DEMETER DROP-OUT AND ATHENIAN SCAMS

So my last day in Athens comes to an end. Its been fun. A lot of fun. I have loved being here and tramping around the major sites of Ancient Greece...

I woke up a little later today knowing that Eleusis is not as far away as Delphi. Delphi is 3 hours drive by bus, Eleusis is only half an hour. No sweat! It should be easy to get there, I thought, and had a nice lie-in.

I set off about one o'clock for the square where the bus is supposed to go from, hoping to pop into a few Greek churches on the way. Said Greek churches failed to appear, having apparently morphed into some grim looking tenements along fairly grimy streets. My early optimism faded a little as I appeared to be wandering back into the Hellenic version of THE WIRE and wasn't helped much by getting to the square I was supposed to find the bus at. Everything was in Greek without English subtitles (which are everywhere else) and I thought to myself 'Am I destined not to get to Eleusis after all?'. For a moment the prospect appeared attractive as I was bushed, but then hey presto! I stumbled onto the bus tucked around a corner. There it was. No problemo!

I shared a half hour's bus ride with some slightly scary looking Greeks. I say that with a little bafflement as I seemed to get across India with scarier looking Indians all around without getting into a fret. Once again perhaps Europe had lulled me into a false sense of security. I needn't have worried. The journey passed without incident. All I was seeing was Greece in the raw rather than the affluent joie de vivre of moneyed Athens.

The journey was very nondescript except for a sudden view of the legendary port of Pireaus which lay spread before us for a stretch, magical under the sun. Once again I thought about how the Greeks couldn't help being a great nation under such circumstances. There is something about the seascape of Pireaus which lifts the spirits, inspires one and makes one WANT to leap on a ship and explore. Once again I found myself gazing in awe, just drinking the mythical wonder in.

The arrival at Eleusis was painless. Elfsina as it is now called is, like Agra, not a place of translucent beauty. Its not as shitty as Agra by any means, but it is utterly nondescript. Like Watford or Turnpike Lane, its one of those places which you pass through to go somewhere else. Its flanked on all sides by salubrious oil refineries which don't make for much of a mystical atmosphere. Ah well. Never mind. The site of Eleusis is what is important.

I wandered around a bit trying to find it and have to say that 'the Archeological Site of Eleusis' is one the worst signposted in the world. Apart from a horrendously ugly modern statue of Aeschylus, the father of Greek Drama who was born in Eleusis but was never an initiate, nothing indicated where anything was. Being careful not to vomit at the full horror of the statue I soldiered on and eventually found what I was looking for.

A word of background... The Eleusinian Mysteries which celebrated the love between Demeter and her daughter Persephone, were the most important and secret Rites of Ancient Greece. Initiates were said to have a vision of their own immortality and to leave understanding that this transient life was not their full existence, thus able to face death and the turbulence of life with fearlessness and equanimity. The Mysteries were kept utterly secret, but it is said that the final vision, which fell on my birthday, may have involved a vision of Persephone in the Sacred Fire and the cutting of a single ear of corn in absolute silence by the High Priest or Princess. It is where we get the word 'Mystic' from, 'Mysterai' being the name of the Initiates who underwent the Rites each year. Imagery of corn and seed found in the Gospels is said to echo its ceremonies and symbolism. So important were the Rites to the Greeks, who saw their performance each year as being the foundation upon which the harmony of the whole Kosmos depended, that during the siege of Athens at the hands of the Persians the people of the city were said to have witnessed the Gods themselves carrying them out along with a procession of Spirits lest the Divine Order was rocked for ever. If anyone wants to know more, you can read all about it on my other Blog, the Temple of Pegasus at:

http://templeofpegasus.blogspot.com/search/label/Demeter

So what was it like to wander inside the ruins? I HAVE NO IDEA! I managed to turn up just at the moment when the grounds of the Temple were closing! AAAAAAARGH! Clearly Demeter didn't want me to have a shufti around the ancient sanctuary or see the sacred well where she is said to have wept while looking for her daughter. So in terms of a Deep Mystical Insight into Eleusis I can't help you with anything. I spent a fruitless and frustrating hour circling the ruins looking through the iron railings all around it, trying to get a sense of what it was. It wasn't a complete washout as the site is still resonant even from such a distance, but I would have loved to really roam about. Ah well. It was not to be.

I headed back to Athens early after treating myself to an Uber-sinful chocolate and vanilla ice cream which made me feel sick. Ah well, I thought. Its an ill wind. If I couldn't spend the day in Eleusis, why not see some more of Athens? And so I did, wandering around the Bohemian streets of Plaka on the way to some of the Greek ruins I had seen from the lofty heights of the Acropolis two days before. On the way I got scammed, but managed to see wat was happening before it was too late. I felt doubly stupid as I had read about the scam in Thessaloniki, but was clearly so deeply in that oblivious dream world of the happy tourist that I didn't see it coming. Here is what happened...

I was looking for a bookshop in Plaka called Compendium to see if I could bag a final book to read for my last leg of travelling. After an exhausting trek through picturesque winding streets I found the place only to discover it was closed. An amiable looking Greek gent got into conversation with me, explaining that it was Sunday so everything was closed (true). He asked me where I was from and we got chatting. English, eh? From MANCHESTER! What a great team! Oh you've been in Greece before? Crete? I have friends in Crete! Thessaloniki? My wife is from Thessaloniki etc etc.

A little weary my guard was down and I thought he was just being nice. He said 'Come and have a coffee with me in my bar' and we wandered across the road to what I thought was his place. 'This is nice,' I thought, 'Greek hospitality, just as the Guide says.' I went in. It was a nice looking bar with a barmaid and a glamourous looking woman sitting chatting on a mobile phone. The guy said this was his daughter. Tired, I still found myself thinking, 'Your daughter? This is your daughter? Sure! And I'm the Queen of Sheba.' but didn't go into High Alert nonetheless. What did I want to drink? A coffee? We don't do coffee, have an Ouzo!

Ok, an Ouzo it was and it appeared. 'Have what you like,' he said, then gesturing to his 'daughter' he said, 'You can speak to her.' and then wandered off. I began to realise I was being scammed. I had read how this happened to Tourists, how the 'daughter' or 'daughters' asked for a drink and then suddenly you had racked up a huge bill. My brow darkened a little as the woman sat next to me and asked me what my name was and where I was from. She then said 'So would you like to buy us (her and the barmaid) a drink?'

'No,' I said. 'I don't have enough money.' and reddened with anger and disappointment that I had fallen for this. I turned to the barmaid and said, 'How much for the Ouzo?'. Clearly the guy wasn't paying. 'Ten Euros' she said. I felt honoured. I must be drinking the Best Ouzo In Athens if it was costing ten Euros. Glowering I handed over the money and staved off attempts to engage me in conversation. Quite quickly the 'daughter' realised she was onto a losing wicket and left saying politely 'You finish your Ouzo'. The barmaid carried on for a while, asking me where I was staying.

'Near Victoria Square,' I said.

'Victoria Square?' she said and rolled her eyes, 'That is full of black people!'

Was she going to try and persuade me to get a new hotel too?

'So is England.' I replied after a moment, indicating I wasn't going to engage in a racist conversation.

'That is why you like it so much,' she said rather lamely.

THe conversation farted on for a little longer and then frittered out as it became clear I knew what was going on. I finished the Ouzo quickly and left (it was 10 Euros!), feeling annoyed with myself but also relieved I had not fallen for anything else. What a shame! Ah well!

I left it all behind and headed for my final site, the Olympian Temple to Zeus which I had seen from yteh Acropolis. It quickly erased the bad taste being scammed had left in my mouth. Like the other sites, it is amazing. What seemed tiny from the Acropolis was suddenly massive and had a majesty of its own. It is largely a ruin with only a handful of pillars left but what are left are titanic and give the impression of an extraordinarily powerful building in its original form. I found myself thinking that we were lucky it was ruined because if it was intact as it were intended its energy would be overwhelming. Just as Delphi evoked the grace and power of Apollo and the Parthenon the almighty wisdom of Athena, this Temple to Zeus had about it an incredibly powerful sense of masculine energy, almost oppressive, authoritarian. It said 'Zeus is in charge. Remember that.' with every inch. As I say, thank God its a ruin, amazing though it is!

The experience of seeing all these Greek sites has the effect of knocking your consciousness out of your head and making you see things anew. Each one has its own specific aura, just as one would expect from the Greek pantheon. Each one has a powerful emotional impact unique unto itself. I left once again wondering at the sheer power of this culture, its all-embracing vision which recognised that everything had its place, its role to play, and asked myself once again why it had declined? The answer can only be that civilisations always do. They have their period of glory and then they stop growing and begin to fade, making way for new civilisations with new vigour and glory. Nothing lasts forever, at least not in its fullest form, but everything leaves its imprint on the ongoing history of the human race. The Greeks, who still form the basis of our consciousness now - indeed we still speak Ancient Greek to a large extent today - still have something to offer us though, if only to remind us that any ideas we glory in today they had before. We are not so big... They were there first... And they were great...

So my day came to an end. Another day of wonder and adventure. I headed home after a brief dinner in Plaka and now here I am in my hotel. The Greek leg of the Flight of Pegasus is coming to an end. And now I think of it, its not surprising it has been amazing given that Greece is the home of Pegasus. Its where he is from. Its no wonder these few days have been so special.

Tomorrow I fly to Paris where I will hook up with my bro and my friend Nathan for the last bit of the adventure. Then on Thursday, Pegasus returns to the UK. I know I have been hard on the UK, but this is only because I know that when I return I will have to tackle those big, difficult decisions, all of which are summed up in the ancient Roman words 'Quo vadis?'. What next? How will I earn a living? I want to keep directing but how will I do it and make a living? As my amigo Eamonn tells me, however, I am returning with many treasures in my heart. I guess all I have to do is take each day as it comes, stay tuned to what is special to me and see what emerges...

And on this note, good night to all, and God bless!