Mt. Parnassos is about 10-15 miles to the northeast of Delphi. I wanted a hike, and I got one.
21 August 2008
20 August 2008
Day 6 - Thebes
The areas around modern Thiva (Thebes) in central Greece (Boeotia): Aliartos and Lafktra. Sites of major battles between Sparta and Thebes in 395 and 371 B.C.
Go to the gallery if you want to see the captions.
Go to the gallery if you want to see the captions.
Day 5 - The Ancient Athenian Cemetery
Okay, so here's the next installment.
The ancient Athenian cemetery: Keramikos. It was used for about 1500 years, from 12th century BC to the Roman period. One of my favorite statues of the trip is housed in the museum of Keramikos. It's a huge marble statue of a bull with huge bull balls. Ya gotta love the Greeks.
Go to the gallery if you want to see the captions.
There were two great things about the ancient cemetary: 1) no tourist herders. 2) Athenian tortoises. The tortoises owned the place. I stopped and watched a pair battle for about thirty minutes; tortoise fights tend to last a while. They consist of lots of snapping at each other's head and limbs and then trying to scoop the other under the breastplate in order to flip him on his back.
The ancient Athenian cemetery: Keramikos. It was used for about 1500 years, from 12th century BC to the Roman period. One of my favorite statues of the trip is housed in the museum of Keramikos. It's a huge marble statue of a bull with huge bull balls. Ya gotta love the Greeks.
Go to the gallery if you want to see the captions.
There were two great things about the ancient cemetary: 1) no tourist herders. 2) Athenian tortoises. The tortoises owned the place. I stopped and watched a pair battle for about thirty minutes; tortoise fights tend to last a while. They consist of lots of snapping at each other's head and limbs and then trying to scoop the other under the breastplate in order to flip him on his back.
Yeah, yeah, it's been a while.
New friends, old friends, and family have been wondering if I'm ever going to finish this section on the Greece trip. In a word: "Yes." In more words: "In my own sweet time."
15 October 2007
Day 4 - The Acropolis of Athens and surrounding hills
I spent the fourth day of the trip on the Acropolis, Areopagus Hill, the Hill of the Muses, and the Hill of the Pnyx.
Athens.
Acropolis.
Areas around the Acropolis (Ancient agora, Agora Museum, hills around).
Athens.
Acropolis.
Areas around the Acropolis (Ancient agora, Agora Museum, hills around).
12 October 2007
Please Don't Stand on My Monument, but You Can Sit on Those Rocks
I am convinced there is no animal dumber than the tourist in search of the perfect photo. Well, maybe the sea cucumber, but it would be a tight race. Hence, the tourist herder. These brave souls, bane and boon alike to the tourist, are responsible for the protection of the archaeological monuments and the dignity of Greek antiquities. She (they are almost all women) has a badge; but most importantly, she has a chrome whistle, and she's not afraid to use it. Shrilly and repeatedly. Again and again.
At the Acropolis, I watched an older Italian man step over a cordon less than two feet tall--when he was already in front of all others--in order to take two steps toward the Parthenon. I'm not sure what advantage those two feet gave him, but he sure wasn't going to be stopped by the steel wire fence and the presence of two tourist herders.
"Please, stay on the other side of the cordon," one woman says. The man squints into the viewfinder of his camera and pretends not to hear.
Tweet! Tweet! Both women whistle and walk toward the man pointing at the wire cordon.
He snaps his photo, then looks up. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know," he says, adjusts his floppy hat, and steps back over the wire.
Didn't know . . . yeah.
Not surprisingly, the tourists and tourist herders were thickest in Athens. As I traveled farther from Athens, the tourists and tourist herders grew fewer, and there was much more freedom to explore the archaeological sites. Ancient Messene was my favorite site for a couple of different reasons. 1) I pretty much had the entire site to myself--I even had my own tourist herder. 2) The work there had been ongoing for some time and many structures at the site were beautifully restored.
In the museums the tourist herders primary responsibility was to ensure that people weren't touching the artifacts. Their second responsibility seemed to be preventing tourist from taking posed pictures in front of or with the statuary. Again and again, I saw them shake their hands and tell people not to pose in front of the life-sized and larger statues. (At least they didn't have whistles indoors.) Finally, in Olympia, I asked one of the herders what this was about. She said that it was about respect for the works and the Greek cultural heritage. It was the policy throughout Greece to allow photos of the works alone because that placed the focus on the artifact, its maker, and its place in Greek history; but when people posed for photos with the artifact, that changed the focus of the photo to themselves instead of the work. The Greek cultural bureaucracy had determined that goofy pictures were somehow disrespectful, and so they decided to enforce this rule throughout all the museums. As you can probably tell from my word choice, I'm somewhat suspicious of this move. While I certainly agree that when one screws off and takes goofy pictures, the emphasis of the photo is placed on the person instead of the artifact; however, it seems highly unlikely that one can enforce respect by restricting the kinds of photos taken. I'm not even sure how simply posing with the statues is disrespectful, though I can imagine certain interactions with the statues that would be objectionable to some (say, groping the "Aphrodite" of Praxiletes, humping the sphinx statues, or placing a Groucho Marx mustache and glasses and a cigar on the "Athena Promachos").
At the archaeological sites, the herders primary function was to keep tourist off the monuments and out of dangerous or unsightly areas. To this end, they employed the chrome whistles with ferocity.
Did I get whistled at? You bet.
The problem was that there was no consistency. Crossing a cordon would pretty much get you whistled at every time, but otherwise it was difficult to figure out what actions would gain you a rebuke from the tourist herders. In Athens and Delphi some rocks you could sit on, but if you stood on them, out came the whistle. This got me in trouble in the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora of Athens and along the Sacred Path at Delphi. At other sites (Olympia, Corinth, and Messene), you could wander all around, through, and on top of the structures. In Messene, you could enter buildings and touch the walls and sit in the stadium and theater seats, but in Delphi none of the above. Often I asked myself before sitting or standing, Just what is rock and what is ruin? It's not like there were clear markers, or in many cases, any markers at all.
Yet in spite of their obnoxious whistles, the tourist herders are absolutely necessary, as my story of the Italian man illustrates. Without them, I can't imagine that the sites would last more than a century of modern tourist trampling and pilfering.
At the Acropolis, I watched an older Italian man step over a cordon less than two feet tall--when he was already in front of all others--in order to take two steps toward the Parthenon. I'm not sure what advantage those two feet gave him, but he sure wasn't going to be stopped by the steel wire fence and the presence of two tourist herders.
"Please, stay on the other side of the cordon," one woman says. The man squints into the viewfinder of his camera and pretends not to hear.
Tweet! Tweet! Both women whistle and walk toward the man pointing at the wire cordon.
He snaps his photo, then looks up. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know," he says, adjusts his floppy hat, and steps back over the wire.
Didn't know . . . yeah.
Not surprisingly, the tourists and tourist herders were thickest in Athens. As I traveled farther from Athens, the tourists and tourist herders grew fewer, and there was much more freedom to explore the archaeological sites. Ancient Messene was my favorite site for a couple of different reasons. 1) I pretty much had the entire site to myself--I even had my own tourist herder. 2) The work there had been ongoing for some time and many structures at the site were beautifully restored.
In the museums the tourist herders primary responsibility was to ensure that people weren't touching the artifacts. Their second responsibility seemed to be preventing tourist from taking posed pictures in front of or with the statuary. Again and again, I saw them shake their hands and tell people not to pose in front of the life-sized and larger statues. (At least they didn't have whistles indoors.) Finally, in Olympia, I asked one of the herders what this was about. She said that it was about respect for the works and the Greek cultural heritage. It was the policy throughout Greece to allow photos of the works alone because that placed the focus on the artifact, its maker, and its place in Greek history; but when people posed for photos with the artifact, that changed the focus of the photo to themselves instead of the work. The Greek cultural bureaucracy had determined that goofy pictures were somehow disrespectful, and so they decided to enforce this rule throughout all the museums. As you can probably tell from my word choice, I'm somewhat suspicious of this move. While I certainly agree that when one screws off and takes goofy pictures, the emphasis of the photo is placed on the person instead of the artifact; however, it seems highly unlikely that one can enforce respect by restricting the kinds of photos taken. I'm not even sure how simply posing with the statues is disrespectful, though I can imagine certain interactions with the statues that would be objectionable to some (say, groping the "Aphrodite" of Praxiletes, humping the sphinx statues, or placing a Groucho Marx mustache and glasses and a cigar on the "Athena Promachos").
At the archaeological sites, the herders primary function was to keep tourist off the monuments and out of dangerous or unsightly areas. To this end, they employed the chrome whistles with ferocity.
Did I get whistled at? You bet.
The problem was that there was no consistency. Crossing a cordon would pretty much get you whistled at every time, but otherwise it was difficult to figure out what actions would gain you a rebuke from the tourist herders. In Athens and Delphi some rocks you could sit on, but if you stood on them, out came the whistle. This got me in trouble in the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora of Athens and along the Sacred Path at Delphi. At other sites (Olympia, Corinth, and Messene), you could wander all around, through, and on top of the structures. In Messene, you could enter buildings and touch the walls and sit in the stadium and theater seats, but in Delphi none of the above. Often I asked myself before sitting or standing, Just what is rock and what is ruin? It's not like there were clear markers, or in many cases, any markers at all.
Yet in spite of their obnoxious whistles, the tourist herders are absolutely necessary, as my story of the Italian man illustrates. Without them, I can't imagine that the sites would last more than a century of modern tourist trampling and pilfering.
08 October 2007
Day 3 - National Archaeological Museum of Athens
The National Archaeological Museum of Athens was just up the street from my hostel, so I decided to start there for my exploration of all things Classical.
NAMA
NAMA
Day 2 - To Athens! (continued)
More thoughts about driving and Greece:
Contrary to what the guidebooks say, I have found the Greeks to be fairly guarded in their interactions with strangers. Yet, no one ever refused to help and they generally did their best--with one important exception: directions. The Greeks suck at giving directions. Many times they simple won't give them or they say something vague like, "go that way, take a right, take a left then ask someone else."
There's just a completely different view of automobile navigation here than in the States. In the U.S., we are automobile-centric. Our cities and signs are all designed to cater to the driver: gridded streets, signs at street corners at the right height to be seen from the car, lots of stop signs and street lights. As a result, it is very easy to get from place to place without too much fuss and stopping for directions. With Mapquest, Google, and Yahoo Maps, it's almost not necessary at all. There is no equivalent in Greece (that I know of).
I really had no idea that the U.S. was so orderly, until I arrived here. There are rules for every situation, and people generally follow them. In Greece, well, there might be rules, but the people really don't seem that interested in following them, nor the police that interested in enforcing them. As a consequence, Greece feels in a way more free. We spend a lot of time talking about freedom in the U.S., but we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time creating and following rules which restrict our freedoms. The Greeks seem to be more tolerant of randomness, and would rather deal person to person when things don't go quite right, than try to create systems of rules to cover every potential situation.
Contrary to what the guidebooks say, I have found the Greeks to be fairly guarded in their interactions with strangers. Yet, no one ever refused to help and they generally did their best--with one important exception: directions. The Greeks suck at giving directions. Many times they simple won't give them or they say something vague like, "go that way, take a right, take a left then ask someone else."
There's just a completely different view of automobile navigation here than in the States. In the U.S., we are automobile-centric. Our cities and signs are all designed to cater to the driver: gridded streets, signs at street corners at the right height to be seen from the car, lots of stop signs and street lights. As a result, it is very easy to get from place to place without too much fuss and stopping for directions. With Mapquest, Google, and Yahoo Maps, it's almost not necessary at all. There is no equivalent in Greece (that I know of).
I really had no idea that the U.S. was so orderly, until I arrived here. There are rules for every situation, and people generally follow them. In Greece, well, there might be rules, but the people really don't seem that interested in following them, nor the police that interested in enforcing them. As a consequence, Greece feels in a way more free. We spend a lot of time talking about freedom in the U.S., but we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time creating and following rules which restrict our freedoms. The Greeks seem to be more tolerant of randomness, and would rather deal person to person when things don't go quite right, than try to create systems of rules to cover every potential situation.
07 October 2007
European Cars
The Hyundai Gety--otherwise known as the Little Green Death Box on Wheels. I toured around Attica, Central Greece, and the Peloponnese in this gutless wonder. This photo was taken southeast of Thiva (modern Thebes) on the plain of Leuctra, where the Thebans defeated the Spartans in 371BC. Now--just like then--it's all farmland. To take this photo, I stood on a marble victory monument in the middle of an onion field.European cars, in general, are tiny. Boxy little Hyundais, Hondas, Peugeots, Citroens, VWs, Cooper Minis, and even a couple Fords. I suppose that makes a lot of sense, since gas costs about $4 a gallon.
My favorite was the DaimlerChrysler Smart ForTwo hybrid. They're about as long as a Hummer is wide.
06 October 2007
Days 1 & 2 - To Athens!
So I got caught up in the delayed flight epidemic in the US. Stuck in Philadelphia for 3 hours beyond the departure time. I spent the time reading Paul Cartledge's Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta, which is by far the most useful book I've found so far for my research. Tons of background detail on the exact time period my novel covers; he pulls together all the ancient sources on this narrowly focused topic. Anyway, we finally got on the plane to go to Zurich, taxied for takeoff, and then the pilot came on: there was a hydraulic problem. So we taxied back to the gate, and it turned out it was actually two hydraulic problems. After another hour, we taxied back out to the runway and this time we actually took off. I missed the connection to Athens and so they scheduled me on a Swiss Air flight that was only 45 minutes late. After 17 hours of flights and airports and whatnot and 4 hours of sleep, I arrived in Athens.
Rule #1: Never drive in Athens. Alas, I learned this lesson the hard way. It took me 3 hours to make the 1/2 hour drive from the airport to the hostel. I managed to drive out of the city twice before finding the street I was looking for. Here's why:
Athens is pure chaos molded in concrete. There are mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles whizzing by, weaving through, spinning out, roaring past everywhere. Half the time there are no lanes. No one signals. Everyone is in a state of extreme haste. Wait! There's more... There's no city planning and almost no street signs. Those that exist are high up on the sides of buildings hidden under awnings or trees. And, well, they're in Greek--which I can sound out but not in the time it takes to drive past them.
After 2 hours of this adventure, I was ready to start bawling. That was when I figured out it was faster to stop and walk around a bit, ask for directions and then drive a bit and then repeat the whole process. I end up, purely by accident, parking on the street that the hostel is on, but I walk the other direction and pester some men chatting in front of a taverna. They point to a gaggle of tourist walking up the road, and that's when I finally discover the street sign, 12ft up on a building facade, and learn that I've been on the right street for the last 20 minutes.
More later.
I've started a web photo gallery. Here's the general link where you can see all the individual albums from each day of the trip: Greece Trip Gallery.
Here's Day 2.
Rule #1: Never drive in Athens. Alas, I learned this lesson the hard way. It took me 3 hours to make the 1/2 hour drive from the airport to the hostel. I managed to drive out of the city twice before finding the street I was looking for. Here's why:
Athens is pure chaos molded in concrete. There are mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles whizzing by, weaving through, spinning out, roaring past everywhere. Half the time there are no lanes. No one signals. Everyone is in a state of extreme haste. Wait! There's more... There's no city planning and almost no street signs. Those that exist are high up on the sides of buildings hidden under awnings or trees. And, well, they're in Greek--which I can sound out but not in the time it takes to drive past them.
After 2 hours of this adventure, I was ready to start bawling. That was when I figured out it was faster to stop and walk around a bit, ask for directions and then drive a bit and then repeat the whole process. I end up, purely by accident, parking on the street that the hostel is on, but I walk the other direction and pester some men chatting in front of a taverna. They point to a gaggle of tourist walking up the road, and that's when I finally discover the street sign, 12ft up on a building facade, and learn that I've been on the right street for the last 20 minutes.
More later.
I've started a web photo gallery. Here's the general link where you can see all the individual albums from each day of the trip: Greece Trip Gallery.
Here's Day 2.
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