Around Athens

We set  about to see Athens - there's a lot to see, even if you stayed an entire month I think you would feel like you didn't see everything. We first took a small tour of the city center with a guide, Dorothy.  We passed the temple of Olympian Zeus, the first Olympic stadium - the Panathenaic Stadium (which is no longer used for the Olympic Games but is where the Olympic torch is lit and begins its journey at he commencement of every Olympic Games every 2 years), Syntagma (constitution) Square and the Parliament which has a tomb to the unknown soldier, We drove around the city, the guide regurgitating facts about buildings that I wish I could share with y'all, but unfortunately do not recall nor did I take notes.  I guess that means you have to visit Athens, too! 

Panathenaic Stadium - reconstructed from the ruins of the an ancient Greek stadium
 

The Acropolis: we climbed up to the Parthenon and were given a lesson by Dorothy: the marble used to be painted, we are thankful that the Romans copied us because we know what the statues (that the Byzantines took and used for other things) looked like, much of the decoration of the Parthenon is in the British museum or the Louvre in Paris, etc etc. Next we visited the New Museum of the Acropolis (in which photos are prohibited except on the 3rd floor, which is dedicated to the Parthenon). One small detail that caught my eye was that in the entrance of the museum exhibit, there was a clear glass plate in the floor (the entire floor is glass but it is etched, this particular plate was clear and you could see underneath); there was sand and some ancient, very well-preserved pottery. Dorothy explained that this is a Greek tradition, when you start the construction of a building, you always put something close to you, from the kitchen in the foundation. I really liked that tradition - very symbolic.

You may wonder why the museum is the "New" Museum of the Acropolis."  This is because the Greeks are trying to get back much of the artifacts from Ancient Greece back from the British museum. The British said (probably in more words and much more diplomatically) "well look at your museum, you don't even have a proper place to store these priceless artifacts."  So the Greeks built the new, huge, splendid museum and as far as I understand, negotiations are still underway as to the fate of the Ancient Greek artifacts, especially the decoration of the Parthenon because as it stands now, it is a bit bare - the ornamentation being on display at the British Museum. 

Every museum visit must end, begin or have sandwiched within it,  a drink and/or snack at the museum cafe. We sat on the outside veranda which has magnificent views of the Acropolis and enjoyed cappuccinos (mama and me) and a beer (papa b). Refreshed from our break, we continued on to see more!

The Parthenon

Theatre of Dionysus at the Acropolis

Temple of Athena - note the olive tree on the left, this is because Athena's gift to the people was an Olive Tree (as opposed to Poseidon's which was the sea of Erekhtheis - Poseidon, God of the Sea struck the Earth with his trident and water sprung forth (sound familiar?) - Athena and Poseidon were in a competition to be the patron of the city which is now called Athens

Ionic Columns - note the capital is characterized by volutes (the ornamentation that looks like a scroll); this is one of the three types of Greek columns, the other two being Doric, very plain, no ornamentation at the capital; and Corinthian, which has much more ornamentation, i.e. leaves, scrolls, great detail, etc.

The Olive Tree near the old Temple of Athena, this is not the tree that Athena offered to the people but this one was planted in 1917 and a fun fact, it was planted on George Washington's birthday (Dorothy was full of these trivia)

Amazing - life always finds a way

Nuts and seeds for sale in the Plaka

Next stop, tomb of the unknown soldier in front of the parliament building in syntagma square. The 2 guards (Evzones) are dressed in the uniform of the War of Independence (1821); that is, white stockings, a white pleated skirt, and top, a beret and clog-like shoes with a pompom on the toe, the shoes are lined with metal in the bottom, like tap-dancing shoes. Dorothy had told us that each shoe weighs 5 kg! This made the march that the soldiers do all the more impressive - they stand erect (with and expressionless face) and kick each foot up, the leg parallel to the ground, and before lowering the foot back down, they make a circle motion with their foot, like a horse or a bull before charging. They rotate sides periodically and ceremoniously. There's a third soldier dressed in contemporary uniform who looks after them as they are not allowed to speak or even make eye contact with anybody. About 40-minutes into the hour, they march forward and stand motionless. The modern-dressed soldier examines each one, fixing the tassel that hangs from their hats, their socks and stockings, wipes the swear from their brows and announces to he public, in both English and Greek, "you may take photos with the guards one at a time, please do not try to speak to them, be respectful."  The change of the guard occurs every hour on the hour but we didn't want to wait around for 20 minutes so we went off to our next visit, st. George's church on the top of Lycabettus Hill (the highest point in Athens).

Evzones - Presidential Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside of the Parliament building in Syntagma Square

magnificent Evzones

We walked alongside the parliament and then up through Kolonaki, a very nice neighborhood in Athens. Kolonaki is on a steep slope and we walked up the hill passing through restaurants, that had sidewalk seating. About halfway up the hill the road turned into stairs and we were walking up stairwells between residential buildings. The road was lined with lush, green trees; that is one thing (of many) that keeps amazing me, the fertility of the land here. There is allegedly a water shortage but there are foliage and plants everywhere! Eventually we made it to our destination, a funicular station that would take us up to St. George's church. The funicular was small and cramped and a wave of claustrophobia came over me as we ascended the hill in a dark tunnel; at one point there was a disco ball flashing lights from the walls of the tunnel...seriously, guys? There is the most adorable white church on the top of the hill, a bell tower and a restaurant. We visited the church which fits about 12 people. There was a priest chanting and later incensing and an elderly nun praying. We lit candles and said a small prayer and were off. The view from St. George's church is incredible, you can see all Of Athens - whose population is 4 million (of the 11 million of all of Greece). 

St. George's Church on the top of Lycabettus Hill

Bell tower at St. George's church, overlooking the whole city of Athens

the back of St. George's Church

 

Islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina

We took a 1-day cruise through the Saronic Gulf to the islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina. The day started beautifully, we sat on the deck of a big boat with warm sun, good music and a freddo (Greek iced coffee). A tall, young, beautiful, Greek dancer, Michaelus came and gave us a dance lesson - a little difficult to maintain balance  on a rocking boat, but it made for an interesting experience.  

sailing throuh the Aegean Sea

Our first stop was at the Island of Hydra, a small island with the population of 3000 people and where cars and motorized vehicles are not permitted - people get around by walking or donkey.  We got off the boat and walked along the shorefront and through the white-washed allies. Life here seems really simple, there is no vehicular traffic to cause noise or stress and so it seems to me that people live tranquilly.  As we were leaving a short, older gentleman with the skin the color of tan-leather and a head full of silver hair stopped me and asked if I cared for a ride on the donkey.  I thanked him but said I had no time.  "Ok. Ok. You is beautiful lady," he said through a toothless smile as he walked away.  "Efharistó!" (thank you), I called after him and hopped along my way to catch the boat.

mama and me :)

Island of Hydra

white crooked, perfectly imperfect alley-ways of Hydra

squishy!

precious donkey blocking the road in Hydra

Back on the boat, we had a buffet lunch of Greek food -  dolma, beet salad, tomato salad, a variety of rices, fish, olives, cheese, chicken, pork, and (my favorite) honey-walnut cake.  The cake was a dense yellow-sponge cake speckled with walnuts and soaked in a honey syrup.  Yum! 

We made our way to the Island of Poros - an island with a population of 7000 and here, there are cars. We walked along the dock and watched a little boy, maybe 7 years old learning how to fish with his grandfather.  In between casting the line and catching the fish, grandpa was feeding the little boy bites of his sandwich. The boy ate willingly because if he ate, he got to fish more.

Church as we approach the Island of Poros, maximum capacity 21.5

boats lining the Island of Porous

Next stop, Aegina, the largest of the 3 Saronic Islands which we visited. This island is famous for its pistachio groves, the monastery of St. Nectarios and has a very rich history (of which I will only share with you what I recall). The very first coin minted in the world was from the Island of Aegina in about 700 BC and had a sea turtle on it.

The 20 remaining (of 365) churches built by the Aegeans as protection from pirates

Bougenvillia in front of the Monastery of St. Nectarios

hallway in the Monastery of St. Nectarios

Kalistera...

After touring the Island of Aegina and eating pistachios roasted with lemon, we boarded the cruise ship for the last time and watched a show of Greek folk dancers.  The two men performed traditional dances from various parts of Greece.  Of course there's the Zorba but my favorite was a dance from Macedonia which depicts the wheat harvest by dance.  It is a one-person show and the dancer dances the first part with a sickle, as if harvesting the wheat; the sickle is spun around and around the dancer's body.  Next he uses a sifter, a round, tray looking device lined on the bottom with a mesh strain and dances with that.  The last part was incredible, he held the sifter upright and balanced a glass of wine on the rim and did a little number with it, he twisted it left and right and then he began to furiously spin the sifter around and over his head.  The crowd all watched, awe-struck clapping and yelling "oppa!"

Land of milk and honey

We had breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel, with a view of the acropolis and ruins of the Temple of Zeus. The planter boxes that lined the outdoor terrace were filled with rosemary, oregano, geranium, among other fragrant herbs. A small olive tree grew to my right, with black olives hanging ripe on it. It's incredible how lush the land is and consequently extremely fertile, explains a lot of the richness of the cuisine and the ancient tradition of food production,  preparation, preservation.  

We took a bus to the Cape of Sounion today, about 75 km SE of Greece. We wound along the Aegean Sea passing gorgeous homes, fuchsia bougenvilia, white and purple oleander, olive trees, caper trees, and more oregano than meets the eye. There's something about the Mediterranean - the sun glistens off the water differently here, it seems shinier than elsewhere, maybe from all the blood spilled in ancient battles or all the passionate love stories that were made here or maybe there's just something magical about the Mediterranean. There definitely is. We stopped on the side of the road for a view of the temple of Poseidon (Greek God of the Sea), and continued on our way to the topf of the hill where the Temple is located.  The Temple was built by the Greeks in the 5th Century BC. Apparently the temple was destroyed by the Persians in the 4th Century and rebuilt by the Greeks in the 5th.  It is a 4-sided building, with the traditional Greek columns, 42 originally of which 15 stand today. 

 

Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion, Greece

View from the top of Cape Sounion

Remains of the Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion, Greece

Beautiful - I don't know what tree this is but it wasn't an olive tree

Partridge!

These flowers were growing up between rocks in seemingly unlivable conditions

Mama and me at the Temple of Poseidon

Enjoying an afternoon freddo cappuccino - a very commmon Greek drink, espresso over ice with really thick foamed milk on top.

The colors at sunset here are incredible. A golden sun set in a clear sky that's changing colors by he minute, pinks and oranges, soft purples and blues. The closer the sun gets to the horizon, the more yellow it appears and the more pink the sky becomes. Now more purple skies - no wonder people stop what they're doing at sunset and allow themselves to be mesmorized by the beauty of it.


excuse the quality of the photo, it was taken from the bus but this is the sunset over the Aegean Sea

In the evening, we wound through the old allies of the Plaka to a Tavern recommended to us by the concierge.  It was a bit off the beaten path, nestled in a hill right next to an Orthodox Church. We sat at the top of the hill and let the waiter (who I named Georgous because that seems to be every other man's name here) choose our meal for us.  We started with a Greek salad, cucumbers, tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, capers, olives and feta cheese, that Georgous dressed for us with olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt.  Georgous was a very animated man, "you must eat Greek salad with a lot of olive oil otherwise it's not Greek salad," he proclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air. For the next course, mama and papa b had grouper with spinach and monkfish with mushrooms, respectively.  I had lamb cooked in foil with potatoes and cheese - another waiter removed the contents of the foil onto my plate at the side of the table. The food was delicious, tender and flavourful.  One of the times Georgous came to check on us he insisted I try a caper with a chunk of potato and a piece of meat, which I did.  I ate it and smiled and he said "you see, The Greeks, we know how enjoy the food!"  We had this with a jug of house red wine that was spectacular and believe it or not, we did not have dessert!