Cristache Gheorghiu

With Love

from Athens

isbn

Preface

I had read many books about Greece and Greeks still before thinking to go there. Maybe just these readings have influenced me, and the wish to know it has gradually metamorphosed into the desire to dwell there – if not permanently – at least a part of the time. The mild climate, in contrast to that of Brasov, was a supplementary argument, more and more powerful as the years have left increasingly deep traces in my old bones.

Surprises – as, perhaps, expected – came as I began to know the places and the people; they were both pleasant and unpleasant. If the stones are the same from Homer’s time, the people are completely different. I was convinced of this and not the ancients were those who had attracted me in Greece, but relatively recent writings of some authors speaking about the contemporary Greek, with his good and evils, with joys and sorrows associated, with his soul, that seemed to me to be great and fascinating. But the characters were contemporary with the authors, which leaved some hundred years ago, and the soul of the authors was great, from their love for their ethnicity, most of them living in Diaspora.

The Greeks of today, those that I met, are much different, compared with the ancients, as well as to those of recent centuries. These one are real people, also with their good and evils and different from those from the past.

The explanation of the transformation of mentality and behaviour of the Greek of nowadays is to be found and fully justified in Greece's recent history; that of the period after acquiring its independence against Turkey and, especially, after the Second World War.

The events lived by me, or those to which I was a witness, struck me, seemed to me interesting and I thought that they deserves to be noted. This book does not include travel notes or simple letters to my wife. The form is a bookish artifice. The book is an essay, in which the observations made here for nearly a year have served as support fore promoting some more general ideas.

I gathered hare and translated from Romanian language the volume „Scrisori din Atena” (Letters from Athens), printed in 2012 in a small number of copies, and the booklet „Grecia 2011” (Greece 2011), a narration of my first contact with this country.

The First Experience

Athens, 2011-04-07

Peak manners

On the first day in Athens, after a 24-hours journey by coach and a first walk through the city, I was so tired, that, on the street, I gave priority to my own image, reflected on the mirror of a newsstand on the pavement. Good luck that I recognised myself pretty quickly; otherwise, maybe I would have tried a short conversation.

The streets of Athens are not crowded, but extremely crowded. The first recommendation that is made to those coming here with their cars is to leave them in parking. It is why the proportion of taxis in traffic is about fifty percent. And among the cars, the motorcycles strain with speed, so that crossing streets on other places than intersections with traffic lights is impossible. Only there, all vehicles stop; not the pedestrians, who do not wait for green colour, but immediately rush to cross in any tiny break.

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A remark of a black man in New York is coming in my mind. He spoke it after a scene involuntarily generated by myself: while I was trying to get information from the dispatcher in a taxi station, a driver were pretty aggressively protesting, with the absurd claim that he should not give customer relationships. Later, I leave even with that taxi driver. On the way I asked him what the dispatcher’s nationality is, because his English was very approximate: what is his native language? The black man's reply stunned me: "Which language? That guy does not know any language; he is Greek." For him, there is not a Greek language; only his English - I don't know if his accept the literary one - perhaps Spanish and Chinese have the right to exist. I don't think he has an idea about the role of the Greek language and culture in the European civilization and the American now. I reported this happening also in the book "America after America ".

With ten lessons from “Τα νέα ελλινικά”, the practical course of Greek language, which I managed to read from, I do not know Greek but I hope to learn more and – especially – to get an idea about what the ancient Greek culture meant at its native place.

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There is a receptionist at the hotel whose name is Christos, with accent on “i” for not confounding with Jesus Christ, in Greek also Christos, but with accent on “o”. The name is extremely frequent in Greece, and this need an explanation. Even my name, Cristache, has a Greek origin, (they call me Christakis) although I am not Greek.

Jesus Christ was mentioned in the Greek text of the Gospel as Hristos Iisus (Χριστός Ιησούς); in Latin transliteration: Iesus Christus. On the other hand, the Greek form for Hristós (Χριστός), is a translation from the Hebrew "mașiach" (Messiah), meaning "anointed", gold-plated. As a mater of fact, in modern Greek language, “hrisós” means gold.

Now, we can explain why there are in Greece so many first names of Christos. They come from a common noun, which existed before Jesus Christ: Χρυσός (hrisos), meaning gold, polished with gold.

Athens, 2011-04-08

Acropolis cannot miss from the smallest trip in Athens, at least because it is on the hill, but not only for that. Down, Zeus’s Temple is maybe equally famous, but much less spectacular.

In a small square, just near the Roman Agora, at the base of the hill, someone was playing a Cimbalom Italian music. I must say that he was very good, and the instrument sounds fabulous in his hands. The last time when I saw a Cimbalom was in 1959 or 1960, in a tavern in Bucharest, singing – obviously – music suitable with that place. This time, I had to revise my opinion on the instrument. The truth is that, technically, he is not even a little a rudimentary one. On the contrary, it is even very pretentious and perhaps
just this seems to be the reason because of which people abandoned it.

(In another day, in the same square, somebody sang a guitar, also Italian music. I would be sat there the whole day, but I still had to visit a lot of other places.)

Roman Agora is remarkable for Hadrian’s Library and the Tower of Winds. It is comforting to loiter there, but I have to climb the hill. Toward Acropolis, I avoided the roads and climbed a path, meandering among the rocks. The way up was pleasant.

After hours of riding on highways or walking narrow and very crowded streets, a mountain path is something from another world.

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Here, on the hill, I found that almost all Greece is on the marble, or almost. I said almost, because the difference between limestone and marble is only of the quality, both being based on the calcite. The one from here has much iron, visible by some insertions, which changes the reddish defect in a particularly aesthetic effect.
Everywhere, you step on marble. Around Acropolis, stone is so polished by the feet of millions of visitors, that the pavement is very slippery. In wet whether, the climb maybe problematical.

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Now, I am in a place called Ários Págos (Άρειος Πάγος) and I try to put down a few impressions, even the bustle of tourists is intense and loud. They come around, take photos and depart.

The name of the place causes to me a slight confusion (if it was not just its goal). The translation, accredited by a tourist guide, is "The Stone of Ares", Ares being the god of war in Greek mythology. It is not specified whether it was his stone tomb – although the gods, being immortals, didn't need graves and the less tombstones – or a stone that someone would have hung at his foot, in order of diminishing his warlike soar. I admit, this interpretation is a personal one and comes from my affinity for the moral sense of Greeks’ mythology. The translation is obviously wrong. In another dictionary, I found a different interpretation for págos. It is ice, which has no connection with Ares and even less with the clime of the place. This time, the error comes from the wrong using of modern language dictionary and not of the old one, in which págos means a piece of rock. Yes, the "The Rock of Ares" makes sense. Here, probably, the god used to come to take upsurge, or for silence.

A second interpretation, probably closer to the truth, comes from areopag. The toponymy is the same, but the meaning is different. The term defined The Supreme Court in Athens of 7-5 BC centuries: a forum, consisting of philosophers and artists of great skill, who used to judge the most serious problems of the city and its citizens. It is said that there were the place of the meetings of the Tribunal, although it seems unlikely, because of the difficulty of climbing, too tedious for some old people, because the members of that tribunal, nine in number, were elected among the elders people, who demonstrated their high qualities of model citizens. O tempora, o mores! (Poor Cicero ...)

Anyway, using the hill for two activities so different it is not beneficial either for the supporters of the war and for those of the justice, granted by a court. But, let’s suppose that the elder members of the Tribunal were taken up there with a lectic or something similar. Instead, those who were seeking justice had to climb the path on foot: an excellent opportunity to observe the difficulty of obtaining it.

This was occurring then, many centuries ago. Now, out of urban bustle, the climb – albeit equally tedious – is an opportunity of relaxing, especially since on the top there is nobody to judge us. Judges of nowadays are down, sometimes very down. (To forgive me those from Greece, as I do not know them. My thought is heading towards what I know, although I like not to think of them.

I am still wondering why the modern justice is based on the idea that an ensemble of laws must be perfect (if it is not yet, it can be improved), and trials must be conducted according to the rules and not following judges’ reason and judgement, even if they may be wrong. The idea of an ideal law code would be great, if not utopian. We know very well the effect of a similar concept: the ideal communist society. Any idea of perfection in real life already denotes an unacceptable level of ignorance. Where we are moving with conceptions?

Going through Propylaea? I had the feeling that I was fulfilling a ritual of initiation, a passage through a gate - it just is a gate - mostly because the advancing through the crowd of tourists was quite difficult; you should work for it, to be active. Of course, the imposing columns impress, but once you overcome the gates, you feel to pass at a higher level, after successful completion of that ritual. On the top, you are in the area of high spheres, as above only the sky is. Even the sea, visible in the days with clear atmosphere, is somewhere underneath. Maybe Athens is not a city of the top, but Acropolis is "the city from the top". You are there after you went through Propylaea.

The same day, evening

I don't know how I would have reacted today at the happening of yesterday, when, passing through a narrow place, I gave priority to myself, actually to my image reflected in a mirror. After a sunny day, during which I walked from morning till night, my face is so red that I had a shock when I saw myself in the mirror. The speed of the reaction would have been much different and who knows what other gestures would have done.

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An idle thought: one of the capital punishments in the past was the killing with stones, in Greek language “lapidare”. I could speculate and say that dilapidation is an act that would be punished in this way: by stoning. If it had to be applied today, I guess that in Romania there are not enough stones.

Athens, 2011-04-09

It seems that what was inevitable has occurred. Among the many of my defects – known and unknown – the tendency of generalizing excessively is often invoked by friends. I admit, I like to do that, but here, in Greece, where I am for several days, any attempt of identification some general characteristics of people hits by its opposite. To say about Greeks that are friendly, for example, is very true. They are particularly helpful as possible. When I asked an aged gentleman for a piece of information, he immediate requested the help of a young man, which – in his turn - landed another guy who was just walking around, so that, finally, my question becomes subject of a public debate in full street. I say 'finally' because I left, but their discussion went on. It happened in Lavrio, near the southern extremity of the Attic peninsula, where I was looking for a host.

Yes, Greek people are very communicative. In tram, bases, stations everywhere, they started discussions with anyone happens to be there, without knowing someone. Usually do it persons over 40 years old. Obviously, not all of them and never young people!

In addition, I must obvious their appetite for conversation; they talk much, loud and very fast. So quickly that you have the impression that they have in their mouths a device that rotates sounds with over 1,000 spins per minute. Contrary to expectations, not the women but men are those who do it mainly. (Do not make illusions; the women talk less but scream terrible.) Returning to their kindness, if a personal interest appears, any interlocutor may be a potential victim for a Greek, no matter of the sex.

As for women, if two young Greek ladies meet each other by chance, after the using kissing, a dialogue follows, tolerable only if you have earplugs in your ears. If there are not two but three or four, then you think about the gees from Capitol - which have woken the Romans with their cries, rescuing them by invaders in the year 390 BC – and, by comparison, you imagine them as some peaceable nuns, making prayers in soto voce. More than four young Greek ladies cannot be covered even by another similar group, with which they may done a coral, I would say of Wagnerian style, if you replace the brass instruments with female voices and musical harmony with non-musical cacophonous. By the way, as expecting, cacophonous is a Greek word; you can easily decode it (bad sound). Kaka exists in Romanian language too with the meaning faeces in the conversation of parents with the kids. As a witness to such a true spectacle, for preservation your health, the only alternative is to go away as much, because even the medicine is overcome in such cases. After 25 years, there are little chances to meet each other; as a rule, they are single and smoke. Later, they sob and sigh. The exceptions are those who scream hysterically.

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Another finding refers to the label of Greece as "tourist country”. It is true, but only for those objectives specially dedicated for this purpose: Acropolis, Athos and the monasteries in the North, some portions of the coastline and several islands, entered in the registers of tourist agencies. In the rest of the territory there is no concern for tourism. With all those 15,000 kilometres of coastline, due to its sinuous territory, the Greeks don't go to the beach. I remember that, in the University, I had several colleagues from North Korea, a country with pretty enough seaside for its area. They were very surprised to learn that, in Romania, the coastline enjoys of demand just due to its beaches. In one of their holidays, they did a trip throughout the country, during which they have visited the Romanian seaside resorts as well. The boys had thrown only a look from the distance to the beach. Not because they would not be interested, but because they must report to superiors what they had saw. The girls did not approached at all; public exposure of nude bodies was more than immoral, in their conception.

The Greeks are, however, Europeans and do not have such conceptions, but the beach does not interest them. It is no wonder, if I think that, in Romania, the inhabitants at the foot of the mountain do not practice climbing or skiing. Most Romanians climbers are from Bucharest. As to the inhabitants of the seacoast or from the localities near some riverfront, many of them do not know to swim. It seems that people don't appreciate what they have; they want what lacks them, if they learn that it exists. There is, however, an explanation: people from the foot of the mountains and those from the banks of the rivers are marked by the tribute in victims during the ages. They have learned to give them respect. For such people, the water and the mountains are places of job and not for fun.

In Lavrio, all those that I asked were surprised by my questions, and were amazed that I wanted to rent an apartment in their locality, only for its climate and the vicinity of the sea. The Aegean Sea! It is said that Theseus, the son of King Aegeus told to his father that – if he will kill the Minotaur – when he will return, on the way home, he will replace the black canvas of the ship with some white one but – happy after the victory – he forgot. When the father saw the ship with black canvas drowned himself into the sea. Since, the sea was called the Aegean Sea. Today, on the tiny beach from Lavrio, there was nobody, though the day was superb. Anyway, if Teseu’s father indeed thrown into the sea, he did it from a high shore and not from the sand of the beaches with smooth inclination.

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Throughout the Attic Peninsula, which I traversed from Athens as far as the southern extremity, I did not see villages. Nor modest houses! In that few old towns, the houses are crowd. Instead, in the rest of the territory, villas are spread everywhere. Judging by their position, they are not summer residences of some reach people. Most are located in the middle of orchards, olive groves and other crops, so they are the houses of farmers in the area. Again, the Greeks are not attracted by the seaside or even by valleys, where they could find water, almost non-existent here.

Athens, 2011-04-10

Looking for a host, I sent a few messages on the Internet. Among the responses I received from a lady the question: "You are Cristache Gheorghiu the Romanian writer?" You imagine how proud I felt. Those few books in English have made me known in a greater extent than everything I did in Romanian during a life.

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People coming into Athens by bus are set down and possibly stay in the vicinity of Omonia Square. My wife and I stayed here as well, in a hotel of two stars, but that would be received much more; only the bathroom was small, but the cleanliness and services were perfect. Although the area is close to the centre of the town and to Acropolis, the hotels in the area are cheap, and the food-market is famous. But any advantage must have a downside. In the northern part of Omonia Square, the most immigrants lie here: Russians, Asians, Africans. The most recent massive waves are from South Asia, in particular the Bangladesh, and Africa. The label "bad famed” is not very far away, but the impressions collected here have nothing in common with other areas of Athens.

Besides its history, Greece is part of the European Union for a long time, so it is expected to see something different as well. That something different becomes visible once you leave Omonia Square and, on the way toward Syntagma Square (Constitution square), on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street, where the Municipal Library, University and Academy, are to be found on the left side.

The buildings are relatively recent, but suggesting the ancient architecture, with statues of some nowadays personalities together with some mythological ones, among which that of the goodness Athena could not be missing.

In Syntagma Square the building of the Parliament is located.

Behind it, there is a huge park, with plants of all kinds, and, in the opposite corner, the former Royal Palace, now Presidential.

From Syntagma Square, toward the East, on the left side of Sofias Avenue, opposite to the park, the buildings remember us some images from films of the great capitals of the world, especially in countries with tropical climate. Greece is clearly one of them. Most of the buildings are of certain embassies.

Behind them, on the relatively narrow streets, climbing toward Lycabettus Hill, we guess houses of the Athenians with more elevated claims.

On Lycabettus Hill, visible from almost anywhere, besides the ruins of an ancient temple, there is a functional theatre, which can be reached by a lift.

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Asking for how to reach to Royal Palace, I didn’t get the necessary information from required persons, although it was not far away. The one who pulled out me from the impasse was an Englishman. Besides, he made to me the recommendation of no longer asking for Royal Palace but for the Presidential Palace. In Romania, people still use the term "Royal Palace", possibly the “former Royal Palace”, although we no longer have a king. To have forgotten the Greeks that they had a King, or no longer want to know? Greece declared its independence in 1821, in 1928 ended the war of independence, and in 1833 became a monarchy, so before Romania. In 1973 they gave up at the monarchy, so that after Romania, which became a republic in 1947, and not by his own will, but under Soviet occupation.

This reminds me that, in 1995, during a holiday in Eforie Sud – a Romanian spa - I found that almost all inhabitants did not know that the old name of their city was Carmen Silva, the queen’s pseudonym who founded it. Instead, some older ones remember that their town was called for a while Vasile Roaita, after the name of a minor communist fighter.

In the case of the Greeks, the subject may be political, and their attitude explainable for a people with a very high sense of patriotism and therefore heavily involved in politics. In the case of the Romanians, it is mere ignorance and disregard of his own history.

Finally, I arrived at the Palais Royal/Presidential-nominee. It is behind the Central Park, just the opposite size with the Parliament. There, we had the chance to watch the changing of the guard, a truly funny show, with soldiers equipped as “evzone” and odd movements. The same spectacle is the front of the Parliament.

Instead of a description - which wouldn’t do but a vague suggestion of reality - I made a few videos. One of them I've placed on YouTube.

The address on YouTube is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKrM9AzcD40

Clicking on the photo could access it.

On Sunday, in the Syntagma Square, the spectacle is more grandiose. (I saw it a couple of months later.) Three battalions come, one in blue (probably army) and two in specific costumes of the well-known “evzone” soldiers.

Athens, 2011-04-11

From Syntagma Square, but toward the West, one can reach on the coast, and the port of Piraeus. The distance is great, so it is recommended the subway or, much better, the tram, from which one can admire the city. It Worth! Theoretically, your own car would be a solution – the worst one, due to the congestion of the traffic - or the taxi – an unnecessary expense.

Piraeus, an independent port in the past is now part of Athens.

Proving its ancient age stands the famous statue known as “Lion of Piraeus”, or “PortoLeone”, as it was took in Venice in 1688, during the Venetian occupation, where it still guard the Arsenal. It has a long history. This one is a copy, but looks very nice in the landscape.

And, speaking about the landscape, next to the port, there is a nice and quiet of houses. Here, the coastline is beautiful. There are not beaches with sand, only stones, but it is nice.

Once on the shore, the tram turns to the South and goes up to Voula, passing through a continuous string of upscale resorts.

Glifada, among them, with shops and elegant buildings on the left side and the sea on the right side.

We spent two wonderful days there, walking on the beaches, with Sun of 30-Celsius degrees in April.

Maybe, the sand from the beaches is not very good, but water and ear are wonderful.

Palm trees are everywhere and orange trees as well, in foliage of which there are fruits not picked by anyone, not even by beggars (there are enough of them). Their orange colour makes a contrast with the intense green of the leaves, so that these trees truly are some decorative ones.

I mentioned Voula, because up till there the tram arrives, and this is important, being the most and single civilized mean of transport in Athens.

Of course, one may go farther, to Varkiza, Vouliagmenis and others, by bus. It is not the same comfortable, but the effort is fully rewarded by the beauty of the landscape.

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Athens, 2011-04-12

Of course, the central point of attraction in Athens is Acropolis Hill. It is visible from anywhere, so you can get there on many ways.

From Omonia Square, the shortest path is on Stadiou street parallel with Eleftheriou Venizelou, but without its elegance, but marked instead by lots of shops for tourists. The most known is the famous Central Market with it Fish Market.

This is the single shop in Athens where fresh fish is to be found at low prices. I do not why fish is very expensive here.

Also, another question mark I have about olives. Besides the numerous plantations, there are full of olive trees even on the trees. People prepare them by themselves, but in the market and shops they are very expensive.

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At the foot of Acropolis, Plaka and Monastiraki are two spaces just good to be avoided in crowded days, even attractive in the others.

Still, both have a charm, just due to the crowd. Everywhere you look there are small shops looking like a bazaar. The spectacle of tourist is similar with that in Las Vegas, but that of the shops is different, almost opposite. Arts – good and less good – jewellery, footwear, memories and clothes; clothes, clothes and clothes all over

the place.

Are you hungry? No chance! There are too many offers and it is hard to resist.

Besides hundreds of market stalls, small locals style fast food, lot of restaurants inside but mostly outside are in your way, and guys insistently invite you to sit dawn at a table. You will eat before being hungry.

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Monastiraki is a winder plate. At the foot of Acropolis, from here go streets to all directions: Plaka, Roman Agora, Ancient Greek Agora and, of course, Acropolis.

In Greek Agorá is to be found, the place where Socrates used to address to the people. Now upgraded, it is dedicated exclusively to trade. Also, one says that even the Apostle Paul would have preached here his sermon to the Athenians (Acts 17).

About Acropolis it is not need to write. Millions of other visitors did it before me, and the minimal information does not escape to any tourist guide.

In translation, Acropolis means "the upper town". Almost each large locality has one “upper town”, but this is the most famous. Fun for me is the American name for the centre of cities: downtown, namely “the city from bottom”, and even more cute is that, in Los Angeles, is located up, on a hill.

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Socrates left nothing written to us. But did he know to write? Few people dare to advance such assumptions. Besides, it would not be interesting. At that time, the philosophy – and not only it - was mostly orally, and the rhetoric was one of the most important educational disciplines. Even today, Greek writing is very difficult, but also inconsistent. There are, for example, at least five modalities for writing the sound "i". Consequently, it makes difficult any attempt to look for a word received by hearing in the dictionary. Instead, there were not sign for the sound "u".

Written or not-written, Socrates kept his philosophical dialogues with real people, with topics on their interest and meaning, since they accept the discussions. Something from the mentality of that time was preserved, because the Greeks discusses today with passion. What they discusses I don't know, but I know that discusses. I found it.

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Before leaving for this trip, I had bought a book of Greek Language, from which I had learned more than half, so that I was curious to know if I could handle with what I knew. The first finding was that the Greeks knowing foreign languages are happy to put their knowledge in value and, consequently, they are not interested to listen someone that mangles their mother language. The others are happy to talk their language but, unfortunately, it use for nothing, because the answer comes as a torrent of sounds, unintelligible because of the pronunciation in the dialect, as – most notably – due to the fantastic speed in which they speak.

Learning, however, I noted the similarity with Romanian language. And I'm not talking about the neologisms, which have came into our language by scientific ways, but about those words entered for a long time in the core of the language. It was supposed to have such words. Surprise – at least for me – was their number. And it's not only those with the same meaning, but also some that have changed the meaning, got a limited meaning, or, conversely, those that have given a completely different significance. Thus, from χορóσ (the Greek for dance), in Romanian language we have “hora” (a particular dance); from áσχημος (a Greek adjective for ugly), we have “aschimodie”, a very lean and ugly man. It is not appropriate to insist; examples are countless and handy to reach by anyone who has a dictionary. There are funny words even inside of Greek language. For example leftá , means the money, but lefteriá means freedom. The Romanians went farther and delivered a variant more original: lefter means penniless.

A disappointing finding came from another direction. The dictionary of Romanian language recorded many words as being of Slavonic origin. I knew that Soviet propaganda exaggerated Slavonic influence. Its size surprised me now, and especially the fact that such errors still lay in some dictionaries. They went so far as some religious terms are presented of Slavonic origin, though the Romanians were Christians much before the Slavs. The source of these words is, obviously, Greece. Only a Russian pseudo-scholar could invent such explanations and some Romanian traitors accepted it. (I think, if Stalin had lived a few years more, we would have learned that Jesus Christ himself would have been by Russian origin.)

How about the Greeks, they are still today one of the most faithful Christian people and it is proved by lots of churches, full of people, from those large and beautiful, until some extremely small ones, remaining from the times of many generations. Sometimes, only a cross above or beside the door of the entrance indicates to the passer-by that inside there is a church.

Today, talking about the Slavs, the majority of less trained people have in view the Russians. Walking through the U.S.A., I was tempted to try out the Americans’ knowledge about the Cyrillic alphabet. The almost unanimously responses indicated Russia, not knowing that its authors (the brothers Cyril and Methodius) never went there. The idea of slavering could catch only the ignorant masses.

From any book of history we learn that the origin of Slavic migration was the territory of nowadays Poland. It appears that the original Slavic language must be found in Polish language. Obviously, Polish, like any language, underwent influences from its neighbours, particularly Germans and Swedes, with whom they had numerous conflicts. About the Romanian language, we know that it was composed from the mixture of Dacians and Romans and subsequent influences. But the Russian language how did it formed? Regardless of which its core would be, in addition to the Slavonic language, one must analyse the influences of Ural-Altaic peoples during their migration and those of people conquered by imperial expansion. Greek words entered in Russian language on two ways: through the Christianisation and from equestrian Ural-Altaic people, when they sat down.

Slavonic influence in Romanian language? Sure there is, but not to the extent that they claim. Obviously, in the middle are the well-known political influences. The first remark is one of logical nature. Russia has not reached the extension of today but in recent centuries. In the past, one could speak about Slavic language only in the northwest part of it. Many centuries, nomadic people, more or less aggressive, in continuous motion, occupied the southern territory. Is the space through which have touched Tatars, Huns, Cumans, Pechenegs and very many others.

Well, I don't know how the Tatars, which the Russians were adjacent hundreds of years, were speaking. Also, I know nothing about the languages of the endless strings of nomads, but we found that many Russian words, designating objects of dwelling or household tasks are similar with some Greek ones. It is clear that the nomads, when they began to build stable housing, assimilated words from existing people in the area in which they sat down. For words that are identical in Greek, Romanian and Russian it is clear that the source was Greek, and not Slavonic, so the process is inverse to that insinuated by Soviet political propaganda.

Why the trend of slavering still continues among some Romanians philologists I don't know.

Athens, 2011-04-13

It is 9 o’clock in the evening and we are leaving. It is said that the Amazons, those all-female warriors from Greek mythology, lived somewhere besides Pont-Euxin. The direction would be so good.

Through Greece we will go during the night. Coming here, also during the night, I was impressed by the highway, partially lightened and by the lot of tunnels and viaducts. Now, it is supposed that I will sleep. A travel of about 24 hours expects us.

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In Bucharest, we had a humorous happening, though, at first was annoying. Here, all those going toward Sibiu via Brasov changed the coach with a microbus. A lady was doing a huge riot because her suitcase had been dirtied. It was a nice pretty small suitcase with a drawing in open colour. It place was not among the huge luggage of most travellers. It was her mistake putting her suitcase in the trailer for large luggage. But, her hysterical behaviour has another explanation, I think. It was her way for attracting attention. As the results were still expected, she intensified her efforts so that, over the time, she used to give a true spectacle, with opposite effects face to those desired. The minibus had left and she continues to roar, although those involved in the carriage of baggage was no longer present. All people were irritated. Then, someone had the idea to tell to the driver: "Put some music, Sir." In a playfully, other replicas followed on the same theme: "Put some bouzouki", "Give the music louder". The joke amused all passengers, they laugh and, thus, the woman was silent. I don't know if she understood that her strategy was wrong, but it was done quietly. Of course, bouzouki would not be covered the noise, but this was not important, any longer.

Bouzouki is an instrumental music, which must be listened in quiet. It is characterized by an intense experience of each sound. In fact the term first designates the instrument, a kind of mandolin, and secondly the musical genre played on this instrument.

Speaking about the genre, remarkable is its approximation to Spanish music. Although each has its well-defined specificity – anyone can discern between flamingo and bouzouki – we find in both the same nerve and deep feeling, with rhythm and sounds strongly marked. I would think that it is a specific Mediterranean, if in the middle would not be Italy, with a style totally different, relaxing and, mostly, joyful.

Between Sinaia and Predeal it was snowing.

Brasov, 2011-04-14

I got home. The ideal city, to which we maybe dreamed, is - of course - utopian. The “Golden Age” of Athens ended with its victory over Sparta, at the end of the Peloponnesian War. (God, forbid us by victories!) Athens of today, the real one, has all the known defects of any other large capital, but also several special features, which helps us to build the ideal city in our souls.

What would we do it? What we have in common, today, with those Greeks from thousands of years ago? Now 3,000 years ago, at Delphi, most of the questions were the same as nowadays: what career to pursue a young person, whether to have or not confidence in the boy/girl offering to be a partner for life, or – in assumption that he/she has one – whether he/she is devoted or not, etc. Why we think that, in the meantime, we have evolved?

Maybe because we imagine that we built the Horn of abundance for everyone? The Greeks imagined it only for Amalthea, the goat who breastfed Zeus. No, the Horn of abundance is not for everyone; only for goats and not for all of them. The goats settle for less. Men are greedy. They will never be satisfied, so that abundance will be a dream never came true, existing only in fairy tales.

Cicero said that Socrates “brought philosophy from Heaven on Earth”. This is due to its realism. As, in the meantime, the modern “philosophers” have buried it, today we should dig it up and brought to the surface. But, who is to do it?

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Some people said that the wars described by Homer were, in fact, some minor battles and only the writer's talent would raised high them in rank. It appears that about the heroes we could say the same thing. Even Odysseus, seems to have been only a big sly-boots. Therefore, thanks to Homer, the Greeks would have a glorious past.

"At your great past, a great future will be". It is my poor translation of a line from a famous Romanian poem. For us, it was a desire, a wish. But for the Greeks? The future of Greece did not seem to be great, but the simple fact that it exists for some millennia, of which the last two were under foreign occupation, is a proof that he had – and still has – a great future. A few countries can boast with a similar one, maybe no one. But, as not the Trojan war was great, but Homer’s opera and of others writers like him, it appears that no political dimension should be taken in view, but the cultural dimension. They, the Greeks, from this point of view, have a past really great, and this is their organic explanation. That doesn't mean that all Greeks are men of culture. If, however, in a coffee-shop - a space in which Greeks traditionally spend their evenings at a cup of words – you try to put in doubt the value of culture or anything else of the Greek origin, you are lost: you will no longer able to say a word; all people from that Café become a rostrum addressing only to you and combating you. What's right, if Achilles, Ajax, and others were heroes of novel, their followers – with or without famous names – are real patriots and thus the power of this people is explainable.

I don't know if what missing us is Achilles or Homer. (Do not think to Elena!) I think that, before anything, we need some facts, be they and smaller, but started from good intentions.