The Greek Αλφα Βετα(Athens: Part Ένα)

Over the weekend of my birthday, I flew to Greece, a place I have wanted to visit for a long while. Greece has been in the news recently because of its poor economic situation and the many protests and riots surrounding it. While I was there, I noticed some of this, but it was not always on the surface. I visited the capital city, Athens, which was once the capital of art, philosophy, and splendour in the ancient Greek world. Athens has had a tumultuous history since its rise to prominence in the 400s BC. The city saw the rise of Alexander the Great to the north, then was later conquered by the Roman Empire. Athens remained a center of learning throughout the period of the Roman Empire. When Rome fell around the fifth century AD, its legacy remained in the east with the wealthy Byzantine Empire, which Greece was a part of. Much of the attention of the Byzantines turned away from Athens to its capital, Constantinople. Athens, and the rest of the Byzantine Empire split from the western world in terms of religion as well. While the west remained under the auspices of the Pope in Rome, the Byzantines followed a more traditional Christianity based on ancient traditions and fewer rituals. This became known as the Orthodox Church. The population of Athens declined, but the city experienced a revitilization in the 1000s and 1100s when most of its medieval Orthodox churches were constructed. As the Byzantine Empire declined, the control of Athens switched between the hands of various merchant companies from Burgundy, Florence, and Catalonia. In 1458, Athens, now sparsely populated, fell to the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. The city and the rest of Greece remained under Turkish rule until the Greek War of Independence in 1833. At this time, Athens had fallen far from glory and consisted of only a few houses around the Acropolis. Nonetheless, the new Greek government chose the city as the capital for its new nation because of its symbolic place in Greek history. Athens grew rapidly over the following decades. It saw the rise of Ioannis Metaxas' dictatorship in the 1930s and was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War. Heavy fighting took place within the city in 1944. A military dictatorship followed briefly after the war and, since then, the city has attempted to revitalize itself as a major European capital.

Many people who visit Athens admire the Acropolis and the surrounding area but complain about the run-down look of the rest of the city. Its true that the outskirts of Athens consist of mostly poured-concrete apartment complexes, but there is still some charm there, as well as a strange sense of familiarity. After a three-hour flight I landed at the Athens airport, which is about twenty minutes outside of the city, and took a little time to orient myself. I found some free maps of the city as well as some information which would direct me to my hotel at Voula, an Athenian suburb. I found the bus I needed and sat in the back. On the way there, the bus passed many familiar sights: billboards, movie theatres, large hardware and appliance retail stores, and weeds growing up alongside highway guardrails. I began to think about all of my travels and how, with each trip, my destinations seemed to feel less foreign. The bus dropped me off right outside my hotel:

The elderly Greek woman at the front desk spoke quite a bit of English. I learned later that she was one of two owners, the other being a British expat. The hotel was nice and had recently been remodeled:

Across the street was the last stop of the tram which traveled straight to the center of Athens. As it was getting late, I decided to stay in the area of Voula and look around. This was a new town, founded in the 1960s and it gave me a good sense of what suburban life is like in Greece. I walked through neighborhoods, spotting several stray cats and dogs (stray dogs are a common theme in Athens) and hearing children yell to their friends, "Yia su!" ("Hello!"). Here are some scenes of the Voula neighborhoods, which seemed far away from the Greek economic crisis forbiddingly headlined on every European newspaper:

I wandered past Voula Beach:

and a relatively new Orthodox church:

I then found a food stall and was able to use the limited Greek I had obtained from a travel book to order some souvlaki:

This contained lamb, lettuce, tomato, carrots, and tzatziki (a cucumber/yogurt sauce) wrapped in pita. All around this food stall were several kiosks (something which the Greeks seem to love more than other Europeans) which sold newspapers, soft drinks, and snacks. I then went back to my hotel for a good night's sleep before my full day in Athens.

Swedish Fish (Stockholm: Part Ett)

Scene One: A knight returning from the Crusades meets Death along a rocky, black and white beach and enters into a game of chess to save his life. Cut to scene two: A retired doctor walks down an abandoned street in shades of grey, noting that every clock has no hands. Scene Three: a peasant, mourning the murder of his teenaged daughter stands atop a hill and wrenches a solitary sapling from the soil.

Before last month, I knew very little about Sweden other than the existential films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Who are the Swedes? Are they really as insular and depressed as these films would suggest? Who was Pippi Longstocking? What's a lingonberry? And what's the deal with Swedish Death Metal? I found answers to all of these questions by the time my long weekend in Stockholm was over. Answer key: a friendly and sober people; no; a fictional character created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren; a fruit also called a cowberry, which grows above the Arctic Circle; and only the people from Gothenburg can understand.

I was intrigued by this country. I knew the Swedes didn't have as strong of a Viking heritage as their Scandinavian brethren in Denmark and Norway. I knew Sweden was once a major empire, one of the largest in Europe, before a disastrous war against Peter the Great of Russia in the early 1700s. I knew the country managed avoid major conflicts of the sort which plagued twentieth century Europe. I also knew the modern nation was a model for social systems across Europe. And I knew Stockholm was supposedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, located on a series of islands in the Baltic Sea. So, I hopped on a plane and flew from Madrid to Arlanda Airport, one of Stockholm's four major airports. Once I got off my plane, I went to exchange money. Sweden is a member of the European Union, but not the Eurozone, which means they do not have the euro as their currency. I received somewhere around two-thousand kronors in exchange for my euros. Afterwards, I found the bus I needed to take to the center of the city. It was about a thirty-minute ride into central Stockholm. The bus driver spoke in both Swedish and English as he announced each stop. His English was quite good. I soon found that nearly everyone in the city spoke perfect English and sometimes addressed other Swedish people in their second language. I took the bus to its final stop at the central train station and from there walked about three minutes to get to my hotel. The weather was slightly cold, but the sun was shining. The river I crossed to get to Kungsholmen, where my hotel was located, was still frozen over. Here's my hotel:

The couple who ran the bed and breakfast were very nice. They showed me the different denominations of the kronor and told me the best places to visit in the city. I left the hotel and headed out for the central part of the city, which is known simply as "City" and is located on the mainland part of Stockholm. On the way, I took some pictures of the street outside my hotel:

I took the tunnel (short for tunnelbana, Stockholm's underground train system) to City and was amazed at how fascinating this network looked. It resembled some underground fantasy world. (I'll post more on this later as I took a tour of various tunnel stations). Once I got off the tunnel, I walked to the Nationalmuseum, which houses many artworks by Swedish painters, such as the amazing Carl Larsson. Once I finished this brief tour, I went behind the museum and walked along the shoreline, taking in the beautiful coastal views which, thanks to the city's layout over several islands, are visible nearly everywhere:

I walked down some streets and took first notice of the ubiquitous 7-Eleven chain, which I had not seen anywhere else in Europe. Somehow, Stockholm made this place seem very classy:

I also took notice of some cool ornamentation on the buildings:

I soon ended up at Kungstädgården, a square (or "torg" in Swedish) with some interesting statues:

Sweden produced quite a few wonderful sculptors in the twentieth century. The above statue is King Karl XIII. There is also an impressive fountain sculpted by JP Molin here:

Adjacent to this square is Jacobs Kyrka ("kyrka" is Swedish for "church" and is pronounced "chewrka"). It was built between the years 1580 and 1643:

I walked down the main road, past several department stores and the headquarters of the Swedish clothing store, H&M, before arriving at the Konserthuset, the Stockholm concert hall, which has an amazing sculpture, Orpheus, by Carl Milles in front:

The city was surprisingly highly multi-ethnic. I bought a hot dog from a street vendor and was informed that it was halal. There are many side streets which lead to small open spaces for outdoor restaurants in this area. Since it was still cold, these areas were often abandoned:

The modern area of Sergels Torg is nearby. It is a square built in the early 1960s with a glass obelisk which was placed there in the 1970s:

Also nearby was Klara Kyrka, built in the 1590s:

Near the church is this statue of a man smoking a cigarette. I'm sure it's supposed to be someone specific:

The Stockholm City Hall, or Stadshuset, was near my hotel. On the way there, I came across this little house:

The Stadshuset sits on the coast and is an enormous building, part of which is used as a reception hall each year for the Nobel Prize ceremonies. It was built in 1923 and is topped by the three crowns (Tre Kronor), which are the symbol of Sweden. Here are some views of the coastline of City and the island of Gamla Stan from the Stadshuset:

Here is the Stadshuset itself:

Two statues by Carl Eldh stand outside the Stadshuset by the water:

The "tomb" of Birger Jarl (which does not really hold his remains) rests outside the building. Birger Jarl was the Jarl (or chieftan) of Sweden who helped bring the various lands together in the 1200s. Tradition states that he also founded Stockholm:

I left the Stadshuset:

and went for a walk around City as the sun set. I came across the glass obelisk in Sergels Torg again as it was lit up from within:

Stockholm was strange in that the shops all closed at five in the afternoon and there seemed to be no nightlife at all. The streets (which had very little auto traffic anyway) and sidewalks were nearly completely clear of motorists and pedestrians after sundown. I found that getting around the city was very easy. I could walk nearly everywhere without using the tunnel or even a map. Stockholm is a beautiful city for walking anyway. I went back to the hotel, where the owner had left out hot tea and gummies (of the ever-popular Swedish fish variety). This was located in the front room which served as the café during the day. At night the lights were turned off an the only illumination came from a computer screen and the streetlights which shone through the storefront window. It was a peaceful place.

Italian Interlude: Part Quattro

The Yellow hostel was decorated with scenes from various movies. Our room had Tie-Fighters, Star Destroyers, and stencils of C-3PO and R2-D2. Our bathroom had a Blade Runner theme, if you call this

a theme. It was a regular hostel. Our room held six people total. We didn't really meet any of the people our first night there as they were either asleep or not present most of the time.

We walked downtown to visit Trajan's Market that day. This was a large covered market adjacent to Trajan's Forum. It was constructed around 100AD. Many eras of Roman history are present in this location as Medieval structures were built among the ruins. The open area of Trajan's market (already in ruins by the Middle Ages) was the location of peasants' huts in the 1000s to 1300s. Here is a picture of the entrance to Trajan's Market with the original roof still intact:

Here is a model of what the Market looked like originally (the semicircular hall being behind this structure):

Here is the Market today as seen from the top floor:

Trajan's Market once held a colossal statue of Emperor Trajan which is now lost. A few fragments survive including some pieces of the hand which the curators of the site have semi-reconstructed with a frame. Here is a picture to give you an idea of how enormous the sculpture was:

Here is a picture of a medieval tower, part of a church on the grounds of Trajan's Market:

Here is a picture from the semicircular hallway:

Here is a picture of the Market from the main level. Like other ruins, cats were everywhere. See if you can find the cat staring at the ruins in this photo. I didn't notice it when I took the picture:

Here is a Renaissance-era loggia located among the ruins:

After leaving Trajan's Market we walked to the Colosseum. The city moved the stage they had set up in front of the ampitheater for the New Year's celebration so we got some more pictures:

After this, we walked around the city some more. Here is a street near Piazza del Popolo, Via del Babuino, which had many high-end retail stores:

Later that night I ate at a restaurant where I ordered a pasta with lobster. The waiter was on hand to fill my water from the bottle sitting on the table as soon as my glass went empty. Which felt strange.

After dinner I walked past a wine shop which displayed several wines with famous figures from twentieth-century history (the majority of whom did not seem appropriate for wine bottles, but as a history major, I found it funny):

The next morning we walked past the Piazza Barberini again and visited a church called Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. This is a church organized by the Capuchin Friars Order built in the early 1600s. From the outside it looked like an ordinary church, and the interior was equally unassuming, appearing like several other churches I've visited in Europe. However, once we walked into the basement
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These are the bones of the Capuchin Friars of Rome, collected between 1500 and 1870, with some peasants as well. There are more than four-thousand bodies in the crypt. The display was part of a death-reverence displayed by the church in this era. Depictions of death were meant to represent the transitory state of life. The friars visited the crypt as a place to contemplate life, among the fear of impending death, which was meant to precipitate repentance among non-Christians. There were five rooms all decorated with bones. The sign near the entrance was a Latin inscription translating to: "As you are, we once were. As we are, so you will be..." This was one of the eeriest places I have ever been. Europe has several other crypts like this, known as ossuaries, but this is the most famous.

After leaving the ossuary, I noticed another strangely dark item from the past:

This appears to be an image of Mussolini. Sometimes relics like this are left not out of a sense of nostalgia, but as a simple reminder of the reality of the past. Mussolini's National Fascist Party was dissolved following the Second World War by the succeeding government. A watered-down successor to the party still exists.

After this, I came upon something more cheerful, the Fountain of the Naiads in the Piazza della Repubblica. This was completed in the early 1900s by the sculptor Mario Rutelli:

From the Piazza della Repubblica, we walked to another piazza called Piazza Navona, which is one of the oldest in the city, dating back to the late 1400s. Many of the surrounding buildings are therefore from the Renaissance. Many vendors had set up stands for the Epiphany celebrations (which were the following day, January 6). This is the celebration of the baptism of Christ and the visit of the Three Kings. In Catholic countries it is the traditional gift-giving holiday, rather than Christmas. In Italy, the figure who gives gifts to the children is a witch called Befana. Many of the vendors sold puppets of her on broomstick and a woman was dressed as her in the center of the piazza. Many carnival games and a carousel also filled the plaza. Here are some pictures of the piazza with the Fountain of the Four Rivers, sculpted by Bernini in the 1650s with an Egyptian obelisk in the center:

Here are some pictures of the piazza with the Basilica of Sant'Agnese in Agone, also constructed in the 1650s:

Here are the two other fountains found on either end of the piazza. The first is the Fountain of Neptune, which was sculpted by Giacomo della Porta in the 1570s. The central statue of Neptune was later added by Antonio della Bitta. The second statue is the Fountain of the Moor, also sculpted by della Porta in the 1570s. The central statue was later added by Bernini.

We also saw this street performer in the Piazza Navona:

As you can see, he was a great fan of Michael Jackson. He used a radio to play "Smooth Criminal" as he performed a little dance with his Michael Jackson hand-puppet (patent pending).

I got a sandwich with some kind of spiced pork at Piazza Navona, then Cody and I headed back to Termini to visit the grocery store, Despar, so we could get stuff for breakfast as our plane left early. While at the grocery store, a girl dressed as the witch Befana who stood in the corner accosted us with several hand gestures and what seemed to be hexes. I replied with, "Non parlo italiano." When we returned to our hostel, we met our new roommates, two American girls who were attending college in Cadiz, Spain. We all visited the "Yellow Bar" on the ground floor of our hostel and talked about our experiences in Spain.

Cody and I had to get up at four in the morning in order to catch the train to take us to Fiumicino Airport. Our plane was scheduled to leave at eight in the morning. We got to our terminal and found out that the flight had been cancelled until noon because of an electrical failure on the plane. As we had no real need to be back at any certain time and, more importantly, no control over the situation, we sat back and watched as a Spanish woman harangued the mechanics and flight attendants for about fifteen minutes. We then watched the developments over the next four hours as the mechanics left to take care of more important things and the woman gathered a group around her and gave what appeared to be a speech designed to spark a revolution. They spoke among themselves in a circle, occasionally one would glance over his or her shoulder. For her second speech to her group, she sat upon the boarding-gate counter and spoke down to her followers, each of whom nodded gravely at certain points. She remained in this position as a Swiss man with gray slicked-back hair, a light brown trench-coat, and a briefcase walked to the counter to check the time for the next outgoing flight to Geneva, and paused to examine the rumbling ring of plebians, before turning to take a seat elsewhere. The group eventually retired to the nearby pizza restaurant where I follwed them and ate while the woman walked among the tables of her seated army.

I lost track of them after I left, but I later noticed smaller factions forming and the woman nowhere to be seen. She later appeared when we were boarding and asked someone why no one told her the flight had arrived. When we landed in Madrid, I saw the woman ahead of me saying a few farewells to her former companions.

We had arrived back in Spain on Epiphany (or El Día de los Reyes as it is called here). We had forgotten this was a major holiday in Spain and wondered why the train was so empty and all the stores closed. When we got back to the apartment, and I saw my Three Kings (or Reyes Magos) decoration on the balcony, it dawned on me:

I spent the next few days catching up on sleep an relaxing. After these days, and before returning to work, I made a tour of Madrid to see some of the places I hadn't yet visited to reacquaint myself with Spain. I'll post about this next.