Turn on your television and eventually if you watch the news – you are going to hear something about how debt ridden Greece is, how badly the global financial crisis affected Greece, should she or should she not exit the EU, how despised each set of austerity measures introduced to try to combat the growing debt, are. Indeed, on both mine and Darryls excursions- our individual guides mentioned numerous times how tough things were in Greece at the current time – 2 million unemployed out of a population of 11 million, 160,000 shops closed, rising crime, very limited police presence and a 200 euro/week limit on cash withdrawals. Indeed, to me – the amount of graffiti (old and recent) everywhere was the face of a country suffering.
Now take these images and compare them to the following – around 2500 years ago, in one miraculous century – the people of this same place created the foundations upon which all our civilisation has since rested. Philosophy, politics, mathematics, the natural sciences, art – almost “all of life as we know it” was invented or defined in Ancient Greece and in particular- the city of Athens. It really brings home how much things can change over time.
We docked in Piraeus, a city now blended into Athens only 5km distance. It was a very early arrival so on opening our balcony curtains, we were surprised with the sight of occupied apartments less than 100m distance as the crow flies from our bed.
Due to physical requirements we had decided to take separate tours – Darryls would be mainly by coach and would take in the major sights of Athens from air-conditioned comfort – the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Acropolis, the Temple of Athens and other city highlights. Mine would mainly involve walking up the Acropolis to walk amongst the Temple of Athens and the Parthenon- something I never thought I would have the opportunity to do. I would also visit the old Olympic stadium built for the first modern Olympics and still in use today.
To say the day was amazing would be to do it an injustice. To see and physically touch the actual buildings where the ancients worked, played and worshipped and walk upon the “very stone that their sandals trod” is indescribable.
To still see the physical remains of such an amazing advanced civilisation intertwined with today’s Athens is an amazing treat. I spent about 3 hours on top of the Acropolis, slowly taking it all in before moving on to feel a fitting rush of adrenaline at the sight of the first modern Olympic stadium.
Later on our way home, the fickleness of change was again bought home to me with the sighting of groups of refugees (mainly from Africa apparently) sifting through an alleyway full of piles of clothes, blankets and other items donated by locals for their use.
