As I mentioned in a previous post, I made a pilgrimage to Athens a while back. More specifically, in July of 2024. I was at a point in my life when I finally felt like I could become the man I was meant to be. Like there were possibilities opening that I had long since stopped hoping for. But I was distracted with the stress and worries of the everyday. I needed to get away, far from it, so that I could think through the next steps in my life.
Athens, the city of the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, felt like the place to do that. The trip would also be an act of devotion, part of my practice as a modern Polytheist. So, I booked a solo trip and went to the Greek capital.
My visit started off pretty badly. Less than 24 hours after arriving in the city, I got robbed. I was now without the 400 euros I’d been carrying in cash. I was also without medication that I very much needed. Discouraged, humiliated and pissed off, I decided that I would leave Greece the same day.
But after calming down a bit, I realised that might be a bit rash. I went looking for a doctor for a prescription for my meds. It turned out to be a lot easier than expected and went smoothly online. Didn’t even need to meet a doc face-to-face and then I could pick up my medication at the nearest pharmacy.
With that taken care of, I could focus on the rest of my journey. With no more cash and little on my bank account, my choices were more limited than before. Luckily, I had pre-bought all the tickets for the activities I wanted to do, so I didn’t have to cancel them. I used the little money I had left to stock up on food at the nearest Lidl and decided to not let a bad start ruin the rest of my trip.
I’m glad I didn’t give up, because I had an amazing time the rest of the trip. I visited fascinating historical museums, among them the National Archeological Museum, The Museum of the Ancient Agora, and the Acropolis Museum. I also saw historical sites like Hadrian’s Library, the Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Kerameikos. The highlight of the trip was of course seeing the Acropolis and its Parthenon.
The view over Athens from the Acropolis is breathtaking and you can’t see the Parthenon with your own eyes without feeling a sense of awe. I find it hard to fully describe the experience, but standing in front of what was once one of the greatest temples of the Hellenic world is truly a fantastic experience. If you do only one thing when visiting Athens, then go see the Parthenon.
If there is one thing I would do differently, though, is that I would choose a different time of year to come visit. The heat, the blinding sun, the massive crowd of people all around… It was a bit overwhelming.
One place that had a lot less visitors was the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Almost no one was there at the time, despite the temple’s proximity to the Acropolis.
It was there, as I was walking around and admiring the little that’s left of a once great temple, that a sadness came over me. So many temples, all over the world, destroyed or abandoned in the name of ”the only true religion” (which one differs, ironically). Places once held to be sacred spaces are now, to most, only ruins. Perhaps interesting for their historical value, but not a place you come to meet and honour the Divine.
I decided then that I would remember to value sacred space, no matter how small, and that I would do my part, also no matter how small, to help create new ones. As the Polytheist revival takes speed, in places like Greece and Iceland, new temples and shrines are being built up. Maybe one day soon we’ll also have a temple here in Sweden too. I hope to help make that happen, somehow.
So, this was the first of two big lessons I took from my pilgrimage to Athens. What the other one is, I’ll write about in my next post.
Son Of Freya 