About Chora and cats

Irmah

by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya
nine-year-old explorer

Lydia at Chora — Here I am sitting next to the sea at Chora. The weather was pretty bad but we still walked around and discovered things © and photo by Archondia Thanos

Hi everyone, my name is Lydia, I am nine years old, and I am going to be part of an archaeological excavation. The excavation is taking place on the island of Andros which is in Greece.

To get to Andros from Australia, you will have to set aside a couple of days because you have to catch the plane, a boat and drive to your destination.

The reason why I am here is because my mum* is an archaeologist and I am going to be one of the helpers. There are many archaeologists here (about 25 of them).

They have to work very hard and visit different types of sites. They don’t always dig; they also put pieces of pottery and sculpture together and sometimes they do a lot of research in one place.

They also work in museums and some of them teach the subject of Archaeology. My mum came to my school once and taught us about the ancient Olympics.

The first thing we did at Chora was explore the surrounding town.

A perfectly good boat with a perfectly ruined house — Our first discovery was an abandoned and ruined house with a boat in it – a perfectly good boat with a perfectly ruined house! © and photo by Archondia Thanos

Shelves of a ruined house — There is an old shelf from that house – I think they may have put jam jars and cooking pots here but I might be wrong. © and photo by Archondia Thanos

Some of our crew walking through Chora — This is some of the crew walking with me through the windy and narrow streets of Chora. I don’t think cars can get through here but maybe a donkey or a motor bike © and photo by Archondia Thanos

White bougainvillea in front of a white house — This is a photo of one of the houses on a little street that has lots of flowers. Even though it is autumn, flowers still grow © and photo by Archondia Thanos

A black and white cat at someone's doorstep — Did I mention that I LOVE cats? There are cats everywhere!! This is a picture I took of a black and white cat at someone’s door step © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

A cat outside a restaurant © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

An old Turkish drinking fountain — Here is an old Turkish drinking fountain with a tap and a swirly design.

Lydia photographing cinnamon quills — Here is a picture of me taking a photo of the spices in the main market street. These are cinnamon quills – you can use cinnamon quills to put in sugar or to cook with. © and photo by Archondia Thanos

Lydia photographing her brother, Sam — Here is a picture of me taking a photo of my brother Sami with my console which I am using as a camera – an important tool for the explorer! Sami is helping the archaeologists too. © and photo by Archondia Thanos

A kiosk in Chora — Here is a picture of a kiosk – they are very popular in Greece. They sell all sorts of stuff like: sweets, kids’ bags, ice creams and drinks. © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

A 'hand' door knocker — Here is a photo of a door knocker which I think is pretty cool because there is a hand, and inside the hand there is a little ball. If you lift it up and drop it hard, it will knock. © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

Police station building with Ionic columns — This is a photo of a building which we later found out was a police station. The reason I took this photo is because it has two columns that are very interesting. They have scrolls at the top. My friend Archondia said that these are called Ionic columns, and they are very pretty. © and photo by Archondia Thanos

Building with Doric columns — The columns in this next picture, however, are different because they do not have scrolls, and at the top there is a thick cube-like top. This type of column is called Doric. These are also types of columns that the ancient Greek people used. © and photo by Archondia Thanos

A baby fig tree growing in the cement — Towards the end of our day of exploration, Sami and I also found a baby fig tree growing in the cement. I don’t really like figs but lots of people win Greece do. © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

This is a picture of my friend, Hugh. — This is a picture of my friend, Hugh, who is also an archaeologist. I put him in a rainbow. © and photo by Lydia Beaumont-Cankaya

* Lydia’s mum is Dr Lesley Beaumont, one of the three team leaders of the Zagora Archaeology Project.

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