocrates Square.

The mosque.

Street of the Knights.

Grand Master's Palace. (I think!)

View over the walled town from the ship.

Sunset over Rhodes.