After battle, peace

Many people are familiar with marathons, the races. But on our trip we went to the town of Marathon where a battle took place in ancient times between the Greeks and the Persians. Next to the museum was a burial.

We then went to the battle ground where a massive tomb stood like a hill. Here were buried the 192 Athenians who fell at Marathon. Thousands of Persians fell, and this was an important battle for Greek morale. There were olive trees all around. It had a serene feeling being there.

Then we went to the beach and Joe read from Herodotus and told us the story of the battle. We were where the Persians landed and docked their boats. It was really awesome. Plus our classroom this time was a really cool playground, which included a tetter totter!

After our day at Marathon we went north to the Monastery of Hosios Loukas. It was so, so beautiful and peaceful there I swear it was straight out of the Sound of Music. There was a smaller church built in the 10th century AD in the cruciform style, using the Greek cross that is equal on all sides. Then in the 11th century AD the larger church was built in the more octagonal form with a narthex. There was nothing surrounding this monastery except undeveloped landscape. No car noises could be heard. It was just so peaceful you almost didn't want to talk and disturb the silence.