Nearly Speechless

Today was a tour of classical Athens at its finest. We spent the entire day crawling all over the ruins. We saw the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, and a dozen others I can’t even begin to name. It was wonderful. The ancient world is being slowly rebuilt here in a series of restorations, which meant that parts of the ruins weren’t very accessible, but I imagine it’ll be spectacular to see things like the ancients saw them.
I hope to God, though, that they don’t destroy any of the originals in the process.
Come to think of it, I really don’t know much about the restoration process here. I’d be really interested to see how they’re going about a lot of it. Without Internet access, I can’t find anything out. Maybe I’ll research some later.
We also saw quite a few nice Byzantine Churches, including one saved by a Bavarian King. That particular church was going to get ploughed so the 18th (or 19th?) Century Greeks could build a road, but King Louis I of Bayern liked it so much that he sent Greece quite a large sum of cash to leave it standing. And so it does, to this very day.
We spent some time poking around that dark interior while the dour faces of the saints looked on. It was imposing, despite its small size. Gothic churches are always associated with long, dark shadows, but they’re really fortresses of light compared to the old Byzantine buildings.
It’s probably terrible of me to go on about a church not even half the size of James Avenue (my home church that seats 200, maybe) when I summed the entirety of Ancient Athens up in a few lines. But what can I say? You can’t describe these things. You just sort of know them. You see them your entire life. You know ancient Athens, it’s in every textbook, all over TV, even in our bible! Standing on the hill where Paul preached was remarkable, but seeing what has happened to the message over the past 2000 years is just fascinating. And here, at the self-proclaimed border between the East and West, the difference is even more distinct. But you’ll probably hear more about that tomorrow. In addition to a few more Byzantine churches, we’ll also be passing the synagogue and a mosque.
So yes, the cradle of modern civilization has left me at a loss of words.