If the soul of any nation is created from its past and its spirit from the present, then it follows that its character is fashioned from essential elements of both. Interwoven genetic strands of the then and now. Brought together. Embedded within the lives of its people.
We do a re-run. Start earlier in the day. Begin with the National Gallery. Well, it’s baby brother. Big brother resides in Athens. Baby has two floors only. Three rooms on each. Just enough to hold our attention for an hour tops. Top floor fills us in with the Greek 19thC struggle against the Turks. Downstairs a striking watercolour collection of Greek towns by Paris Prekas. Seems he did a slightly longer tour than us. All the more interesting since it includes some we’ve already visited. Plus some still yet to.
Lunchtime out can create conumdrums. We prefer a light lunch. A snack. No less – no more. Prefer to stock up in the evening. Sandwiches can be scarce. Not always on the order for today. The ‘Salty pancake with bacon and cheese’ takes our fancy. Something light yet filling.
They arrive. Two skyscrapers full. Four thick ones. Cemented together with masses of ham and cheese. The grand-daddy of big whoppers. Not quite the small savoury crepe we anticipate. Not quite the flavour either. In fact none. A bland concoction. Tiered same old-same old. Neither of us find enough room. We give them our best shot.
All main attractions done with. Time to tuck in tums. Walk off lunch. Resemble a couple of weaving wobbling Weebles. Do our best to get lost within the small backstreets of this charming old town.
By chance, come across Helene again. Sitting on her shop step. On the look-out for potential customers perhaps. Convince her we haven’t been walking the streets for twenty-four hours.
Some people you instantly click with. Helene is one of those people. Thirty minutes whiz by. She epitomises Greek character. Easy going, friendly, pragmatic, resilient, realist. We get to learn lots in a short time. Including our ABC. Or rather theirs. Don’t get very far. Five combinations all make the ‘eee’ sound. EEE-K! All very Greek . . .
Reading your first sentence resonates very profoundly with EU results later today plus what the Conservative and UNionist Party are up to!!
Hi Rog, I think the results throughout the EU will be the most followed and also the most revealing for some time – we shall see . . .
Hope all’s well with you. Holed up for a couple of nights again, so aiming to get up to date again with le blog.