Not long ago we met E. Gardner Hays who was a student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
In that postcard story, Gardner had received a postcard from his Aunt Sara who sent a picture of the Boatmen at Jaffa.
In January of 1925, young Mr. Hays received a postcard from his mother.
The postcard was mailed from Athens, the capital city of Greece and the birthplace of classical art, drama, and philosophy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens
The face of the postcard is an uncolored photograph of the Parthenon, the most easily-recognized symbol of Greece and of the city whose experiments in democratic rule reverberated for two millennia.
Erected in the Fifth Century BC, the beautiful structure reflects the classical “Golden Age”.
The photograph focuses on the Parthenon alone – there is no pictorial context which would include the other ruined structures of the Acropolis or the bustling and expansive modern city that surrounds the site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon
Although the postcard was published in Greece, I believe that it was mailed from another Mediterranean place – most likely Turkey (the postage stamp features a crescent and star).
It is possible that this postcard represents the same trip that was memorialized by Aunt Sara – but the earlier postmark was too damaged to discern the date.
+ + + + + + + + +
On the reverse, Mother begins her message with a lament, “Oh that you had been with me yesterday when we visited Athens to tell me all the Greek history that I wanted to know”.
If, in fact, Gardner had received a proper Prep School education -he was likely to have known a fair amount of Greek history.
The party of which Mother was a part did have a Greek professor as a guide, but the visit to Athens seems to have been a one-day event.
Mother seems to be quite active; she offers, “perhaps I will have time to write a letter to-night”.
One hope that Mother continued to enjoy her tour of the Mediterranean, that she learned many interesting things from her travel, and that she found time to compose a letter to her son.

