Places I Once Was .:. Sacred Life

I have been revisiting memories of some of the places I have lived, and Greece has been speaking to me loud and clear these past weeks. Maybe it is the changing of the seasons .:. spring into summer .:. maybe it is the blooming flowers and trees, or the clear blue skies, but I have often found myself these days, back in Greece.

I lived in Athens for a bit more than a year. Most people make a face as if to say "ick", and ask why I didn't live on an island. I did do that too, but Athens, I loved Athens. Each neighborhood a village unto itself, unique, individual and identifiable. I loved the white wash buildings, the noise of this particular city, and the sun, and the most of all the people.

I loved moving to a place where for a while I didn't understand the language at all. I could sit outside at a taverna, and hear voices but was not able to take in most anything that was being said. There was something freeing in it, something unnameable about it that I loved. I was there taking it all in, and yet, I was somehow just slightly removed, just slightly beside myself, not understanding, and allowing myself to revel in the non-understanding.

We take words in: bits of conversations overheard, the radio or television on in the background, conversations with all sorts of different people, all day long. My mind is constantly working on the words, the ideas, the thoughts. My mind never seemed to take a full rest from all these words until I moved to a place where the words I took in were only sounds. Melodic and beautiful sounds that formed a soundtrack for my first few months in Athens.

For more Sacred Sundays, visit here. And visit some photographs of Athens here.

Comments

[Carol]

At some point in the future I want to travel around the major cities of Europe, Athens is definitely on my list :) Such a beautiful place.

[maryse]

years ago when i was a teenager i went on a school trip to greece and spent almost 2 weeks traveling all around the country. it was awesome. it's one place that i'd like to visit again. and yes, i loved athens too.

[PennyMichelle]

OOOOoo what an adventurer you are! Love this story....i am feeling a lot like traveling these days....

[madelyn]

ohhhhhhhhh i love Greece ~ I spent a month
in Santorini with a litte scooter and it was
such bliss...

:)

[Swirly]

I can totally relate to this. On a trip to Cuba two years ago, I was, at one point, totally apart from the group I was traveling with in the middle of a huge festival - crowds, music, no one I knew, a foreign language - and I was in heaven! I loved being so anonymous...if only for a little while.

[Alex]

I love this post ~ And I can totally relate, since this is also one of the main reasons I like to travel and be exposed to new cultures! Under these circumstances, I think the images are suddenly more prominent and I can't help be enchanted by my surroundings... My focus goes to the light, the facial expressions, the colors...

[Graciel]

You have such a beautiful sense of color and composition. Your photos are..drinkable!