mahendra’s greece
In October 2020, a ruptured muscle fibre in my left thigh left me recovering. According to the doctors swimming offered the best means of recuperation. I love to swim in the Walchensee, the lake close by my apartment, but it does get quite cold, even in summer. Where else might I go, to swim and do some light hiking so my muscle could heal up?
Greece sounded appealing. Not only was it close enough to avoid flying long-distance to Asia or America during the Covid days, but it also combined the promise of abundant natural beauty – spectacular mountains and delightful beaches – with a rich cultural heritage. I love to visit and study such places.
My initial trip took me to the area of Mt Olympus and to the monasteries of Meteora. It left me hungry for more.
The following spring, I returned to Greece for six weeks, this time to the area of Kalamata, which is situated on the famous southern part of the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese. I started to explore the nearby Taygetos mountains, with their lush green valleys and ragged and barren peaks. I found this area so enjoyable that I returned in October and stayed for another six months, allowing me to immerse myself in the natural and cultural beauties of the region.
My explorations of Greece continued in spring and autumn 2023. This time, I was systematically searching for historical locations, further expanding my view on the evolution of human culture in Greece. The more I saw, the more I understood that the story that Greece has to tell is outstanding. 5000 years of human history have been preserved in countless ancient buildings, artefacts, written documents, and oral tradition – like nowhere else in the world. Scientists from around the world have done amazing work to reconstruct life as it was then. Today, the past can be seen, heard, and touched at many of the ancient sites. For me, the impressions from the single sites are added to each other to form a larger picture, growing slowly like a huge puzzle. The backbone of this larger picture is the timeline, which serves as an introduction and reference for the visited sites shown in the photo stories.