Timeless Greece
Delphi Photo courtesy Maya and Max
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles
Greece has that timeless quality that leads you to believe that the Gods still roam the earth, and the Oracles still pronounce judgement and give you warning of things to come. Yet there are modern engineering miracles that balance the history and make things efficient for the modern Greeks.
One of the things I was not prepared for is the legacy of the Venetians on the landscapes of modern-day Greece. During their rule they constructed a series of robust fortresses and castles to protect the coast from attacks by the Ottomans.
The Rio Antirrio Bridge is the longest multi-span cable stayed bridge and is considered an engineering marvel. It provides access to and from the Peloponnese peninsula where previously one had to use ferries to cross. We had been seeing this for some time, first when we had approached our night stop at Nafpaktos and then as we crossed it on departing and heading towards Olympia. This fisherman as you can see wasn’t exactly happy when a group of exciting chattering tourists showed up with cameras and cell phones chasing his fish away.
In the days of old before cell phones your friends and neighbors just dropped in to say hello. Greek hospitality required that some form of food and drink be offered to the visitors. Housewives prepared and stored what is termed as spoon treats, fruit that was cooking in syrup and bottled and kept ready to greet visitors when they showed up.
We were expected at the farm of our hostess a renowned beekeeper in the local region and yet she greeted us with traditional spoon treats and water and juice. I had been practicing my hello and thank you, so I wished her parents a polite “Kalimera”. Her mom was so excited at the thought that I might speak Greek, but I had to disabuse her with the scarcity of my vocabulary even as the folks in my group teased me about being a show-off. Not a showoff just being polite.
Another spectacular sunset heralded the oncoming evening as we settled in for dinner in the hotel dining room.
Olympia, the sanctuary of Zeus and the site of the ancient Olympic Games, the stadium here was supposedly created by Hercules and the games were a form of athletic competition and ritual sacrifices to Zeus. The Ancient Olympic Games date back to 700 to 800 BC.
I find it fascinating that even today some of the customs and rituals incorporate the ancient games and where it all began. The Olympic flame is kindled here using the sun and ancient technology to light the flame. The flame is then carried by a Greek athlete to Athens where it is used to light the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in Athens and the torch is then carried by an athlete of the host country on the first step of its journey to the lighting of the cauldron and the inauguration of the games in the host country.
The ancient Olympic Stadium. There is only this simple open field where the competitions were held, and a winner declared.
The Echo, a post where the winner was announced. The sound here was amplified and carried across the entire sanctuary.
Nike the Goddess of Victory whose statue holds pride of place in the next-door museum which now holds most of the statuary that has been recovered from the archeological site.
The museum has some priceless artifacts that have been found at the next-door sanctuary including the famous Hermes of Praxiteles, a statue of Apollo and the statuary that made up the sides of the temple of Zeus.
I first saw these headless statues in Caesarea in Israel. At the time it was not clear to me that the ancient romans built their statues this way and replaced the heads and faces of their top generals and statesmen as they were replaced. Subsequently I saw them in Sicily and then again here in Greece. It’s so exciting when history and the stories all tally as you travel to different parts of the world. Those Romans sure were smart and probably the original architects of reuse and sustainability.
After a morning spent walking all over the archeological site and the museum of Olympia we were in for a treat as members of our group got ready to be sou chefs and prepare some of the fabulous Greek appetizers and salads that we had been enjoying through our travels so far.
There was no dearth of sunsets and sunrises each one more spectacular than the last. People were sitting all along the bay sipping aperitifs munching on delicious sea food appetizers.
I enjoy sea food, but my palate is a bit limited still though I am expanding it all the time. So, as I expressed some hesitancy about our menu for the menu one of my traveling companions said, don’t worry I’ll help you finish it. As it turned out I’m glad that I tried some new things and added to my repertoire.
In the morning before departing, we took a short boat ride around the harbor and got a close-up view of the Venetian fortress in the middle of the bay that our guide described as Alcatraz.
The words to the ancient TV show Gilligan’s Island about a 3-hour ride were beating a refrain in my brain. I know, I know I am aging myself and everyone looked at me strangely as I chuckled and only half the people, I was with even got the reference.
We still have the archeological site of Mycenae that has significance in Homer’s works and of course a wrap up in Athens which is our final destination in Greece.
But let’s pause at the Corinth Canal which is another engineering miracle that connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean.