Of the eleven million inhabitants, eight million live in Athens, the capital, which has seen an enormous growth in population since World War II when it was a small village of only 18,000 people.
Textiles, food, processing (olive oil, wine, cheese) and chemicals are the major industries, although nowadays tourism seems to be the greatest source of income. We visited only a portion of the tourist attractions and everywhere the sites were full to the maximum, and it was not the peak of the season yet. Most of the foreign tourists travel in very modern buses (some double-decked) through well maintained roads.
Only one third of the land is arable; but in the Peloponnese Peninsula, for instance, where we traveled for five days, we saw vast lands cultivated with olive trees (they are counted by the millions in all of Greece) vineyards, corn, wheat, citrus, vegetables and even tobacco, to name just a few. About one third of the oil is exported to Italy, who mixes it with its own production and sells it world-wide as "Italian" oil.
Drachma is the money used in Greece. At the time of our trip, in June of 2007, the rate of exchange was a bout 396 Drachmas to the US Dollar.
Athens is a big, fascinating, sparkling city. In spite of the hectic heavy traffic, there is not much air pollution due to the abundance of trees and a few colossal parks inside the city.
Men lived in these parts of the world at least 100,000 years ago, and perhaps long before that. In the last 8,000 years, however, the pace of culture accelerated, and the remains of villages, sanctuaries and temples, often discovered one on top of the other, challenge both archaeologist and historian.
Ancient Greece produced the greatest body of literature in the world. Few other literatures can produce one or two authors in the class of Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato and Aristotle. They generated not only masterpieces, but provided the models for later ages to imitate in almost every type of composition, including poetry, tragedy, comedy, philosophical dialogues, oration, biography and prose romance. Greek literature is, thus, the foundation of western culture.
Art in all forms was unsurpassed in ancient Greece, as you can testify by the enormous amount of paintings of vases and plates and the marble statues now kept in different museums throughout Greece. Most notable of all was the work of Phidias, who sculpted the colossal marble and ivory statue of Zeus of Olympia and also the figures in the pediments of the Parthenon of the Acropolis in Athens as well as the statue of Athena there.
Here are some of the magical places that we visited:
EPIDAURUS. It is the largest and best preserved ancient theater in Greece. It has a capacity of 12,000 seats and is renowned for its captivating architecture and perfect acoustics. When there is total silence, you can drop a piece of paper in the center of the arena and it would be heard from any part of the amphitheater. Epidaurus was also the sanctuary of Asclepius, the major Greek god of healing. People from all over came to this place to be treated for their illnesses. The museum contains reconstructions of parts of the temple of Asclepius and of Hygeia, another god of healing.
OLYMPIA. Ancient Olympia rests at the heart of a peaceful green valley. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites, not only within Greece but world-wide, since the spirit of the Olympic Games was born here in 776 BC. Nowadays, every four years, the flame of the Olympic Games is still lit here, starting its journey to he modern games site. There are several building here: the temple of Hera (wife of Zeus) the Hippodrome, the Parliament, the Guess House, the semicircular pond that held the spring water for the inhabitants, the Palaestra, the Kripte (the arch entrance to the stadium) the Gymnasium, the stadium and the sculptor Phidias workshop. And in the center of it all, the colossal temple of Seuz, one of the seven wonders of the world. The temple was being built at the same time as Phidias was sculpting the statue of Seuz, out of marble and ivory and with gold trimmings. When he finished, they had to put extensions to the columns to raise the roof to accommodate the statue, who showed the god sitting on his throne. If he were to stand up, he would have destroyed the roof; such was the enormity of its size. The statue, of course, is all gone now, and only scattered broken columns and the foundation of this incredible temple can be seen today.
DELPHI. Legend tell us that the god Seuz sent two eagles flying, one towards east and the other one west, to find the center of the earth. They met at Delphi. That is why this place was considered the NAVEL OF THE EARTH -the omphalus, as they called it- the point where the earthly touches the divine. A city was started there, which became one of the most important religious centers of ancient Greece. Delphi is located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, the site of the Seven Muses. It was called an oracle because of the virgin priestess PHYTHIA, famous for her magical powers of foreseeing the future. Kings and citizens from all over Greece came to see her on personal or community matters. As she gave her oracles only three days a month, the wealthy who came with the best gold offerings had priority over the poor ones. It is in doubt today if she had such supernatural powers; but it has been proven that the governor and priests of Delphi were very smart. When the time for the oracles came, a priest would throw cold water into a goat; if the goat shook the water, it meant that it was healthy and the gates would open. If it didn't, it meant that it was sick and this was considered a bad omen from the gods not to let anybody in. The crowd outside had to decide then between going back to their cities and return next month or stay there. Since the distances were far and the traveling slow, they usually decided to stay. That's why there were plenty of hotels and restaurants outside the gates! The priestess answers were always ambiguous and left the inquirers with more desire to come back. For example: One king wanted to know if he would win a war against a powerful enemy. The answer was: "After you cross the river in battle, a mighty army will fall." She failed to explain which army was going to fall. Another: a man wanted to know if his wife was going to have a boy or a girl. The answer: "Boy not girl", leaving the comma at the option of the man.
METEORA. It's very hard to describe this place (better take a look at the photographs). It is truly a wonder of the world, a natural monument of incomparable beauty, with its rare formation of mighty rocks, bare, smooth, perpendicular, straight up to the sky. At the peaks of some of these rocks, the most significant state of Orthodoxy developed: monasteries that were built between 1100 and 1799 to escape religious persecution. They are remarkable monuments of Byzantine architecture, housing rare manuscripts and relics of priceless archaeological and historical value.
THE ACROPOLIS. Several important buildings comprise this antique complex in Athens. On the left side, the PROPYLAEA was the main entrance to the Acropolis. It had six superb marble Doric columns on the façade of the central building and six Ionic columns on the side, three of them pointing towards the temple of ATHENA NIKE. This temple was built during the Mycenaean period, and it was a fortified and sturdy tower from where the Athenians often repelled their enemies. The Greeks worshipped a special goddess, NIKE, who had large wings and flew from one place to another and represented victory. Here, however, it was Athena who was worshipped as the goddess of victory, The ERECHTHEUM is another beautiful temple where some of the columns are in the shape of a woman. An then is the PARTHENON. Parthenon means virgin, so this is the temple of the virgin goddess Athena. It is the symbol of the creative and artistic power that distinguished Athens in the fifth century BC. It is an immortal work of the mature years of the Classical period. Construction began in 447 BC, and it was completed nine years later. The columns are 34 feet high; there are eight and and seventeen on the short and long sides, respectively. All the lines and vertical surfaces are curved and the columns and walls are tilted inwards 7 cm. The temple was further enhanced by outside sculptures. There were 92 metopes or rectangular plaques around the top side of the building, depicting mythological scenes inspired by the victories of the gods, the battles against the Giants, the Centaurs, the Amazons and the Trojan War. The impressive compositions of figures on the east pediment portrayed the birth of Athena as she sprang from the head of Seuz, while those on the west showed the competition between Athena and Poseidon for the dominion over the city of Athens. These 52 figures were, undoubtedly, the fruit of Phidias' genius. Notwithstanding the changes and losses suffered through centuries, the Parthenon still fascinates and exerts a powerful effect. It has maintained its musicality, artistic eloquence and esthetic harmony and it is now a sublime embodiment of the classical Greek spirit and ideals.
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