All things come to an end and in this case it is certainly a great thing that comes to a close. I could not feel more grateful for this opportunity these last two weeks in Greece and it was more than I hoped for. I honestly have so much writing going on in my head that I cannot write as I need some time to step back for a lot of the ideas, thoughts, sights, new knowledge and sentiments that swirl my head and heart.
I did not know what to write about this week. I thought I would write about the food here until on the bus ride back from Delphi I was struck with just the greatness of today and decided to share that.
Cappuccinos
I think we have had a cappuccino every morning. I love cappuccino but I rarely order them and what started as a treat now seems normal. At $2 it’s too easy not to indulge in this special frothy pick me up. We discussed returning to Merci for our coffee this morning; a cute little coffee shop around the corner from our last hotel when we were in Athens where Ernest, the Albanian shop keeper made our mornings so delightful. However, since we had to meet a bus by 8:30 and uncertain if Ernest was going to put us too off route, we opted to just pick one en route. Attracted by a tiny one with a large purple wall we agreed this one felt right. Please note: every other business is a coffee house, or so it feels and most are charming in one way or another.
Greeted by two guys working together to put out breakfast baskets for a near by hotel, we took to conversation while our cappuccinos were getting made. The gentleman making our coffee asked where we were from and we said the U.S. then he asked where in U.S. We told him we lived in Nebraska which so far hadn’t elicited any light bulbs going off for any one but this time this gentleman said, “Nebraska; as in the movie Nebraska?” I was a bit thrown by this reference. He got really excited and spoke of how much he loved that movie. I thought wow, a lot of Americans don’t know of that movie which came out in 2013 and until it received 6 Oscar nominations, few people had seen it. One of those non block busters that came out of nowhere suddenly by getting Oscar nominations. At any rate, it felt an obscure reference for this maybe late 20’s something Greek guy. He then wanted to know if there were cowboys and if there were horses and the answer of yes delighted him so much. We told him we were from Tennessee though and he associated that with whiskey.
We learned his name was Spiros and he said, “as in a President's name you had.” He was referring to vice president Spiro Agnew I told him and he said, “yes, that’s it!” Again with the whacked references this young guy had at his disposal. I told him nobody his age in America would know who Spiro Agnew was and he seemed surprised by that but not as surprised as I was that he was pulling a VP name from the 60’s out of his head even if it was someone by the same name as his. We chatted with these two lovely guys about Greek Orthodox Easter that is coming up and other things before sitting outside to have our coffee armed with our free gluten and sugar free cookie they treated us to. Needing to get moving I used the restroom and while washing my hands I can hear Spiro and Ethan talking on the other side of the door about Tennessee and country music and came out just in time to catch Ethan showing Spiro the picture of himself as a baby being held by Johnny Cash and Spiro thought that was pretty cool. He kept saying the words, “he is legendary.” Country music is not really a thing in Greece, but Johnny Cash is. It was a really great exchange and my ready to capture photo mode got lucky as I stole a photo of the moment.
Another great cappuccino day!
Off To Delphi We Go
We decided to spend our last day here with one more location to add to our list thinking that a day in the Greek mountains of the Parnassos National Park sounded very nice and I mean, if it was a cool enough hang for Apollo, why not? It has been an extensive archaeological site since 1938 and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The monuments there reflect a sense of major influence from an ancient world long past gone but the remains are mind blowing and give you an ability to truly transport yourself in time.
An impressive museum is also on the site that has some incredible artifacts; many in a condition hard to believe or restoration handiwork of extreme precision. It occurred to me while viewing a bronze statue from so long ago that artists from thousands and thousands of years back set the bar for sculptures way back then. Such incredible detail, patience and desire for perfection all apparent in the artists hands still obvious all this time past. It was humbling to stand before such history. All this, plus our tour guide, Koustas, who is an archaeologist, a passionate historian and a lover of photography complete with incredible English served with a nice dry wit made for my brain to nearly hit melt down over saturation mode. Incredible.
Fast Friends
Before a seat belt was on either one of us in the very last row of the bus, Ethan and I got engaged in a funny exchange with the lovely lady sitting one row ahead of us. She was on her own which of course I felt a kinship with. Right away I knew that by the end of the day we would be friends. Katerina, of Greek descent but Canadian born and living was a perfect new acquaintance at the end of our journey here. A fellow lover of travel, a desire for a simplified life with witty common sense groundings; we all just liked each other and our company felt comfortable and familiar. Katerina is all good vibes. She will be meeting up with family here as she has relatives in Greece and she mentioned they are gathering here for all the Easter celebrations. Kind of a family pilgrimage of sorts since it marks the first Easter without her beloved Grandparents; which I thought was beautiful.
A Time Vortex
When discussing a possible Delphi tour a few days ago I was telling Ethan about a rather sentimental piece to wanting to go. Back in the 80’s I was managing a band called The Original Rabbits and they had a song called, The Delphic Oracle. I always loved that song and loved the storytelling aspect of the mythological tale that Mark, the writer/singer/guitarist weaved together set to a rockin big sounding song. I was telling Ethan it almost felt like I wanted to do a pilgrimage there for him while I’m here which of course is silly. After the whole sight seeing day and hearing all about the Delphic Oracle I once again found myself thinking about him on the bus back to Athens and started to hear the song in my mind's eye. For curiosity sake I decided to search the song on the internet since the bus had wifi and there to my surprise, one Delphic Oracle by Original Rabbits came up and I noticed it was put up on YouTube by my Brother of all people. I was so excited to sit there in the back of the bus with the world's most appropriate sound track song that there could be for the time and place for which I found myself. Talk about a personal soundtrack moment. I played it for Ethan and then I played it for Katrina who was so excited she asked if I would send her the link because she wanted to play it for her sister. She loved it.
Honestly, it was so great hearing the song, remembering every single line in the song, taking me back to the recording studio when it was recorded and now hearing it in Greece post a Delphic Oracle visit almost 30 years forward. I could not help but think, this is a magical day or shall I say, another one. I asked the tour guide if I could get in touch with him as I had a song I think he would like to hear. It seemed like this guy would be as into it as Mark was when he wrote it and then I thought, how ironic that I am pitching this song around suddenly out of the blue like almost 30 years hasn’t passed. Isn’t life funny? Had the web been around when I was managing them there is no doubt in my mind that the song would have been a pretty big deal in Greece!
When we arrived back to our drop point we said our good-byes to Koustas and hugged our new friend Katrina and set back to the welcome notion of walking; our favorite pastime. The sky was turning a really weird orange color and I was like, what is up with the sky?? It felt surreal, dsytopian even and we laughed that maybe we didn’t have to go back yet after all. We learned from our waiter later for dinner who asked if we noticed the sky earlier and we were most excited to say yes! and, is that a thing here? He said that sometimes it gets that way from the dusts from Africa and it was then that we had another awesome geographical moment. We had a most enjoyable Italian dinner at a place called Grandpa’s on our favorite little pedestrian promenade.
I will return next week my friends hopefully a bit more rested than I am now as it is well past midnight Greece time. Tomorrow is a big travel day to get us back stateside. By the way, if you don’t know the story or have forgotten the story of the Delphic Oracle you may want to look it up and then go to YouTube: Delphic Oracle by The Original Rabbits. A little step inside my day.
Love to all, keep it simple.
L & Sav (I’m coming Savvy girl)
I cannot wait to hear more about your trip. Everyone I know that has gone to Greece falls in love with the country. Just from the few pictures in this post surely makes me want to add it to my bucket list before none of us are allowed to travel again. I am so happy for you and Ethan. What a precious memory to last a lifetime. Now back to reality but this Greece high will surely last for a while even once you get back to real world.
LOOK what showed up in my email today!!! https://nypost.com/2024/04/23/photos/sahara-dust-cloud-transforms-athens-into-eerie-martian-landscape-photos/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_content=nypost_feed#1