We descended into Athens, Greece, the symbolic center that defines where humans first learned what was possible…

…on the Acropolis just below the Parthenon…we joined the crowds walking up the stone hill towards the ruins of the Temple of Athena…These are the people who gave us that first global language, along with the foundational ideas of western civilization. They’ve had some tough times but there is no denying their legacy, ever.” As we jostled with the crowds on the hill, flashing cameras in our faces and knocking us around with backpacks, we were reminded that Athens was no one’s government capital city. It was a monument whose imposing acquiescence to cars and subways called for a recall of the industrial revolution. This was not where one would go to find the deepest measure of Greek culture, but it was unavoidable in any pass-through of the world…

“The Greeks have given us an extraordinary trove of Gods and monsters, stories still made into Hollywood movies to this day,” I remarked as we walked through the Parthenon structure and came out onto the Sacred Way path alongside it. “We know them all, church and culture came later…

…we glanced up to view the graceful stone strength of the draped female figures, standing forever as replicated columns that hold up the Porch of the Caryatids.  Skipping the Acropolis Museum, we strolled into the Theatre of Dionysus cut into the side of the hill with a view of Athens laid out beneath it…[from] its 2,300 year old stone seats…

We descended out of the ruins of a Greek culture built to honor and represent many Gods for all occasions, into the streets of Athens to view the preserve of modern life on its ancient and weary soil. “This is not exactly the learned serenity of ancient Greece. It must have been so cool when those earliest chatterers hung out and talked philosophy and democracy. That passion people had to create a sense of order and structure that they could all participate in as organized human beings.

…the islands is where most tourists go, that’s where Greeks have preserved a more serene pace of life and an unfettered love of it. Of course such a life is only sustainable if there is also enough commerce prepared to prop it up. And that option always needs to be restructured.”

– Describing Greece in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters

 

Place: Greece, one of the ancient world’s great civilizations, located in southern Europe on the Aegean, Ionian and Mediterranean Seas

Visited: Twice

Most Recent Visit: 2016

Original sites: Overwhelming

The depth of treasures knows no bounds

Familiarity: Medium

English usage: Scattered

Surprise: The serenity of swimming in the soft blue waters of the Aegean

For Rising Entrepreneurs in Business: An aging population and continuous economic trouble (2018) present a challenge.  But finding ways to address both are the opportunity, especially reconciling the demands of tourists with the struggles of the locals.

Country Details: UN Country Data Stats for Greece

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Want more details about traveling to Greece: contactcase(at)readyentrepreneur(dot)com