Wandering the streets

We had nothing to do today because we had already seen everything that Athens had to offer.


HAHAHAHAHAHA!!


Seriously, there is no way you could see everything there is to see in this place so you have to draw a line somewhere or you will go mad. So, the line was drawn and we decided that we had seen what we had set out to see and we were content.


Except we hadn't actually seen the Roman Agora.

Upon looking at the pictures in the guide books and pamphlets that were left in our apartment, we realised that Hadrian's library and the Roman Agora were two separate ruins. Doh!
With that back on the list we went back to the Monastraki area to find the Roman Agora.

Its mostly various piles of rocks with the notable exception of the Tower of the Winds (Horologion of Kyrrhestos). Its an octagonal tower with a representation of the personification of various winds. There used to be a bronze weather-vane at the top to let you know who was blowing at any given time. Inside was a water clock which was operated from water running down the Acropolis.
 

Next to it was a public latrine - not much left of it but its good to know they thought of such things. The Romans built this agora in the 1st c BC to try to move the commercial centre away from the Ancient Agora. Sadly, I didn't see any turtles, but there were a couple of cute kitties!

 

This was our last day in Athens proper. Tomorrow we are heading to Delphi on a day trip and then we leave on a 5am flight to Santorini!

So much walking, so much to see

Holy guacamole...or should I say holy tzatziki! We walked so much yesterday, but really it didn't seem so. 

Today the plan is to visit the Monstraki area, which allegedly is the Soho of Athens. There also are some more ruins (surprise!) that we will visit.

As I said in my first post, we are located behind the acropolis, actually we are behind a hill, behind the acropolis. This hill is called Filopappou hill and surprise, surprise, there are ruins up there. It seemed like the perfect place to begin.

View from the top

It's a nice forested walk to the top of the hill. It meanders nicely so that you're not just walking up a hill. At the top the view is spectacular - oh, yeah and there's the funerary monument of Gaius Juluis Antiochus Philopappus some Greek dude who was big in Rome in the first century BC. The view was the real winner here with Athens sprawling on all sides, the Mediterranean sparkling just beyond the city and of course the crowning jewel of Athens just there in front of us: the Acropolis and its wondrous architectural masterpieces.


As we started to make our way down I saw something quite bizarre. A turtle. He was just wandering along minding his own...in the middle of a massive city. WTF? Was this someone's pet that they had released? What the hell was a turtle doing here? He didn't seem overly concerned though and went on his merry way. As did we. 

We made out way back down the hill towards the Monastraki area of Athens which is found on the other side of the Acropolis.


There was a light intermittent drizzle so we decided to stop for a coffee at a local cafe. Now, I don't usually drink coffee, but thought what the hell, lets have a Greek coffee. In fact, make it a double. Geez those things are so thick I almost had to chew it!


We wandered around Monstraki for a little while, it's full of little shops, and market stalls from army surplus to ''antiques''.
Within the Monastraki area is the Roman Agora (not to be confused with the Ancient Agora that we visited on our 2nd day).


When we arrived at the Roman Agora, there was a street dog wandering just inside the gate. He was rather large and quite furry - Malamute furry although not quite that big. I held out my hand so that he could smell me and made some encouraging noises so that he would want to come over to say hello (which he did). So here I am giving back of ear scratches to this lovely fellow when I hear from behind, ''Eww I can you believe she dares touch that THING'' It was a young man (he was speaking French), it pissed me off that he referred to this beautiful creature as a thing so I responded, ''Yes I dare. He's a very nice boy, who just wants a bit of attention.'' The young man then just said that he was afraid of dogs. hmph. My new furry friend was glad to get some lovin', and I was happy to comply.


The Roman Agora is much, much smaller than it's Greek counterpart, and was built between 11 and 19 BC. The biggest building there is Hadrian's library,built in 132 AD by, you guessed it, the Roman emperor Hadrian - of the famed Hadrian's wall in England/Scotland. This fella got around.

As I was taking photos in this place I saw another small wonder: another turtle. What the? Ok I had to find out. I went to see the lady who was making sure no one sat on the priceless ruins and I told her that there was a turtle wandering there. She laughed and said, ''Oh, yes! We have just one turtle here. At the Ancient Agora they have many.'' HUH? Apparently turtles are a fairly common thing here. Who knew! I thought they needed water to swim in and such but apparently they get their water content from the plants they eat. Turtles: today's favourite find.

There were also some great bits of mosaics. They are so intricate and colourful, it's hard to believe that they are almost 2000 years old.

After that we headed up town to another hill called Lycabettus hill. Allegedly there was a cable car that could bring you to the top. Who can say no to a cable car?
We stopped at the National Library to have a look (ok we stopped to use the bathroom), and it was so beautiful. We were only allowed just inside the door of the reading room and no photos were permitted, but wow. It has a glass roof and four stories of floor to ceiling books only along it's walls. In the middle it's the reading room and just on the ground floor. I wish I could have gone in there to have a look at all the books, but we had a hill to climb.


It was hot and sunny and humid by this point in the day. We made our way slowly up and up through a very fancy neighbourhood, towards this hill and it's wonderful cable car that would bear us effortlessly to the top. 
Turns out there is no cable car. It's all a big lie.
But we persisted and walked to the top anyway. Once there, we found a bunch of very tired, very hot people all trying to cram into any small space of shade they could find. The views would have been spectacular but because it was so humid there was a haze in the air.

By the time we made our way back down to earth we were ravenous. We caught our bus back to our neighbourhood so that we could make it back home fast for dinner. We were absolutely knackered.

The Museum

Is it Poseidon or Zeus?
They can't decide

My fav of the day

I know, you're saying, ''the whole bloody town is a museum!'' Be that as it may, they say that the National Archeological Museum is spectacular. And they're not wrong.

I'm not going to go into great detail about our visit (I'm sure you're relieved). It was truly magnificent but after about 5 hours we still had not seen everything, and our legs and empty stomachs could not bear it any longer.

On the way to get a bite, we happened to be passing by the Parliament building during the changing of the guard.

He has a superb moustache

Every hour, on the hour the two Evzones (special presidential guards), are replaced with two fresh guards. Like most of their contemporaries around the world they stand perfectly still without expression. Not an easy feat when you have people taking pictures with you every moment you're there. Evzone means ''well-belted'' a saying that hails from Homer's time. Basically it means a well dressed. The two guards are protecting the tomb of the unknown soldier. They wear the traditional uniform of the mountain guerrillas that resisted Turkish rule. The skirt/kilt is called a fustanella and it has 400 pleats and it takes 80 days to make. There are only 10 people who ever know how to make them. The guards' shoes each have 60 hobnails in their soles and have massive pompoms on top that each weigh 1.5 kgs. They also wear woollen stockings. I don't know how these guys didn't pass out. It was sweltering. There's also another soldier there making sure that people don't get too close to or touch the guards. He's also there to get people out of the way when they change the guard because those boys don't stop for anyone - they will walk all over you with their hobnail shoes.

After a quick bite, we went off to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, one of the largest temples of the ancient world. It was 110m in length had 104 columns (Corinthian, in case you're wondering) of which 15 still stand.

It is HUGE. It took over 700 years to build, mostly due to lack of funds. It was started in the 6th century BC but wasn't completed until the emperor Hadrian took up the project and finished it in 131 AD. He put a colossal statue of Zeus in it upon completion, and then proceeded to put an equally big one of himself beside it! Classy. Neither of those statues are there today.

Corinth, Mycenea and Epidaurus

Today we took a tour bus to the Peloponnese areas of Mycenae, and Epidaurus, passing through the Corinth Canal.


The isthmus of Corinth separates main land Greece from Peloponnese, now that there's a canal technically the Peloponnese area is now an island. I bet the ancient Athenians would have appreciated that.
You always think that seeing a canal will be impressive and cool, incredible - feats of engineering...blah,blah,blah...This one looked like a really big trench. Actually, it's too narrow for most modern boats (used for trade transport) so it's useless in that capacity these day and is only used for ferrying tourists.


The ruins of Mycenae were found by a dude called Heinrich Schlieman, he was Greek. (haha kidding!)
Anyway this guy was from a poor family and struggled in early life, but was very much intrigued by the tales of Homer. After a series of Joe jobs he went off to find his fortune in Russia where he became quite successful. He then went off to California to become a banker for the gold rush days, then back to Russia where he cornered the indigo market. By 36 he was very, very wealthy. So what did he do with his fortune? He decided that he was going to find the lost city of Troy. And that's exactly what he did using the tales of Homer to guide him in his search. He did the same with the Mycenaean ruins and those of Tiryns.
Anyway, back to Greece and the ruins of Mycenae. It is believed that this place has been inhabited by humans from the 3rd millennium BC, but the civilisation of Mycenae evolved between 16 and 12 BC. Schlieman was specifically looking for the grave of King Agamemnon who was murdered by his wife and her lover after being absent for 10 years during the Trojan war (they got theirs in the end too, don't you worry).

The grave pit

Schlieman did find a golden death mask at the site, as well as 19 other pit graves with men, women and children wearing golden clothing, jewels and weapons. This was clearly an elitist grave site - no rif-raf here.

The outside walls of Mycenea

The graves were found in a fortified citadel surrounded by walls 900m long, 12m high and 5-7m thick...amazing for something built in the 1300- 1200 BC! Legend has it that it was built by the Cyclops himself.

The entrance - I have people in this
photo so you can see the scale

Like I said, Schlieman found this golden mask and declared it to be the face of Agamemnon, but today's scholars aren't convinced. Not too far away they found another grave site, which was built a little like the ancient Egyptian tombs (Mycenaeans and Egyptians were tight, yo). They believe that Agamemnon was buried there. Regardless, this tomb was impressive. It's called the Treasury of Atreus (no, not the guy from the Neverending Story). The lintel stone alone weighs 120 tons and is the largest in the world. Did I mention that they built this in 1250 BC?

This semi subterranian tomb was used for an unknown length of time and it's built like a giant igloo: 13.5 m tall in the middle and 14.5 m wide. Wow.

Afterwards, we stopped for the obligatory shopping opportunity (none of us bought anything) and then we went to lunch in a ''family run'' restaurant. Turns out it was a giant hall with banquet tables. We suspect that this is where all the tour buses stop. As this is the shoulder season we six were the only ones there.


Onwards to Epidaurus - the very famous theatre with fantastic acoustics.
Turns out that at Epidaurus there is not only a theatre but it is part of an ancient sanatorium. A sanctuary of healing. Legend has it that Apollo had a son from a mortal. A boy called Asclepius. His mum died when he was a baby so Apollo gave him to the centaur Chiron so that he might learn the arts of healing. Well he did and he surpassed his teacher. He decided that he should open a special place where people could come and be healed. So be built Epidaurus. He believed that for perfect health you needed to heal the body and the soul (psyche). So there's a theatre and a gymnasium at the complex. They believed that the laughter from the comedies and the tears from the tragedies were necessary to treat all individuals.
In the clinic, which is now a museum, there are the surgical instruments that they used in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. They look remarkably the same as they do today.



The theatre is truly a work of art though. Marianna, our guide, stood in the sweet spot in the middle as we stood in various places in the audience (the theatre seats 1400 people, btw). We could hear her whisper, sigh, crumple paper, drop a coin...you get the idea. I was at the very top row and could hear every thing. Even when Dominique asked her to face the opposite direction - we could still hear her perfectly. The mathematics involved in this is staggering. This was my favourite du jour.

So whatever happened to Asclepuis the doc with mad healing skills? He became so good at healing and stopping death in its tracks that Hades, the god of the underworld complained to Zeus that Asclepuis was taking away all his business. So Zeus had to kill him. This pissed off Apollo so he killed....ah, but that's another story.

The Acropolis and Beyond

We had a really big day today and my legs are very sore, but OMG the things we saw.


We set out at 8 so it was still nice and cool. When we got to the gate there was already a queue - lucky we bought our tickets the night before.
The complex of temples is built on top of a huge rock outcropping called the Acropolis.
 
It has been inhabited by humans since the 4th millennium BC, but was put on the map by a fellow named Pericles in the 5th century BC. It was at the height of Athens' power and he decided that a complex of Temples honouring Athena (the patron goddess of Athens) was in order. (Re-)Construction began in 460 BC and was pretty much completed by 430 BC. When you see the sheer size of these things, you wonder how they managed it without all the fancy equipment that we have today - all in a matter of just over 30 years.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We're still at the bottom of the Acropolis (Akron = highest point, polis = city).

Theatre of Dionysus

At the base, the first thing you encounter is the theatre of Dionysus. This amphitheatre could hold up to 17 000 people and they say that this is where theatre began. A little farther along there's another amphitheatre, but its a smaller by comparison and built somewhat later in 161 BC.This is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It seats 5000 and they still use it today for performances.

The difference between the two, apart from size? One is a Greek amphitheatre and the other is a Roman amphitheatre. Can you see what the differences are?

 

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Propylaea

Up and up we continued to the Propylaea - the grand entrance to the Acropolis. I find it funny that it, as well as the Acropolis are named that way, because really those are generic names for those things. In Athens there's THE Acropolis and THE Propylaea (pro = before, in front of + pylaea = gate), but there are heaps of acropolises (acropoli?) and propylaea around Greece. Weird. Anyway, there were a lot of people there already (the views are magnificent) so we didn't linger too long.

Parthenon

 As you pass through the Propylaea you get your first glimpse of the Parthenon directly to your right. It is huge, magnificent, and awe-inspiring. My grade school learning kicked in and I recognised the Doric columns; 8 in the front and 17 along the sides. It was built to hold a massive 12m statue of Athena (that is no longer there). But the fact that this (these) structures are still standing over 3000 years later is truly staggering.

Erectheion

On the opposite side is the most holy site: the Erechtheion. This is where the goddess Athena planted her spear and up grew an olive tree. Its a smaller temple, but equally as beautiful and as impressive as the Parthenon. It was built a little bit later; completed in 405 BC. The temple is built on a slope so the west and north sides are lower by 3m than the east and south sides! On the south side of the structure is a kind of balcony which has 6 Caryatids (maidens) holding up the roof with their heads. Its absolutely stunning.



From the Acropolis you can see more ruins below. This is the Agora, and that's where we headed next.


The Agora (Greek for gathering place) is a complex built between 19 and 11 BC. This was THE place to be back in the day. It was the focal point of administrative, commercial, political and societal life. Socrates hung out there and so did St.Paul - trying to get converts for this crazy new religion.

When you first enter the complex you see a 
wonderful little church; Ayioi Apostoloi (obviously not built at the same time as the Agora, more like 1000-1025 AD). Inside there are some beautiful and colourful Byzantine frescoes.





Truth be told we had been drawn to this place by a temple situated on a small hill overlooking the Agora. This is the Temple of Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Compared to the Parthenon its small, but I really loved this one. You can look up and see the Acropolis and below is the Agora complex. It was my favourite du jour.




There were other ruins in the Agora, including a gym (gotta look good for the sculptors!), they were all very impressive, and old. I shan't go into detail on all of them.






After the Agora we were starving so the mission was find food. We wandered about an old quarter with ye olde narrow streets and found a buzzing little area full of restaurants. And we ate like Kings...er Queens.
The problem after walking for 5 hours and then sitting down for one: your muscles tend to seize up! Getting up was quite difficult.

After lunch we had one more mission - to see the Acropolis museum. By the time we got there we were quite leg fatigued and brain fatigued. We did go in and have a look around, but I must admit that much of what we saw was lost on me. The one thing that I did retain was that the statues that look so beautiful today, all in plain marble, were originally garishly painted. In our tired state, this made us giggle.

We decided then that we would call it a day and go home to eat our leftovers from the night before.

Athens!

Greece!

I finally made it! After over a year of planning I'm in Athens!
The trip out of Australia is always a long one - this time it was wet and cold as I left Canberra on the Murrays bus. Initially there was no heat on the bus and I thought that I would never be warm again. This too shall pass.

The flights were long and mostly uneventful, although there was a lot of turbulence from the Sydney to Doha (14 hours). I gotta say though that the landing was the smoothest one I have ever had. I actually asked the lady next to me if we had touched down yet...so bravo to the pilot.
Once through the mostly non-existent customs I went in search of my very dear friend Dominique who had arrived shortly before me from Canada (so when I start referring to ''we'' you know I'm not having delusions of grandeur). I've gotten used to walking out of airports with out any one there to greet me, but geez it was nice to see a friendly face in a sea of strangers!
 

We found our bus to town and then to our AirBnB without much trouble. We were greeted by our hostess Eleni and she showed us around. Our apartment is just above her place, there's a black iron wrought corkscrew staircase that leads you there. It's a great little place with an outdoor terrace overlooking the garden below.  Once we got the low-down from our lovely hostess and a much needed shower we were off on re-con missions: First, supermarket for provisions and second to the Parthenon...did I mention that our apartment is located just behind the Parthenon? Bloody brilliant.

Our neighbourhood is a very old one (duh!) and there are no skyscrapers around here. There's a mix of ye olde Europe, with stone buildings and wooden shutters and some newer homes and apartments. The sidewalks are narrow and uneven, interrupted with Oleander and Olive trees. The multitude of  balconies are filled with a profusion of plants, and even in the middle of this big city you can hear the cicadas singing. Fantastic.

As we made our way toward the Parthenon, we moved from residential neighourhoods to more tourist orientated areas replete with hotels, expensive restaurants and of course the ubiquitous gift shops filled with statues of Athena and Spartan masks.

There's a pedestrian area at the base of the Parthenon and a very modern museum just across the (pedestrian) road. There were some people there but not the massive throngs that you see during high season at any big tourist attractions. I'm not going to talk about the Parthenon here because that is our plan for tomorrow.

By this point wee were both a little hungry and starting to get tired. We headed to a little take away place mentioned by Eleni (it's a local place, she said, not touristy), and back home to eat on the terrace and make our plan for the upcoming adventures.

Dominique ordered grilled calamari and I got a salad with potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. I say now that there was no mention of feta on the menu - that's why I chose it.
We got home, cracked open the wine and our food. My salad consisted of 50% feta and Dominique was surprised to find a rather large, whole calamari, not the dainty, bite sized pieces most of us are used to.

Eat like the locals! 

Well, I wasn't going to subject myself to days of lactose intolerant gut rot for the sake of going native so I spent the next 5 minutes picking cheese out of my salad, and thinking that my son would lament the waste.
By 9 I was barely keeping my head up I was so tired. I had barely slept on the planes and god only knows how many hours I had been awake. Off to bed.