• Writer's Life

    Conquering the Acropolis of Athens

    A (Very Brief) History of Athens, Greece  Athens, Greece is the oldest capital in Europe. The highest hill in the city, The Acropolis, consists of a flat-topped rock over one-hundred-fifty meters high with three incredibly steep sides. An easily defended fortress and military base from both land and sea, it only became a religious center dedicated to the worship of the goddess Athena much later during the rise and fall of the Mycenae civilization near the end of the Bronze Age. For the next four hundred years, Greece plunged into a dark age when little is known. What we think of as Ancient Greek civilization began around the fifth century…

  • Lady Writers of the Poconos,  Writer's Life

    Euros From Heaven

    The history of Greece can be traced to the Minoans almost five thousand years ago. And this presents problems for all sorts of infrastructure improvements in the cities. Everywhere they try to put in a new Metro line or construct a new building, they find ruins of structures from long ago, mosaics and/or pottery or grave goods. Everything stops while the archeologists document the site. But still, these ancient sites attract tourists from all over the world. And I do mean the entire world. On my way to the Acropolis the first morning hundreds of passengers from three cruise ships joined us. By late morning maintaining a safe distance between…