Mother.....Mycenae.....Musings

When I said that I want to rent a car to visit Mycenae, my Mom immediately said "No I don't want to you to drive outside of Athens when you do not know enough Greek to follow the signs or be able to ask for help on the way". None of my defenses worked out. In the end it dawned on me that after all I want Mom to enjoy the vacation and why ruin that for her. What fun it would be if one of us was worrying. So, with smiles I asked the concierge to book us in the tour for Mycenae.  The bus promptly left the hotel around 7.00am.  First we visited Corinth. The land bridge that connects the Peloponnese peninsula and the mainland Greece was built sometime in the late 1800's.  After some photo shoots we were heading towards Mycenae. The olive groves and vineyards greeted us. The yummy Kalamata olives comes from this area.

Today, Mycenae is an archaeological site with ruins from the bronze age, the skeletal remains of a citadel, a town near the city Argos. Through Homer's epic Iliad we know more about the history of Helen "the face that launched thousand ships", Troy, Mycenae's opulence, its famous King Agamemnon's victory in the Trojan war. Facts or Fiction, his epics dated 10-11th century BC remain immortal.

One name that always connected to Mycenae is Heinrich Schliemann who had systematically excavated the sites at Mycenae and brought to light the Agamemnon's mask. But the  bronze age citadel and the Lion's Gate was excavated by the Greek archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis.  Our tour group made Ah... and Oh... sounds and with camera's clicking we looked at the famous Lion's gate that belongs to the bronze age architecture perhaps around 1600 BC -1000 BC that represent the connector of bronze age into classical Greece.  My  Mom was quite happy to see the sites and said that she always imagine the big picture of how this would have looked in the ancient past.

The arid mountains and the dry summer breeze rustling thru the Olive trees whispered that humans are part of that history, integrated event of migration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement or detriment. In our journey on this earth, we can only rediscover or reinvent, but cannot create a universe with a sun and a moon.

The tour guide announced that lunch will be served in a nice vineyard boutique restaurant and the vegetarians will get a special Greek salad with fresh feta cheese and yogurt.





All content copyright © by Sobana Iyengar.

Mother....Greece.... Glimpses

I want to reminisce some of the great moments of traveling with my Mother.  In 2001 suddenly we planned for a Mom and daughter vacation.  First, we headed to Switzerland, spent some days in Zurich and then went to Athens. My Mother couldn't wait to go to Greece.  She prepared more for this tour by getting books from the library and brushed her knowledge about the history of Greece.  During the entire trip I never needed a tour guide as my Mom was the walking encyclopedia, guide and a historian.

We landed in Athens around 7.00pm. On our way to the hotel we could see the Acropolis veiled in florescent lights.  We stayed at the Hilton Athens and I think the Manager must have read the excitement on my Mom's face and he gave us the room with the Acropolis view. Both of us stood in the balcony gazing the Acropolis and my Mom said, "Today, the temple of the Goddess Athena was just a reminder of the past but the vibration still brings numerous modern day pilgrims - the tourists".

Next day we started exploring the classic side of Greece. Our first stop was the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. It is a beautiful seaside and we felt sad for the ruins. We also saw Lord Byron's graffiti in one of the pillars. It was a great day trip and we enjoyed every minute of it.

 Much awaited Acropolis! I was humming the music of Yanni whereas Mom was telling about the Elgin collections in the British Museum that were taken from the Acropolis. Her unique sari always collects fans for her. I remember this guy from Bulgaria was so interested in taking a picture with Mom!

When she saw the Olive tree supposedly an offspring from the sacred tree that belonged to the Temple in its heydays, my Mom was happy to go around the tree in clockwise as in Indian tradition and prayed. I could still remember the gleam in her eyes filled with serene peace and joy.  After a nice dinner at the Placa (a bazaar near Acropolis), we returned to the hotel. The moon was bright and the Acropolis looked beautiful silently witnessing the passing of civilizations, cities, wars, opulence and people - with the knowledge that everything on this earth will pass....

My Mom started telling me the history of Mycenae our next location.

All content copyright © by Sobana Iyengar.