Whatchawearing
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Europeanvaction1979/day4
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.
Athens Market
Greek Widow
Parthenon, Athens Greece
Sidewalk Resturant
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Day 4-Tuesday May 29 1979
Awakening to another beautiful day, I heard Jan urging Sean and Ryan to hurry with their breakfast so they wouldn't miss the school bus, while outside I could hear the Greek families from neighboring homes, busy with their morning chores. Laughter from children, babies crying, dogs barking and the peddler's voices ringing loud. How I wished I new what he was saying!
"Tuesday Market" was first on our agenda for the day after Sean and Ryan were seen safely on the bus to school. Every day in a different part of Athens, the Greeks open their markets. Six or more streets are blocked off to traffic and Greek potter and handmade articles. Strange unintelligible cries of the peddler's fill the air. We were hustled along with the mass of people who were shopping. The women, for the most part, all pushed or pulled their small wire carts, some had children's wagons ladened with their purchases. It amused us to see one older woman pushing her way through the crowd caring a one by four plank, six feet long over her shoulder.
One Greek custom is for a woman to wear black for the rest of her life when her husband dies. Hot as it was, the "ya-ya", as the widows are called, had on their long-sleeved black dresses with black stockings and shoes. The men fare far better. Their only requirement, upon the death of a wife, is to wear a black arm band for life.
An hour late found us driving through heavy traffic. Al, we noted, kept up with the Greek pace, did not give an inch, faking out any driver who dared to challenge him! The Greeks have no manners when it comes to driving, but most noticeable was their annoying habit of honking horns even before the red light changed to green! An odd feature of Athens are it's traffic lights
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which feature illuminated little men, the immobile and the green sprinting ahead.
Almost everywhere in the inner part of the city there are sudden views of the Acropolis. one looks down a street between moodier towering buildings and there rising above everything is the ancient hill with the magnificent Parthenon perched on top. The visible monument of a remote past presents undying evidence of the genius of the Greeks for expressing the beautiful in terms of marble and stone. Shining like a halo, we could see the Acropolis rise in the brilliant sunlight.
Our walk up the "hill" was hot and tiring but once near the mammoth ruins of the Parthenon it was well worth the effort. George had twisted his ankle the day before we left the U.S. Somewhere along the way, he twisted the same ankle again and found walking on cobblestones and rocks painful. Added to that, his asthma had flared up since our arrival in Greece so he found himself sitting on anything that could hold him, even if only for a few minutes rest at a time.
The Parthenon, built in honor of Athena, had Phidias as it's sculptor, Ictinos as it's Architect, and Callicrates as it's contractor. This master-piece was commissioned by Pericles and completed in 438 B.C. Being of Doric style, it measures 228 feet long, 101 feet broad and 66 feet high. An esquire curve tempers the severity of all its vertical lines and all of its horizontal arises from its base to its vertex. Even incomplete and in ruins, it is amazing and ban be counted, as far as I am concerned as one of the greatest wonders of the world. No description or picture can convey the feeling of reverence in the midst of this supreme assemblage of marvelous marble.
Lunch was a delightful experience at Makhis, a small sidewalk cafe a few blocks from the house. We ate sandwiches which consisted of cubed goat meat, onions and tomatoes served on pita bread folded in half. Pita
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bread is like a thick toasted pancake. A Greek salad consisting of tomatoes, black olives, onions, cucumbers topped with feta cheese, golden french fries prepared in olive oil and beer completed the meal.
Friends joined us later when we went to view the show " Sound and Light". The seats were arranged on a hill across from the Acropolis. When darkness descended, a narrator told of important historical happenings that took place on the Acropolis. Music and the taped script came to us via loud speakers as we watched spot lights transfer the Parthenon's columns into actors.
Our day ended when Jan baked a cherry pie after we got home. We hardly waited for it to cool, before eating. We went to bed with full stomachs.
