Athenians of classical antiquity were justly proud of their accomplishments in mathematics, science, philosophy and the arts, and built the Parthenon over the time span of just ten years, between 447 and 438 B.C. to show their accomplishments. The Parthenon--the temple to the goddess Athena--is just one of many buildings on the Acropolis, but is the one most visible, and the one I think of when I picture Athens. The goddess Athena was the patron goddess of Athens and myth says that she gave to the Athenians the olive trees for the privilege. The olive tree made the civilization possible. It was the fossil fuel of its day, giving oil for lighting, medicine, and lubrication, providing edible fruit and fodder for animals, wood for carving and fuel for pottery making, all while requiring very little labor or water--a most beneficial tree! Thus the olive tree gave the Greeks the leisure time to think, design and write plays and poetry. It gave them wealth. They thought up ways to make civilization flourish, and so it did reaching its zenith under Alexander the Great. What did him in was hubris. "He over did it," said our tour guide. Dead at age 33, Alexander had succeeded in bringing Greek culture to the east, but he never brought wealth and power into Greece. The guide Elsa ("a Greek girl with a German name") spoke with some sadness about her country, not living up to the glory days of its past. Still she seemed proud to be Greek. I have picked up a book in the ship library by Arnold Toynbee about Greek civilization and culture which seems to proffer the same view: Greeks have a peculiar way of looking at themselves and the past, with their past and seemingly better days behind them, they can be both humble and proud. She wanted us Americans to understand the pitfalls of great civilizations. No age is permanently privileged or permanent blessed. Hubris is the undoing of great countries.
There is marble everywhere. The steps and walking surfaces up to the Acropolis are polished by millions of visitors' feet and are very slippery. We made our way up, entering the top by the western gate, just as the son was getting higher. It lit up the buildings to highlight them against a pure blue sky.
The main part of the city itself isn't beautiful, in the sense that other European capitals are, like Rome or Paris, but our guide laid this at the feet of the long history of occupation by foreigners--Romans, Byzantines, Italians, and Ottoman Turks--who plundered the city's wealth and never tolerated the flourishing of independent Greek culture. Not until independence from the Ottoman Empire (which Greece was celebrating on March 25, the day we arrived at the city) did an independent Greek country emerge. Now it is part of the EU, which many people regret. Our guide assiduously avoided too much political discussion, except to make some humorous and ironic remarks. The neighborhoods of the city of Athens are jungles of concrete condos, most of which were built after WWII. Their sprawling shapes crawl up the hills. We see lots of shiny cylindars on rooftops which look like solar hot water heaters and tanks. There is very little room for growing things or parking cars, which compete for space in the narrow streets. Some wild olives grow like scrub bushes. Redbud and wysteria are in bloom, as are red poppies. Bitter orange and chopped off mulberry trees complete the streetscape plantings. A little greenspace is found in some small parks tucked in among the concrete condos, many of which are covered by graffitti at street level. Some of that street art is surprisingly good.
Our bus tour of the city took us by many of the public buildings and museums, which are housed in former grand homes of the 18th and 19th century. A Numismatic Museum is in the former home of German excavator Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated Troy and then found a gravesite at Mycenae in the Argolid Peninsula containing 19 body remains and lots of gold from 1500 BC. Read about it in a recent issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
We passed by the parliament building and the Athenian Art Academy. We got off the bus to walk in the narrow streets of the Plaka District, lined with shops and cafes and people taking advantage of the beautiful weather and the Sunday holiday. Vendors hawked their wares in close quarters to lots of tourists. There are two Viking ships in port. Only scant glimpses of some small orthodox churches reminded me that this was Sunday. Although the tourists are everywhere, there were a fair number of Athenians out and about, too. After walking near the Museum of the Acropolis and glancing through street level cut outs of the excavations below, Rollie and I sat in a sunny cafe to watch the people and have a little refreshment.
Unlike the Viking River cruise that we took two years ago, this group seems to be almost all white Americans, with a few Brits thrown in for good measure. The only people of color I've seen among the guests are a couple we met on the bus coming in who said they live in Topeka KS now. Their accents led me to surmise they were originally of some south Asian country. On the other hand, the service staff are almost entirely people of color, from all over the world, many from Pacific rim countries. There are a smattering of Norwegians, mostly in guest services roles. It's odd to see such a segregation of cultures between guests and service people...another point of wondering for me.
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