Legacy of a Golden Age in a City Fallen on Hard Times

The journey between Naples and Athens took three trains, an overnight car ferry, two busses and 33hours. On the car ferry I tried sleeping out under the stars, on a steel deck. It's not as uncomfortable as it sounds. I made myself a thin bed out of my clothes and slept well for two hours before waking up to find the deck wet with sea spray. It was time to go sleep on the carpet inside.

I can't say Athens is the prettiest city I've visited. It's big, sprawling and shabby by European standards. The recession is highly visible with stalled construction projects, boarded up shop fronts and out of work people who give speeches about their situation (in Greek) and then try to sell lighters or tissues. In yesterday's SMH there was a report of a big round up of illegal immigrants in Greece. I saw this, walking past a large line of police detaining scores of South Asian and African men. Signs of an unhappy country.

 

It's a tragic state of affairs for the city that gave birth to western art, science, philosophy and democracy. The monuments to ancient Greece still stand upon the Acropolis with the Parthenon the most striking and visible structure.

My favourite example of Greek science and technology is a 2100 year old device housed in the archeological museum that was effectively a clockwork computer. By turning a handle multiple a system of complex gears outputs readings on dials that predict the position of the sun, the moon and it's phases, the planners and a prediction of the next solar and lunar eclipses. It's a truly remarkable device for its age.

Greece is the 13th and final destination country on my journey. In two weeks time I will be back in Australia after 8.5 months away.