I need a vacation. Like, right now. Let’s go to Greece, shall we?
The view from the Acropolis. That's pure history spread out beneath you.
I’ve been obsessed with the Greeks ever since I can remember. The mythology is what really got me started – all those stories passed down from generation to generation about gods and goddesses? How could I not fall in love with that? And then I discovered this wonderful thing called art that brought these stories alive. I was hooked!
Enter the Parthenon.
Too bad there's all that construction going on around it. Funny story: we almost didn't make it here, as Putin had it shut down the day after so he could visit it uninterrupted. Close call!
My favorite goddess is Athena, though I’ll admit that there are a few that come in a very close second (like Artemis). It seems logical enough, then, that one of the places I just HAD to see while I was in Greece was the most famous temple dedicated to her. And isn’t it beautiful?
And, luckily enough, one of my all-time favorite groups of statues is near by: the Caryatids.
These are simple columns sculpted in the shape of women. They help to hold up the porch of the Erechtheion temple (though the term can be applied to more than just this group alone). The ones pictured above are the ones that are on display, but they’re not actually the real statues. Those are safely stored in the Acropolis museum (which is fabulous, by the way).
As I was flipping through my FB pictures to find ones suited for this post, I came across this and a caption from my best friend that simply read, "How can they smell if they have no noses?" Doing these posts brings back SUCH good memories.
There’s just something about this place that speaks to me. The naturalism of the statues, the ancient feel of the buildings. The Greeks were fascinating people and they put everything they had into their way of life – everything was extraordinary, from their political views to their religious beliefs to their artistic endeavors and beyond. It’s no wonder that so much has lasted through the generations to allow us to appreciate it all to this day.
Have you ever been to Greece? If you ever got a chance to go, what would you most like to see? And, more importantly, who is your favorite god or goddess?
