Greece

My sweet mother-in-law Mary, raised as a traditional Seventh-day Adventist, had never been to a movie theater when My Big Fat Greek Wedding came out. Oh, she wanted to go! She took a few days, vacillating between the strict rules her parents had taught her and her desire to see it. When she asked me to take her, we had a great time – it’s such a fun movie! But this was a one-time event. She hasn’t been back to a movie theater since, showing that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the one movie she considers truly worth watching.

This is just one example of the unique and amazing Greece that has allowed me to travel the world while staying at home since I was a child. It started with an old set of World Book Encyclopedias. I would look up some Greek myth, say the article on Zeus and, once I read it, I would look up all the other names mentioned, maybe Hera, Apollo, and Athena. Then I would look up everything and everyone mentioned in their articles, and so forth until I had read everything I could find about Greek mythology. It was like web browsing, but with books. The series of articles and videos in the Khan Academy’s “Beginner’s Guide to Ancient Greek” might give that same exploratory feeling: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/beginners-guide-greece/a/ancient-greece-an-introduction.

If we want to get serious about Greek mythology, Project Gutenberg and the local library have all of the epic works and plays. Here are the three most famous works. If I remember correctly, my mother paid me to read The Iliad and The Odyssey, part of her strategy to make sure I read the classics. The plays of Sophocles were required reading in my Masters in English.

· The Iliad by Homer: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6130

· The Odyssey by Homer: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727

· The plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31

Another childhood favorite of mine is the TV miniseries on The First Olympics: Athens 1896. Part 1 is at this YouTube link and Part 2 will follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVRmp_dr8lE

Moving from stories to excursions, Rick Steves gives great tours of Greece. Here are two examples:

· “Athens and Side-Trips” https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/athens-and-side-trips

· “Greece's Peloponnese” https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/greeces-peloponnese

If we took one of these excursions to Greece, there would be Greek food and festivals! My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas is a series available on Amazon Prime. Recipes from the show can be found here: https://www.dianekochilas.com/category/recipes/my-greek-table/

Here in California, there are several annual Greek Festivals at Greek Orthodox churches. The Contra Costa Greek Festival, where I took my parents in September of 2019, had vendors and food booths, cooking demonstrations, dancing, and a church tour. I have also had my eye on the Long Beach Greek Festival at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, the St. Anthony Greek Food Festival in Pasadena, and additional Greek Festivals in Palm Desert, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Lancaster, San Juan Capistrano, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Many of these occur in September or October, so I am hoping we will see them again this year!

While we are waiting for all these festivals and social events to reopen, there is one more Greek thing I was able to accomplish this year while we socially distanced. Due to our lovely Mediterranean climate in southern California, I was able to train for and complete a marathon! My own personal marathon, but still a marathon! Credit to both my father and Andrea for inspiring me when they completed their marathons and to the pandemic for giving me nothing to distract my attention from those many hours of training!

When we can travel again, your local travel advisor will know a lot of great things to do in Greece, including some of these options: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-greece/. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Greece and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Constantinos Kollias https://unsplash.com/photos/nESI7TqYBto