This Is Sparta!

I would like to start out by admitting that I have never seen the movie 300. But the fact that I love history means that I still know what went down all that time ago. Sparta is supposed to be a city known for being ruthless and tough, but when we stopped there today, there was nothing that made it seem any different from any other Greek town. (Besides the giant statue of King Leonidas, of course)

Our trip to Sparta was preceeded by a visit to Mystras, a beautiful, pretty much abandoned, mountain village. And when I say mountain, I mean that we hiked our way up to the top, where we were rewarded with a gorgeous view. Then hiked all the way back down, where we were rewarded with a bathroom.

I can not get over how beautiful it is here. Views like this just don't happen in the States. Or maybe the views here just seem better because we spent like a billion hours on a plane just to get here. It's going to be so hard to leave all this behind in a few short weeks. Our time here has gone by so fast I can't believe it. Tomorrow is our last day in the apartments, then Saturday we leave for Rhodes. I am super excited for Rhodes, but it will be weird to leave Athens, the place we've all become so familiar with over the past two weeks. I think I know this city better than Minneapolis or Seattle, places I've spent a lot more time in. I'm so glad to have this opportunity, and I know that I want to come back to Greece some day!