Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Athens, Greece

We arrived in Athens Sunday, May 13, and we found our apartment so lovely that we just stayed here and enjoyed it. It is the third, and the nicest one we’ve stayed in so far. It was purchased by a young female doctor who intended it for her own home, but then she met someone and married, so now she is renting it out.

Pat gave her presentation at the Communications Conference Monday, May 14th. While she was gone, I walked up to the Hadrian’s Gate and Temple of Zeus—about a mile from the apartment-- where I met two American couples—probably in their 70s. After some conversation about where we were from, one of the men offered to take my photo with the Temple of Zeus in the background. He was a real tease, and when I was several feet away, he grinned and said, “The last time I did this, I ran off with the camera.” I told him that I wasn’t very scared, and he asked why. “Because I think I might be able to catch up with you,” I said. The two wives and the other husband had a good laugh.

It was a hot day, and I came home and lounged around in our pretty apartment, quiet time which I needed because I have been keeping a pretty busy schedule for the past two weeks. Tuesday morning Pat’s daughter and her friend arrived and we walked down to the Plaka, the historical neighborhood of Athens, which is about .8 of a mile from our apartment. Most automobile traffic has been outlawed by the government, so except for occasional motorcycles or delivery trucks, there is pedestrian traffic only. The streets are narrow and winding, and there are lots of restaurants and jewelry shops, as well as plain old tourist gimcrack shops. There are lots of imitation Classical Greek clothing, and lots of Greek god statues in several sizes. I bought a Venus in the style of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, although I have no idea what I’ll do with it. We had a nice lunch at an outdoor restaurant. I had mousaka, and it was very good. I also had a small glass of Mythos beer—very good beer.

Wednesday, May 16^th, we walked to the Acropolis (referred to in my brochure as “the sacred rock,” which was for many centuries the most important religious center of the city of Athens. The brochure goes on to say that “the first traces of occupation go back to the Neolithic period.” It is located just beyond the Plaka. The walk up the Acropolis is, however, very steep. We were fortunate that we arrived by 10:30 a.m. and that they day was not hot. Both Pat and I got a little sunburn, but not a painful one.

On the way up to the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, we saw a couple of Greek theatres, the Theatre of Dionysus, the oldest one, which is only partly intact, The other one was built later and is more intact: Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The Parthenon, of course, is located on top of the Acropolis, and it is certainly worth the energy expended to get there. Probably the funniest thing on my whole trip, I overheard a young Greek guy telling his Japanese girlfriend about the 7^th Earl of Elgin, who came to liberate Greece from the Ottomans “and the m_____f_____ stole our marbles.” He pointed up at the long side of the Parthenon to show her where they were, and informed her that they are now in the British Museum. The guy he was talking about was Thomas Bruce, who removed the Elgin Marbles in 1806 after bribing an Ottoman official, and he used some of the artifacts to decorate his castle.  He had accumulated a lot of debt and he tried to sell the bulk of the artifacts—the Elgin Marbles—to the British Museum, although they at first refused to pay the price he was asking. The Museum finally bought them in 1816 The Greek government has been trying to get them returned since 1983, but with no luck yet.

As we came down from the Parthenon, we entered the Agora, also known as The Forum. At one time, people lived in the area, but eventually the houses were removed, and it was simply the center of government. We eventually entered the Plaka again and found a restaurant where we all had lamb souvlaka, kabobs with fries and other veggies. It was fairly good, but probably not worth the price we paid for it.

Today, May 17^th, I visited the National Archaeological Museum. I took a cab over and spent about 3 hours looking at amazing artifacts from as early as 3200 B.C. Among the most fascinating exhibits were the treasures found in the Thalos tombs of Mycenae, which were constructed in the 16^th and 15^th centuries B.C. One of the tombs is believed to be that of Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae and wife of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks against the Trojans. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia before sailing to Troy. While he was gone Clytemnestra had an affair with Agisthus. Agamemnon returned home with his concubine Cassandra, further angering Clytemnestra, and  Agisthus and/or Clytemnestra had Agamemnon murdered. Agamemnon’s son Orestes eventually killed his mother to avenge his father’s murder, and that storyline makes up a good part of the trilogy of the Orestia by Aeschylus. I was wishing I had reviewed my notes from my Mythology class with Dr. Gythiel at WSU almost 40 years ago.

With my map of Athens and my compass I walked home—a little over 3 miles. I got in more than my 10,000 steps today, and I’m a little tired. As soon as I post this entry, I will go pack to go to Mykonos tomorrow. We’re told