Delphi
Once I had a dream.
I was at the top of a mountain and looked down. Greek women in white dresses were dancing in a circle. Sunlight and serene air. Out-of-this world rapture.
Suddenly the scene changed. A gigantic cliff started to crumble. The screams at its foot echoed through the crag. Then I woke up.
Years later I came across a picture of Delphi in a guide book: the ruins of the Athena Temple. There had been no ruins in my dream, but I knew this was the place, Delphi. So I took a plane to a country I had never been to before.
My dream proved to be true.
I climbed towards the olive tree on the small hill in the Athena Temple Sanctuary. My heart was beating fast. I looked down at the ruins and there it was: the place in my dream where the Greek women had been dancing.
I turned around and there was the cliff: the gigantic cliff of Mount Parnassus, with the Apollo Temple at its foot. All exactly as in my dream.
In the information center I saw photographs of the excavations of the Apollo Temple. There were earthquakes in ancient times. In the house of Sikelianos, a poet who had organized the Delphic Festival, I saw the white dresses on display.
Magnificent mountains, the valley of olive trees, the blue sea beyond. On a terrace with a glass of beer at hand, another me whom I had never met before, cried with joy.
I was at the top of a mountain and looked down. Greek women in white dresses were dancing in a circle. Sunlight and serene air. Out-of-this world rapture.
Suddenly the scene changed. A gigantic cliff started to crumble. The screams at its foot echoed through the crag. Then I woke up.
Years later I came across a picture of Delphi in a guide book: the ruins of the Athena Temple. There had been no ruins in my dream, but I knew this was the place, Delphi. So I took a plane to a country I had never been to before.
My dream proved to be true.
I climbed towards the olive tree on the small hill in the Athena Temple Sanctuary. My heart was beating fast. I looked down at the ruins and there it was: the place in my dream where the Greek women had been dancing.
I turned around and there was the cliff: the gigantic cliff of Mount Parnassus, with the Apollo Temple at its foot. All exactly as in my dream.
In the information center I saw photographs of the excavations of the Apollo Temple. There were earthquakes in ancient times. In the house of Sikelianos, a poet who had organized the Delphic Festival, I saw the white dresses on display.
Magnificent mountains, the valley of olive trees, the blue sea beyond. On a terrace with a glass of beer at hand, another me whom I had never met before, cried with joy.