Original subtitles

'I suppose I'm in love with the idea of travel.'

(Look at that.)

'Wherever the white road winds, I'm after it.'

And this is literally endless!

'People often ask me my favourite place in the world,

and I like to reply "the next place I'm going to".'

That's extraordinary!

'Isn't the excitement of travelling and having an eye on new horizons

often as rewarding as the destination itself?'

Fantastic. Extraordinary journey.

'In this series,

I'm gathering my traveller's tales and retelling them,

bundled up with new detail and inside information,

and condensed into postcard form.'

I've got maps and travel books all over my study,

and I'm always looking at them

and always thinking of somewhere fascinating to visit

and somewhere extraordinary to explore.

But sometimes places that seem to be quite well-known and familiar to us

are absolutely fascinating to visit.

For instance, take Greece.

Take mainland Greece. Take Greece in its entirety.

Everybody thinks "but I know Greece".

I mean, we know a bit of Greece.

We know white buildings, little churches,

and the very blue sea, and the blue and white flag.

We know the Parthenon. Yeah, we know Greece.

But actually, even people who've been to Greece a lot,

even Greek people don't know all the extraordinary corners

and all the extraordinary things that country holds.

So I thought, let's go to Greece and let's do Greece properly.

But being me, I want access to all the places that you can't...

Access all areas is what I want. I want that badge.

And I want to get to places that other people can't get to.

You know, extraordinary places, frightening places, sacred places.

And so where better to start than Athens and the Acropolis?

'Today, a million people visit the Acropolis each year,

making it one of Greece's most popular tourist attractions.'

Fantastic. So many people.

So many tourists for this incredibly popular place.

'I got to tread where the tourists aren't allowed

and take you with me up close

to see how this wonder is being rebuilt.'

'It's an architectural masterpiece made up of 15,000 pieces

weighing 20,000 tonnes.

This is the largest ancient building created entirely from marble.'

It's always extraordinary to come to a building

that you know so well from pictures and drawings

and imitations around the world.

Just to come and stand in it and to be in this great temple.

Oh, look. Here's the person I've been longing to meet.

- Oh, Joanna! - Joanna. - How are you?

'Dr Ioannidou is in charge of the restoration project.

They have a huge task.

Each piece of original marble must be refitted

with new, freshly-sculpted pieces

to link together the ancient parts.'

- You do this every day. - Don't look down. Don't look down.

'The restorers working at these perilous heights

are involved in their most delicate project --

protecting the marble that has been ravaged by pollution

and previous botched restoration work.'

- Is this water? - Yes.

- Yeah. - Yes, it's water.

- To remove the dust. - Yes.

This is quite extraordinary because here we are

on one of the most colossal, monumental buildings in the world,

and look at the size of these tools that are being used,

like a dentist's pick.

- Yes, they are dentist's tools. - They are dentist's tools?

- They are dentist's tools. - Oh, look at this!

'The love and care that the modern Greeks

are lavishing on this matchless monument

are just what this glorious building deserves.

From the White House in Washington

to the Bank of England in the City of London,

its architecture has been slavishly copied --

a symbol of the importance of Greek culture throughout the world.'

Almost the greatest dread of my life is vertigo.

As a child, I once got stuck on a ladder

and my sister had to come and help me down.

I was about seven.

I got stuck and she had to move every finger and every foot

to take me down.

So coming up here, I felt that, quite frankly,

I was doing it for the viewers,

that's you, because I love you.

I suppose I'd sort of got in my mind --

why should I? But anyway, I did -- that Greece is beach holidays.

And I'd forgotten about the mountains,

and the extraordinary interior,

and, of course, the great myths and legends of ancient Greece.

What an extraordinary...

Most of our life is built on what Greece was.

But my next postcard isn't going to come from the Valley of the Muses

or even from the great Mount Olympus.

It's going to come from a little village,

where my gorgeous fixer, and guide, and friend, Elainy,

took me to an ancient fortune-telling festival.

Quite strange and... pretty vulgar.

So if you blush easily, look away now.

- Yasas. - Yasas.

- Yasas. - Yasas.

'On the village green, Elainy's introducing me

to some of the members of the local women's association

who've organised the fortune-telling festival.

- Including her mother.' - This is my mum, Ula.

- Ula. - Ula.

'Items which have been collected from all the women in the village

are placed in a pot of water, or klidonas.

Later on, each object will be drawn from the pot

and a poem or rhyme read out --

sometimes quite rude --

supposed to foretell the future of the owner.'

'As the sun goes down, the entire population of the village

gathers in eager anticipation

of what has become an annual entertainment.'

~

'Elainy's mother is vice-president of the women's association

and master of ceremonies.'

~

Is that mine?!

'It's very vulgar...'

It is mine.

'.. but this mixed crowd finds it funny and completely inoffensive.

The Greek sense of humour has much in common with Chaucer.'

~

Oh, my God! That's my mum!

Please, stop.

'Although the klidonas festival celebrated throughout the region

originates in the worship of ancient Greek gods,

today it seems to be more of an excuse for a party.'

'The garlands that decorated the village doors in May

are taken down, dry and dusty, at the end of the harvest

and thrown onto the bonfire

to symbolise the end of the farmers' year.'

- Whoa! - Whoa!

- Look how daring they are. - Yeah.

Whoa! Little boys!

'To ward off evil spirits and celebrate the future,

boys from the village leap the bonfire,

quite often singeing their hair and clothes.'

It's just strangely scary.

The idea of the lost shoe and the burnt trouser,

you know, everything.

We're going to put these on now. You come with me.

Just throw them into the fire.

- We have to jump. - You have to jump. OK, try it.

Take my hand.

Take my hand. One, two, three!

'Fortune-telling and predicting the future

are at the heart of Greek culture.

And not just teasing your neighbour with some rude rhymes.

Some of them were so rude. Honestly, I could feel myself --

in translation -- going crimson. Going... Shocked.

The old grannies were going "hee-hee!"

Thought it was fabulous.

We took a trip from fabulously modern Greece

to the ancient seat of the oracle.

This is Delphi.

And this is where the oracle lives.

And there's a huge resonance about this valley.

It's fantastic.

'It seems extraordinary that 100 years ago

this sacred site in the shadow of Mount Parnassus

was hidden from the world,

covered by 30ft of earth with a village built on top.

When the French excavated it, they were astonished

and delighted to find a ruined city of 3,000 statues,

monuments and temples.'

These steps would have been alive with pilgrims

plodding up their last, last weary way

at the end of this immense journey

to come to the place they'd been longing to see...

.. the Temple of Apollo.

'This is how the Temple of Apollo would have looked in ancient times.'

'The most important decisions in ancient Greek history

were made by the oracle,

who sat underground in the centre of the temple.

But scientists today have discovered that the site was built

on the top of an ancient fault line which emitted hallucinogenic gases.'

And look here! I've been told about this.

This is where the Delphic oracle...

had her tripod seat. The legs of the tripod were there.

So her seat... This was obviously that way round.

The seat was here. And here, in front,

is the hole through which the methane or ethanol gas

came hurtling out.

Anyway, some sort of mind-altering gas.

And she was sitting on here.

Some people say she was chewing daphne leaves.

Whatever it was, she was in a complete trance,

in a complete stewed state,

and so what people asked her... she was actually talking in tongues.

And, funnily enough, I've seen this up in the high hills of Hunza

in the Karakorams, where they inhale juniper smoke.

So people became high as kites and this prophetess,

this seer, this oracle was high as a kite

and couldn't even speak her own language.

She was just... "La-la-lao-ing" .. jibbering, jibbering,

and priests listened and interpreted.

And people came and said, "Should we go to war?"

"Is this a wise thing to do?" "Should I get married?"

"Should our countries separate?" "Should we fight with this city?"

And the oracle would... "La-la-lao"

.. and the priests would interpret it.

So the priests were terribly important and influential.

But the oracle was the thing.

She was always a woman over 50 and she was called Pythia.

Pythia, named after the python which it's thought Apollo slew.

I know this sounds complicated, but it's absolutely fascinating

when you can get your head round it, which I almost have.

I'll just take a whiff of this,

then I could probably speak to you in tongues.

I can't tell you how thrilling it is to visit a place

that you've known about since your childhood.

I remember reading about the Delphic oracle

when I was still at school.

And then to go to Delphi and to see it positioned

up on the side of this huge, steep gorge

which leads down to the sea. And then, from the sea,

if you're a pilgrim or somebody petitioning --

"Should I go to war?" "Should I leave my wife?"

"Should I buy an ox?" --

you would see these temples right up there amongst the gods

and you would know that your prayers might be answered.

Next, a postcard from someone I would call a Greek goddess...

and me on a stairway to heaven.

♪ Till the white rose blooms again...

Do you know that voice?

Do you know who that is?

That's Nana Mouskouri singing in 1967.

She was astonishing. I saw her on television when I was a child,

and I was so taken with her long, shiny, dark hair

and great, dark, horn-rimmed glasses which were quite unfashionable.

And she was just incredible. She had this voice of an angel.

And she went on to become the biggest --

not one of -- the biggest female singing star of all time.

She made over 200 records

and she sang in ten different languages.

She was truly a global superstar.

But the one place she'd never sung, and where she longed to,

was the ancient theatre of Epidaurus,

which the Greeks called Epidavros.

Oh, look at this!

Isn't that wonderful?

'Epidavros was built in the fourth century BC

to honour the god of healing, Asclepius, son of Apollo.

It was a sanctuary to cure the sick,

and for the Greeks, theatre was part of the medicine.

There were comedies, singing contests

and great tragic plays.

You can be heard all over the auditorium

by an audience of 15,000,

especially if you stand bang in the middle of the stage.'

- Have you sung here? - No. - No?

No, I haven't had this... this honour, really.

It's the dream of every... I think, of every singer.

'Trained as a classical singer,

the young Nana was cast to sing in the chorus of an opera here,

but at the last moment, she was dismissed

simply because she was considered to be a pop star.'

The acoustics are so special. Can we test them?

You don't think you'd sing?

- Should I try? - Will you please try? - OK.

- Nana, will you...? - I'll try. I don't know what to do.

I did not rehearse, I did not...

But it's a pleasure. Yes, I will do it.

- Miss Mouskouri, this is your five-minute call. - OK.

'I should be able to hear Nana perfectly

right up at the back, 200ft away.

The shape of the theatre and the use of limestone rock

reflect the sound perfectly.'

So, Joanna, I'm on the right spot.

- Can you hear me? - I can hear you, Nana!

♪ Ave Maria

♪ Gratia plena

♪ Maria gratia plena

♪ Maria gratia plena...

I first saw Nana Mouskouri when I was in my teens, I suppose.

I mean, I didn't see...

And it's just so odd, as life goes by, that you...

you get to meet some of these great gods.

♪ Maria ♪

Bravo, Nana!

~

What's extraordinary about any rehearsal or any orchestra...

Well, that was something, to be in Epidavros

and to hear Nana Mouskouri singing...

.. for a tiny house on a Monday evening,

but... just sort of in the lap of the gods.

When you're making a film series like this,

you have to arrange to meet people,

important people like Nana Mouskouri.

And actually, we always try to plan

to see who we're going to speak to next.

We went down to the Mani peninsula

to speak to a young man who lived in an abandoned village.

But when we got there, not only was the village abandoned,

he'd abandoned the village. He'd gone to Athens to do something.

I don't know, go to a nightclub or something.

We went, "Who should we talk to?" Just at that moment,

we saw Kyria Antonia, walking by the roadside,

a very little old woman. She was his mother!

So we said, "Let's talk to her. Let's talk to Kyria Antonia."

- Yasas. - Yasas.

- ~ - ~

It's a dead end.

And so no cafe or anything? Nowhere we can get a cup of coffee,

or stop, or eat something?

~

But she just invited us.

- We can have a coffee at her house. - Oh, that would be wonderful!

~

Tell me, what is it like in the winter here?

It must be very cold. There's no...

What does...? What does she live on?

~

Mm!

Very strong, beautiful...

.. aromatic...

'Oh, well. I'm not fussy.

Kyria Antonia lives a solitary life in this abandoned village.

The village is empty, not because of the blood feuds which erupted here,

but because of urbanisation.

Everybody simply moved away.

And Kyria lives this solitary, brave, fearless existence.

I couldn't do it.'

Gosh, what slim pickings!

Looking for little strands of wild asparagus.

- I pick? - Hm! - Yeah?

~

That one? This one, oh.

Wild asparagus.

Kyria obviously has got a much sharper eye

cos she can see exactly what she's looking for.

And erm... I just hope that we get enough together

so we can have a little supper, which she's promised to cook me.

~

'The wild asparagus is cooked in the simplest possible way --

boiled for ten minutes in water, a little bit of salt,

and then it's almost ready to serve,

except for one last vital ingredient.'

Lemons as sweet as oranges.

Huge, beautiful lemons.

- ~ - Mm!

- ~ - Mm!

It's absolutely beautiful.

Kyria, why do you still stay here when there's nobody here?

~

Kyria, would you ever like to live in a city?

Did you like it?

Kyria, do you get lonely here?

Well, that was remote.

But the next place we went to was honestly out of Game Of Thrones.

You come around the corner, you begin to see them, and you go,

"Oh, what is this?!" These are places so unbelievable.

You can't really climb up them. You have to...

Food is taken up in baskets.

They've got no water, they've got no electricity.

What?! What are they doing?

It was actually fabulous.

'Just when I thought Greece couldn't be any more surprising

we come across one of the most extraordinary places

in the country.'

'These incredible rock formations were made by river sediment

when the area was underwater millions of years ago.

Weathering by water, wind and extremes of temperature

then moulded them into the kind of bizarre shapes we see today.

In the 14th century, Christian monks fled into the hills

to avoid persecution from the Turks.

They built 24 monasteries on top of these phenomenal rocks.

And everything -- monks, materials and supplies --

had to be winched up on ropes.

I've travelled pretty widely, but I don't think I've ever been to

a more extraordinary place than this.

I can't think of a better place

to end my fantastic journey through this country.'

Do you wish you were here? Then go!

Join me next time for more postcards from my travels.