Photo Essay: Two Days in Athens

Day 1: Perla docked at Piraeus, the port for Athens and we were transported to our hotel, the Divani Palace Acropolis. We rode the bus in the rain and heavy traffic into Athens. Later a taxi driver would describe Athens as a big city with big problems. Both he and our guide warned us about taxis trying to con us. We heard of some charging unsuspecting tourists €100 for a €22 ride to the airport.

The Divani was nice, but not as nice as the Conrad. We were deposited in room 714 on the top floor. What to do with the rest of the day?

Why not do something different and go sightseeing. We started walking through the Plaka toward the Parliament building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to witness the changing of the guard. The évzones were wearing khaki instead of the cute little white outfit you see in all the pictures, but they were impressive none the less. As we walked along the side of the Parliament on our way to Lycabettus Hill we passed a guard post with a sergeant who could stop traffic. After a few blocks we began our ascent of the highest hill in Athens. Half way up we began to climb the 191 steps (give or take a few) that would bring us to the funicular, an underground cable car that brought you the rest of the way up unless you wanted to take even more steps. We didn’t. The view at the top would have been spectacular if it wasn’t such a smoggy, rainy day. We descended the same way we came up.

We hiked to the National Archaeological Museum to view more really old stuff. The museum held lots of Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Myceneae sculpture, bronze, gold, you name it and they even let you take nonflash photos. We had walked enough and took a taxi back to the Divani. He didn’t over charge us.

That evening we took another taxi into the somewhat seedy Psyrri section of Athens where the flea market is. The cab driver was wondering why we wanted to go there and once we began walking so did we. We eventually made it to the Central market just as it was closing down. By accident we ended up on trendy Aiolou Street where we stopped for an Ouzo at a sidewalk table belonging to the Diorofo Bar and Restaurant with a view of the Acropolis. Refreshed, we started to look for a place to eat. As we turned onto Ermou Street we spotted a dog on a leash and when over to say hello. Almost immediately a man appeared and struck up a conversation. No, the dog wasn’t his, but he had one he showed us pictures of. He asked us what we were up to and when we said dinner he took us to a place he recommended on Pandrosou Street across from the Mitrópoli, the relatively new cathedral that is presently being renovated.

It served good Moussaka (a casserole of eggplant, cheese and other stuff) and Dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice), but I wished the shimp hadn’t arrived with their heads still giving me the evil eye.

It was time to head back and call it a day. We turned down a taxi ride when we found out he wanted to charge us €32 for what should have been at most a €3 ride. We walked instead.

Day 2: The Acropolis awaited and our guide, Sofia, began the tour with a stop at Panathinaikon Stadion built in 1896 for the first modern Olympics. The bus rumbled through the city streets as Sofia pointed out this building and that building...and oh yes that one over there, all leading eventually to the Acropolis. We began our hike up past the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, past the knoll where Paul preached (he did get around), past Propylaia, past the Erechtheion, to the mother of all Greek ruins, the Parthenon.

The Turks had stored gunpowder in it and the Venetians lobbed a shell into it turning it into lots of pieces that archaeologists are presently busy trying to put back together. We wandered over to the museum to get a look at four of the six Caryatids, columns shaped like babes that held up a wing of the Erechtheion. You might say the girls kept the Erechtheion erect. And where are the other two babes you ask? Well one is in the workshop getting buff while the other is still stuck in a British museum because the Brits stole her fair and square and won’t give her back. But enough of this nit picking we still needed to walk back down to the ancient Agora.

The walk down brought us past some fine examples of Greek graffiti and the church of the Holy Apostles to the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos. From the Agora it was a short walk to the Kerameikos Cemetery where we took pictures of the stele.

The Kodak moment (sorry Fuji) over, we wandered down to Plateia Monasttirakiou for a much needed taxi ride back to the Divani where we took some down time before venturing back out on the streets looking for dinner. On the way Sue and I stopped and waited for the sun to set on what’s left of the Temple of Olympian Zeus to produce our desired Kodac moments. Then we ambled into the Plaka in search of our repast. Up and down Kydathinaion and Thespidos Streets we matriculated until we finally decided on the Sikinos Café Restaurant where we all tried their homemade red wine. It was time to try to get some rest. We would need to catch a 4:30 AM taxi ride to the airport and our 6:50 AM flight on Air France.