Athens
That last picture of Ralph's looks fake. It isn't. That was the the view from our fabulous Athens Airbnb apartment.
The inside of the apartment was not too shabby either.
Athens is everything one expects from a big European city -- crowds, traffic, sidewalk cafes, good restaurants, and so on. There are a couple of unusual elements, though. For one, the city is so old and was developed so haphazardly that the streets and sidewalks are more chaotic than other places we've visited. We walk around a lot when we're in a city and that's challenging in Athens. The sidewalks come and go. Sometimes a 2-foot wide sidewalk has a utility pole right in the middle, forcing pedestrians into the street. Cars park on the sidewalks because there are no parking places. Or cars simply stop and turn on their flashers, creating an instant parking place, much to the frustration of other motorists. In many ways, Athens reminds me more of Mexico City than Paris or London.
The second distinctive thing about Athens is the almost cavalier attitude toward lesser-known antiquities. Sure, the big sites are preserved. (The restoration of the Parthenon has been going on since 1984.) But walking around town you will pass small fenced off areas of stone foundations and fallen-down columns. There will be a sign saying "Ancient temple of so-and-so" or something like that. There's just so much damn history in every direction -- right, left, and down -- that they can't take care of it all.
10 minutes from our apartment, and visible from our balcony, was the temple of Zeus.
Another few steps took us to the not-so-ancient site of the 1896 Olympic games. The stadium was also used in 2004 for the archery competition.
And when the Romans came to town in the 1st Century B.C., they added their own improvements to what the Greeks had built. Here is that gate that Hadrian built to the Temple of Zeus compound. As you can see, it looks a lot less majestic with 4 (or so, you never know for sure) lanes of traffic in front of it.
These were the most prominent sites within a 15 minute walk of our apartment. I'm not going to share any more pictures of temples or arches. What I would like to do instead is share my thoughts on the universality of humanity's existence on the planet. We spent the better part of a day in the Museum of Cycladic Art and the National Archeological Museum. I was really struck by how much we have in common with the people who lived in Greece 3,000 or 4,000 years ago.
The pictures we took in these two museums make the point of our commonality with the ancients much better than I ever could with words.
They raised food and stored it.
They took care of their kids
They carried on business, which required official weights
The Athenians had a way to get rid of politicians they didn't like. They had an "election" when citizens were invited to scratch the name of a politician they thought didn't deserve his office on a shard of pottery. All the shards were put in a big pot and then counted. Any politician getting 6000 "votes" was banished from Athens for 10 years.
They had a way to prevent politicians from talking too long. The upper vessel was filled with water but it had a drain plug at the bottom. When the politician started speaking, the drain plug was removed and the water flowed into the lower vessel. When the upper vessel was empty, the politician had to stop speaking.
The inside of the apartment was not too shabby either.
Athens is everything one expects from a big European city -- crowds, traffic, sidewalk cafes, good restaurants, and so on. There are a couple of unusual elements, though. For one, the city is so old and was developed so haphazardly that the streets and sidewalks are more chaotic than other places we've visited. We walk around a lot when we're in a city and that's challenging in Athens. The sidewalks come and go. Sometimes a 2-foot wide sidewalk has a utility pole right in the middle, forcing pedestrians into the street. Cars park on the sidewalks because there are no parking places. Or cars simply stop and turn on their flashers, creating an instant parking place, much to the frustration of other motorists. In many ways, Athens reminds me more of Mexico City than Paris or London.
The second distinctive thing about Athens is the almost cavalier attitude toward lesser-known antiquities. Sure, the big sites are preserved. (The restoration of the Parthenon has been going on since 1984.) But walking around town you will pass small fenced off areas of stone foundations and fallen-down columns. There will be a sign saying "Ancient temple of so-and-so" or something like that. There's just so much damn history in every direction -- right, left, and down -- that they can't take care of it all.
10 minutes from our apartment, and visible from our balcony, was the temple of Zeus.
Another few steps took us to the not-so-ancient site of the 1896 Olympic games. The stadium was also used in 2004 for the archery competition.
And when the Romans came to town in the 1st Century B.C., they added their own improvements to what the Greeks had built. Here is that gate that Hadrian built to the Temple of Zeus compound. As you can see, it looks a lot less majestic with 4 (or so, you never know for sure) lanes of traffic in front of it.
These were the most prominent sites within a 15 minute walk of our apartment. I'm not going to share any more pictures of temples or arches. What I would like to do instead is share my thoughts on the universality of humanity's existence on the planet. We spent the better part of a day in the Museum of Cycladic Art and the National Archeological Museum. I was really struck by how much we have in common with the people who lived in Greece 3,000 or 4,000 years ago.
The pictures we took in these two museums make the point of our commonality with the ancients much better than I ever could with words.
They raised food and stored it.
A jar for storing olive oil or wine, 1500 B.C.
They made cooking utensils and prepared food.
(#4 is a grater.) 6th - 4th Century B.C.
A grill. 6th to 4th Century B.C.
They honored and buried their dead.
Terra cotta boots from a woman's grave, 900 B.C.
(Funeral urn for oil or incense, 3000 B.C.)
They took care of their kids
Child's commode, early 6th Century B.C. (Enlarge photo to see modern kid sitting in the commode.)
and made toys for them.
5th Century B.C.
They carried on business, which required official weights
(500 B.C.)
and coins.
4th Century B.C.
(5th century B.C.)
They had jury duty!
(2nd Century B.C.)
5th Century B.C.
They made beautiful art.
550 B.C.
2800-2300 B.C.
2000 B.C.
I have many, many more examples but I hope I've made my point.
Next we're off to Crete to see the Palace of Knossos and learn about the Minoan people, who thrived from 3000 B.C. until they suddenly disappeared about 1400 B.C. This palace and the Minoans featured prominently in a class I took in Berkeley in 1966 and I've wanted to see it ever since.
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