Such a perfect day

It was a national holiday in Greece today, so I had a day off. The Acropolis ticket that I bought a couple of weeks ago includes free entrance to several other sites, so I decided to go visit the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos. It was a vale of peace in the metropolis: to walk amidst the olive and cyprus trees and the ancient ruins, in the greenery, listening to the birds, watching white butterflies play in the mellow, warm air... I could hear the traffic in the nearby streets but all the same the peace was such that the ancient cemetery really felt like a sanctuary.

The Kerameikos museum houses some of the impressive pieces of Attic funerary sculpture art of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., which survived until the last decade of the 4th century, when the tyrant of Athens, Demetrios of Phaleron, passed a law forbidding excessive spending on the grave monuments. This particular work of art moved me deeply. It is the grave relief of Ampharete, from 430-420 BC, and the inscription above the relief says, approximately: "Here I hold the beloved child of my daughter, which I held on my knees when we were alive and saw the light of the sun, and now in death I hold it, dead."

From the Kerameikos I decided to go to the Syntagma square and take the tram to the seaside in Palaio Faliro, a trip that takes about 45 minutes due to the many stops. The metro would be faster but the tram allows seeing much more of Athens. Faliro is located next to Pireus on the seaside. In the antiquity the area was called Phaleron - the above-mentioned tyrant was from there - and had the harbour of Athens before Pireus took that role. How I wish I had packed a swimsuit when leaving Finland! I had to settle for walking along the shore, marvelling at the immensity of the open sea and the straight line of the sea's horizon. I picked some beautiful, white stones, hewn smooth by the waves, to take home as a keepsake.

This is probably my last blog update in Greece: there are two whole days left, and then on saturday evening I'm flying back to Finland. Of course, there will be lots and lots of pictures to post back home.

Mare nostrum

Mare nostrum

"Our sea", that's what the Romans began to call it after they had conquered all the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. I went to Pireus today, and walked around the entire promontory, or whatever one should call it (look up "Piraeus, Greece" in google maps: I started from the metro station and then headed south to the roundish part and walked around it), along the Akti Themistokleous that follows the shoreline. Themistokles, in case someone's interested, was a fellow who in the 480's B.C. persuaded the Athenians to build a fleet of 200 ships, which was then victorious against the Persians in the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. If I remember correctly, Themistokles was also responsible for fortifying Pireus, the port. But, wilfull as the Athenian democracy occasionally was, Themistokles was ostracized* in the following decade and banished. I can't recall the reason exactly, but he died without being able to return to Athens - although subsequently he was rehabilitated and venerated as a hero. It was about 24 C, cloudy and very humid though it didn't rain more than a few drops, so I greatly enjoying walking along the seafront, looking out on the Aegean and thinking of things like what might the ancient Athenians thought of the sea. They respected it for sure: it was the thing to do for sea travellers to ask for the favour of the appropriate deities before their journey, so that they might make the passage in safety. A funny thing happened at one point too: this old feller stopped me and said something in Greek. When I indicated I couldn't understand, he asked in clear English: "How long are you here for?" I said: "Just one week more", whereupon he asked "where are you from?" When I answered "Finland", he said "Ok, let's go have coffee." At this point I politely declined, and he left, saying "ok, bye bye." He had that weather-beaten look of a fisherman, but given the fact that his English was fairly fluent - not too common in Greece - he most likely was the proprietor of one of the restaurants nearby and was thus trying to tempt a tourist to come to his restaurant.

Pireus can be reached from central Athens on the metro in about half an hour. The metro line follows the ancient Long Walls: these two parallel walls, with a road running between, used to connect Pireus to Athens about 2400 years ago. They were torn down and restored a couple of times at least, but in the 2nd century B.C. Athens no longer had the resources to restore them. In the ancient times the port was a hugely cosmopolitan place, with merchants from as far as Phoinikia, Syria and Egypt, with all kinds of exotic cults being practiced and so on. I guess it's still cosmopolitan in the sense of all the ships and ferries arriving carrying passengers from all over. All the merchants are Greek, though, and the religion is Orthodox (Greek Catholic) Christianity.

*This was a system where the Athenian citizens could vote for the banishment of a politician, and if there were enough votes, the banishment was put into action. The votes were given on ostraka, shards of pottery, from which the name.

Aah, weekend!

One of the countless stray cats in Athens. I guess they're not too badly off what with the climate, and also there must be plenty of rats in the city and cats are of course hunters by nature. I snapped this above Plaka, below the Acropolis. The Acropolis would be rising to the left of the picture.

As a side note, it's technically wrong to call it the Acropolis, with capital A, because in ancient times there were many acropoleis: dwellings were typically build on hill tops due to the security these locations offered. So it was the case with Athens too, in Mycenaean times in the 2nd millenium B.C. In the 1st millenium inhabitation spread below the hill, and eventually the acropolis was reserved for sacral use only. Now it's of course known as The Acropolis because... well, because it's famous.

I've been so busy with work this week I haven't had the time to blog. Having said that, I enjoy working at the Blegen Library of the American School of Classical Studies. For instance only this morning I was thinking "My it's ever so nice to get up early and head out to the library!" It's such a brilliant library, because it has everything. Anything I might be looking for, they have it. The library also feels like such a solemn place: the readers going about their business and quietly concentrating on finding knowledge (I know, there's a practical explanation: the rule is "no talking"). The American School has long traditions, having been founded in the 19th century, but the traditions don't show in stubborn stickling to the old ways of doing things simply because they are the tradition. On the contrary, the school and the library have excellent database systems, research equipment etc. It's all due to funding. It's interesting how the U.S. is supposed to be a "young" culture but it still is willing to give more money to the research of these old things than the old continent. Not that I know how the funding is organised. Maybe it's a bunch of rich mesenates.

Apart from working at the library, on wednesday I went to the Finnish institute to talk with the boss about the article I'm working on (he was my PhD opponent). He had great comments to give, so I was very happy. The Finnish institute doesn't have much money but it IS located below the Acropolis just a few blocks away which is not too bad. The American School is nowhere near, in comparison.

Now I really do deserve the weekend. I don't have any fixed plans. I might go to the site where Aristotle used to have his philosophical school. I'll probably visit Pireus, the port of Athens. You can get there by metro. About 2400 years ago the port town was connected to Athens by long walls, in between which ran a road. The walls were razed down and repaired a couple of times, until finally in the 2nd century BC Athens no longer had the resources to repair them. Maybe I'll walk around Pireus along the shores. I want to see the Mediterranean.

To end, another thing I like about Greece is manners. It's considered good manners to greet people you encounter with a "good morning/good day", like when you buy something at a kiosk. I like that. One thing I hope to do, though, is to catch a couple of courses of modern Greek, because not that many speak English fluently here. I tend to feel embarrassed about not being able to speak modern Greek beyond simple things like ordering stuff at a fast food place. Sometimes I feel it would be easier to be like a certain percentage of American tourists who are quite confident to speak English and if other people don't understand them it's their problem.

Oh, not to worry, I won't start fuming about tourists again. And I do know American tourists aren't the only ones whose behaviour is so very, well, touristy. In fact, for instance the Brits are considered the absolute nightmare in many resorts...

Autumn in Athens

Citrus trees are pretty common here; there are some right by the corner of this building for instance. It looks like a lime in the picture, but they're really satsumas or the like because they turn yellow when ripe. They're not edible of course, far too much pollution.

I decided to use the public transport as much as possible today, and it turned out to be a wise choice: I kept coughing much less. Yesterday, walking along the large streets, the car exhaust fumes really felt bad in my lungs, throat and nose. The air must have been a bit cleaner today, as well, because it rained yesterday and during the night. Quite a different weather today: +24 C in the shade and sunny. It really felt like being in the Mediterranean, especially when I was walking around the Acropolis and its lower hillsides with their greenery, cyprus and olive trees and palms.

The public transport system of Athens is really excellent too, and cheap - a weekly ticket for all forms of transport is only 10 euros. They also play music at least in the central metro stations. This morning at the Syntagma (parliament square) station the music had a distinctly Arabic flavour. Perhaps someone in charge had fancied the CD, or perhaps it's a reflection of the fact that Greek music - like a lot in Greek culture - is heavily Turkish-influenced (although apparently this is something that many Greeks don't like to admit).

I must say that I really enjoy the fact that I know (and remember) the city well enough to not need a map usually (would of course be different if I decided to head out to the suburbs; and I will be needing a map if I go to Pireus - and I will, as I want to catch the sea). Of course I don't know all the streets and alleyways, far from it. But I do know the basic plan and the location of the major streets, so I always know which way I should be going. Not needing a map gives you a feeling of freedom, and it also has the advantage that you won't be automatically thought of as a tourist.

I was out and about in the city early today so got to the new Acropolis museum before the huge queues. A brilliant building that uses lots of glass to best effect. Also the exhibitions are fantastically arranged, though most of the stuff - or similar stuff - I have already seen in other museums. The walkway to the museum entrance has glass-covered sections which reveal the archaeological remains beneath, and also there's a larger, fenced-off open space where you can see the things beneath better. The archaeological remains look like the bases and lower walls of private houses, with a couple of wells. It really shows the situation with all building projects in Athens, particularly in central Athens: you just can't go ahead and build, because there are likely to be important archaeological remains beneath which have to be investigated and excavated and catalogued.

From the museum I walked around the Acropolis and to the Agora. I did not walk around it because I've seen it so many times already, but the Acropolis entrance ticket I bought yesterday gave free access to the Agora so I could go through the gates and over to Plaka. Yesterday I said to myself that I need to go back to the National Gardens when the weather is better, so today I did. What a wonderful respite from the din of the city! The greenery, the warmth, the scents, the singing of birds... I really hope I won't feel too depressed getting back to the cold and dark of Finland at the end of this month! Then again I'm sure it will be getting cooler in Greece too by that time, so it should ease the transition.

By the time I got out of the park I was a bit tired so I decided to head back to the hostel. I had in mind to rest a bit and then walk around in the neighbourhood, but in the end did not have the energy for that. Instead, I did the laundry and then just have been editing some photographs. Tomorrow I'm getting to work. In the morning, I need to go to the Finnish institute to pick up the introduction letter which will give me access to the library of the American School of Classical Studies. At 2.30 pm I will be at the library; the precise time is because they give out new entrance cards in the morning of each monday, and between 2.30 and 3.30 pm on mondays and thursdays. I will mostly be working at this library, though might possibly need something at the libraries of the French and German institutes as well. I'll be trying to work studiously from the morning to closing time (8 pm). Who knows, maybe I'll be able to do the things I need to do well ahead of schedule so will have some extra free days before I'll leave Athens.

Parthenon, etc.

This is a view on "my" street, i.e. the street where the hostel of the Finnish institute is located. I snapped it from my balcony. I think there's something adorable about the name of this cafe and also about the garishness of the neon sign. I haven't checked in to see what kind of a place it is. Might be mostly frequented by the men of the neighbourhood, who knows: these traditional Turkish type "social clubs" of men still exist in Greece though have been getting rarer in the recent decades. The hostel feels very familiar to me, as nothing much seems to have changed in the last six years: the apartment looks the same; the hand-drawn map on the notice board of the room is the same; so is the grocery store across the (narrow) street opposite the door of the hostel.

I got a good 9 hours of sleep, despite my reservations: I couldn't get the AC working so I had to keep the balcony door open a bit, which let in noise from the street. All the same I fell asleep fairly quickly, so I must have been tired. I headed out about 10 am, first walking around for a while, then heading out to the Omonia square metro station where I bought a weekly ticket that covers all forms of public transport (only 10 euros). Then I went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. I have seen it about 10 times already, but how could you not go see the Parthenon when in Athens? Beforehand, I was not going to go to any of the tourist places, but you just have to go to the Acropolis. All the same, I felt the familiar annoyance about tourists, because their behaviour is so, well, touristy. The entrance to the Acropolis through the Propylaea, right? It's a place where about a thousand (or whatever) people pass each hour. It's also a fairly narrow passage. Even so, some tourists don't think nothing of stopping right in the middle of the passage and blocking the way from lots of other people, because they just have to snap that picture just there with their little pocket cameras. Rant over.

In contrast, I did NOT go to the new Acropolis museum, because it had huge queues and I was hungry so I didn't feel like waiting in the rain. Instead, I walked back towards the city centre through Plaka where to my delight I found that the trad. pita grill that had been there six years ago was still there. The giro pita I had was so delicious. From Syntagma square I continued to the nearby National Gardens. A delightful place, offering some peace in the noise of the city. Definitely a place I need to go back to when it's not raining - especially as my visit now was cut short due to the fact that nature called and the park toilets were really not a place you'd want to do your business in. Some more walking afterwards, but it was still raining and I was getting tired, so I thought it best to head back towards the hostel.

In Athens

A couple of things at the National Museum which I went to as I happened to walk by it.

This 5th century dedicatory stele depicts a scene from the myths related to the Mysteries of Eleusis: on the left, the goddess Demeter gives an ear of corn to Triptolemos, so that he may give it to the humankind and thus teach it agriculture. On the right, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, watches.

An early 5th century bronze, variously identified as either Zeus or Poseidon. This is an example of the so called Severe Classical style, for which anatomical precision was typical.

My plane was at the Athens airport shortly before 2 pm. To my joy, I found that they have in the last six years built a metro line that takes you straight to the city. It's super modern and has air conditioning. In central Athens, I had to change line a couple of times, and by that time it was already rush hour so the metro was like a can of sardines. A very warm - several degrees above 20 C - and humid weather, so by the time I got to the hostel of the Finnish Institute I was soaked. A quick shower, and off I went to walk around a bit. On first glance, it doesn't seem like Athens has changed much in the last six years, apart from there being some new stores and cafes and such and some places that used to be there having gone out of business (particularly I was disappointed to find that a Greek fast food place not too far from the hostel where you could get great pork pitas has now been replaced by a Pizza Hut). Athens is still very very noisy and everybody drives a car everywhere. I don't think I've seen as many cars anywhere else. I'd better not walk along the major streets too much, otherwise I'm liable to get a lung disease from the exhaust fumes of the car.

Some more experimentation

The theme here is urban anonymity. Just experimenting and having fun doing so.

By the way, my referring to urban anonymity might make it sound like I found the urban existence a negative experience. Not so. I do not feel anonymous in the city and the city is where I want to be. But I do know there are many lonely people in the large cities of the world, people who do feel anonymous, detached; and I sympathize with them.

Actually, I should say the theme is anonymity in general, however one defines it or whatever kind one feels or is familiar with.

A bit of fun...

Enjoying fiddling with some new pictures. I had such a joyous photography session in "my" park nearby earlier this evening. I think I've mentioned it before but the lights in the park aren't of the cold, glaring kind but rather give a soft glow. That's why I love the park when the dark starts to fall. To stand in the softly embracing, falling darkness, to listen to the silence while waiting for the camera trigger to go off; that's meditation. I've had a cold in the last few days, so it probably wasn't so good for my cough. But it certainly was very good for the spirit!

Publicly I don't take pictures of sunsets ;-)

Red