Missed a day's posting - Saturday, March 28

Friday's adrenalin of the first full day in Athens began to run low on Saturday; I returned to the hotel about 5:30 for a couple of hours of relaxing -- you know the rest of that story.

The hotel's breakfast was a great way to start the day, but during the night a large group of French-speaking kids of high-school age must have checked into the hotel because they more-or-less filled the breakfast room. Fortunately, it was a mild morning so I took refuge on the patio along with a number of other older guests.

Motorcycles were EVERYWHERE!!! However, when considering what automobile traffic was like, it's certainly a more efficent -- if not more comfortable -- way of maneuvering around. They weren't the least bit bothered by those little hash marks on the highway which indicate lanes for most people. NOR were you safe on the sidewalks if traffic was at a standstill. I'll never (well, rarely) again complain about motocycles in downtown Chicago.

The first of the day's three museum was the Museum of the City of Athens, which is housed in two adjoining, mid-nineteenth century buildings; one of them was the palace of King Otto and Queen Amalia. Unfortunately, the museum's collection was very sparse with a minimum of English-language signage and the audio-tour wasn't working. The grumpy guard/ticketseller and I were the only people in the museum; he made it perfectly clear that no photos were allowed, so my stay there was an abbreviated one.

One of the city's many parks was outside the City Museum, the best part of the day so far.














That left more time for the nearby National Historical Museum which focuses on the country's more "modern" history, from the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 to World War II. It's located in the Old Parliament Building which served from 1875 to 1935.











The principal destination of the day was the National Archaeological Museum, the crown jewel in the country's institutions. Its collection includes finds dating from the 7th millennium BC to the 5th century AD; The collections include Prehistorica, Sculpture, Vases and the Minor Arts, Bronze, and Egyptian Antiquities. On the way there, however, was an unfortunate recent 'cultural' site. During December's full-blown rioting by anarchists (detailed in other day's posting), the protestors wanted to demonstrate what damage they might do if provoked. They torched buildings adjacent to many of Greece's major heritage locations, including the National Archeological Museum. This store is located across the plaza from the museum and was one of several burned across the country on one night as a warning.

Apparently, since the atmosphere has somewhat cooled (the anarchists protest in Sygtama Square over the weekend were mostly noise), security seems to have become less obvious in this beautiful, huge building.

One of the most stunning pieces in the museum's collection is this solid gold death mask dating back to the Mycenaean period, 17th century BC. It was captioned as "Mask of Agamemnon."

Koroi were huge stylized statues of young men and women standing guard at temples and graves. This one dates from 3d century BC.

This 140BC bronze statue of a boy riding a horse was found in pieces at the bottom of the ocean in a shipwreck off the coast of Egypt. Apparently, bronze statues from this period are relatively rare because many of them were melted down in order to produce weapons.

Bronze statue found at the bottom of the ocean with an eerie iridescent finish. There's controvery whether it represents Zeus or Poseidon. The anarchists probably don't care.

While the details are difficult to see in this picture, the dark objects are remnants of a chariot found near Sparta.

Beautiful wooden sarcophagus with mummy from 200BC in the Egyptian antiquities wing of the museum.

FINAL THOUGHTS ....

I'm not sure what I had expected from the Athens experience, but the city deserves its ranking as one of the world's most historically, politically, artistically and societally significant places. In the U.S., something is "old" if it has been around for three hundred years. That's "contemporary" by Athenian standards.

The city's landmarks and museums present a history of not only Greek culture, but the one which has shaped all the Western world. That concept underlined every day's activities for me.

In order to catch a 2:30 plane from Frankfurt back to Chicago, I had to leave Athens at 6am on Wednesday morning. I caught the 3:20am airport express bus from the Sygtagma Square station and the ride was quite the opposite from the incoming trip which was abbreviated due to the military blocking off streets to keep protestors away from government buildings.

But, the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt was an uneventful three hours. The Frankfurt airport is one of Europe's largest and most confusing; I had only carry-on luggage, so that potential problem was avoided. However, switching to the international terminal involved going through security three times. American Airlines has a minimal presence there and is relegated to a single gate that's at least halfway to Berlin.

Interestingly, the adjacent gate was being used for a flight to Jeddha and the waiting area was filled with pilgrims to Mecca. In the Frankfurt airport, passengers are checked INTO the gate waiting area just as we go onto the boarding ramps at O'Hare. So, once you're in the waiting area, you're IN the waiting area. Apparently, it's customary for pilgrims to dress in white; unfortunately, that entailed needing to go back outside the waiting area to change clothes. The enhanced security forces twice forced everyone back outside the gate area to recheck in because so many people had been going in/out to change clothes. Picture the mayhem!

Finally, we boarded busses to be taken out to the tarmac where our plane awaited. Actually, it was blissfully peaceful to be away from the terminal building for the eight-hour flight home. Home to my quiet little place.

Tuesday, March 31 --- Last day

The first stop of the day was the Byzantine Museum, just a few blocks from Syntagma Square and past the protestors who were breaking their overnight camp. The museum chronicles the Byzantine influence in the period from the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. to the fall of Constantinople.

A major permanent exhibit in the museum is the remnants of a 7th century church which had to be moved from its original location in northern Greece because it would be under water when a dam was constructed. Just below is the iconostasis wall and beneath it are the remainders of the walls which were saved.







































13th century mosaic depiction of the Virgin

















marble sarcophagus from 11th century Athens.


















Below: martyrs' table from 4th century AD Greece; pilgrims/worshippers would leave money in the recessed areas of the table below the names of particular martyrs.





















Funerary stele of two figures from 3d or 4th century B.C. from Egypt.



























Museum administrative building is in a former villa in the Italian style which was donated to the museum.





















Up the block from the Byzantine Museum is Greece's War Museum. Unlike the National Historic Museum (see Friday's entry), this well-organized collection DOES recognize that World War II did exist. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of its signage was in English; however, the story of the Greek partisans came across very clearly. There was also some emphasis on the Greek War of Independence in 1829 with Turkey.




















I'm a sucker for military flags and insignias; these are of the various Greek regiments currently in the Army. By the way, miltary service is compulsory for all Greek men with very little compensation; however, Greek women who volunteer for the military are paid relatively handsomely.

A modern sculpture outside the War Museum.

A WWI mobile gun carriage captured from the Bulgarians, who fought on the side of the Germans and were particularly active in Greece and other Balkan countries.

Entrance to the War Museum

The next destination after the War Museum was the Kerameikos, which had been a cemetery for Athen's elite and also the site of the main ceremonial entrance to the ancient central city. It was located at the opposite end of the center city from the War Museum, so I took the subway for the only time while there. The subway system was greatly enlarged for the 2004 Summer Olympic games, but its construction was/is an excrutiating experience. Practically each shovelful (and we're apparently talking the kind of shovels in the hands of individual laborers) of excavation has to be inspected by government officials looking for archeological sites. Both of the subway stations I was in had displays of what was found when those stations were being built. A portion of the main subway line from the city center out to the airport (a distance of about fifteen miles) is closed for simulataneous construction of three new stations and that process is estimated to take three years.

Sorry for that digression. So, we're headed to the Kerameikos, which is easily found outside the subway station. But, NOT the station with the same name. So, I walked around the Kerameikos until finally finding the doorway into the cemetery.

Overview of the cemetery looking toward the old city.

Replica of a headstone named "Two Sisters" who stare vacantly into the distance. The original stone is inside the cemetery museum. Vistors coming into the city would walk down the street that had memorials such as these all along the way.

The Kerameikos was once outside the city's walls, but as the city grew, a series of replacement and concentric walls were built. The final ring of walls included the cemetery inside the city for the first time and the main ceremonial entrance arch was built at the cemetery. Once inside, there were two paths, both illustrated below. The path on the left--the "Sacred Way"--was the ceremonial one which was broader and more formal, leading to a temple. The path bending to the right went past a valley of large burial monuments and was intended more for commerce and ordinary people; even then the marketing concept of "location, location, location" was employed since the path went through a neighborhood of brothels.

A sacred gate lion from around 590B.C., now located in the Kerameikos Museum.

I was, of course, on the "Sacred Path." By the way, the Obama shirt initiated a number of conversations with visitors/natives alike and all were positive.
















The final stop of the day was Mitropoli, the Greek Orthodox equivalent of St. Peter's in Rome. It was built in 1862, the first major church after Greece's independence, and was currently undergoing rehabilitation on the outside.

Unfortunately, its main entrance and one entire side was covered by scaffolding, but the inscription on the back of the statue was of some interest. The archbishop commemorated here stood up to the Nazi commandant of the Athens area during WWII who wanted to hang several priests for working with the partisans. He insisted that the priests die with some "honor," such as being shot. The Germans accommodated.

The silver reliquary contains the bones of St. Agia Filothei (d. 1589) who was martyred for ransoming Greek women enslaved in Turkish harems.

Below: One of several silver-covered icons in the vestibule area of the cathedral, whose proper name is Annunciation of the Virgin.

Monday, March 30

(FIRST, apologies for the somewhat convoluted format of the text/pictures. No matter how many times I edit them, the website pretty much puts them wherever it damn well pleases. A colleague at the library told me today that was her experience with this site as well.))

The overcast morning looked rather threatening, but the reception desk person assured that there wouldn't be any rain. It seems that these clouds have come from over the Saharan desert with very little moisture but containing lots of fine sand and dust particles. He said that if there was some rain, everything would be covered with yellow dirt after the shower. Fortunately, his forecast was correct.

And the protest of the day was by an anarchist group that had caused a great deal of trouble in December that led to a number of burned buildings. Apparently, a Greek police officer shot an unarmed teenager and the black-flag group seized upon that as an opportunity to take to the streets. They were across the street from the Parliament Building in Syntagma Square and brought tents to camp out overnight. As you might expect, police and army units were plentiful. I took a few pics and then chose to walk around the square for the rest of the day and night.

Most of the morning and early afternoon was spent at the Benaki Museum, which many seem to prefer over the National Archeology Museum because of its more manageable size. The museum is housed in a former mansion owned by the Benaki family across the street from the Parliament Building; the initial collection of historical artifacts was of items gathered by the family for its own use.

Typical of the exhibits is this array of ancient battle helmets. Does the far right one remind you of Jane Curtin and Chevy Chase somehow?

This 3d century A.D. grave relief illustrates the good qualities of those buried there: the husband's diligence and the wife's orderliness.

An incredible mosaic of the Virgin and Child dated 867 AD from Hagia Sophie Church in Constantinople.

Just to illustrate that even curators have some sense of humor, scattered throughout the museum were sculpture pieces made of wire and covered in children's clothing to represent what children might actually be doing relative to the particular item in the exhibit.

Kinda, sorta behind the Benaki Museum was an upscale shopping/restaurant area which led to the Church of St. Dionysius, the patron saint of Athens. On the way, these two American classics (a 1955 Chevrolet and a 1961 Thunderbird) sat forlornly.

Church of St. Dionysus

After leaving the Benaki neighborhood, I walked down to the neighborhood of ancient Roman-era ruins not far from the base of the Acropolis. As in much of the world it had occupied, the Romans erected their public buildings in their own style. Fortunately, they left more written documentation about their projects than most other cultures, so we have access to original plans.

Emperor Hadrian was probably the best-known Roman leader in terms of building across the Empire from as far north as Hadrian's Wall in Scotland down to Saharan Africa and the Middle East. No exception here. One ruin was of a large library, although that site isn't particularly well preserved or rebuilt.

Adjacent to the library is the Roman Forum, a commercial area common to all the areas which Rome occupied. Part of the original entry gate still stands.

In the Forum area is one of the city's most famous monuments, the octagonal Tower of the Winds. Built in 50 B.C., it has personifications of the winds on each side and a water clock inside.

In the era before zoning ordinances, it seems most anything went. The Tower of Winds was originally a church and next to it was a civic asset common to Roman communities -- the public latrine. This was a square-shaped building with a courtyard in the middle and the capacity to serve sixty-eight citizens simultaneously. In addition to fulfilling its obvious purpose, the latrine was also a popular social gathering location. I'm not sure if the stone "seat" in this picture is genuine -- and didn't want to ask.

The AGORA was Athen's marketplace and general center of the city since the 6th century B.C. Socrates would often address the public here and it was functioning for over 1200 years. The best-preserved Classic temple in Greece is at the top of the Agora and is dedicated to Hephaestus, the god of fire.




This monument to Hadrian looked to be in excellent condition and leads you to believe it is a duplicate.




The top of the temple is illustrated with scenes of the deeds of Theseus and Herakles (Hercules in Roman mythology).

The Acropolis overlooks the Agora area.

As is the case with most of Athen's public areas and museums, the Agora area closed at 3pm; on the way back to the hotel, I explored new territory and walked through one of the shopping area aimed at Athenians. It's been ages since the grocery stores here offered seafood this fresh, including an entire octopus. Gulp.

View of the Acropolis from the hotel ....