“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”
–Edith Hamilton
History like most things goes in cycles. Much the same thing that Edith Hamilton said above could be stated about many countries in the modern world. Whenever we give up responsibility for our own actions whether it is seeing ourselves as a victim, to avoid consequence or just to let someone else do it because it is easier we surrender so much more. Loss of self does not happen all at once but in a series of momentary decisions.
On Thursday we visited Athens. What an amazing sense of history. The Acropolis deserves everything said about it and the Archaeological museum shows the development of art through each step of the way. Looking at temples that were erected over 2000 years ago and museum pieces that predate that by another five or six thousand was inspiring. I can’t wait to make my own art out of some of the pieces I saw.
As we were walking back towards the bus we saw soldiers and riot police descending on a protest that was taking place. I am not sure of the exact circumstances tho it seemed to have something to do with how people were being represented. Perhaps they were taking some notes from old Edith.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Parthenon
Greek Street Dude
Minotaur Bust – Athens Archaeological Museum
Mask of Agamemnon Bronze Age- Athens Archaeological Museum
“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”
–Edith Hamilton
History like most things goes in cycles. Much the same thing that Edith Hamilton said above could be stated about many countries in the modern world. Whenever we give up responsibility for our own actions whether it is seeing ourselves as a victim, to avoid consequence or just to let someone else do it because it is easier we surrender so much more. Loss of self does not happen all at once but in a series of momentary decisions.
On Thursday we visited Athens. What an amazing sense of history. The Acropolis deserves everything said about it and the Archaeological museum shows the development of art through each step of the way. Looking at temples that were erected over 2000 years ago and museum pieces that predate that by another five or six thousand was inspiring. I can’t wait to make my own art out of some of the pieces I saw.
As we were walking back towards the bus we saw soldiers and riot police descending on a protest that was taking place. I am not sure of the exact circumstances tho it seemed to have something to do with how people were being represented. Perhaps they were taking some notes from old Edith.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Parthenon
Greek Street Dude
Minotaur Bust – Athens Archaeological Museum
Mask of Agamemnon Bronze Age- Athens Archaeological Museum
If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul.
–Alphonse de Lamartine
Istanbul (Constantinople is only a small part of it) was a bit overwhelming. I’ve been to places that felt like they were the middle of nowhere but spanning both Asia and Europe and bordering the Middle East, Istanbul feels like it can be a portal to everywhere. It has at various times belonged to the Greeks (Byzantium), the Romans and the Ottoman Empire and in its populace, architecture and style it incorporates all of these and more.
We visited the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) which was moving in its scope and ceremony and then we went to the marketplace. Everywhere are people selling their wares whether they be flutes, guidebooks, yoyo tops or carpets. It can be very difficult to resist the natural charm, persistence and sheer sales ability of these street vendors. I asked one for directions to the nearest bank machine and found myself in possession of three small carpets.
After the bazaar we went on a cruise around the Bosporus Sea and then in the afternoon visited the Topakapi Palace and the Agia Sophia a beautiful building that has housed both Church, Mosque and now a combination of the two during its long history.
Someone told me long ago that the most important phrase you can learn in any language is Thank You. Over the years I have made a point in learning how to say it in as many languages as possible. This trip has brought home to me how a simple expression of appreciation to someone in their native language can open doors and make people smile. If you add to that true curiosity about their culture, faith and lives you can make friends almost anywhere
Blessings, G
“I fear that, with our current veneration for the natural and the real, we have arrived at the opposite pole to all idealism, and have landed in the region of the waxworks.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche,
Yesterday the boat ride to Delos and back was amazing.
Layers of belief with the same deities being given new names again and again. Thus the Phonecian goddess Astarte becomes the Egyptian Isis becomes the Greek Artemis becomes the Roman Diana and somewhere on Delos is a temple to each as each culture supplants the old.
Pan, sone of Hermes played his lyre and brings the Maenads to frenzy represent by a black cat who revels in the sun at the entrance to his temple while the temples to Apollo and Dionysius face each other like two respected rivals.
Consulting the Pythia and having her drugged insights interpreted giving some sign and direction of which way to go.
It would take a week to fully do justice to what has been uncovered on Delos and we had but hours. Still walking the ruins in the hot Mediterranean sun was fascinating.
In the museum, Aaron cannot take a picture of my head placed atop the beheaded state of Pan without incurring the guard’s insistence that the picture be deleted. Still we play and wonder amidst the art of the past. On the boat ride back, the Mediterranean baptizes me with its spray (well soaks actually) but its exhilarating. Back in Mykonos at the docks, we try to photograph a lizard that moves all too quickly much like our time in this beautiful area.
Blessings, G
Then spoke the thunder
Da
Datta: what have we given?
— T. S. Eliot
And Now the Prologue… (Points for anyone who gets the reference)
Yesterday we docked in Naples and toured the ruins of Pompeii. Afterwards I went and explored Naples while the rest of my group toured Herculaneum.
Pompeii has a very strange sense of history to it. Parts are very well preserved and you can walk through the (restored) houses, stores, temples and businesses of people who lived close to two thousand years ago.
It is an amazing gift to be on this trip with people I love seeing these sites but for me the most awesome part is walking in places I have only read about and experiencing the people and architecture there. Each city has its own heart beat and if you are open you can feel it. Naples is a city in which I could easily live. It is busy enough to be Metropolitan yet it has that laid back seaport feel.
There is a magic that happens when I find myself in a strange city where there is little English spoken. After passing the beautiful seaport Fortress and several pizza places, I found the beautiful shopping centre that the Pompeii tour guide had mentioned. Turning the corner there were many more stores, most but not all of them international chains. Continuing walking, I found a small art gallery that featured the t painting “The Martyrdom of St Ursula” by Caravaggio (one of my favourite artists) which was the last painting that he had finished (around a month before he died). They had several other painters of that style and that vintage and I spent a wonderful 20 minutes there.
For me, it is finds like that gallery and watching people living their lives as much and maybe even more so than the sites in any particular place that brings me the most enjoyment. Being able to balance the two this trip has been amazing.
Blessings, G
“Provided the gods of Rome are given their due, it doesn’t really matter to them whether their worshippers believe in them or not. Having taken part in the official rituals, a citizen is free to worship whatever other deities he pleases. Rom’es gods are there to be obeyed and respected, not loved, and they no more mind sacrifices to other deities than the taxman minds people paying other dues elsewhere. Dealing with the gods is an exchange of duties and mutual respect. Confessing a deep love for a particular god is superstitio and the person concerned is probably emotionally concerned.”
― Philip Matyszak
Friday, we found Rome or it found us. Our tour took us first to Vatican City, the Trevi Fountain and then onto the Coliseum. Vatican City is impressive and ostentatious. It has not surprisingly one of the most amazing museums that I’ve been in, complete with Greek statues that have been gelded and some truly beautiful (and enormous) tapestries. Still it all pales in comparison with Michelangelo’s art in the Sistine Chapel.
It is a funny thing that. In the Sistine Chapel people stand in awe, moving from panel to panel admiringly. There is a strong sense of spirit there. Michelangelo mixed strong faith with a dash of bawdiness and humour (both in my view a necessary part of spirit). By contrast in St. Peter’s there is more of a touristy atmosphere. People take snapshots while touching the cross and walk around laughing and joking and goggling at the iconography. This contrast reveals to me something about the difference between Religion and Spirituality.
As a side note, I was told by my tour guide that if there were libraries of forbidden books in the Vatican, they were hidden.
The Coliseum was big and beautiful. The tour guide used it as an example of how the Romans recycles and repurposed areas. It began as bread and circuses, moved on to become a shrine to the dead Christian Martyrs (and lions with indigestion) and now an archaeological wonder and tourist attraction.
Rome is definitely a city I would love to come back to. I love the architecture in Europe and how it combines a sense of scope, artistry and functionality. There is a legend that if you toss a coin into the Trevi fountain you will one day return. My coin made it in so we will see whether my road will one day lead back here.
Blessings, G
“Getting lost is just another way of saying ‘going exploring.”
― Justina Chen
The day before I left a friend of mine told me that she hoped we would get lost and find ourselves. This evening we did just that. One of our party had received rather grave news about her father’s health. She decided that after some therapeutic shopping she just wanted to walk.
We were hoping to find Barcelona’s Gothic quarter. After walking to a street very much like Las Ramblas with lots of stores and merchandising happening on the street, we saw an alley veering off to the left. It looked, compared to other parts of the city pretty rough and ramshackle but we decided to try it anyway. Tho there were many people walking in both directions, the stores were closing down their graffiti covered doors. Continuing on our way we saw tall spires up ahead, somewhat reminiscent of La Sangria Familia, the somewhat awe-inspiring cathedral by Anthony Gaudi that we had visited earlier in the day. However where the Sangria was something magnificent, it felt like being inside a work of art, a triumph of masterful form over function. What we had stumbled onto was the Barcelona Cathedral in the oldest part of Barcelona, much more ramshackle and run down than the Sangria Familia yet breathed with a sense of spiritual presence I found missing from the former. There was statuary everywhere and people just being, enjoying the sanctuary of a comfortable place. There were artists doing their things and musicians and a couple of street performers doing amazing things with a giant hula hoop. There was a sense of history here. This place had been used as a church for hundreds of years and if it was not still in use, its sacred past has left footprints. We walked around the church through old cobblestone streets with statues of Saints and Gargoyles placed haphazardly almost randomly around the wall of the alleyway.
Eventually we found ourselves at the far side of the cathedral. It stood in a small square area just off one of the main roads and occupied space there by youth hostel and a restaurant called Café Gloria. We sat down at this small café and had the best meal I have had yet in this city. This detour did much to centre us after a rather long, tho amazingly fun day. Sometimes when we get ourselves lost, we can find ourselves in ways we’ve never anticipated.
Blessings, G
“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”
–Pablo Picasso
After 18+ hours on planes and airports we landed in Barcelona Spain. This city is amazing in all respects. It has the European architecture that I love so much and on any given street you can see a combination of elaborate artistic buildings (Gargoyles, cherubs, statues of saints, ornate iron work and turrets) mixed with street art graffiti.
We went to the Picasso museum and got to see an amazing representation of his art and I was able to appreciate the people appreciating it. Amazing how many people look at art, trying to remember what they are supposed to see, feel and note about it based on hazily remembered art history courses and plaques. Experiencing them with fresh eyes and little training, different things kept occurring to me. Ideas that he exposed about masculine and feminine, shadow and substance. It made it quite a powerful experience.
At night we walked along Las Ramblas with some of the most amazing people watching I’ve done in quite awhile. The light seems different here as does the temperature. The people are amazing. The journey continues.
Blessings, G
“The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.”
― Anne Lamott
Back in the meditative mountains. Thoughts of surrendering the parts of myself I have no control over (onto Nuit) to the universe and just getting on with it all. That too may have to be surrendered. Until then I have the beauty of some of the most amazing scenery and my family and yes lots of good books, snacks and magazines. I have no end of things to be grateful for both small and large and gratitude I have. Still I asked for this trip to be an internal one as well as external and it has been. I have been exploring my vulnerability this week and feeling it and that has been a good thing.
When it comes to any kind of development baby steps are not only ok, they may be essential.
We are already there and miles to go before I sleep are both true and the paradox is as beautiful as any mountain pass.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Art:
Abstract C by G A Rosenberg
Photograph:
Stormy Afternoon in Canadian Rockies
Memory:
The Burden of Holding On to Tight by G A Rosenberg
“But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”
― Jack Kerouac
Tales of the road continue. Leaving behind the Athabasca river, we’ve moved on to the city streets of Edmonton, Alberta. My thoughts and emotions have taken on a bit of concreteness as well. It is a strange mixture of gratitude for the journey and all that I’ve seen (both life journey and the subset of this trip) and feelings of unfulfilment and frustration with where I am at right now. These things stay transitory for I never despair of life’s ability to surprise in some pretty amazing ways. I am hoping that my travels this month and the accompanying inner journey will help me to resolve a bit and perhaps map out a bit of the next period of my life. It feels as if in someways I have reached a standstill and need to find ways to push myself forward into a new cycle. I know it will come it always does.
Blessings, G
Parthenon 
Greek Street Dude
Minotaur Bust – Athens Archaeological Museum
Mask of Agamemnon Bronze Age- Athens Archaeological Museum
New Olympic Stadium built 1874 Athens 
Greek Police
