Delphi, Greece

While enjoying the view on the hotel balcony, I hear the rhythmic sound of bells, as if someone is playing music nearby. But when I listen more closely, I realize that the sound is coming from down the hill. I lean out over the rail to determine the origin of this mysterious music. Strangely, it’s a herd of goats. The clinks and clanks come from the bells around their necks as they walk. According to legend, goats found the site that became Delphi’s Oracle. Their goatherd noticed them bleating strangely and gamboling about. The goatherd himself also received the manic enthusiasm when he approached a crevice that emitted a fragrant gas. It smelled like the sweetest and most expensive perfume.

As we pull into town, I can tell that Delphi is different than any place I have been before. The town clings to the side of the mountain and is defined by narrow, shop-lined streets terraced one above the other. Long staircases climb the mountain between streets, providing shortcuts for pedestrians and additional sidewalks for tavernas. Young people, most likely college students on a field trip, cluster in small groups, giggling and running about.

The first hotel we walk into, Hotel Athena, has a room available with a view overlooking the valley. I throw my backpack on a bed and step outside on our balcony, which seems to hang over the gorge. The sight is breathtaking, so I reach for my supplies and attempt to paint the Pleistos with the sun setting in the background. I’m aware that I’ll never capture its vastness or presence, but maybe I can reproduce some of the sunset’s colors.

As we exit the hotel, the evening sunset splashes brilliant orange across the sky and paints the landscape in a warm glow. The street is still devoid of life, but a little farther on, we see two groups of diners on the patio of a restaurant. A host seats us near the other patrons, and we enjoy an Italian dinner of pasta, salad, and crusty bread while discussing our travel plans. Tomorrow is a big day for us since Mycenae is one of our more anticipated stops. We’ll walk amongst the ancient ruins and learn about the Mycenaean culture that flourished here.

Excerpt from my book “The Artist on the Road”:

From Eleusis, we travel west along the Isthmus of Corinth, pass over the Corinth canal, and on to the Peloponnese peninsula, which is a huge landmass shaped like a maple leaf. After exiting the main highway, we make a few wrong turns and end up in the middle of nowhere. Using our map, we negotiate the back roads and finally make it to Mykines, the town closest to the ruins of Mycenae, late in the afternoon. The sun, having sunk low in the sky, casts lengthy shadows across the town’s deserted streets. There’s not a person in sight. The businesses look closed too. What a mysterious place. Have we landed on Mars? Where are all the people? But as we pull into the parking lot of Hotel Klytemnestra, a jolly, grey-haired man steps out to welcome us and relieves my fears of Martians. My dad stayed at this family-run hotel sixteen years ago, and it appears that little has changed.

Excerpt from my book “The Artist on the Road”:

…we finally make our way to Eleusis, but it will close earlier than we expected, at 3 pm, so we only have an hour and a half. Scouring the site by foot, I’m having difficultly finding a good subject to draw. Overall, the site isn’t a bad place to sketch, but there isn’t a tall structure like a temple for example, to compose a picture around. Most of the site contains ruins only a couple of feet high. I’m beginning to think Athens spoiled me. Finally, I choose a place near the entrance. At this angle, I have architectural ruins in the foreground with the entrance to the Underworld, a grotto, in the background.

While I start blocking in the larger shapes on my paper, my dad checks in, and reminds me of the mythology of Eleusis. It was here in primordial time that Hades sprang from the ground in his horse-drawn carriage to kidnap Persephone, the daughter of divine Demeter, taking her through the Gates of Hades (the grotto) and into to the Underworld to serve as its Mistress. Eleusis was also the site of the ancient Mysteries, during which Demeter’s search for her kidnaped daughter was reenacted. Every fall at this time of year, as many as a thousand people from all over the ancient world were initiated into the Mysteries. During the ceremony, the initiates witnessed an epiphany exposed by a blinding flash of light. The essence of the epiphany was kept secret under punishment of death, and even today remains unknown. Once initiated, and later reaching the end of their mortal lives, they passed into the Elysian Fields, where they lived out eternity in Persephone’s care and in the presence of the gods.

Just before I finish my painting, a guard tells us that the site is closing in a few minutes. What a quick hour and a half. I have just enough time to gather my belongings and drag them outside the gate. Once there, I put the finishing touches on my painting, and use a cardboard folder as a fan to hasten the drying time. Luckily, I’m traveling with two watercolor blocks so that while one painting is drying, I can start a new one. If I could only find the time to paint two paintings instead of one at each location, I’d be doing great. But today is not that day since we are already back on the road and headed to our next destination, Mycenae.