Athens, Greece

We woke early and quickly packed and ate our last breakfast taking in the impressive blue caldera view for the last time in the relative cool of another cloudless Santorini day. Our host came and gave us a warm farewell and Manuel took our bags up the evil steps to our waiting taxi. He was very nice to us the whole time we were there and Vern even gave him a farewell man hug. The taxi took the stress of negotiating two bus changes and gave us the time to eat breakfast before our 9am flight back to Athens (check in 1 hr earlier).

It was stuffy and warm at the airport so we went up to the smokers deck to get a bit of fresh air and a seat as it is also very small there for an airport with a lot of traffic and no seats left downstairs in the departure area. Vern said the toilets there are disgusting and when you consider the amount of dollars coming through there – they should really upgrade it, or at least clean it.

Athens airport is a real contrast – very modern and clean. There is even a hologram that welcomes you in different languages! We easily found the metro train to the city, which 45 minutes later popped us off at Monastiraki Square Station which is very close to our hotel in the district of Plaka. We had goggle mapped it and it was literally a 5 minute walk. At Monastiraki station when they were making it and trying to do extensions they found heaps of ruins underground so halted the expansions as much as possible. The ruins complete with artefacts, houses, shops and a river that was bricked over to form a sewer (running water) dates to 8th c. B.C. to 19 A.D.

As we emerged from the Metro into the daylight it was like a crazy chaotic scene, like walking onto a movie set. It is in a square and on one side there are some ruins, then there are old buildings and market stalls around the square and hundreds of tourists and locals jostling for space, for trade or for direction! Ipad in hand we spun around trying to work out which lane to go up – we were looking for ‘Slouvaki lane’ and soon found the narrow street with tables spilling out on the pavement and waiters competing for passer buy trade. We successfully dodged them and found our small hotel just off a side street. Check in went smoothly but our room was not ready for an hour so we were invited to go upstairs and have a complimentary coffee or tea and cookies for an hour. We had a cuppa and then headed out for lunch down the lane. Very close we saw a nice looking place and a delicious dinner tray through the window that invited us in. Picture says it all – a shared platter €15 and absolutely delicious and tasty, tender and juicy. Nom nom.

Back to the hotel feeling very content we went to our room on the top floor which was level 6. Above us is a roof garden with great views of the Acropolis and a cleaner kindly took a photo of us up there. Its quite a buzz to actually see the Acropolis and realise you are in Greece in an Ancient city. By now it was early afternoon and we had two things planned; the National Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis. We took a cab to the first, as it is a wee bit out of the town centre. The taxi was very cheap – under €5 for a 20 minute ride (we always add a bit for these folks that clearly do not rip us off and work hard and they are so appreciative). Our driver had a bit of a beat up cab but spoke good English and gave us helpful tips and commentary as we went along. Not far from the square is a main shopping area with a huge market that looked crazy but interesting. It kind of looks a little dodgy everywhere here, but had we the time we would have given it a go as it looked intriguing. All part of getting local which we love, and this calibre of person is the good sort that make you want to stay longer and explore their country and culture – pity there is not more 😉

The museum was messy and run down outside – weeds, un-mown, unkempt and few flowers. Inside it is large and tidy and clean and we had a great time for the next 3.5hrs. A big thrill for us was seeing all the treasures from Mycenae – I will let the pictures do the talking. I love the skill and intricacy of their handiwork that dates as far back as 15th c. B.C. One of my favourites was the gold funeral coverings of infants, sad and sweet. Other items of note there were gold inlaid brass daggers, intricate earring and jewellery, a child with a puppy dating 1st c. B.C. (must have had small breeds as pets then), a beautiful bronze bust of Emperor Augustus 12 c. B.C., Bronze youth with (mythical Paris Trojan war) c. 340-330 B.C. complete with glass eyes, and the statue of Aphrodite, Pan, and Eros c. 100 B.C. There were also the wall friezes from Thira (Santorini) and other treasures before the eruption caused the residents to vacate.

One very interesting display and item that caused debate between us was the Antikythera Mechanism c. 150-100 B.C. It was found at sea on a ship wreck and can be described as the worlds first computer. It is a calculating machine with 30 gears, dials, scales, axels and points that you dial up astronomical and calendrical information. It covered a considerable time period and could accurately track the moon and planets at a given date – depending what you dialled in. This was helpful for navigation, seasons, tides etc. It is incredibly complex and fascinating. Vern doesn’t believe they had that knowledge of even cogs etc and a time traveller did it, I say aliens …… Worth goggling the information. Apparently back then the Greeks even knew the earth was round and that the earth circled the sun vs. others that still thought it was flat and you would sail off the end.

It was well worth the visit – but make sure you have good walking shoes! We hailed another cab to take us up to the Acropolis. The staff there were snobby and bossy – be warned you can only take water onto the hill. The walk up was not too bad or far – and thankfully it was around 5:30 and the most fierce part of the day was over, although typical Europe it stays light till around 9:30-10:00pm so its still pretty warm – 28 degrees. You walk up past the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (theatre for music only) that they are restoring and it is currently used for special events such as the singer Yannis.

Next is the entrance gate – the Propylaea. A place to pause and catch your breath before the final ascent to the summit. It is very huge and impressive and you can see all the restoration work around there. The buildings of the Acropolis were all build to compliment each other, it took 5 years to complete the Propylaea. (437-432 B.C.)

The next temple is Athena Nike, which was dismantled, cleaned and restored from 2001-2010. It is dedicated to the goddess Athena who is patron of the city of Athens. The most noted building is the Parthenon, and considered the finest temple of the ancient world. It is on the highest point of the Acropolis at 490 ft above sea level and was 228 ft long by 101 ft wide. The outer columns are 34 ft high and 6ft in diameter and originally it would have been painted in vivid colours and decorated with reliefs and statues. It was both a temple for the cult of Virgin Athena and a treasury safeguarding the city’s funds. It took 10 years to build, being completed in c. 432 B.C. There is a lot of restoration work being done that ruins postcard shots – but its still a great experience to stand up there and imagine ….

Again a big day in the heat with a good dose of experiences to process. We stayed till closing time up there which was 7pm and got hustled out with the last tourists. We decided to walk home to the hotel, with a bit of guess work which worked out ok taking about 30 minutes. We had hoped to shop a bit but I felt really tired and despite the large lunch I needed to eat or sleep, to the point I felt a bit unwell. We headed back to the hotel and rested for 10 minutes and I found some left over fruit in my bag and ate that and thankfully it wasn’t long before I felt normal again and had enough energy to go downstairs and hunt out a light dinner at about 9pm.

We walked around a little and came upon an old Byzentine church in a square a very short distance from the hotel. Next to it was night life abounding with tourists and locals enjoying eating and drinking and Greek dancing in the streets. I love wandering in this atmosphere and it made me wish we had another night here to get into the grove of the city especially this Plaka district. Whilst not place I would like to have a long stay or be a key destination, it has begun to develop a slight crazy chaotic sort of charm of its own. I think if you are careful and stick to the main areas you would be safe. It looks like great shopping too, from market stalls to upmarket shops and wonderful art for sale.

We ended back at the place we had lunch at as we knew it was good. We got a smaller tapas style dinner, which still had too much but we enjoyed a greek salad, an eggplant dip, a greek sausage pizza, tzatziki and a couple of skewers and bread. Washed down with a good beer of course. They serve very good portions at reasonable prices, as well as great quality.

We had an early start for our tip to Liverpool in the morning and could not be too late to bed, however I was determined to get some night shots of the acropolis from the roof and it was still nearly midnight by the time lights were out. Alarm is set for 0600 in the morning which will give us 1/2hr for breakfast and time for the trip via metro to the airport in time for check in.