Wednesday, October 20, 2004
escape from greece!
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 08:59:29 -0700 (PDT)
I was wrong, we didnt leave greece on monday our flight was on tuesday
(today). luckily we checked before we went to the airport. so we were stuck
in athens with not a whole lot left to do. the only thing that we still
reallz wanted to see was the jewish museum (we had missed it before becuase
it closed early.) so we went there first thing in the morning yesterday. It
was fantastic! the exhibits were really interesting and well done. they
explained everything as if you knew nothing, but at the same time it was
really interesting. they had many of the furnishings from the old patras
synagogue that had been torn down and several other torah covers, handles
and finials and the like (I can't remember the real names and I certainly
couldnt spell it) from the greek jewish communities that were completely
destroyed in the holocaust. Then they had a great exhbit about the
traditional styles of dress of the two different sects of greek jews, the
sephardic and romaniote. finally they had a
really moving exhbit about the children that were affected by the
holocaust. it was different becuase it focused on those children whose
families mostly escaped by hiding. but the children were still greatly
affected by the fear, shame and guilt that they felt and some of them were
separated from their parents and raised by christians, so now they are very
confused. It was extremely interesting and moving. The museum was overall
very well done. whoever put together those exhbits should be employed by the
greek governemnt to work on some of their ancient sites all of which are
extreemely lacking in signage, good maps and information.
After the jewish museum we went to a few bookstores and lunch. then we went
to a coffeeshop to read our books. we were there for a few hours. then we
wandered around looking for a good place for dinner. It was too early for
dinner though, and we stumbled upon one of the sites we had not seen yet,
the ancient agora. I was really glad we got a chance to see it becuase it
had a museum that is housed in a reconstructed stoa. I am not exactly sure
what stoa means (lack of signage and information and all) but it was a large
building two floors and tons of columns on a terrace, and several small
rooms at the back that were used as stores. In the 1960's it was totally
reconstructed so that it looks somewhat like it did in the ancient times.
That in and of itself was interesting. but the exhibits featured stuff
relating to athens democracy, like the clay tablets that they used to vote
people to be exiled, and a stone filled with slots for each citizens' name
tablet which after the tablets
were inserted a ball was dropped to determine which row of people would be
jurors that day. Finally the ancient agora site included the most complete
temple in the greek world. I forget who it was dedicated to, but it was huge
and remarkably well preserved, there were still some visible carvings around
the top.
Then we wandered some more and found a good restaurant. All in all, I think
our last day in athens was our best, we finally started to appreciate the
city and figure out just how to appreciate it. now we are in berlin,
tommorrow we are going to take a tour!
Meg and seth
I was wrong, we didnt leave greece on monday our flight was on tuesday
(today). luckily we checked before we went to the airport. so we were stuck
in athens with not a whole lot left to do. the only thing that we still
reallz wanted to see was the jewish museum (we had missed it before becuase
it closed early.) so we went there first thing in the morning yesterday. It
was fantastic! the exhibits were really interesting and well done. they
explained everything as if you knew nothing, but at the same time it was
really interesting. they had many of the furnishings from the old patras
synagogue that had been torn down and several other torah covers, handles
and finials and the like (I can't remember the real names and I certainly
couldnt spell it) from the greek jewish communities that were completely
destroyed in the holocaust. Then they had a great exhbit about the
traditional styles of dress of the two different sects of greek jews, the
sephardic and romaniote. finally they had a
really moving exhbit about the children that were affected by the
holocaust. it was different becuase it focused on those children whose
families mostly escaped by hiding. but the children were still greatly
affected by the fear, shame and guilt that they felt and some of them were
separated from their parents and raised by christians, so now they are very
confused. It was extremely interesting and moving. The museum was overall
very well done. whoever put together those exhbits should be employed by the
greek governemnt to work on some of their ancient sites all of which are
extreemely lacking in signage, good maps and information.
After the jewish museum we went to a few bookstores and lunch. then we went
to a coffeeshop to read our books. we were there for a few hours. then we
wandered around looking for a good place for dinner. It was too early for
dinner though, and we stumbled upon one of the sites we had not seen yet,
the ancient agora. I was really glad we got a chance to see it becuase it
had a museum that is housed in a reconstructed stoa. I am not exactly sure
what stoa means (lack of signage and information and all) but it was a large
building two floors and tons of columns on a terrace, and several small
rooms at the back that were used as stores. In the 1960's it was totally
reconstructed so that it looks somewhat like it did in the ancient times.
That in and of itself was interesting. but the exhibits featured stuff
relating to athens democracy, like the clay tablets that they used to vote
people to be exiled, and a stone filled with slots for each citizens' name
tablet which after the tablets
were inserted a ball was dropped to determine which row of people would be
jurors that day. Finally the ancient agora site included the most complete
temple in the greek world. I forget who it was dedicated to, but it was huge
and remarkably well preserved, there were still some visible carvings around
the top.
Then we wandered some more and found a good restaurant. All in all, I think
our last day in athens was our best, we finally started to appreciate the
city and figure out just how to appreciate it. now we are in berlin,
tommorrow we are going to take a tour!
Meg and seth
