Dear All,
It’s been a long while since I wrote a personal message.
I have to say 2017 was a bizarre and difficult year and just about everyone I know has experienced the same. Unfortunately since 2012 it seems each year gets worse so I’m not particularly optimistic about this one, but I shall keep smiling and keep moving on. Although the world did not end, the Maya clearly predicted a period of turmoil and instability that continues, with weird energies and feelings all around.
My own personal life has been rather stressful and that culminated in the loss of my paid day-to-day job at the end of November. I almost cancelled my trip to Greece because of that but I am so glad I didn’t.
So right now I am jobless but at the same time I know these things happen for a reason. Greece enabled me to do a lot of soul searching and think about what I don’t want, rather than what I do want. Thus some clarity has manifested. It’s time for me to make some drastic changes in my life, move away from where I’ve been living for the last 9 years and start again.
As for Greece itself, my second visit was just as awesome as the first, but this time I managed to visit 54 sites in 14 days, as opposed to the 25 sites in 10 days last time around. It was, on average, 4 sites per day, and this may seem as if I never even bothered to take note of them! However, many places had several sites next to each other, so it was easy to visit several sites a day. That said, I covered more than 2,000 miles in 14 days, travelled the entire Peloponnese, Attica, and Central Greece, and gathered another 4,000 photos to add to the 5,700 from last time. I will be starting the travelogues for these soon, but my website host is mortified how much space nearly 10,000 photos will take up! I also recorded a lot more videos this time around, with more detail of the locations, and these will be uploaded onto my YouTube channel in the coming months.
Naturally the trip contained ups and downs. We (my son was with me this time) got stuck in a snow blizzard in Thebes (Thiva), had to be helped out and damaged the car in the process (losing 100 Euros from my deposit). And on the last night I hit a kerb very hard turning around and the tyre had a blow out (costing me another 100 Euros for a new tyre and recovery). The car was stuck in the next town and we had to get a taxi back to our hotel. However, at all times I knew there was a reason this was happening… If the tyre had not blown we would have driven back to the hotel and gone straight to our room, missing the opportunity to sit downstairs with the new manager of the brand new hotel we were staying in in Marathon. It transpired he is massively into history himself, and after a long conversation he was so impressed with my work I’ve been invited to return to Greece to do lectures!
This project he has planned will start next September, is fully funded and is aimed at the younger generation i.e. school and university students. My flights and everything will be fully paid for, and I will be joining Greek university lecturers on the stage. Imagine that? It’s a very exciting opportunity and I am very much looking forward to it, but first I need to get my miserable life together!
My son and I both agreed on the most incredible part of our journey. On top of a mountain, 3,500 feet (1130 metres) in altitude, sits the mysterious Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae. On this particular day the mountain was covered in mist, and visibility was minimal. Suddenly, out of the mist, the huge tent that covers the temple appeared. It was such a surreal sight to see this massive structure standing on the top of a mountain, as if some bizarre, Indiana Jones-like mystery had been discovered and was being hidden from everyone. But that wasn’t the moment… The moment was when we entered the tent and all was literally complete darkness for a second, and then as our eyes quickly adjusted to the scene this massive temple just appeared in front of us as if it had jumped through time from Atlantis and landed in the present… Yes, it was exactly like that.
The pictures will not do the experience justice, but I hope you can get the idea nonetheless. And you certainly won’t grasp the size of this temple, it’s absolutely huge.

Mongolia
I have recently had a bit of a rest from writing as certain adjustments are being made in my life and, quite frankly, there has been little to report anyway. The new digging season, at least in the northern hemisphere, is just about under way, so soon we should be receiving news of interesting new finds.
A recent find in Mongolia, however, has shown the riches that were traded along the famous and ancient Silk Road. A body has been found covered in silk (the silk trade gives the road its name) and also an incredibly valuable bowl has ancient Greek gods carved into it. Also found were many gold pieces of jewellery. No doubt the individual was extremely wealthy, and the archaeologists believe the body may have been that of an elite family.
Although the digs were carried out between 2012 and 2014, as usual it can take many years for the findings to be released. This is often the result of the time consuming work required to unravel the finds – in this case a coffin – as ancient textiles especially can disintegrate on exposure to the air or by being handled. Also, finds are kept under wraps (another great pun!) until the site has been deemed to be secure to stop grave robbers coming along and destroying the rest of the possible artefacts that may be in the same area.
The grave here dates to around 1,500 years ago, and archaeologists believe this to be a rich burial belonging to the Northern Wei Dynasty, which flourished between 386 to 534 AD. The bowl shows depictions of “Zeus, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite”, according to this report. The body itself is still covered in silk so the archaeologists do not know anything about the occupant, such is the difficulty in removing the silk without damage.

http://www.livescience.com/58630-ancient-cemetery-found-inner-mongolia.html