Sunday, July 28, 2013

An Athens that is not the Acropolis



It's kind of hard to imagine Athens without immediately thinking about the Acropolis. But there is another, different side to Athens - although whether or not it is an Athens that I entirely like, I am not entirely sure.

There are other bits of the old and ancient world that pepper Athens. Tumbled columns and time-weathered marble, old and collapsed structures, temples dedicated to the gods of the ancient Greeks.



[caption id="attachment_1594" align="alignnone" width="700"] The temple of Zeus.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1595" align="alignnone" width="700"] Of course, you can see the Acropolis from pretty much everywhere.[/caption]







But there is something about all this that is just sadly empty. Old though it may be and despite its thousands of years of seeing people having come and go, there is a tangible lack of people at places like these today.

Once a sacred site and the heart of dedication and worship, these columns today are not much more than stacks of marble and dust. Especially in the hot Athenian summer heat, where people try to avoid the open sun and head for anywhere with shade - there can't have been more than 15 people at the Temple of Zeus when we were there.



Just because they're not the Acropolis doesn't mean they're good for tourist photo poses though.



Something else I noticed is how indifferent the Athenians have become to tourists. Even resentful at times - like any big city that has become a major tourist hotspot, I seemed to sense that the locals wished for the absence of tourists. Yet so much of the city depends on tourism that Athens really wouldn't be Athens without its tourism industry.

People, it soon became evident, were very different here than they were from people in Thessaloniki where I had been just a couple of days previously. In Thessaloniki, people are wonderful - cheery inside and out, always friendly and willing to help out a bunch of lost tourists. They talk to you with a smile, and even if their English isn't absolutely the greatest you can always tell that they make an effort.

In Athens, it was off-putting the number of times we got waved away before we even finished our sentences.

Visually, Athens is of course much more beautiful. It is, after all, the capital of the country - but it is a city that has seen so much tourism you can't help but get the sense people wish you weren't there.



It really is a pity, because the city is beautiful and with so much history.







But I guess that's just how it is when tourism gets the better of a place.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Photo Friday: Eating my way through Greece



If you're ever in an area of Greece where people don't really speak English, there's only one word that you really need to know.

That word looks like this: σουβλάκι, and it's pronounced souvlaki.

(Can you tell that I'm totally just using writing about Greece as a reason to type wonderful looking Greek letters?)



Seriously though, souvlaki is awesome. It's pita bread, kebab meat, a bunch of greens and tomatoes, yoghurt, and fries.

French fries. In pita bread. That, to me, is the definition of heaven.

And that's Greek fast food, people.

I can't even remember the number of times I must have had souvlaki while I was in Greece - but they're sold everywhere, the Grecian equivalent of British chip shops.

Speaking of Grecian fast food, they also do a wonderful grilled corn-on-the-cob.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Stuffin' my face with it.[/caption]

Fast food aside, it's actually spectacular how good food in Greece is - I'm surprised it isn't all that popular anywhere outside of Greece!

Being very typically Mediterranean, there is a lot of seafood on the menu here. Grilled fish, mussel risotto, and delicious Greek salads with stuffed olives and feta cheese with olive oil drizzled over the top.

I must have put on at least three kilos in Greece alone, but every gram of that completely worth it.











Unless, of course, you decide to go completely carnivore for a day and have three pieces of pork loin - with fries on the side, of course, except that in Greece they're called 'fried potatoes'.





This is ouzo.



Ouzo is Greece's national alcohol, clear as water and said to pack a hell of a punch. I can't vouch for it, because I didn't try it - but even sniffing a bit of it sure smells lethal!

A traditional Greek meal involves being presented with a selection of sides that you can pick.



There are a lot of sides - and every one of them looking so good, it just makes you wish you could eat all of it!



Greek salads are pretty much everywhere - peppers, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese. The yellow stuff is fava bean paste, which was surprisingly delicious - we had that together with pretty much everything else on our plate! There was also tzatziki, a yoghurt and cucumber dip. Delish!

It just wouldn't be Greece without some to-die-for calamari.



Fried kasseri cheese, or saganaki. I only wish I'd had more of this!



Oh, and there was even a free dessert that went with the meal. (I love Greek food.)



Being typically Singaporean, there was a day that we spent a long time searching for a very very particular restaurant on a hill in Thessaloniki. And I'm rather glad that we did - good food is always worth looking for!



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] A rice-like pasta, sausages, and fried chicken nuggets. The chicken nuggets were amazing.[/caption]







[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] More free ice-cream![/caption]

There's a really nice little restaurant in Fira in Santorini which has the best rice ever. Everything else is pretty darn good, but the rice really stood out - so much so that we even wound up ordering a second portion of rice alone!



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Fried vegetable balls with basil and mint. These were so, so good.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] See that little bit of rice there beside the lasagne? That was mouth-wateringly delicious rice.[/caption]



So while people go to Greece for the sights, perhaps it's about time that people started going to Greece for the food too.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Listen to Tuesday: Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir



Formed by maestro and composer extraordinaire Eric Whitacre, the Virtual Choir projects bring together people from every part of the globe - anywhere you can get an internet connection and a recording device - and put together a bunch of videos to form an immense virtual choir.

This year's Virtual Choir brought together a stunning 8409 videos from 5905 singers in 101 countries!

The piece we sang for this year's VC is titled Fly to Paradise, and it's an original composed by Eric, adapted from his musical Paradise Lost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8oDnUga0JU

Making the videos was challenging - I learned, sang and recorded four tracks (sopranos 1 & 2, and altos 1 & 2) in all of three days - but it was immensely worth it when I saw this final piece.

It's gorgeous and full of win, and I think I'd be doing everyone a disservice if I didn't put it out there that I'm so glad I was a part of this project.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Marble Everywhere in Athens, Greece



I mentioned in my last post that Athens is full of marble. It lines absolutely everything! It's everyw.here from structures (the Parthenon) to sidewalks.

Greek logic: "No concrete? Pfft, we'll just use marble."

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Syntagma, or Constitution Square.[/caption]

We headed out to look for the Academy, built on the site where Plato set up the very first Academy - the first real teaching school.

Fun fact - academy or academia is Greek for 'school', while 'school' or skhole is Greek for leisure! I don't know about you, but it seems like something about school got lost in translation...





Everything there was made from marble, and there were even little statues of owls decorating everywhere - the symbol of the goddess Athena.



Friday, July 19, 2013

Photo Friday: The Acropolis, Athens



Did you know that the Acropolis is built on an outcrop so high that the Parthenon is visible from almost any point in Athens?

I didn't either.

The ancient Athenians built the Parthenon temple to worship the Greek goddess Athena, after whom the city of Athens is named. Almost 2500 years after it was first built, most of the Parthenon is still standing, which is truly remarkable.





It seems that Athens is made out of marble - seriously, this rock is everywhere. And I really do mean, everywhere - the entire Parthenon is made of solid marble, the street pavements are lined with marble. It's like marble is the concrete of this place!

I was lucky enough to have my beautiful and gorgeous friend Melina show us around her home city. Can you imagine living here - so close to the dawn of civilisation and in a place so rich in antiquity that you could probably throw a stone and hit something a few thousand years old?



In fact, so much ancient stuff has been found that when they were building the underground metro system, they hit upon a real treasure trove of ancient artefacts and objects from long-gone peoples near the Acropolis site.

In a place that's been continuously inhabited for over 2500 years, there sure would be a lot of stuff left behind!

A whole museum near to the Acropolis was built to house, conserve and preserve artefacts found near Acropolis, as well as more delicate pieces of marble that have been broken from the Parthenon.



Just casually built over another archeological excavation site, no big deal. (That's Athens for you.)





The Parthenon is even beautifully illuminated by night, and even today it inspires the same sort of awe and reverence that it must have for the Athenians of 2500 years ago.



The Odeion of Herodes Atticus is remarkably well-preserved and is still used for performances even today!



After a bit of a climb, we made it to the top of the Acropolis and approached the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Despite it being early in the morning, the Parthenon was already flooded with tourists baking under the sweltering heat of the Grecian sun!



Of course, that didn't stop us from taking in the heat. After a year of Scottish weather, I sure could do with some Vitamin D!



The Parthenon is an incredibly well-preserved structure - in fact, most of its damage was actually done intentionally in 1687 when a big portion of the building was blown up in the Venetian Siege.









[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Obligatory photo of me with the Erechtheion and statues of the goddess Athena.[/caption]





After the baking sun had started to get to us and addle with our brains a little bit, we decided to have a wee bit of fun with jump shots - because, why not?

Steven did a perfect jumping Buddha pose here.







The great thing about all the marble here was that it didn't retain heat at all - so while the air was baking, the marble was cool to the touch and great to sit and relax on!





So given the size and grandeur of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, it's easy to understand and see how the ancient Athenians could have worshipped it so.



After all, it inspires the same kind of awe even today.

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