The Odyssey
I travel often with college students. I have been to Ireland, France, Greece multiple times, Prague, Czech Republic and Krakow, Poland and other European destinations. Wow! What a great deal, you exclaim. It is not. Remember, I am traveling with students.
Now to be fair, I can count on one hand the problems the students have given me. But when you travel with young people, even college age, you are responsible to be there for them and be sure nothing awful happens to them. Which can be tricky when they are adults whom you cannot send to bed at 10 pm. But my position has led me to experience beautiful and history-rich places and through the eyes of people who have often never flown in an airplane before this trip. Every visit , we embark on our own Odyssey and it never becomes routine.
This past May we went to Greece where I have been many times and every time I fall in love again with the home of the Greek gods. We visit classical sites in Athens, up to Delphi and through the Peloponnese. Delphi is the center of the universe, to the ancient Greeks, that is, but to some extent, you cannot walk up the mountain side, past the quiet temple ruins with the cawing of crows (Apollo’s birds) without feeling you are in a holy, sacred place. Perched on the side of Mount Parnassus, Delphi hovers between the sea below and the sky above. You can easily imagine slipping through an invisible doorway into 5th century BCE and make your way to the Oracle. Of course anything she would say to you would not make sense… until after the fact. In the small but lovely museum next to the site you can gaze into the face of Apollo and Artemis, his twin sister. You will find no compassion there-only truth.
Down the mountain we travel to Olympia, the home of the Olympic games. The sanctuary is magnificent, even in ruins. Temples alternate with sites for games and housing for the athletes who would come here from all over Greece to compete and win the crown of olive leaves. However, if you were caught cheating, you had to pay to have a status erected right at the entrance to the stadium and your name, as a cheater, would be engraved on it. Ouch. The temples here are layered: from 7–9th century early Doric style or late Roman additions. There are places around Greece — and really everywhere — which seem to hum with an invitation for humans to come and settle here. Sometimes the rationale is obvious, say a running stream or river to supply water and transportation. But other times the choice is quite mysterious. I suppose a god or minor deity beckoned our ancestors who were able to hear this hum of nature and spirits far more acutely than we with our smart phones drowning out these whispered invitations. Places sometimes beckon us to stay a while, or forever.
One of the highlights for my students, and for me, is the town of Nafplio on the east coast of the Peloponnese. This town signals turbulent history with the Greeks, Turks, Venetians successively taking possession of the harbor and town. Mosques hide behind Greek Orthodox churches. A small Venetian fort floats in the azure harbor and if you are lucky, you can catch a small boat which will drop you on the island to roam around inside the abandoned fort. Hopefully they come back for you. The town itself is marble streets with bougainvillea cascading down the sides of the colorful houses and shops. Yes, it is a tourist spot but engaging nonetheless. If you are young and nimble you can climb the 999 steps up to the Palamidi Castle on the top of the hill. I never have been — well, nimble at least. But one evening I did walk around the side of the harbor on a beautiful stone walk away, high up from the waves below with no guard rails. The sun sets over the hills on the other side of the bay and it is spectacular. The quiet evening calms the heart and reminds you of who you are. But with the echo of a Greek hymn in the wind.
Mycenae, the ancient citadel of the legendary Agamemnon (not really — it is far older than the 9thcentury!) invites you to picture life in 1200 BCE. They lived in a castle fort with walls huge enough to be labeled “cyclopean” because one would have needed the giant Cyclops to move those boulders into place. Down the road you can enter into an astonishingly well-preserved beehive tomb which is quiet, smells of dog urine (strays are everywhere) but still impresses us with its age and architectural perfection. A short drive brings you to Epidaurus, a perfectly preserved ancient outdoor amphitheater and next door a shrive to the healing god, Asclepios. He was far older than the human Hippocrates and you can explore an entire hospital complex. People would come with votive offerings in the shape of body part that ailed them. You can see lots of feet, ears, eyes. I have had occasion to pray for healing. Luckily no snakes were involved although apparently they seemed to accept snakes as greatly helpful for healing people of illnesses. I guess I would move pretty fast if someone brought in a box of snakes to my examination room.
Of course Athens itself is a magnificent city which combines the majestic past overlooking everything — the Acropolis is lite up at night — to pretty dismal 20thcentury dreary architecture. The whole city gleams white in the sunlight. A visit to the Acropolis, however, can be a real letdown. Hordes of people stream up and down the slippery slopes and tour groups hog the walk ways listening to their guides long-winded account of its glorious history. Mke note: do not go on Cruise-ship-in-town day! Far better to roam round the relatively quiet ancient agora where Socrates hung out, chatting up the young men with questions of grave import. One can also visit the very contemporary agora of the Plaka. Tourist shops and restaurants abound. I am always reminded of Socrates’ saying “So many things for sale and none of which I need!” But watching the crowd stream by and compare market wares can be enjoyable. However, when walking round Athens one must be careful where one ends up. There are some rough and tumble areas and I always caution my students to be alert to potential trouble.
Athens might have been called Poseidonia, or some such, but the future Athenians chose the gift from Athena (the olive tree) over Poseidon’s offering of sea water. The history of Athens parallels in some disturbing ways the history of the United States. A small struggling city state ended up ruling the Aegean world in the 5thcentury until its hubris brought it down. Read Thucydides’ account of the Melian dialogues and see mirrored there all too clearly the downfall of a nation that thought it could do anything… because it could. Until it could not.
Greece is a spectacular country, a small player on the world stage now, but full of lessons for all of us. The gods still whisper caution in our ears — if only we would listen.
