It was the worry beads that saved me. The twirling around my fingers came back to me like seeing an old friend or riding a bicycle. Running thru your fingers like an hourglass. We would see older men gathered at tables, drinking coffees and smoking. A few would have their worry beads twirling in different ways. Our cab driver into Athens had two. “Smoking”, he said in what little English he knew …implying it helped him to quit. Ah, a new habit for saving you from your prior one. I kind of liked that.

Worry beads have several uses in Greek culture, including:^[3]relaxation, enjoyment, and generally passing the time

• as an amulet, to guard against bad luck
• used by people who wish to limit smoking
• as a mark of power and social prestige. This is especially true in the case of expensive worry beads made of silver or amber.”

Many prominent Greeks were users and collectors of worry beads, including former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and business magnate Aristotle Onassis.

The marble is very visible on the trail and along the retaining wall ledges. Built over a thousand years ago. You marvel at what an effort it must have been. And we would continue to see marble used elsewhere in our travels.

Walking is our medicine for good health.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Some people say it is the Mediterranean diet, the wine, the olive oil, the fish. I know, I know. But it occurred to me while walking up the steep stairs and crunchy crumbling road from the Naousa port to where we were staying on Paros. It’s the walking that keeps you alive.

My favorite doctor even told me – “Hey, exercise IS your medicine.”  “Just do it! Walk, it will be better than having to take some prescription you don’t really want to take.” I totally agree and like others who are little stubborn, it took me a while to sink in. I got it last night though. – Like a thunderbolt.

It’s not just the food and wine that extends the life; it’s the daily walking up and down on the hills and mountains that you take to get somewhere.

Our food and history tour guide in Athens shared this view, when the US gets a cold, they all sneeze here too. It doesn’t matter the issue; immigration, economics, or the status of wars, they are affected.

He explained, “fly an hour in any direction from Greece and you are in some turmoil zone.” They are used to it though they are also a melting pot of diverse cultural and historical proportions …going back thousands of years and through various ruling empires.

Once known for being in the “Blue Zone” for healthy consumption of fish, fruits, and vegetables, economic impacts have slowly changed their diets. The cost of fish is now more than meats, so consumption of meats has increased. And fruits and vegetables once inexpensive and plentiful, are now more costly for so many families. I could go on about rents, tourism impacts, etc. But yikes, we are supposed to be on holiday.

From Paros to Athens…

Views from inside some very old churches

And music is everywhere….

Oh, and painted walls greeted us at unexpected moments and places.

And we see the marble stoned trail again in Athens but in different settings. It’s in the streets now full of tourist shops with thousands upon thousands strolling and gazing to buy a remnant of their journey. Probably just like ancient times.

And it seems some came for spiritual reasons too. I read at one dilapidated historic site, “…they arrived and patiently waited… “to be cured by the gods in their dreams”. Wow, and we come now to see these ruins of dreams from an era gone by.

We saw the marble steps and pathways throughout the Acropolis. Again you wonder about the effort to create such things and how long they  have lasted, and the innate beauty.

And so we are glad we could visit the sites and origin of democracy. We have had time to explore and learn more than we probably bargained for. The wine, the food amazing. Our hosts and people who we met along the way so kind and thoughtful.

“You keep pushing yourself forward, you try new things and that’s invigorating.”

In honor of Robert Redford’s recent passing. (From CNN)

For more of Mark’s travel experiences, visit https://lifeintheclickstream.com/.