My wife, Paula Elliot, and I joined a group led by Washington State University architecture professor Catherine Bicknell and her son Zac on a tour of Greece. Paula had gone on their first tour, eight years earlier, and had been wanting to go again since; and I was eager to go for the first time. The group included five Honors undergraduates getting credit for the trip and a wide variety of other folks.
Photo of tour group: front row (l-r): Howard Wright, Chris Barquist, Ellinor Porter, Paula Elliot, Pam Demo;Second row: Sylvia Bushaw, Carol Gay, Marie (“Mimi”) Wright; Third row: Susan Long, Alison Hall, Marcia Schekel, Jan Maguire, Trude Winters, bus driver, Zac Matthews; Back rows: Paul Brians, Don Bushaw, Merritt Wolfkill, Amy Bushaw, Barbara & Neal Porter, Cal & Margrethe Konzak.
HEVER CASTLE:
After our long overnight flight to England, we travelled through the countryside on a bus to Hever Castle, where Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn. The building is not terribly imposing, but the inside is a very interesting museum with exhibits from various periods and beautiful original woodwork.
HEVER CASTLE:
This fantasy village of Tudor houses was built by the latest owner, William Astor, for his guests.
HEVER CASTLE:
But the main attraction of Hever Castle is its gardens, created by Astor in the early part of this century.
HEVER CASTLE:
Flowers in the garden.
HEVER CASTLE:
An artificial lake is approached through this neo-baroque folly, complete with fountain.
ELGIN MARBLES:
We departed Hever castle for London in such high spirits (and time-shifted confusion) that we left two of our number there by mistake and had to go back and fetch them; so we had plenty of time to examine the delights of the English countryside and contrast it to modern London as we threaded our way through its streets to our hotel, St. Margaret’s, a few minute’s walk from the British Museum and our next morning’s destination, where we viewed the sculptures Lord Elgin took from the Parthenon.
This group of women well illustrates the wet t-shirt look perfected by the classical Greeks, who contrived to reveal the body as much clothed as unclothed.
ELGIN MARBLES:
The serene classicism of the Parthenon was decorated by the wild violence of a frieze depicting the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs; doubtless reflecting the Athenians’ claims to having triumphed over barbarism.
ELGIN MARBLES:
It is remarkable that many classical temples are decorated with war scenes. The Athenians in particular were a combative bunch. Here the reliefs from Bassae depict a favorite theme: the triumph of the Greeks at Troy over the fierce Amazons. Greek men seem to have been terrified that if they let women run loose, they would run amuck.
ELGIN MARBLES:
Better to keep them at home, folding the laundry.
Just kidding–this scene depicts the folding of the ritual garment annually carried to clothe the statue of Athena in the Parthenon.
JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM:
In the afternoon, Zac took most of the group on a long walk to see many of historic London’s most famous sights; but we joined Catherine for a visit to the truly amazing John Soane’s Museum, a Victorian townhouse crammed by an eccentric bachelor with an astounding variety of objects, including two series of Hogarth paintings (“Marriage a la Mode” and “The Election”), the sarcophagus of Ramses II, and plaster casts of classical sculpture.
ATHENS:
The next day, May 20, we were in Athens, via Olympic Airlines. From the rooftop of our hotel, The Athens Gate, we watched the sun set behind the Acropolis.
The hotel was decent, though modest; one of its more attractive features being that it is placed near the Plaka (the traditional shopping district, packed with souvenir shops) and the Acropolis. But the view was spectacular.
ATHENS:
Across the street were the ruins the Temple of Zeus, and a large space cluttered with broken ruins, populated by feral cats which are fed each evening by a conscientious group of old ladies.
ATHENS:
The next morning (May 23) we were up early to explore the Acropolis before the day’s mobs of tourists arrived. On the way up we looked down on the Roman theater of Herod Atticus at its base, where performances are regularly given in the summer.
ATHENS:
The entrance to the Acropolis, as we first saw it. The scaffolding lent an eerie postmodern touch.
ATHENS:
Once gaudily painted with brilliant colors and boasting the magnificent reliefs whose fragments we had just seen in the British Museum, the Parthenon preserves its proportions and design, ironically rendered more refined in post-classical eyes by the loss of its paint job.
ATHENS:
Doric columns
ATHENS:
Detail of columns.
ATHENS:
More details.
ATHENS:
The cranes and scaffolds were present not so much to reconstruct the building as to undo earlier ruinous restorations. The exhaust fumes of Athens’ automobiles and buses rapidly eat away the marble of this and other classical remains.
ATHENS:
The Erectheum.
ATHENS:
Paula and Paul in front of the Erectheum porch of the Caryatids (replicas–the original sculptures have been removed to a museum).
ATHENS:
The steep climb to the Areopagos.
ATHENS:
The view of the Agora (ancient marketplace) from the Acropolis.
ATHENS:
View of the Acropolis from the Agora, where we also visited the Temple of Theseus/Hephaestus and the museum in the reconstructed Stoa.
ATHENS:
As in the Roman Forum, acanthus is grown so tourists can compare its ornate leaves with the way they are depicted on Corinthian capitols. This particular plant seemed to be a little unhappy in the full sun.
ATHENS:
Detail of an ancient model of the colossal statue of Athena originally in the center of the Parthenon, showing the snake inside her shield. (Okay, so I accidentally cut her head off.) In the National Archeological Museum.
ATHENS:The famous bronze statue of Poseidon (formerly thought to be Zeus), from an angle you don’t usually see in the art books.
ATHENS:
We visited a wonderful musical instrument museum where we could hear the displays demonstrated on headphones, as well as a fine folk museum. We also bought several CDs of Greek music from a store near the archeological museum, aided by a young clerk with excellent English who turned out to be from Philadelphia. We spent a long time trying to track down a Greek dance performance, but finally decided to make an early night of it.
CORINTH:
The Corinth canal, as we set out on our Peloponnesian bus tour May 22.
CORINTH:
The ancient Doric Temple at Corinth, whose stone is deteriorated much more badly than the Parthenon. Its squat form makes a striking contrast with the latter.
CORINTH:
Another view of the temple.
CORINTH:
Fragment of a mosaic beside a cistern.
CORINTH:
This fragment of egg-and-dart masonry inspired us to invent the egg-and-dart breakfast: poached eggs with asparagus spears.
CORINTH:
This fanciful Roman era relief depicts someone in a swan-prowed boat within a wreath of food.
CORINTH:Don Bushaw reading his guidebook outside the Corinth museum.
CORINTH:
Flower-bearing maiden in the Corinth museum.
EPIDAURUS:
The theater at Epidaurus, remarkably well preserved, so much so that it is still used for performances of ancient Greek dramas. The acoustics are famous, with a very moderate voice from the center of the stage easily audible in the highest seats.
EPIDAURUS:
Paula and Paul performed part of the opening scene of Aeschylus’ Agammemnon, the first play in the Oresteia trilogy. Despite appearances, our whole audience didn’t walk out.
EPIDAURUS:
Catherine talks with Don and Sylvia.
EPIDAURUS:
We stopped for a swim at Tolo Beach, and a great seafood luncheon at the Cafe Zeus cooked up by proprietor/chef/waiter Paris, who has here awarded a golden orange to Paula, causing less trouble than the golden apple his namesake awarded Aphrodite.
MYCENAE:
Catherine’s policy of getting up early paid off on May 23 when we had plenty of time to explore Mycenae before the hordes arrived.
MYCENAE:
Distant view of the famous “lion gate” entrance to the site.
MYCENAE:
The gate was said to have been built of enormous “Cyclopean” stones so large only a Cyclops could lift them, or so thought the ancients.
MYCENAE:
The circular tombs just inside the gate where the golden treasure hoard was found.
MYCENAE:
In the so-called “throne room of Agamemnon” Paula and Paul performed the confrontation scene between Orestes and Clytemnestra from The Libation-Bearers, part two of the Oresteia. Note the simple but effective costumes. The rooms of the “palace” are actually quite small: hard to imagine any very impressive ceremonial taking place in them. The pageantry must been outdoors.
MYCENAE:
Zac led some of us down into the deep cistern which supplied water to the Myceneans.
MYCENAE:
Paula resting among the flowered rocks near the cistern entrance.
MYCENAE:
Bees on a thistle: a prickly combination!
MYCENAE:
One of the famous trench tombs in which the treasure of Mycenae was found.
MYCENAE:
The entrance to the famous beehive-shaped tholos, a tomb/treasury whose awesome size and form is impossible to convey in a photograph.
TIRYNS:
The recently reopened site of ancient Tiryns was impressive, but the corridor polished by the many generations of sheep which were driven through it is now closed to the public.
TIRYNS:
We descended the “secret” stair which the inhabitants used during seiges to gain access to their fountain.
TIRYNS:
Margarthe at the fountain. It actually had a little water in it.
NAFPLION:
We had a great lunch in the square of Nafplion (or Nauplion) and explored its museum’s collection of pre-classical pottery. I took this shot out of the museum’s window.
NAFPLION:
Flowers exploding from the houses in Nafplion. The fine folk museum was near here.
NAFPLION:
Barbara led us to this famous shop where one of the few remaining trditional shadow-puppet makers (and performers) continues his craft. Zac and Catherine also told us about a great bakery where we had ice cream and Greek sweets.
MEGALOPOLIS:
Traveling through Arcadia was an unexpected thrill. Famous as the fantasyland of European nature lovers since Hellenistic times, we didn’t expect it to be as genuinely beautiful as it was, with rolling fields of grass and flowers blending with varied forests. However, our bus driver pronounced it “unsafe” to stop for photographs and the Greeks sell no postcards depicting the Arcadian countryside, considering it unworthy of attention. It’s regarded a bit like our Ozarks. When Paul argued with one shopkeeper that artists all over the world had depicted Arcadia, he replied “But they went to Tashkent or wherever and made it all up in their heads.” True enough, but it would have been fascinating to have pictures of the reality with which we could compare the European Arcadian ideal for our students.
Most of Greece has been denuded over the centuries by goats, but the less-inhabited interior of Arcadia has not made them a profitable investment, so the topsoil remains and supports rich vegetation. Homer’s Greece must have looked very much like modern Arcadia.
We did make one stop out in the country, on May 24, at a tiny site ironically named Megalopolis, whose sole feature is a small, overgrown theater.
MEGALOPOLIS:
The theater seats at Megalopolis disappearing in the grass.
Catherine had ordinarily held “symposia” on classical Greek subjects there. Paul participated by talking about the Arcadian ideal in the arts.
MEGALOPOLIS:
But it was too hot to stay long, and the huge coal-fired power plants nearby rather spoiled the view, so we moved on.
ARCADIA:
A typical Arcadian town on the way to Bassae.
BASSAE:
The Temple of Apollo at Bassae is one of the most isolated temples in Greece. Earthquakes and erosion so badly damaged the temple that it had to be enclosed in a tent to keep it from being literally blown over by the hilltop winds while restorers raced to patch it together before it collapsed entirely.
BASSAE:
Sighting along this row of columns reveals the alarming state of the structure. What these photos don’t show is that the stone itself is in very poor shape.
BASSAE:
Coming down the hill from Bassae, our bus proved to be in poor shape as well, and we wandered around the village of Andritsina’s empty streets, almost every store closed for the mid-day siesta, as we waited for it to be repaired. However, the women in this local rug factory, hand-knotting elaborate designs, were working through the mid-day heat. Fortunately, we were soon on our way again.
ARCADIA:
Throughout the countryside there are numerous walls made of Greece’s most abundant natural resource: rocks. They delineate tiny fields which through inheritance represent the many-times-repeated fragmentation of land holdings.
OLYMPIA:
Finally we arrived in the thriving modern tourist town of Olympia, which has as high a concentration of tacky souvenirs as the Plaka in Athens. However, we discovered a fine little record and book shop at the end of the street which displayed this sign in its window: Pour ceux qui cherchent la Grece sans cliché [“For those who seek Greece without cliches”]. The owner conversed at length with us about the recordings of Byzantine and Classical music we had seen in Athens and opened packages to let us hear samples and study the documentation. He also offered us wine (the gold merchants of Olympia usually offer ouzo to promising customers). We rewarded him by spending heavily. It was a nice experience. Paul is wearing the new t-shirt Paula has just bought him, embroidered with the image from the 50-drachma coin: an ancient ship.
OLYMPIA:
Finally we arrived in the thriving modern tourist town of Olympia, which has as high a concentration of tacky souvenirs as the Plaka in Athens. However, we discovered a fine little record and book shop at the end of the street which displayed this sign in its window: Pour ceux qui cherchent la Grece sans cliché [“For those who seek Greece without cliches”]. The owner conversed at length with us about the recordings of Byzantine and Classical music we had seen in Athens and opened packages to let us hear samples and study the documentation. He also offered us wine (the gold merchants of Olympia usually offer ouzo to promising customers). We rewarded him by spending heavily. It was a nice experience. Paul is wearing the new t-shirt Paula has just bought him, embroidered with the image from the 50-drachma coin: an ancient ship.
OLYMPIA:
The Olympia museum was fascinating. Its most famous sculpture is this Hermes and infant Dionysus.
OLYMPIA:
The Olympia museum was fascinating. Its most famous sculpture is this Hermes and infant Dionysus.
OLYMPIA:
We persuaded two of the students to stage a footrace for us. Merritt won handily.
OLYMPIA:
It takes a good deal of imagination to reconstruct these tumbled ruins, but the stacked “drums” of the fallen pillars made their own aesthetic statement.
OLYMPIA:
Intact columns at the site.
OLYMPIA:
With Catherine and Zac’s help, we captured some sense of the original layout and function of the buildings.
OLYMPIA:
A row of columns against a row of cypresses.
OLYMPIA:
Ruins
OLYMPIA:
More Olympian ruins.
OLYMPIA:
After waiting for a long-winded French tour guide to finish her lecture, we moved into the site of the Palaestra (and more important, the shade of a large tree), to have Don give us a very interesting lecture about Greek mathmatics as his leaned on the Greek shepherds’ crook he had bought to use as a walking stick in Andritsina.
GULF OF CORINTH:
We continued by ferry across the Gulf of Corinth.
DELPHI:
The fortified harbor of Delphi.
DELPHI:
We wandered the residential section of Delphi and came on a mother teaching her small son and daughter traditional dancing. We also bought honey and a traditional white bedspread.
DELPHI:
The view of the gulf from the balcony of our hotel in Delphi. Later we were serenaded throughout dinner by a pianist/vocalist running methodically through a collection of cheesy movie music.
DELPHI:
Early on May 26 we beat the crowds up Mount Parnassus to the stadium where races were run in ancient times.
DELPHI:
This rounded arch probably marks a Roman construction, since though the Greeks knew of such arches, they seldom used them.
DELPHI:
The real secret of Roman construction: Legos.
DELPHI:
Scattered all along the roads are these shrines memorializing accident victims (usually on dangerous curves). Here a glass of oil has been left burning. We didn’t know why the door was open, but it afforded us a chance to take an unusual picture.
DELPHI:
Across the road and down the hillside from the main site at Delphi lie the gymnasium and–beyond it–the Temenos of Athena Pronaia (c. 500 BC).
DELPHI:
The Temenos of Athena includes the three reconstructed pillars of the Tholos, a round 4th-century building whose original function is unknown.
DELPHI:
Paul and Paula in front of the Temenos.
DELPHI:
At the entrance to the Delphi museum is this Hellenistic replica of the Omphalos, the navel of the world, which was originally simply a rounded rock draped with woolen strands, an effect here copied by the sculptor in stone. It originally stood in the adyton of the Temple of Apollo, and marked the center of the earth.
DELPHI:
This famous bronze charioteer has inset eyes that gaze out at you unsettling like.
DELPHI:
The Sphinx of the Naxians, which originally guarded the Oracle
DELPHI:
A stone carved with the earliest known piece of music: the Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo, with musical notation above the text. We bought a recording which claims to present a performance of this piece and other ancient Greek music.
For more on this song, including a translation, see Reading About the World, vol. 1.
DELPHI:
Three dancers atop an acanthus pillar
DELPHI:
Antinous, the lover of Hadrian, who killed himself in 130 AD at the age of 19 in the belief that he could bequeath his remaining lifespan to the emperor.
DELPHI:
Knuckle-bones used in games. Note how nicely the auto-focus captured the texture of the backcloth (grrr).
DELPHI:
A terracotta decorative Hellenistic sculpture of a child.
DELPHI:
Detail of a Roman-era mosaic in the courtyard outside the Delphi Museum
DELPHI:
Lion attacking a hoplite (foot soldier), from the Gigantomachy (battle against the Titans) originally part of the north frieze of the Treasury of the Siphnians.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
On May 27 we visited the Medieval Greek Orthodox church of Ossios Loukos. There are three sanctuaries: an older church to the left, the main church at ground level, and the crypt underneath. The women in the group had to don skirts and cover their arms to be admitted. Catherine had brought a wrap along for just this contingency and loaned it out in turns. The gift shop offered both icons of the Virgin and sculptures of pagan deities.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
Mosaic in the main sanctuary depicting Christ washing the feet of the disciples. The heavy outlining and gold background are typical of the Byzantine style. The flash surreptitiously used in this shot (the church was deserted) illuminated Christ’s head.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
An angel on the ceiling between two pillars.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
Saint Loukos himself, after whom the church is named. The patches on the mosaics reflect repairs undertaken after a damaging earthquake.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
View of the side from the entrance to the crypt.
OSSIOS LOUKOS:
The surrounding countryside.
SANTORINI:
We then flew to the island of Santorini (known in ancient times as Thera). Across the road from our hotel we looked down into the submerged caldera of the ancient volcano which may have given rise to the legend of Atlantis. You can go swimming in the warm waters heated by the caldera.
SANTORINI:
We learned that we had been bumped from our hotel to the luxurious Santorini Palace Hotel, built in the style of the island’s traditional architecture
SANTORINI:
From Santorini Palace Hotel, whitewashed buildings clinging to the hillsides.
SANTORINI:
At the northern tip of the island, the old city of Oia curves in a crescent of whitewashed houses.
SANTORINI:
Donkeys and mules are still practical means of transportation in these steep island villages.
SANTORINI:
A few daring souls toy with pastels, abandoning the standard decor of white with blue trim.
SANTORINI:
The big event of Oia’s day is nightfall as crowds gather to watch the sun set.
SANTORINI:
Abandoned windmills litter the islands. This one has been turned into a restaurant.
SANTORINI:
While we ate a fine meal at this restaurant overlooking the caldara, a wedding procession went by, being led by a fiddler and guitarist to the church.
SANTORINI:
In the Catholic cathedral of Fira, cloistered Spanish nuns sing and pray around the clock for world peace. From the street, we could catch only a glimpse of the bell tower and dome.
SANTORINI:
A big cruise ship, typical of the mainly that sail into the caldera daily. Santorini is definitely a luxury tourist destination; don’t try to go there with a backpack looking for a cheap room.
SANTORINI:
Like Pompeii, Minoan Acrotiri was preserved when it was buried under volcanic ash, The buildings are being slowly uncovered a brushstroke at a time. The entire city is covered by a shed to protect it (and the archaeologists) from the elements.
SANTORINI:
Walking these ancient streets gives one a striking impression of what life here must have been like before the center of Thera blew up and buried this city, and possibly destroyed much of Minoan culture elsewhere in the resulting tidal wave.
The magnificent murals had been taken to the Athens Archeological Museum, where we saw some of them; but many have now been returned to a museum on Santorini.
NAXOS:
May 30 we took a boat to Naxos. Here is a harbor view of the capitol city of Hora. The Kastro is a charming old walled city from Venetian times, at the top of the hill in the center of town.
NAXOS:
The spit where the ruins of Temple of Apollo, the symbol of Naxos, stands. Here Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus, supposedly leaped into the sea to escape the unwanted attentions of the god.
NAXOS:
Hora viewed from Apollo’ s Temple.
NAXOS:
The ruins at sunset.
NAXOS:
A Venetian-era castle, with typical Guelph rooftop decorations in the rural village of Ano Sangri.
NAXOS:
NAXOS:
Ancient gnarled olive trees.
NAXOS:
Filoti, supported by the marble quarry just behind it. Some of the finest marble in the world comes from Naxos; lesser grades are turned into whitewash.
NAXOS:
We got lost looking for a bakery we could smell but not find in the winding streets of Apirathos.
NAXOS:
Paula and Don on the steps of the local folk museum.
NAXOS:
Goatskin bagpipe in the Apirathos folk museum.
NAXOS:
Traditional costumes in the Apirathos folk museum.
NAXOS:
Pots and a donkey saddle.
NAXOS:
Man at a tiny shop in the square.
NAXOS:
We visited the small church of Agia Anna in the country which had this graveyard attached. Bodies are buried for only a few years, then the bones are disinterred and stored in the church; so all the graves are relatively new. The priest’s wife did a thriving business in selling needlework.
NAXOS:
There are two unfinished carvings of Kouroi on the island. This one is fifteen feet long. Don, because of his imposing stature, was dubbed “Kouros” from this point on.
NAXOS:
On June 1 we explored the Kastro for the second time, encountering only tourists (mostly from our group).
NAXOS:
The Greeks retreat indoors in the midday heat, leaving the streets deserted.
NAXOS:
The fine museum displayed this mosaic out of doors.
NAXOS:
Byzantine-era fragments in the museum.
NAXOS:
Traditional hand-shaped door knocker.
NAXOS:
More scenes from the Kastro.
NAXOS:
Mimi and Howard climbing steps up a steep street.
NAXOS:
We took a long walk along the beach from our hotel back to Hora. Later, Paula discovered in a cafe a recording of the fine woman singer Charis Lexious by asking our waitress about the tape that was playing. She later bought a CD of her modern arrangements of traditional songs.
NAXOS:
Paul in front of the harbor.
AEGEAN SEA:
June 2 the boat from Naxos to Amorgos took us across an Aegean Sea that was really this color. See the fleck of white foam the people are looking at? A dolphin had just plunged back down after surfacing there. We were escorted to Amorgos by dozens of them.
AMORGOS:
Amorgos is the southernmost of the Cyclades; still very traditional, but beginning to be discovered by tourists, with the help of people like Catherine, who owns a house there. Most of the grass had turned brown by the time we arrived, but the hills were ablaze with flowering bushes. We stayed in the modest but pleasant seaside Lakki Hotel for five nights, getting acquainted with traditional Greek island life and enjoying the beaches.
AMORGOS:
June 3 Zac led us on a hike from Lakki along steep mountain mule tracks on this largely roadless island.
AMORGOS:
View of the harbor of Ormos, where we first arrived.
AMORGOS:
A bush ablaze with color.
AMORGOS:
We frequently paused to admire the wildflowers (and catch our breath).
AMORGOS:
The geometric patterns created by the thorns of the plant were intriguing.
AMORGUS:
The steep tracks were often lined with dry stone walls.
AMORGOS:
Catherine’s house in Langatha, viewed from above. Note the traditional painted design on the patio.
AMORGOS:
Beautiful flowers maintained by her sister-in-law, Carolina, who has lived in the village for many years.
AMORGOS:
Inside, a bake oven has been converted into cool bedroom. We stayed for the afternoon to help prepare a vegetarian feast for the rest of the gang, to celebrate Marcia Schekel’s birthday.
AMORGOS:
Serious eating at Marcia’s party (she’s the one all dressed up, second from the right).
AMORGOS:
On June 4 we took a van to the Monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa (Grace of the Virgin) at the other end of the island, pinned high against a cliff.
AMORGOS:
the Monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa now only contains five monks.
AMORGOS:
The stairwell narrowed by the cliff face curving into it.
AMORGOS:
We could not take photographs of the small but lavishly decorated sanctuary.
AMORGOS:
June 5. Declining a sail around the island (too hot and boring), we instead took a caique to the deserted island in the harbor for a day of serious swimming and beaching.
AMORGOS:
That night Catherine had arranged a traditional roasted goat feast for us at Niko’s taverna in Langatha (where earlier we had had a fabulous baked eggplant dish). Wonderful traditional music was provided by Stefanaiki (fiddle) and Michali (lauta).
AMORGOS:
These are the children of Michali and Anna, the nanny Catherine hired years ago to take care of her own children, and who fell in love with Amorgos and Michali, eventually creating a preschool in Langatha. The children demonstrated traditional dancing to their father’s accompaniment.
AMORGOS:
On June 6 we spent much of the morning doing much-needed laundry, then relaxed at a wonderful beach around the corner from our hotel. This was the Feast of the Trinity, and we returned to Niko’s for the evening’s festivities, watching local families dance in the tiny space of of the crowded cafe. One man’s outstretched arm swept Paul’s glasses off his face! That’s how close we were to the action. We went to bed at 3:00 AM.
Niko and a friend doing a traditional dance
AMORGOS:
Paula joins in on the traditional dance.
June 7, we took a large, smoke-filled boat the long way back to Athens, stopping at each and every island port in the Cyclades, it seemed. We arrived in the middle of the night to return to the Athens Gate Hotel.
ATHENS:
June 8, after sleeping in, we found the Theater of Dionysus (with some difficulty–it wasn’t prominently marked).
This is the site where the Greeks developed drama out of the traditional Bacchic choral songs.
ATHENS:
The altar is the center of the dance floor.
ATHENS:
The backdrop figures were surprisingly small, only a few feet high.
ATHENS:
The judges and dignitaries were given seats with backs to help them sit through three tragedies and a satyr play in a single day.
ATHENS:
To help them sit through the long dramatic contests, holes were pierced through their seats so they could discreetly relieve themselves while continuing to watch the action. A drain runs along the front of the seats.
ATHENS:
a sculpture of a sheepskin-clad satyr, traditional companion of Dionysus.
ATHENS:
Did a sculpture of Dionysus once rest on this pedestal? It has his name carved on it.
ATHENS:
A carved comic mask on a Roman pillar
ATHENS:
The palm design Paula so much admired in the traditional roof titles. She bought a replica of one to bring home.
ATHENS:
A long ramble through the city led us down this street at the end of which the Acropolis rises.
A day later we were back in London, watching a new production of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, which had received its first performance at the Theatre of Dionysus 2.5 millennia earlier.
This is the end of the photo tour of Greece.
![OLYMPIA: Finally we arrived in the thriving modern tourist town of Olympia, which has as high a concentration of tacky souvenirs as the Plaka in Athens. However, we discovered a fine little record and book shop at the end of the street which displayed this sign in its window: Pour ceux qui cherchent la Grece sans cliché ["For those who seek Greece without cliches"]. The owner conversed at length with us about the recordings of Byzantine and Classical music we had seen in Athens and opened packages to let us hear samples and study the documentation. He also offered us wine (the gold merchants of Olympia usually offer ouzo to promising customers). We rewarded him by spending heavily. It was a nice experience. Paul is wearing the new t-shirt Paula has just bought him, embroidered with the image from the 50-drachma coin: an ancient ship.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-cas/uploads/sites/1350/2017/01/68-1.jpg)
![OLYMPIA: Finally we arrived in the thriving modern tourist town of Olympia, which has as high a concentration of tacky souvenirs as the Plaka in Athens. However, we discovered a fine little record and book shop at the end of the street which displayed this sign in its window: Pour ceux qui cherchent la Grece sans cliché ["For those who seek Greece without cliches"]. The owner conversed at length with us about the recordings of Byzantine and Classical music we had seen in Athens and opened packages to let us hear samples and study the documentation. He also offered us wine (the gold merchants of Olympia usually offer ouzo to promising customers). We rewarded him by spending heavily. It was a nice experience. Paul is wearing the new t-shirt Paula has just bought him, embroidered with the image from the 50-drachma coin: an ancient ship.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-cas/uploads/sites/1350/2017/01/69-1.jpg)
