More than 45,000 runners from 92 countries participated in Athens' Authentic Marathon run on November 13, 2022
The run traces the steps of Phedippides, a news bearing Athenian soldier, who announced the victory of Greeks against the Persians at the Marathon battle in 490 BC.
Pheidippides collapsed and died after he said νενικηκαμεν that translates to "we won"
The Marathon race became one of the most competitive events during the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. Spyros Louis won the gold medal in the first modern Olympics and became a legend in Greece.
The Marathon Race represents the highest effort in which the human body, soul and mind are tested to their limits as the runner presses to reach the finish line.
Here the young and not so young runners near the finish line in the Panathenaikon Stadium in Athens an unforgettable moment for the athletes, their families and friends.
This year a 91-year-old, Stelios Prassas participated and completed the Marathon run. His success reminds us what humans can accomplish if they are physically gifted and have the will to train and prepare for the ultimate test in human endurance.
I returned to Santorini 20 years after my first visit. At that time the construction had begun in earnest. On the left you can see the spire and dome of the Catholic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist and on the right, the Candlemas Orthodox Cathedral was under reconstruction.
Before my trip to Santorini, we baptised my firstborn son on April 23, the feast day of Saint George, in the little chapel on mount Lycabetus in Athens. A rare storm had blown by earlier resulting in a crystal clear Spring day with deep blue skies, we thus had a beautiful view of Athens and its nearby islands.
In the evening of our arrival in Santorini, I went out for a walk in the little town of Fira. It was cold and windy as on my first visit 20 years before. It was after sunset, a light rain had started and I was walking alone. At one point another person was walking the opposite direction towards me. He was wearing a black raincoat and a hat with a wide flat rim similar to the one of Don Quixote. He was the Monseigneur of the Catholic Cathedral which was originally built in 1823 and restored in 1970. The picture above is how the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist looks today.
The Summer Olympics originally scheduled for 2020, opened a year later on July 23, 2021 with dance performances highlighting the struggle to overcome the pandemic that infected close to 200 million people and has been the cause of death in more than 4 million people worldwide.
Japan is a country in East Asia of 126 million that inhabit multiple islands. According to legend Emperor Jimmu, the grandson of Amaterasu goddess of the rising sun, formed the kingdom of Japan in 660 BC, forming a continuous imperial line. In 1868, Japan opened trade with the West. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western modeled constitution and pursued industrialization and modernization. Today, Japan is a member of both the G7 and G20 groups of nations.
As of today August 1st, the IOC said there have been 259 Covid-19 cases two of which were treated in a hospital. Twenty athletes have tested positive. Japan has dealt well with the pandemic reporting 937,203 cases and 15,209 deaths that correspond to 121 deaths per million.
The tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron with the flame that was brought to Tokyo from Olympia, Greece.
The flame is lit according to the ancient method using the sun's rays. The flame is given to the first runner by the high priestess of Hera, the wife of God Zeus, the preeminent God on Mount Olympus.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens' Stadium in 1896. Although the Tokyo Olympics will be celebrating the 125th year since their rebirth, the ancient Games began in Olympia over 2700 years ago. They were held every four years between 776 BC and 392 AD.
The Olympic Games were attended by approximately 50,000 people from all over the Greek world and were celebrated as a religious festival for Zeus, the supreme God of the Greek pantheon. The main event at the games was the sacrifice of 100 oxen to God Zeus.
Unlike in today's games, the ancient athletes wouldn't have medals but instead, they were given a wreath of leaves and they were welcomed back to their home towns as heroes.
Discus, javelin throwing as well as running were popular events. The toughest running race was called the Hoplitodromos and athletes run wearing armor and carrying a shield.
Wrestling and boxing were popular. One of the toughest events was called Pankration - the only rules were that those wrestling could not bite or poke their rival in the eye.
Sumo which originated in Japan is its national sport. Sumo will not be one of the 2021 games. A two-day tournament will take place between the completion of the games and the beginning of the Paralympic games.
On August 1st Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi after the bar was set to 2.39m and each missed three times decided to share the gold in men's high jump. The friendship and humanity the two athletes showed exemplified the spirit of the Olympics.
This was the best moment of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics!
People would travel from faraway places to compete in the ancient and modern games. Two young athletes, Mark and Chloe - my children - traveled 5,000 miles to visit Olympia. On July 23, 2007, they run the length of the stadium on a very hot day. Hip hip hooray!
Mediterranean cyclones are called Medicanes from the words Mediterranean and Hurricanes. They usually form in the sea between Spain, Sardinia and Corsica or in the Ionian Sea. Medicanes usually happen in the fall and winter and move from west to east.
Medicanes are rare phenomena and are similar with the tropical cyclones but are weaker because the Mediterranean Sea is smaller comparing to the oceans and her waters are not as warm.
Although not as ferocious as their tropical cousins Medicanes have a center, have very strong winds in their periphery, causing huge waves and torrential rainfalls.
Medicanes frequency is 1-2 per year. Greece’s last Medicane was in 1995. This time the cyclone skirted the south coast of Peloponnese and reached Athens on Saturday September 29, 2018.
The strong winds uproot trees and down power lines and cause all kind of property destruction.
Swollen rivers take cars parked near their banks in their turbulent waters downstream.
The strong winds and waves result in sinking of boats even in harbors.
Although the advice to people in regions involved by hurricanes to move inland and away from the coasts some elect to ignore such warnings and go to the shore to see the large waves and feel the strong winds.
Tourists in the vicinity of the Acropolis of Athens look happy even if the gusty winds will destroy their umbrellas.
At seven in the morning we reached Hannibal, Missouri, where my boyhood was spent. I had had a glimpse of it fifteen years ago, and another glimpse six years earlier, but both were so brief that they hardly counted. The only notion of the town that remained in my mind was the memory, as I had known it when I first quitted it twenty-nine years ago. That picture of it was still as clear and vivid to me as a photograph.
From this vantage ground the extensive view up and down the river, and wide over the wooded expanses of Illinois, is very beautiful—one of the most beautiful on the Mississippi, I think; which is a hazardous remark to make, for the eight hundred miles of river between St. Louis and St. Paul afford an unbroken succession of lovely pictures. (Slightly modified from Mark Twain’s The Life on the Mississippi)
I spent 25 years of my youth in Illinois and like Mark Twain my affection for Illinois biases my judgment in its favor; I cannot say but every time I visit it especially the largest and most beautiful of its cities Chicago I feel coming home. The picture was taken on Chicago’s lakefront here I used to live. Nearby the Chicago River begins from Lake Michigan. Its waters eventually empty in the Illinois River a major tributary of the Mississippi. The Illinois River joins the Mississippi approximately 20 miles to the north of the Missouri River and the city of St Louis.
On the terrace of my boyhood home, in Athens’ St Nicholas neighborhood, playing backgammon with my childhood friend Theodosis (on the left) while my little brother Nikos is watching the game. Mount Egaleo is noted in the background of the picture. (circa 1959)
Porto Rafti is a bay on the east shore of
the Attica peninsula. Four islets
(Rafti, Raftopoula, Praso, Circe) are inside while one (Koroni) is outside and
slightly to the south of the bay. Porto Rafti and the surrounding region belonged
in the demoi (Δημοι) Prasiae
and Steiria, two of the 139 municipalities
of Ancient Athens. Pausanias tells us that
Athenians built a temple of Apollo and erected a statue of Erichthoniusat Prasiae.
Erichthonius, the son of Cecrops
and an Attic hero, was also buried at Prasiae according to Pausanias(1,31,1).
It is
not known whom the enigmatic statue on top of the Rafti islet honored and what
was its purpose. The colossal marble
statue likely was sculpted during the Emperor Hadrian reign (78-138 AD). Pausanias submits that it was Erichthonius
while local folklore suggests it was a tailor as the word rafti means tailor in
demotic Greek vernacular. Even a casual inspection of the statue convinces even
the most uninitiated that the statue is a woman. Therefore, deities such as Athena, Artemis or Demeter or prominent
women such as Hadrian’s wife Sabina or Herod Atticus’ wife Regilla are likely
candidates. Its purpose is also unknown
but I strongly believe that it served as a lighthouse to assist ships returning
at night from the Cyclades islands the nearest of which Kea is 20 miles away
to Attica. Two more reasons in support of
my theory that its main function was that of a lighthouse are first that it is
facing east towards the Aegean islands and Asia Minor and second one of its
arms is raised where I would like to propose a metal cauldron was placed and
used for the purpose of lighting a fire. Etching by Irish traveler E. Dodwell who visited Greece from 1801 to 1806.
Porto Rafti Regatta is a three-day event with the first race run was from the starting line around the islets of Praso, Rafti and back to the finish line a length of approximately 5 nautical miles. The crew of Okyrhoe in day I was my brother Nikos, his wife Alexandra, our friend Kostas and myself.
The course in the second race was similar to that of the first day and the crew of legendary Okyrhoe was Nikos, Kostas, Myrto a most able woman sailor, her daughter and our cinematographer Alecos.
In the third and last day of Porto Rafti Regatta my brother had an all women crew. It is interesting that Okyrhoe was first at the finish line in all three races. It was a most pleasant weekend and a great way for me to celebrate my 73rd birthday with relatives and dear friends. In closing, I would like to thank my friend Alexander Syris who was the cinematographer and producer of the three beautiful videos of Porto Rafti Regatta.
When we
concluded the passing thru Corinth’s canal we headed east towards Athens. Our course was in between the historic island
of Salamis and the Saronic islands.
It
was in the Salamis strait in the Saronic Gulf the Greeks defeated the Persians
in the Sea battle of Salamis in 480 BC. (Painting by von Wilhelm Kaulbach,
1868). For more information on the
famous sea battle that changed the course of history please visit my post on Salamis sea battle.
Two millennia
later a critical battle took place at Phaliron a southern suburb of Athens during
the Greek war of independence. It was in
this battle George Karaiskakis was fatally wounded on April 23, 1827. It was because of bravery and selfless acts
of heroes like him, Greece was liberated against all odds in the titanic
struggle against the all powerful Ottoman Empire.
During
our sail we realized that the Saronic Gulf is studded with merchant marine
boats that load and unload their cargo in several of its ports.
Many
fast moving ferries carry passengers between the port of Piraeus and islands of
the Aegean archipelago.
After
three weeks at sea we tied at the dock of Athens marina where relatives and
friends were waiting for us.
On the same peer we tied at the legendary
cruiser “Averof” is on permanent display serving as a nautical museum. The ship was launched in1910 and sailed into
the Phaliro under the command of Admiral Kountouriotis. Averof played a major role during the Balkan Wars of 1912-13.
Panoramic
view of the Flisvos marina at Phaliron (Greek:
Φάληρον). Phaliron was the main port of
Ancient Athens, until Piraeus was developed in the 5th century BC. Although it was tempting to finish our
journey here we had to cast off again for the final leg(s) of our journey as
our destination was the bay of Porto Rafti, another port of Ancient Athens on
the east coast of Attica’s peninsula and Vravron the place were the Greek fleet
gather before they sailed to Troy.
