August 9, 2008
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Greece
EVERYBODY LOVES THE Greek Islands which has led to the urge by visitors that they should get out of Athens as soon as possible. But the Greek capital can be a very pleasant stopover for at least a couple of days. My stay was always at the Attalos Hotel on Athinas Street, a couple of blocks from the huge open market, ideal for picking up all the ingredients you’d need for a picnic (or a boat journey). The hotel, owned by a generous friend Kostas Zisis was popular with young visitors because it was exceptionally clean and reliable, as well as remarkably cheap, with a rooftop café offering inspiring views of the Acropolis. Every morning I’d walk up to Syntagma Square where, on a side street, the Ariston has been serving the finest cheese pies in Greece, fresh trays of hot pies ascending from the kitchen every few minutes. Eager customers would pop in and out all day long, usually nibbling their half-wrapped pie on the spot while enjoying the violin strains from an itinerant museum always parked outside. Until a few years ago, an old lady dispensed ice cold water in glasses so filled to the brim that it was virtually impossible to pick them up without spilling some, which seemed to keep a permanent smile on the lady’s face.
Next, heading uphill (everything in Athens is uphill) past the huge supermarket on Canaris Street to the Athens Festival ticket office to buy the cheapest seat for that night’s concert, ballet or opera at the glorious Herod Atticou Theater which slopes steeply on the hill of the Acropolis. As it happens the cheapest seats are usually the best, being right at the back at the top where you can usually recline on a stone bench undisturbed, even—with care--smoke a joint while listening to the music from far below. In my visits to as many as 50 countries, the 2,000-year-old Herod Atticou and the concerts in Dubrovnik’s Rector’s Palace have given me my most sublime musical experiences. There’s another lovely open amphitheatre in Athens: across town on the Lycabettus hill where the entertainment is usually more lowbrow which greatly underestimates performances by the country’s major contemporary composer Mikis Theodorakis. But this is for night time, what does one do in daytime Athens? Well, I used to spend the morning reading papers and magazines (or doing research) at the British Council library in Kolonaki Square and then take a bus or taxi out to the Ledra Marriott Hotel for lunch followed by a sneaky swim in the rooftop pool. And, late at night, there was always the incomparable Plaka where I had once rented a tiny house for $50 a month but where the tavernas and souvenir shops had brought in crowds resembling those of Times Square. During the course of maybe a score of visits to Greece I have probably visited and written about at least twice that many islands (there are said to be more than 700) but I have only had lengthy stays on a couple. The first was alluring Mykonos, pretty much of a template for many people in its supposed “typical-ness”. Amber and I rented a house on the hill one summer when we were visited by David Alpern who wrote a lengthy piece about us for The New York Times travel section where I had once been an editor. It was very ego-boosting but as I was still in Greece when it appeared the benefits were few.
The next-longest spell I spent on an island was Milos which I had chosen because it was far off the most popular tourist routes and in total ignorance of its illustrious history, which was the origin of the Venus de Milo. It was discovered by a farmer, George Kontrotas, on April 8, 1820 and after some diplomatic strong-arming was sold to the French who shipped it off to the Louvre where it’s remained ever since. When it was found in two sections, it had arms. Where did the arms go? Nobody knew. Nor could they explain where it came from, how it got there or who sculpted it. An irresistible mystery for a writer on holiday to delve into. Neither the guide books nor the archaeological museum could answer these questions and a local historian, Yiannis Halkoutsakis, had little to add beyond the suggestion that a wealthy islander had brought the statue back to the island from a visit to the School of Rhodes’ art market place in the BC era. It had probably been placed in the old Roman theater (still extant) atop the hill. After the discovery in 1820, Yiannis said, “archaeologists from all over poured into the island searching for the arms”. (Which have never been found) Milos was a pleasantly peaceful respite but eventually I was back in Athens and now filled with a determination to settle the Aphrodite (Venus is the Roman name for this goddess of beauty) mystery I spent two mornings in the library. The arms, it seemed were lost during the struggle for possession before the French could safely spirit it away. Homer wrote that Aphrodite’s sanctuary at Corinth was renowned for its sacred prostitutes (Oh, happy day!) and Hesiod (8th c. BC) claimed that the goddess was born of sea form and myrtle and the dove was sacred to her.
As for the statue. At first it was attributed to Praxiteles who had been the first to sculpt the female form in a life-size statue. His style was from a different era and, in fact, an earlier Aphrodite statue by him (350BC) had so shocked the island of Kos that the island has refused to accept it and it was sold, instead, to Cnidos, a Greek city in Asia Minor hitherto known only for its wine and its medical school. Praxiteles’ Aphrodite was such a big hit that it became what was probably the world’s first tourist attraction “for the sight of which”, reported Pliny, “many have sailed to Cnidos”. A certain Alexandros, son of Menides is now credted with sculpting the Aphrodite de Milo. The book, Hellenistic Sculpture declares that at that time “men controlled almost all aspects of art production (and) statutes were oriented primarily to male viewers. With the Cnidia and Hellenistic Aphrodites, the female nude entered its dual role in the history of art as the object of both ideal composition and male voyeurism”. Not much change since, then.
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