I just wrote for almost an hour and the internet cafe cut me off and I lost everything I wrote to you! Such is life, like a sand castle gone with one big wave before the photo could save it.
As I am learning with these travels, don't get too attached to plans.
I had a fabulous time in Athens. A lovely hotel at 50 Euros which is about as cheap as a nice hotel can be in the heart of the city (15 minutes to the big archeological Museum and 15 minutes to the Acropolis and Plaka). A hostel is about 15, but is a sleepless night and I'm glad to have had the modest hotel with big breakfast and rich, dark Greek coffee.
(Annie at the Parthenon)
The first day I arrived in Athens, I went to the museum which was much larger than I expected and thought 3 hours would be enough but there were 3 floors and many, many rooms. Not as daunting as the Louvre, but I walked around in astonishment at the level of quality of artistry the sculptures and painted pots had. Red pots that were 9 feet tall and painted with all kinds of spectacular scenes of gods and goddesses on them.
The sculptures were much more refined than the Roman sculptures I've seen before. 300 to 500 BC, pretty amazing tools they used, coins, weights, horse bridles and armour, not to mention extensive written language. I had no idea how incredibly rich the culture and civilization had been and seeing the artifacts made me wonder why we don't have this level of artistry today in our culture-- sculpture and architecture doesn't compare to what they had 2500 years ago.
Then, there are all the sculptures honoring the athletes. Gorgeous, gorgeous athletes. What happened to this athletic culture? Sure, we still have the Olympics, but these gods and goddesses were really in great shape and somehow inspired everyone to rise to their highest potential. I felt very inspired and awed after leaving this museum.
I hurried to get to the Acropolis before they closed and in the process got quite lost, which was interesting in itself. Neighborhoods that seldom see blond tourists like me. Before long, I asked a nice man where I was (other than Athens!) and he guided me in the direction of the Acropolis. Kind of embarrassing really, since the Acropolis is placed high up and a hill and most of the time if you look up, you can find it! But the good thing about this man was I asked him for a recommendation to a really good but affordable place to eat. He told me of a place in the Plaka near the Acropolis and after walking to the Acropolis and arriving 1 minute too late with very sore feet, I thought, "OH well, maybe I'll see the Acropolis tomorrow then and explore this Plaka."
Which is what I did, waiting to eat dinner until 8:30 or 9 when everyone else eats here. I found the restaurant (taverna), sat outside near some lovely Italian men, and had the most exquisite lamb with melted feta and potatoes and mystery sauce that made me chew slowly to savour each moment.
I'll post this now just in case the system shuts down again....
I set out and walked along the flurry of fish, meat and vegetable markets on my way to the Acropolis. Greek people selling fish is something different than Seattle's Pike Place Market. The fish merchants are much louder, much more passionate, competitive and a litte testy. I didn't dare linger too long in this warehouse, people were serious about their purchases and I didn't want to end up smelling like fish for the rest of the day.
The Acropolis so far has been the highlight of my trip-- It's set so high up above the city and the tall, beveled pillars seem to reach to the heavens and proclaim strength and dominance. I'm sure the goddess Athena was pleased with this structure. The Parthenon, was majestic and trully amazing to have survived 2500 years with wars and earthquakes.
(the Parthenon and it's amazing marble columns)
(The arch by the Olympic Park with the Acropolis in the background)
I walked all around to various monuments around the Acropolis and visited Socrates cave (where he died). There were two other men who were philosophers like me, and we commented how we always had wanted to visit Socrates cave and here we were! We took pictures to commemorate our dream coming true.
I relished every archeological site I saw-- the Odeum (300 b.c.), this large theatre where Renee Fleming is performing in July! I'm tempted to come back for that, believe me-- but I think I'll just have to imagine it. It's the most amazing venue for Opera you could imagine-- I think 3500 -5000 people can sit and it's outdoors (it used to a roof originally-- imagine that.)
The other highlight of my day at the Acropolis was running into a woman on my way home to my hotel who was an archeologist.
Hello Friends,
I've been gone a week and feels like a month of living and traveling. I'm in Los, Greece which is a place I had never heard of until a few days ago while having a late-night talk with an archeologist I met in Athens. We both met while listening and watching some very bad kareoke performed at a Festival not far from my hotel. I had spent the day wondering around the Acropolis and Parthenon, my mouth open in astonishment at the amazing feats of architecture the Greeks had accomplished 2500 years ago. 500 BC, Marble towers with intricate carvings and somehow roofs on top-- one temple still had it's roof! (I took a nap there-- much to the astonishment of my archeologist friend).
The weight and height of the marble blocks and and the expansive design put the Roman ruins I've seen before in a much lower class. The other amazing thing is how these giant structures survived all the wars and earthquakes for millenia. In Kos, where I am now, there were amazing buildings here as well, but there were numerous severe earthquakes that leveled them so the reconstruction wasn't possible. There are still part of the ruins left that still leave me with Awe-- especially Hippocrates Asklepion (the first healing center where they had baths, herbal medicine and some kind of healers who consulting with snakes while dreaming...)
Sorry for the blip here--- i figured how to recover a little of the text I lost... yippee.
Anyway, I've got to close here and get to the hotsprings before too late.
Love to you all-- especially J.F. -- did you find yourself in this? I hope you write me, my friend-- you are my muse for writing in this trip as well as a whole bunch of you who I will mention from time to time... A.W.- thanks for the healing remedies, they are wonderful. And much love to J.T. and N.D. for everything, give Miss P a squeeze from me.
Annie Thoe is an Assistant Feldenkrais Trainer and Practitioner in the Feldenkrais Method with 22 years of experience in bodywork. She has taught numerous modalities of massage therapy, supervised students and practitioners, and teaches locally and nationally. She is on the Board of Directors for the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington. In addition to her outdoor naturalist study, Annie has an extensive background in martial arts, sports, and music.
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April, 2007
