Whatchawearing
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Europeanvaction1979/day3
My father was in the USAF. We spent nearly nine years in Europe. We lived in Greece, Italy and England. Every few years my Grandparents would come to visit. When they did, we were off for a five week journey across Europe. My grandmother kept a journal of our travels. Recently while cleaning out a closet, my Mother came across the journals. The memories came flying back! I decided to share these journels with you. Each day I will post a chapter as she has written them. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did.
The first Journal was in 1979. We lived in Hellenikon Greece.
Greek Homes
Athens Greece
Athens Traffic
Athens Market
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Day 3-Monday May 28 1979
I awoke to unfamiliar sounds. Jan was in the kitchen fixing breakfast for Sean and Ryan while somewhere outdoors a Greek was calling to everyone to buy his fish or vegetables or whatever it was he was selling. I had no idea since it was all Greek to me. George was still sleeping as I left the bedroom. In the liking room, I threw open the shutters and saw the mountains, barren and rocky, bathed in glorious sunlight, so close I felt I could reach out and touch them. "Good morning Athens", I said as I stood there drinking in the warm breeze which engulfed me. It was a beautiful day! It was also our thirtieth wedding anniversary and I couldn't think of a better place to be for the occasion.
Athens is a noisy city. It's buildings in the main are of stone, covered with a stucco finish and given a white color, or a tint of buff or light blue. We were on our way into the main part of town to visit the flea market. Very noticeable to us was the tremendous amount of buildings standing, unfinished, in a varying forms of construction. Bricks delivered to a construction site were simple dumped in a heap, spilling out over sidewalk and street. Many were broken.
The sole dangers of Athenian Streets are those incident to the fast driving of the Greeks. They pay no heed to traffic lanes or speed signs. The stop signs are mostly in Greek, but I saw some in English. Driving is new to the Greek people, having just started in force in the past ten years. Automobiles cost in the neighborhood of $40,000.00. Judging from traffic, one wonders how so many people afford the luxury.
Peddlers risk life and limb when they attempt to sell their wares in the middle of a busy, four-lane street. One we noticed carried a little bucket, selling ice cream to car passengers as they slowed up or stopped for a traffic light. Another, in the middle of a super highway, was peddling
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Some kind of food. He darted among the cars with agility as brakes loudly screeched, horns honked and Greek profanity cam from drivers.
On Almost every corner we saw "kiosk" stores. Not much bigger than a telephone booth, these gay little independent stores carried a carroty of goods, from cigarettes and drugs to newspapers, magazines and flash light batteries. Most housed telephones, and were painted bright yellow. Craig came to be one of their best customers buying ice cream whenever he had a chance.
Strolling throughout the flea market, we were awed by the vast array of items the shopkeepers had for sale. Store after store offered tempting displays of every conceivable item. The flea market area is quite large with side streets that are as busy as the main one. We spent the entire morning wandering through the maze of shops not quite believing the prices, as most were extremely inexpensive, especially large pieces of antique furniture.
We came to Agora, the mark-square and meeting place of ancient Athens. Here also in the Thesseion, perhaps the best preserved of all the Greek Temples. Older than the Parthenon, it is smaller and not as splendid. Doric in style, it served as a church in the middle Ages. Here is where Socrates sauntered and questioned passerby and St. Paul preached. Archeologist have excavated this site and the Stoa of Attalus has been reconstructed. The present replica contains a museum for the findings mostly from the Agora.
Back at the house, Al introduced us to Greek bread for lunch. Hard and crusty on the outside, it was tasty reminding me somewhat of French bread.
Jan, Sean and Ryan and I strolled up to the stores in the neighborhood after lunch while George and Al rested. We found most of the shops closed, however as "Quiet Time' was being observed by the Greeks. For the majority
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of Greeks the day is divided by a siesta after luncheon with stores re-opening in the evening somewhere between five and six.
Later in the evening we drove to Glyfada Square, the main part of the city. Athens has been spoken of as a noisy city, and it is especially so after nightfall, when the streets are thronged with people until a late hour and the coffee houses and open-air restaurants are in full swing. Taole and chairs occupy the sidewalks at various points. The entire area is a mass of human beings sitting or walking about.
In one of the stores I found a rock of brightly colored strings of beads. We were told they were "worry beads" and for my father, the worrier, I could think of no better souvenir. These beads have no religious significance as might be thought at first sight, but are simply one of the things Greeks find for idle hands to do. I felt certain Daddy would enjoy the humor in his gift.
After visiting every store for b locks on both sides of the street, we were able to find an empty sidewalk table where we enjoyed cold glasses of beer and the children had ice cream. It was after midnight when we returned to the house.
