marți, 29 august 2017

My first thoughts about Greece


I absolutely cannot claim that I know or have understood all of this country. Not by far!
But I must write this, because there have been some moments in my few experiences here when I really felt there is something special about Greece. Well, there is something special about every place on Earth, but it’s not always easy to put your finger on it, is it? Moreover, I have only been a tourist in Greece, so… my contacts with it have been limited.

Mount Olympus

From a tourist’s experience, however, this place feels like a certain combination of the elements which – I don’t know how I can say this, but it probably feels like ambrosia? You know, the Gods’ drink that humans did not have access to? Well, sometimes when you are really feeling Greece, I think you have a chance to come very close to the Gods. It’s not by chance that some of the most "famous" Gods resided here and not everybody could create such fabulous stories about the Gods like the Greeks did. After all, their mythology became known all over the world.

Almost everywhere you walk around in Greece, you will find some remnants of a temple, a prehistoric site, a mythical creature's story, a monastery... Along with this everlasting presence of the past, there is a modern-day world here: again, an interesting combination of old and new, visible both in the surroundings and among people. A bit like in the Romanian villages, where you see a young man dressed like a rapper and at the next house, an old woman wearing her old skirt and a plain scarf tied to cover her hair.

Nowadays in Thessaloniki

This is to cut a long story short, also because I know there is still so much more to discover here...

*
Today I entered the shape of the waves,
I merged with the sea,
I felt the ground beneath my feet
And the air breathe inside me.

There was wind, too, wind howling around the mountain
Where the Gods kept the fire and humans became strong enough to take it,
use it,
keep it.

Yes, humans are strong here, like the rocks,
like the taste of salt in the water,
but sometimes easy like the air...
And sooo beautiful!

Oh, God, some Greek women are the image I have of goddesses
and some of their men I feel I could worship for centuries!

I haven’t even set my food on Mount Olympus yet, but those of you who have can probably say even more about what it feels like to enter the world of the Gods. Have you paid attention? Because to me, being at the sea in Greece feels like always bridging these two worlds: the human and the super-human. It is different on the mainland, but by the sea it’s a unique combination of sounds, tastes, colours, speed(s), soul(s), essences of different worlds. And I don’t mean Heaven and Hell, but something totally different, as if we, the people of the Earth, could for the blink of an eye become something we have only just imagined.

But have we??

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