Summer '10 Snapshots! (pic heavy)

Hey everyone! Remember me? :)
Yes, that's right, I 'm back!

First of all, I need to thank you all for still being here, but even more so, for your support and your comments & messages that I 've received during this time, you guys blew me away! I didn't really think that anyone would actually miss me and my ramblings, but, to my surprise, I was proven wrong!

I still feel hesitant to address the issues that led me to take that break, but to give you all an idea, they were all related to this huge umbrella of "beauty blogging drama" in one way or another. Of course, the issues are still there, I just realised that I need to change my perspective in a way that the drama won't affect me - meaning you 'll probably see this blog altering its direction ever so slightly.

But enough with that, this post is all about (my) summer and the pictures I took on my mini summer vacation in Preveza (Preveza is a part of Greece's mainland, across the islands of Paxi and Antipaxi, which are inbetween Corfu and Lefkada to give you a rough idea).

So, this summer...

I engaged in some (safe) sunbathing, meaning only in the afternoon and with high spf that I renewed everytime after swimming. I painted my toes with Essie's Vermillionaire.

I enjoyed the sea, even though the waves made swimming more of a proper workout than a relaxing activity.

I drank many iced coffees and lemon vodka granitas at the beach (I could seriously drink this stuff all day)!
My fingernails got reacquainted with Essie's Punchy Pink (and because the neon-ness of this shade wouldn't show in this lighting I will feature it in a future post).

I stayed at the beach until very late and watched more than a few sunsets. I love the beach even more when it's deserted!

I did some sightseeing: the next set of pictures were taken at the Nekromantio at Acheron river - Acheron river is where Greek mythology and ancient writers place the gates of Hades (underworld) and the Nekromantio is ensentually the sanctuary in which the living would interact with the souls of the dead.
The small christian church above it was built in the late 16th century and it was the archaeological excavations of the church that brought the Nekromantio to light.

The Nekromantio's oldest findings date back to the 14th century BC, but it was not until 200-100 BC that it took its final form. One can still now see and go through the various rooms: rooms for the priests, rooms for the pilgrims, storage rooms and rooms for the actual ritual activites.

This is a storage room, one of many. The purpose of the jars was to collect the offerings of the pilgrims to the gods of the under world. These may seem small in the photo, but believe me, they 're not, there's jars large enough there that could fit two or three of me, no joke!

The pilgrims would have to stay there for many days, as long as the priests would see fit and their diets were dictated by the priests as well - possibly foods with hallucinatory qualities. Only then, and after they had completed the offerings and sacrifices, were they allowed to communicate with the dead. The hallway up to that is basically a labyrinth, as shown in the photo above, one that symbolised the path to the underworld and would of course make sure of the pilgrim's fragile state of mind.

This is the actual room in which the pilgrims would call upon the souls of the dead to help them make a decision or ask them a crucial question. The room is actually right below the ground, quite literally the underworld! It's very imposing with its stone arches and rocky floor, but more importantly due to its history, it's hard to grasp that ancient people had actually been in that room asking for oracles....kind of eerie, don't you think?

This is me exiting the labyrinth (and a proof that I engaged in very safe sunbathing, lol)!

Trying to find a shadow to sit under, yep, that's me under that huge olive tree!

And this is sth for my Greek readers: a sign that we randomly found on our way, so naturally we had to take pictures of it! Don't ask, none of it makes sense to me either, guess every village has it's crazy person!

And there you have it guys! That was it for my summer (for the most part)!
Thanx for making it this far!

Do let me know what you did this summer in the comments!
Any places you visited or plan on visiting?