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I just returned from several days in Athens, and I enjoyed the city more on this trip than ever before. Part of my enjoyment was seeing a place that’s getting its act together, as I believe Athens is. I had a great experience even though I was there at the worst time of year. It was sweltering — well over 100 degrees — and in mid-August, much of the town was gone, enjoying a vacation and finding relief on the beach. Still, there was an energy in Athens that made me want to come back and linger…in the winter.
Right off, I noticed women’s toes. I did a study of feet on my subway ride through town. While sandals and painted toes, of course, are routine whereever it’s really hot, for some reason toes caught my attention in Athens. Surveying hundreds of Greek feet (actually doing a counting tally), I found over 90 percent wore open-toed shoes, and there was a huge emphasis on beautifully painted toes. Women I talked to later affirmed that pedicures are a particulary big in Athens.
Munching a tomato reminded me of my backpacker days here. Back then, tomatoes cost literally pennies each (or drachma, in those days), and that was all I could afford. I ate them like apples at a Huck Finn fest. I grew up thinking vegetables were the pulp of filling the tank — not very flavorful. With my upbringing, broccoli grew in cubes, and cherries came off the tree filled with red dye. I ate mandarin orange sections for years before I ever actually peeled one. Then, when I hit Europe as a teen, I found tomatoes splashed with flavor. My first mushroom was in Germany. My first yogurt was in Yugoslavia. And my first quiche, crêpe, and pâté were all in France. Back in the 1970s, Europe did to my personal food world what color did to my TV.
The oppressive heat was a big topic of conversation on this trip to Athens. My guide pulled a bottle of water from her purse, took a guzzle, and offered me some, saying, “It’s hot enough to shave with.” The day before, she had gone to the departure point for her company’s walking tour, and the heat drove five of the twelve tourists (who had prepaid plenty of money to take the tour) not to show up.
After talking with Athenians about the brutal heat, it occurred to me that even people who live in hot places don’t get used to the heat. When considering the impact of global climate change on our planet, it’s easy for people in temperate climates (like me) to imagine that people in the tropics just get acclimated to the blistering heat. But I don’t think they do — they just suffer through it. That would make me pretty miserable. Like my experience in Athens, they just have no alternative. For most of the people on this planet, summer is as hot as Fargo in the winter is cold.
Athens was still shaken by its recent riots and violence. At the Changing of the Guard in front of the parliament building, we saw the “riot dog” — a stray dog that has hung out around the palace for years. She smells trouble and always sides with the people against the police. Locals look for and usually see her in all the TV coverage.
At lunch, I asked my guide if she felt endangered by the street violence. Putting the last bite of moussaka in her mouth, she told me her grandma’s words of wisdom: “When you see food, eat it. When you see a fight, go away” — advice that has worked very well for her.
I’ll talk more about those riots — and Greece’s much-touted “economic crisis” — in my next entry.
It is hot in Greece. Of course women wear sandals in hot weather as do men. Pedicures are almost a monthly activity for many women in the US and probably in Greece also. Where have you been Rick?
Having grown up in a hot climate and spent two years in an even hotter (though drier) climate, you actually do acclimate to it somewhat, but you don't necessarily like it. However, given a choice between hot and humid or hotter and dry, give the latter ANY day. Make me independently wealthy and I would summer in Colorado and winter in Texas. BTW, where is the picture of the Riot Dog? My captcha is "lolls" and lolling about is what one does in the heat of a Texas summer day…
One of today's European News Briefs on Rick's site today mentions a new Greek ban on smoking in enclosed public places, and that at 40% of the population, Greece has the biggest percentage of smokers in Europe. I wonder if Rick's noticing any sudden changes in the atmosphere (literal and figurative), or in the attitudes of Greek citizens.
I live in a HOT DRY climate and HATE every minute of summer, which unfortunately, usually lasts through October! Yeah, I know I should move, but there's this little thing called the 'housing crisis' which is keeping me where I am :-( Is it any warmer now that it was years ago?…. probably NOT, but I'm SURE Rick THINKS it is!
Athens doesn't appeal to me based upon its crowds, pollution,dirt, summer heat and more recently its rioting. But Nafplio, Greece does.
Toes? I thought from the title of this entry that Rick was talking about something else.
As an Ohio native & a 25 year resident of Florida by choice[INVALID]our normal summer temperatures are in the 90-92 degree range. So I can state that one's body normally does adopt to hot humid weather. But this year is different, our summer temperatures have been higher than normal(93+)for weeks and all everyone I know or meet is commenting on how hot and uncomfortable this summer has been. I think these complaints this year are the result of our state having an unusually cold wet winter and our bodies are just feeling the temperature difference more than usual. Or we are all just getting a little older!!! I will never forget when I took Rick's Grand European tour in August a few years back[INVALID]I was cold & slightly uncomfortable in the northern countries and in the Alps[INVALID]as I was not use to wearing so many layers of clothing to stay warm, but when we got to Rome[INVALID]all the people from the north & northwest were totally miserable from the heat & humidity[INVALID]not me!! It just all depends on were we are from and what we are used to. But the weather has never stopped me from traveling. In January 2009, I was very fortunate to be in Paris for a week and the temperture highs for each day of our stay were only in the low teens. I had one of the most wonderful times as I felt I had Paris all to myself when I ventured outside. I met so many interesting & friendly people even though I had to wear all those extra layers of clothing to stay warm. Everyone laughed when I said I was from Florida[INVALID]what a great ice breaker!!!!!
Cute post! Now I'm curious if the different countries have a footwear preference ie. toes coverd or uncovered, and how that works in different places like visiting churches, cathederals and mosques. Or, do people take their shoes off at the door if its a place of reverence and worship? Happy travels!
I found Athens most interesting in October. In addition to the usual historical sights the market square is fascinating.
I really enjoyed Athens early in the year, reasonable temperature, good museums, the Acropolis… but bad coffee, like the rest of Greece. I grew up in England but I've lived in in North Carolina for 35 years, and although I'm more acclimated than I was at first, I'm still miserable in the summer. If it wasn't for AC I couldn't live here. It's not just the heat – which has been mostly in the 90s for weeks – but the humidity. Imagine living in a Turkish bath. But I spent a week in Quebec last month and people were complaining about their heat wave – I looked it up later and the highest temperature was 83!
"Fargo in the winter is cold." What? I live in Moorhead, Minnesota just acroos the Red River of the North from Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo-Moorhead in the winter is not that cold. Maybe one or two days in the winter when the temp drops to -30 F, and maybe a total of 30 days during the winter when the high temp is below zero F. Cold is the record lows for Minn. and N. Dak. both of which are -60 F. FYI: The record high for Minn. is 114 F set in Moorhead in 1936. My verifier is situated, and that fits here as everything depends on where one is situated physically and mentally.
Dear God, Rick, your remarks about women´s feet are going to cause a riot among the fascionistas (my spelling) on the Helpline. As hot as August was in southern Europe, Germany and Belgium were surprisingly cool. The temperature up here topped out over 80 degrees on less than a handful of days. The past week, I´ve had to use an extra blanket at night.
I knew you'd come around to Athens..LOL..it's become a great city to linger in, I'm going this October for a week to "linger in", visit the museums, day tours to Delphi, Corinth, Marathon and even jumping from metro stop to metro stop to see museums in each, eg. Monastiraki stop has an impressive ancient site..I read Vasilissas Olga's street will be pedestrian with an Olympic Museum to be built, Athinas to be pedestrian, the new Modern Art Musuem to open 2011 and the Niarchos Cultural center to open in a few years, I hope a chapter in your next book will talk about all these changes, to show what it is and what it will be. What about Glyfada?, take tram from Athens and walk around (lovely). Even the "W" hotel is opening soon, its a happening city and glad you enjoyed it…try going there for New Years week, its so alive and festive, you'd be surprised. Carpe diem
I had to chuckle at your interest in, "beautifully painted (greek) toes"… but for the record Rick, Stateside, women do tend to also paint their toenails and go for pedicures sometimes year round. Sandals offer the best views for summer feet. As a woman of the 'flintstone foot' persuasion, if I'm going to wear a cute sandal, I had better get my toes done!! Glad you are who you are Rick and it's nice to know that someone out there appreciates a nicely done up foot. :-)