My Bahá'í Pilgrimage During a Crazy Global Pandemic
March 6, 2020
Post 10: The High City
[Post 9] [Post 11]
When I woke up, my stomach was in knots. It was time to call the pilgrimage office in Haifa to find out if we could join the next pilgrimage group. We had come so far and rearranged so much to enter the holy land. I prayed that we wouldn’t be turned back now.
Dad, Katie, and I all convened in the living room of our Airbnb while Travis bravely made the call in the other room. We waited, listening to the grumble of the coffee maker and construction next door. I nervously nibbled a biscotti.
Travis emerged from the room with a grin. “They let us join the next group! We’re still going on pilgrimage!” he announced.
Yay!!! There were cheers and hugs all around. We were so overjoyed that we would make it to Haifa after all!
This would mean that we would have to stay in Greece another 12 days in order to enter Israel, due to COVID restrictions for people who had traveled to Switzerland in the past two weeks. It was fairly inexpensive to stay in Athens, so we believed we could swing it if we didn’t go on any spending sprees.
Now the main question was: what would we do?
At that moment, Katie got a text from our Airbnb host. She gasped. “The Acropolis is free today! Apparently it’s a regional holiday!” (It was Melina Mercouri Remembrance Day; she was the first woman to become the Minister for Culture in Greece.)
Well—that answered that! We jumped in a taxi and headed to the crown jewel of Athens.
Many plays were performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus theater. I could imagine a toga-wearing Travis owning that stage. He’s very theatrical.
There were cats everywhere! They were like regal guardians of the ruins.
As we climbed the stone steps to the ancient city, it felt surreal to be approaching one of the most famous historical sites in the world. And a little treacherous—the stones were unexpectedly slippery from being walked on for over 2,500 years, lol. I nearly bit the archaic dust several times in my flat-soled sneakers. If you go, I would advise stepping carefully and wearing shoes with good traction.
Anyway, :) the Acropolis is a collection of temples atop a mountain that overlooks Athens—“acropolis” means “high city” in Greek. I could see why the ancient Greeks built up here; the views of the city and sparkling sea were breathtaking.
I wonder what this view looked like a thousand years ago?
The temples were a sight to see, too. The main temple, called the Parthenon, was dedicated to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and civilization, who was believed to protect Athens. Its proud marble pillars stood like a beautiful grove of fossilized tree trunks. Katie and I were so moved by its beauty that we started waltzing in front of it.
The Parthenon is made up of 22,000 tons of marble, which is about the weight of 733 humpback whales! And all that marvelous marble was collected by hand and transported with horse-drawn carts from a mountain that’s 10 miles away!
I wondered what Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, had thought of this place. He had been a wise man who believed in only one God, which was unusual for a time when many gods and goddesses were worshipped. That was ultimately why Socrates was thrown in jail and killed, too. Bahá'u'lláh praised Socrates, saying, “He practiced self-denial, repressed his appetites for selfish desires and turned away from material pleasures. He withdrew to the mountains where he dwelt in a cave. He dissuaded men from worshipping idols and taught them the way of God, the Lord of Mercy, until the ignorant rose up against him.”
It reminded me of the Bahá'ís, how they were martyred and are still being unjustly imprisoned in Iran to this day. How mystifying that we ended up here, where Socrates lived, and the heart of Western civilization began to beat.
“It’s crazy to think that the holy land is just waves away,” said Travis, gazing across the cyan sea. I smiled, and imagined the Shrine of the Báb glowing like a beacon on the horizon.
As we explored the resilient ruins, I couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t as many tourists as I expected up here. From what I’ve heard, the Acropolis is normally jam-packed. COVID must be the culprit yet again. Dad said that the cases were climbing in Athens, slowly but surely…
I tried not to think about that, though. Instead, I sat on a marble boulder, listened to the rustle of the cool breeze in the cypress trees, and did what Socrates was known for: contemplating life. I was feeling pretty travel-worn at this point, but SO thankful that we that were still going on pilgrimage.
And day after tomorrow, we would be meeting some of the Bahá'í youth in Athens! Travis had been arranging it all week, and now we were set to meet them at the Athens Bahá'í Center. We had heard inspiring stories of their community-building activities in the city. I couldn’t wait to meet them. :)
Another fabulous day in Athens.
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