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| Photo added per request of Trevor's mom. If you have any other requests for photos, please let us know. |
Our first full day in Athens we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel on the roof looking out onto our goal for the day- the Parthenon!
We then wandered through Roman Agora, the ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse. Then we climbed up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon up close.
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| Turns out Carmen Sandiego never stole it after all. |
It was impressive, although also covered in scaffolding and under renovations. Everywhere we turned there were piles of marble and rock complete with ancient carvings.
Very cool. We also saw two amphitheaters, one of which is still used in the summer for plays and performances.
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| These dogs... they're everywhere. |
We then headed to a cafe for a lunch of mezedhes (appetizers) such as dolmedhes (stuffed grape leaves), Tzatziki sauce with pita, fish roe spread, fried feta, and um, more cheese.
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| Fish... egg... salad? |
The Greeks eat more cheese per person each year than any one else in the EU, so Bettie decided she would try to one up them. By eating as much cheese as she possibly could. After this delicious but comatose inducing lunch, we hiked to the Temple of Zeus, with the Arch of Hadrian at the entrance.
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| Temple of Zeus |
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We also met a Greek ("spur-thighed") tortoise, who seemed more than a bit out of place. We wandered through the national gardens, and saw the guards at the front of the parliament building who gather quite a crowd at switch-time.
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| "Shoulda gone to college... Shoulda gone to college..." |
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| The Acropolis at night from the pedestrian promenade. |
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| σπίτι sweet σπίτι |
The next day we toured the Temple of Hephaestus, the god of metalworking, and also ancient (not Roman) Agora.
The temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved ancient Athenian ruin. We got swarmed by sweaty European high-school kids of unknown origin, and quickly escaped to Keramikos, where all the cool Athenians were buried. Wildflowers were in bloom all over, especially these really pretty poppy-like flowers.
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| Poppies... poppies... poppies... |
After this, all the rock piles began to blend together, and so we ventured forth for some culture at Herakleidon art gallery, which houses an MC Escher exhibit. We then scarfed some amazing although extraordinarily messy baklava, and kataifi (Bettie's mom knows this well as the "shredded wheat looking one"!!!!). We then sat down for what we thought would be an afternoon snack and wine/beer, just like all other Europeans love to do. As we looked around at the cafe scene surrounding us, we realized- gasp- everyone was drinking this weird, iced coffee with foam at the top type drink.
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| When in Athens... oh... coffee. I'll have a beer then. |
We ask the waiter, "whats with the coffee?" and he answers, "we have a lot of coffee drinkers in Greece". No kidding. After seeing this once, it began to pop up again and again- everyone everywhere is drinking the same iced coffee concoction in a tall, sundae like glass! Weird. Bettie is now determined to try one- a Frappe, i believe its called. not to be confused with the glorious Friendly's Frappe. Later on we have dinner at a pretty touristy place whose host could speak upwards of 4 languages, at least in friendly conversation. We heard Japanese, English, Greek of course, and Spanish, and one or two words of Dutch. We had our customary mousaka, required before leaving Greece.
Day 3 in Athens brought us back to the Acropolis to see the much touted Acropolis museum. This place was very clever in design- as you entered, you were walking over ancient ruin sites under excavation, which you could watch through the thick plastic.
The entire museum allowed for a view of the actual Acropolis up the hill, and sculptures were strategically reconstructed and composed as they once were in ancient Athens. Well done! Then on to the archaeological museum, and then some more amazing Greek food.
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| POOP ON ME, WILL YOU? |
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Bettie finally found this weird lemon chicken soup-ish soup that she had been dying to try, and Trevor ate some really delicious lamb chops.
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| "This is the song that never ends... yes it goes on and on my friends..." |
Later that night, we attempted to locate a nightclub that had traditional "rembetika" music, but apparently none of them were open at 11:30pm on a Wednesday night. Instead, we visited a late-night cafe, ate some stuffed grape leaves and cheese-stuffed peppers, and returned home.
