Greek Adventures - The Aqueduct
This was a great day. Most of my posts so far have been about the camp and the people that have been a part of my journey and how they affected me. Along the way, in amongst all the hard work and relationships being built I have also had a few fantastic opportunities to be a part of some incredible experiences. As most of you are aware I am an avowed lover of random adventure, I tend to not know what I am doing until I am doing it haha. This day would prove to be no exception...
Our adventure begins the day before as I picked up the rest of the Panagiouda Crew from working the night shift an experience I not so unfortunately missed out on during my time in Moria. (not sure who to thank, Marianna for her scheduling I guess, but anyways I am definitely grateful haha -- David is too old for all nighters) During our drive home it was discussed that we all had the following day off and as such an adventure was in order.
The next day I followed up with them to see what was up and within 30 minutes we had a hike planned. Steph and Dusting had driven by random sign along the highway on their previous days adventures that looked like it was a map of hiking trails so they pinned it and we had just been recruited to see where it lead. LOVE IT.
Loaded in the van shortly after we were on our way. Armed only with google maps and an appetite for adventure we toured our way down the winding Lesvos highway towards the pin. As we got closer we noticed a sign that read something about an aqueduct... INTRIGUING but we carried on towards where they had set the pin and finally found the sign they had previously passed.
The sign itself outlined several trails which undoubtedly were beautiful adventures of their own. This entire island is full of the most beautiful landscapes, hilly and filled with lush olive groves, it is truly a sight to be seen. But our eyes all gravitated to one path in particular... the Roman Aqueduct.
Now if I am honest I had ZERO idea what a Roman Aqueduct looked like or would be but I had a suspicion that it was old, stone, big and most likely VERY COOL, making it easy to sell me on the idea. We circled back to where we had seen the original sign and began our trek into the unknown.
Like everything else in this country, hike towards the Aqueduct was stunning, winding around a small river valley the journey itself was amazing to behold. The quiet of nature, the crispness in the the air and, of course, fantastic company holding great conversation. Though not without any trials, it was super muddy and Sam ended up doing the hike barefoot (2 hours through mud sans shoes thats more than I could have done) but I am sure glad he did because I would have hated for him to miss what we came upon.
As we got closer I felt a little like we were characters in the Lord of the Rings or something, heroes in the midst of an ancient epic quest.
I don't actually know what else to say about this experience. It was humbling and strangely satisfying to be that close to such an enduring piece of history. I was visiting with friends last night discussing our various travels and they were talking about visiting the Coliseum in Rome and the feelings they felt walking in such historically rich setting and I feel like thats a good explanation of how I felt here. I think as humans we have a deeply entrenched desire for legacy that we can too often overlook in our concerns for the here and now and so when we experience this level of physical endurement we cannot help but be somewhat awed by it.
Lol anyways consider that David's deep thought for the day.
I am also still trying to get some of the footage that Dustin took with his drone. I have a feeling that it would give an even deeper understanding of how incredible this structure is, that photos cant even accurately capture. I'll post it up, if and when I do.
Until Next time
D
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