Classical side

Quite here now at 2 am. We have a rolling sea driven by a fickle wind so the boat, at anchor, is moving in wide yawning swings. I can’t sleep with one ear perpetually cocked to check the anchor dragging and alert to the anchor alarm which has already sounded once. The bay we are in is along from Hydra town and I can hear a man singing softly on the shore. I think he may be a Filippino guard from the estate that bounds the beach. We are all intrigued by it – is it owned by a wealthy foreigner who swept in with the EU and bought up the whole bay? Could it be Leonard Cohen who the guide book states bought here in the 70’s? If we run aground on their beach will either get a mojito or a shove off at gunpoint. 

We left Athens with mixed feelings, a mangled city in some ways, kept alive through the astonishing beauty of the civilisations built 2500 years ago. Modern Athens is a sprawling condensed flurry of  6 storey apartment blocks (the height restriction is a blessing), grimy pavements, unkept parks and trendy cafes + bars. Going to the Acropolis redeems all that. Truly breathtaking to walk along paths and imagine the people who walked them on their way to haggle at the Agora (market/social place) or to the Parthenon to honour Athena (goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus – cut from his brain apparently by her brother Hephaistos and naturally, a virgin).

The Stoa of Attalos within the Agora was rebuilt with funds by Rockefeller through the U.S Archaelogical Society and completed in the mid 90’S. The purity of form, ingenuity of design and skill in materials combine to make a building of such beauty that it’s a really moving experience to be within it as well as give the sense of what all the other buildings + temples within the Agora and Acropolis would have been like in their heyday.

The National Archealogical Museum needs days to absorb. Again it’s the quality and refinement that the Ancient Greeks achieved which left us all gaping. Steve thankfully took the boys at a brisk pace leaving me to ogle the intricate fine gold jewellery, exquisite pots + vessels and so many wonderful marble sculptures that my eyes grew sore. Finding a live turtle in the cafe courtyard and providing the entertainment enacting battle scenes amongst ancient marble statues of warriors and gods was the highlight for the boys.

Hydra (pronounced ee-dra) is a town of great beauty – no cars allowed, lots of steep winding marble paths past white houses with blue shutters , bouganvillia, eucalypts (these are throughout Greece making us homesick) and an azure sea. The boys could have spent weeks jumping and diving off the 3 metre high rock: We could have spent weeks dining at this nicely sited restaurant. The solitary evening without the kids gave us the strength to continue on for a few more days.

We had to go back to Athens to pick up a new dinghy + motor so decided to hire a car and drive to Delphi for a night. It’s a great place set high in the mountains, with panoramic views through the valley down to the sea - a site that emphasizes the power of the Oracle and the Sanctuary of Apollo.

Now it has a restful serenity to it, but looking at the model and artefacts in the superb museum made it evident that this place of pilgrimage had a grandeur and solemnity in keeping with honouring the gods.

The boys enjoyed the visit but a saturation point was obviously reached: Sailing out of Athens Sholto had just one request - "Can we look at something new soon?"