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| View from the plane - Alexander the Great Airport |
I flew into Skopje from Budapest, Hungary, last night and took a cab from Skopje to Sveti Nikole with another student on the dig, Michael. Flying in, I was taken aback by the mountainous terrain rolling thousands of miles below my plane with large rivers cutting a winding path through the unyielding landscape.
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| Vineyards near Skopje |
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| Field near Skopje |
The cab ride was even better. The roads twisted through the large hills overlooking deep valleys and eventually led to rolling fields and vineyards guarded by the mountains in the distance.
I was actually surprised by how much the landscape was dominated by agriculture (the picture of hay bales reminds me of Iowa).
Once in Sveti Nikole, we went straight to the hotel with our luggage. I found my room and met my roommate, Lizzy, who is absolutely fantastic! She participated in the dig last year and told me that someone else from NYU was here who she knew from the dig last year. I doubted I knew him...then she said he was a Classics major. There aren't many of those at NYU. We went to his room (which coincidentally was the same room as Michael, who I had shared a taxi with) and to my surprise, the NYU student was someone with whom I had just taken a class with! Small world...
We had dinner at the hotel and headed back to our rooms for an early bed time - which was a good idea since the bus leaves for the dig site at 4:45 am.
Today, Lizzy and I got up around 4:15 and dressed for the day. I had packed about 3 liters of water for the day, but as I found out, that wasn't enough. My boda (Spanish wine skin) had a faulty lid and leaked all over my bag (and me throughout the day), which was really disappointing. Even so, it was a surprisingly useful item this morning.
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| View from Bylazora site -- 5 am |
We boarded the bus and headed for the dig site. After a short ride, the bus dropped us off at the base of a large hill. Once I realized that our dig site was on TOP of that hill, it became an ENORMOUS hill. Thankfully, I survived the rather vigorous walk up to the site and was rewarded with one of the most beautiful views I have seen in all my life. Dr. Bill Neidinger showed us around the site and gave us a brief history lesson/orientation before the real work began. Due to a hard winter with heavy snowfall, the site was a wreck. The workers had covered the unearthed walls and stones with thick plastic tarps for the winter months, but even so, one of the shelters that had been built had collapsed and the hills were heavily eroded away. The rest of the site had become a jungle of thorny bushes and leafy green vegetation that all had to be cleared away. We spent the entire morning digging, pick axing, pulling weeds, hoeing, and shoveling dirt that needed to be carted away to the hillside by wheelbarrow. Let's just say I'm not that great with the wheelbarrow.
We breaked for breakfast around 8 am and were served what looked like a large half loaf of bagette with a thick slab of ham and cheese inside. It was surprisingly delicious. The bread here, as I have found out, is absolutely fantastic! Very soft and light with a good flavor. After breakfast, it was more digging and moving rocks and wheeling away mounds of dirt.
We stopped early for the day around 12 pm and walked back down the hill and stopped by the Sacred Pool structure that had been previously discovered. Finally, the bus driver picked us up and took us back to our hotel.
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| Sacred Pool |
I took a much needed shower before heading down to lunch - tomato and cucumber salad, soup, fried potatoes and roast beef, and baklava for dessert!! It was delicious. Feeling full and sleepy, I was ready for a nap. Unfortunately, I needed to run into town for supplies...I'm really hoping this is conditioner and shower gel. I guess I'll find out later
It must have been a hard day...Lizzy and I slept through dinner.
Once in Sveti Nikole, we went straight to the hotel with our luggage. I found my room and met my roommate, Lizzy, who is absolutely fantastic! She participated in the dig last year and told me that someone else from NYU was here who she knew from the dig last year. I doubted I knew him...then she said he was a Classics major. There aren't many of those at NYU. We went to his room (which coincidentally was the same room as Michael, who I had shared a taxi with) and to my surprise, the NYU student was someone with whom I had just taken a class with! Small world...
We boarded the bus and headed for the dig site. After a short ride, the bus dropped us off at the base of a large hill. Once I realized that our dig site was on TOP of that hill, it became an ENORMOUS hill. Thankfully, I survived the rather vigorous walk up to the site and was rewarded with one of the most beautiful views I have seen in all my life. Dr. Bill Neidinger showed us around the site and gave us a brief history lesson/orientation before the real work began. Due to a hard winter with heavy snowfall, the site was a wreck. The workers had covered the unearthed walls and stones with thick plastic tarps for the winter months, but even so, one of the shelters that had been built had collapsed and the hills were heavily eroded away. The rest of the site had become a jungle of thorny bushes and leafy green vegetation that all had to be cleared away. We spent the entire morning digging, pick axing, pulling weeds, hoeing, and shoveling dirt that needed to be carted away to the hillside by wheelbarrow. Let's just say I'm not that great with the wheelbarrow.
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