This summer, I left our beloved Barcelona to delve into the culture of another place. I decided to scurry over to our neighbouring country, Greece. Mostly because I was particularly interested in how they lived, what they may have inherited from the classic antiquity and what implications that had on their wellbeing. In other words, what could I learn about living well from the Greeks?

My first stop was Crete and low and behold I was offered a hitch ride from the airport. As I jumped in the car, I couldn’t help notice the Grecian flag that my driver had posted to her dashboard. My very first impression was “fancy that, a white cross written all over one of their most important national symbols.” Of course, it came to light that I was remembering the light of Christ, so we were off to a good start.

The rest of the month on the cosy island of Crete followed suit. I happened to learn all about Hippocrates and the natural remedies he left behind  (olive oil, beeswax, propolis, selvia, chamomile, rosemary, dictamo and chiosmastics),  the snake Goddess who’s figure has been known to  represent fertility, the ancient baths that are still in good use, the olives that are grown and used abundantly in their soaps and cosmetics (btw here’s our own version) and the Cretan folk that are equally as giving. What I was swallowing was a taste of what I may call, “we are all in it together.” For that I felt I should commend our friends from Crete for their generous and hospitable nature.

My next port of call was Athens. With my feta salad in tow, I found myself being very kindly directed from the port of Piraeus, to the ancient museum that the Athena’s call the Acropolis. I might as well mention that while I was there I connected directly to the ancient Greek God’s. The figure I felt especially present was Apollo.  Although I can put aside his seemingly unhappy love affairs,  what I can’t put aside is how amazed I was by his generous myths and tales that teach us of music, art, knowledge, healing, prophecy and poetry. In light of the Greek’s achievements in this department,  I concluded that their golden souls were pretty impressive in the end. It was for that, I felt inspired to drop by and pick up some handmade Greek sandals from the Poet sandal maker of Athens  himself.  His faith and celebration of art,  and by that I would say life itself, inspired me some more.

So what I impulsively did next was scoot over to an island that is know to home some of the longest living people of the world. The ingenuity of Ikaria, an island that has attracted it’s blue zone status, is one of the most spectacular I’ve seen. For that, it was no coincidence that I stayed around to discover why. What I first began to notice was how my neighbours living above the temple of the Goddess Artemis (God of nature and hunting) were of a particular elk. Their communal and hospitable nature, independent thanksgiving and humorous story telling skills were something of a basic supplement for a fulfilling life. Although they weren’t so shy about their admirable lifestyle, I, myself have a good nose for sniffing out the good life so nothing went unnoticed. 

From their open minds and hearts to their generous sources of healing honey and herbal ice cream, to their artistic craftsmanship and their ability to host a tremendous party (a panigiri), the Ikarian’s seemingly have no qualms with accepting life as it were given aplenty. Then, it would bore you if I began to tell you of the islands natural and geographical wonders that would weave themselves through my nighttime visions on the veranda, so I’ll leave you with a nugget from my 96 year old neighbour instead.

He’d just dropped by to bring me a bottle of his homemade wine when he began to talk with a serious air. “Ikarian’s are masters at living between the forces of life and work. Our houses are only just big enough to house all our needs and our garden is not too big to loose all our powers in. We don’t get tired and old because we don’t overdo it. We keep moving, but at our own pace.” He smiled with a light grin.

It made absolute sense of course, so after our chat about longevity, amongst the apple pie and coffee we devoured together, he forewarned me. “You’ll feel ten years younger after drinking that wine. I used a recipe from the God Dionysus; it brings comfort and joy.’ He said through his whitewashed teeth.

With that, we greeted each other with a Grecian “yasou” (good health) as he turned to follow the long winding dust path all the way back to his small stone house.

I can’t tell you what that really meant to me in it’s truest sense because the words don’t find themselves the justice. But in a nutshell, what I learnt from the Greeks was health/life and acceptance. There really isn’t anything more than what it is. Time is just a matter of discourse, wine is just a matter of love and life is just a matter of accepting it in abundance. And as the ancient Greeks would say, the gymnasium is there to train the mind and body together.

So if you don’t ‘mind’, I will go and rest in peace.

I wish you health, wealth and happiness.

Anneka, On behalf of Farmacia Barcelona