Athens v Lisbon

 

A chance quote from a movie I watched recently  made me think a little about the power of memory, and that thing we sometimes call ‘nostalgia' ( the Portuguese word ‘saudade’ expresses it way better). It was ‘Night Train to Lisbon” (2013) - a story which was set during the time of the fascist dictatorship in Portugal. In the film the character says :

“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place. We stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there. We travel to ourselves when we go to a place.”

So it set me thinking about the two cities we have lived in during our last 20 years. How have they touched us? What have we left behind of ourselves in each? So here’s a wee comparison I’ve try to make. It will be highly subjective, of course, and in fact, it’s hardly even fair to compare the two, as we’ve lived in Athens only one year, whereas we had twelve years in Lisbon.

Antiquity - let’s start with the trick question - which one is older? Athens obviously, and yet, as capital cities, Athens only became Greece’s new capital as late as 1834 following independence from the Ottomans, whereas Lisbon has been the capital of Portugal since 1255. Whatever the case, when you walk about in either city, there is such a sense of history - Lisbon, perhaps more laidback and calm, Athens more brash and chaotic.

Flavours - Ah! Souvlaki! Feta cheese! Greek salad! There is a distinct sense of having shifted eastward through migrating from Portugal to Greece, and to be nearer the flavours of Middle East and Asia. But we won’t forget Lisbon’s annual sardine festival every June!

The Sea - Now there’s something important for me. To be within an hours drive of the ocean. Athens has its tranquil Aegean coastline, whereas the full on Atlantic waves of the ocean at the western end of Europe was always an exhilarating experience.

Sounds - Guitarra Portuguesa v Greek Bouzouki. The music of each city kind of goes along with the sea. Portugal’s 'fado' carries with it both the hopes and the pain of the angry sea and the lives it claimed - fishermen and mariners. There’s an uncanny similarity in the melancholic strains of the ‘rebetiko’ music of the bars of Athens, though there the pain it expresses is more from the experiences of war and violence and oppression. 

Painful histories - Each place carries a certain pain in its collective memories, but here I find the biggest contrast. Whereas Lisbon has suffered little disruption over the centuries from outside threats, Athens has experienced wave upon wave of painful violent histories - the Ottomans, the Nazis, with civil war, with economic disaster, with mass immigration, and on it goes. 

 

Finally, Jesus  - In both places where we’ve lived, we have seen the richness of the presence of Jesus bringing his unique healing power and peace. In Lisbon, two small Portuguese Churches that began since we first arrived continue to mature, and the beautiful downtown fellowship of Nepali immigrants which we watched God develop is also growing. Now, in Athens, together with wonderful Greek Christians we have come to know, we see many opportunities, to continue to bring that peace and healing

To the team of colleagues we left behind in Portugal (top picture) - wonderful memories, amazing people, resilient, generous, committed - and to our newly forming team ECM Greece, with whom we now belong, we wish God's richest blessing. It's a joy to live and serve alongside you and to recognise the reality of Jesus in each of your lives.