The ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus is under the protection of Athena, Dionysus, Zeus and Elton John. The first three – in their respective roles as patron gods of Athens, drama and the entire Hellenic world – have been overlooking this still magnificent theater at the foot of the Acropolis since its construction in 161 AD; Elton (acting as the god of comedy shows?) has been doing his part by performing concerts there since 2000, along with Placido Domingo, Sting and others. Open-air theaters made of thousand-year-old marble need some renovation. apparently maintenance, so the money raised worked; Zeus, for all his “protectiveness”, seems to have lost his checkbook in the last few thousand years.
If ancient, divine and Rocket Man If modernity bothers you, you’ll probably be avoiding this current television show: Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Croesus-budget Disney+ adaptation of Rick Riordan’s squillion-selling children’s books ends its first season tonight. In this movie, 12-year-old New Yorker Percy (short for Perseus) learns that he is the son of Poseidon, fights a minotaur, captures the golden fleece, and… actually, honestly, I stopped listening to my nine-year-old story. The old man’s constant explanations of intrigue somewhere after the first few months of his obsession. But I’m thinking of taking him and his almost equally curious 11-year-old brother to Crete (birthplace of Zeus, home of the original Minotaur) and Athens (birthplace of Dionysus, home of some excellent seafood restaurants; that is). I agreed. Who says everything has to be about the kids?).
Worried that their passion for Greek mythology might melt like the wings of Icarus when faced with a bunch of old rocks and a bunch of museums, I start with a kid-friendly Percy Jackson-themed tour from a company that specializes in this subject (greek mythology tours). com). Despite a degree in ancient Greek and archaeology, our guide Eva is anything but dusty plain: the television presenter captivates my sons with her energy level and genuine enthusiasm for books (their versions of gods and goddesses, she tells me). out of earshot, “very little changes from the original stories – they just say ‘flirting’ instead of ‘rape’”).
He also brings an iPad for each child, loaded with augmented reality software that places interactive elements wherever they point the camera. But today there’s no need for such magic: When our group passes through the massive, god-sized Propylaea gates and reaches the high plateau of the Acropolis, every eye widens and every hair stands at least a little on end.
The incidental music in our heads swells with excitement, followed by a cinematic moment that any director would be proud of; The October half-term sun shines through the columns of the roofless Parthenon.
Even kids hold their breath slightly at this first sight – I don’t know if it’s its age, the stories woven around it, or pure aesthetics, a timeless algebra of perfect proportion – and then (another classic trick from the cinematographer’s handbook) they realize it’s just that we will tell back They look at the door and we turn toward the grand front porch.
Eva further confuses the mind with a description of the 40ft gold and ivory statue of Athena that once stood here, gracefully waving off the British grimaces and half-sad apology smiles when discussing the subject. them missing marbles and points us to the nicest parts of the Acropolis Museum (an old eight-person public toilet and the comic book fists of Centauromakhi friezes – all bulging marble muscles and weapons that graphically morph into flesh).
The next day, we squeeze in a few more millennia: the majestic Temple of Olympian Zeus (it took 600 years to build), the Temple of Hephaestus (its interior and altar are still intact enough to spark the imagination), and the Panathenaic Stadium, home to the original Olympians. He competed naked in athletics. (“What do you think the winner’s prize was?” I asked, only to learn that it was an olive oil amphora. “Clothes?” the 11-year-old guessed.)
Likewise, at Sounion, a few miles outside Athens, where Aegeus committed suicide, he was stunned when his son Theseus returned after slaying the minotaur and forgot to raise the white sails symbolizing victory. We both learn the moral of the story, but while mine is “Sons should listen to what their fathers say”, I’m afraid his is “Theseus should WhatsApp”.
However, when the sun begins to set, it is impossible not to feel the mysterious magic of this place. The honey-toned Pentelic marble of the temple of Poseidon absorbs the pink glow of the sky, fading with the sunset through amber and peach, and then turning into a translucent moonlight-white. At the bottom of these deadly cliffs lies the Aegean itself, a sparkling infinity of blue, the first islands beckoning from the foggy distance – and we listen to them (and the siren song of the all-day ice cream parlour) as we head for Crete. the next day and to the resort of Malia Park in Crete.
This was supposed to be the kid-pleasing, sun, sea and pizza buffet part of the holiday. (In Athens, we stayed at the sophisticated New Hotel in the lively Plaka district.) But actually Crete Malia pulls off all those family-friendly features while also feeling like a charming little Greek island village. Rooms, pools and restaurants are scattered around beautiful Homeric gardens that back to a sugary Demerara beach, the air filled with the scent of oleander, tamarisk and pomegranate trees. We paddle in the calm waters of the temple; I get a massage with massage oil made of fig and olive oil, and it smells so good that I barely resist licking my arms; and we feast like Dionysus at every meal; Homemade thyme honey and yoghurt for breakfast, and garlic-herb lamb slow-roasted over an open fire for dinner.
I love the cozy bar and authentic-feeling restaurants; My kids love movie nights and milkshakes at the outdoor cinema surrounded by hammocks. However, not every child is this lucky. With the help of another wonderful expert operator (kidslovegreece.com), one day we take a 40-minute journey to the Cave of Zeus: the supposed birthplace and nursery of the father of the gods, but this is no soft play area. Down an Orphean-tall and steep staircase is a literal Hades of thunderous power rock pillars strong enough to support the roof of the Earth, where stalactites meet stalagmites to form a natural version of the columns of a temple.
Our guide says the stalactites grow by just 1 centimeter per century, and since some of the ones here are up to 20 meters long, they could easily predate humans. The nine-year-old’s jaw visibly relaxes.
A local mini-legend insists that the music of Crete’s ubiquitous tinkling goat bells was created to hide the location of Baby Zeus from his father, who wanted to kill him (we’ve all been there, right, dads?). This seems very strange until our guide takes us to the Passage of the Saints the next day; here the high walls of a dry valley amplify the ringing to the limit of deafness. We hike, rock climb, rappel, poke our noses into a small 14th-century church where the air is heavy with incense and dotted with sad-eyed Greek Orthodox icons—then the gorge suddenly opens up to widescreen, a perfect pebble beach and gold shaking from the shoulders of the sun god Apollo. the Libyan Sea glistening like dandruff.
Definitely Elysian is a location scout’s dream… which is more than can be said for Knossos in the north of Crete, which we visited on our last day. You’ll need a lot of CGI to recreate the Minotaur’s labyrinth from the ancient stones here – but according to our guide, you might as well not bother. He says the “labyrinth” in the legend simply refers to the multitude of rooms contained within the palace/warehouse/temple complex, pointing to repeated symbols carved into the rock to indicate its different functional areas, like different aisles in a supermarket. It’s not that magical when you think of it that way, but my kids love looking for the “hidden” signs: a double-headed Minoan ax artfully carved into the side of a doorway here, a trident etched into the bottom of a passage there.
It turns out then that – silly Hollywood ending alert – it was imagination rather than masterful effects that made the Percy Jackson stories and Greek myths come alive for my kids. Very sweet? Don’t worry, they’re not above using what they’ve learned for nefarious purposes. Late in the afternoon, the 11-year-old wants to eat something “real ancient Greek” and I get very excited – until earlier in the day, when our guide says B.C. mountains. He’s after ice cream, so he goes to the resort’s ice cream restaurant again. Never underestimate the inspiring, educational power of soft-scoop and television.
Fundamentals
Ed Grenby was a guest of the New Hotel in Athens (yeshotelsgr/newhotel); this hotel offers double rooms from £148 on a room-only basis; Cretan Malia Park (cretanmaliapark.gr), which offers triple accommodation from £136 including breakfast; Greek Mythology Tours (greekmythologytours.com); and Kids Love Greece (kidslovegreece.com). Multiple airlines fly to Crete and Athens, and there are plenty of flights and ferries between the two (try aegeanair.com or minoan.gr), so an “open-jawed” trip can be easily put together.