Athens: Grey and Very Windy, 22

But of Course It's All About the Acropolis...

Historically people who travel to Athens make sure that their number one activity is a trip up to the Acropolis. For some it's a bit of a rite of passage along roads well travelled. There can be something magical, almost spiritual about that first climb to the top. I know I felt this way during my initial visit in May 1975 on a hot, blue blue day. It's different for everyone I suppose. For me it felt like I was walking through history and even all these years later I can still describe the moment in infinite detail if pressed.

Then in 1981 I climbed with Annemarie during her first major travel and she too was in awe of the size and scope of the site. Even today she is delighted to simply sit on our hotel roof and gaze across at it, day or  night. A feast for the eyes! 

Here's a photo from that trip and if you look closely you'll see Annemarie walking across in front of me.

I remember the pleasure of climbing with Erin in 2003 and sharing her first experience. I was so excited to share this with her! We went up very early in the morning and pretty much had the Acropolis and the Parthenon to ourselves. The difference for me was Erin's extensive knowledge and I remember her explanations about how the columns were arranged and carved to reflect size and height. Even then we discussed the so called Elgin Marbles and their theft from Greece. A couple of the photos from that trip.

Today Kathy and I again set out on our own as Annemarie was still in some pain. I guess we retraced our 1971 foot prints to some degree as we again made the climb together. However, unlike the photos above from past visits, this morning the weather was cool, cloudy and very windy. There were also masses of tour groups which I'll admit, for me, take away a lot from any place that I visit. The experience is just not as good when there are herds of clumped people everywhere and waving tour leaders leading these herds. It just takes away the magic. However, for the most part I was able to put that out of mind as I'd seen this place before in better times with far fewer people around. I think I'm one of the lucky ones. Today was really all about seeing the Parthenon with Kathy and observing the extensive work that's been undertaken since my last visit. The important thing with this next photo from 1981 is to use it as a reference for the ongoing repairs and extensive reconstruction of the Parthenon, and for that matter the rest of the Acropolis site.

Same angle today. Look closely and you'll see that the whole structure has been cleaned properly and sealed with titanium connectors replacing the old metal connections from earlier reconstructions. The two interior columns have been reconstructed and the scaffolding removed since 2003. Also the hypostyle inside the temple is well on the mend as they bring blocks of marble up to the Acropolis with cranes. Today it looks alike a major engineering site complete with train tracks and carts for moving the heavy stones. There were lots of workers on site. Clearly money is being spent to repair the extensive damage from the 17th century explosion. Still likely to be in the works long after I've passed from this life. Perhaps one of our possible future grandchildren will walk this site and see the finished article? That would be something! No pressure kids!!

Like I said, very windy and just a touch of the sun. Winter is coming.

While at this end of the Acropolis here's the view back to the Temple of Olympic Zeus, Hadrian's Gate and the Olympic track.

And this one is looking out towards Lycabettus Hill where we walked to and climbed yesterday.

A little more of the Acropolis...the other end.

Then a quick look down into the agora and the Byzantine church and other cool buildings that Erin and I walked around.

From here we climbed down and walked around to the theatres and out to visit the new Acropolis Museum. This is where our concert was the other night. The blue blocks are actually bags of seat cushions. 

The top of the original and older theatre. I didn't know this before, and an interesting bit of information. This area was where the Greek gods watched the show. I suppose there was free wine and popcorn during each performance:)

From below. The theatre ran all the way up the side to the Acropolis wall.

The new museum is very cool with glass floor in many places so you can look down, way down, and see the excavations they conducted before building the new building. 

The museum holds many of the remaining facade tablets not stolen by Elgin and these...the original figures from the outside where 6 reproductions are in place to hold up the roof...refer to photo above.

Annemarie was able to join us for a walk to Syntagma Square, the heart of Athens.

And eventually tired of the masses of people and the shop until you drop, trinkets and trash, upscale store fronts, we headed out to the quieter areas beyond our hotel and found a small funky place for a very good lunch. From there we retreated to our hotel to veg out and print our boarding tickets. My seats were again all messed up, but I'm on the plane:) We will head out to a well known, excellent hotel for our final dinner in Greece and to no doubt review what has been a wonderful trip. In the meantime a shortage of glasses has forced me to drink my wine direct from the bottle tonight, a cast back to an earlier trip through Greece! 

As usual I'll write some reflections about the trip, particularly Athens and the changes I've witnessed here. But for now a couple of photos and that's it for the present.

Athens, Cooler with Sun, Windy Afternoon! 25

A Special Evening!

The sunrise this morning.

When I found and booked this hotel last winter, I contacted the hotel manager and asked if we could possibly have a room with a view to finish our journey. After all, the name of the place is Acropolis View. They were very accommodating and have provided us with a simple room that has a stunning view!

After wandering around the city core yesterday afternoon taking photos and getting our bearings again in this interesting city, Kathy and I headed off in search of a nice bottle of wine and snacks to enjoy on our roof top terrace. We climbed up hills and down hills to the west of the Acropolis, an area I've rarely spent time in previously. We quickly left the edge of the tourist zone where our small 2 star hotel is situated and found ourselves in a work a day part of the city. I suspect the rents in the area are still pretty pricey this close to the city core, but it's still not a high end area of the city. We stopped to ask directions and were kindly assisted. Seems no matter what has happened here the past 8-9 years, the people we meet are still the helpful, kind folks I've come to know during my pervious travels to this region. Bottle and potato chips secure, we climbed back up to our hotel and met Annemarie on the roof where we sat and gazed at the Acropolis and the 17 year project to rebuild the Parthenon. Seems that we'd selected a good bottle of wine as the bar man in our hotel was suitably impressed when I asked him for a cork screw to open said bottle. Nice to know. 

After enjoying the early evening, we headed off to find some dinner. We walked the gambit of restaurants by the new Acropolis Museum, a visit is planned for there, and the pushy owners. Finding a quieter restaurant at the end of the pedestrian walk at the foot of the Acropolis we happily took a seat and ordered a very nice meal. A surprise given some of the less quality fare available in many of the tourist area restaurants. Afterwards we walked the pedestrian loop in the direction of our hotel and as we passed the Odean of Herod, aka the Herodian, the amphitheater that lies at the foot of the Acropolis on the west side. We noticed a large number of people heading that way and walked up to see what was playing. Many top world class performers have played the Herodian for the past many thousand years. I wonder what the first performance was there? Anyway, on a whim I asked at the ticket counter and learned that there was a famous Greece duet singing with a backup band a range of contemporary Greek music. By chance there were a few poor seats available in the upper festival seating area. I asked the ladies what they thought. Annemarie's back was sore so she said that it would be ok if Kathy and I went on without her. So we did. We headed inside and were told to go up to the poor seats on the top left. At the top of the climb we were directed all the way around to the far side of the amphitheater. On the way round we were stopped by an usher who told us to wait a moment and he personally took us down and made room for us....in the very middle of the theatre!! We had amazing seats! 

I'd always thought what a special experience it would be to see a concert here, and I'd even tried to get tickets while on Crete, but everything was apparently sold out. We've watched concerts from here on tv at home and I know that there is an annual music festival. So to have the opportunity to attend in such a special environment was outstanding. 

Kathy and I got right into the music clapping to the songs with the largely Greek audience who also sang along with many of the songs. It was for them like us going to see Gordon Lightfoot at home. You know all the words to all the songs. 

As we'd walked to the venue the lightning we'd guessed at earlier in the day kicked up, and while we were in the concert the lightning continued to blaze across the sky. A very dramatic and memorable experience! Eventually the rain did arrive and it came down in large drops. Umbrellas were produced.

However, eventually it became clear that the evening had to be abandoned. We were happy having had an hour of the concert and went home wet, but happy. The stands emptied and a couple of thousand attendees began to leave.

Annemarie had been listening from our balcony so she was able to join in from a distance which was nice.

So I wrote a whole lot more, but somehow it's been dropped from the blog. A bit frustration, but what can you do? So I'll recap the day today. Annemarie's hip was still flaired this morning so Kathy and I headed off together for an epic walk around Athens. We knew our way, so the first stop was the Olympic Temple to Zeus where we'd visited before and I had brought with me a photo from an earlier time. Hadrian's Gate is to the right...same general who brought us Hadrian's Wall in Briton. He got around that one!

We then walked through the national gardens to Syntagma Square to see parliament and the guards, guarding stuff. 

we climbed through traffic and up hill with many, many stairs to Lycabettus Hill where there are amazing vistas of Athens. It's grown so significantly since 1975. I'd walked there before and wanted Kathy to experience the views. Quite stunning! The Acropolis with the harbour and Olympic site in the distance. We are staying on the opposite side of the Acropolis. 

In 1975 we stayed in a pension up behind the 'new' Olympic stadium, the first of the modern era held in 1896, in a very typical Athenaeum neighbourhood. 

We shopped the area and bused back and forth to the centre. It was a very cool place complete with turtles walking around. We could sleep on the roof when it was really hot, accessed from this quite scary stair case.

A few more vistas.

And then we descended and worked our way through a seedier neighbourhood to the Mational Archeological Museum. This was closed for Olympic renos when Erin and I walked all the way here. We wanted to see Agamemnon's Death Mask from Mycenae which we'd visited on the Peloponnese. We wanted to see the treasure found in the three burial sights, but it was not to be. Well today it happened.

The museum is considered one of the gems in the world of archeology, but still the British won't return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, 'stolen' from the Acropolis in the early 1800's while under permit from the Ottoman Empire. Now held prisoner in the British Museum (Elgin sold them to the museum) Greece has been lobbying for their return since they formed their own country once free of the Turks. Come on England, repatriate them! 

A very young Alexander the Great. I think there is also one,like this in the Louvre?

Time for wine as our appy then dinner at a fish taverna followed by risogalo (yes Ken, rice pudding if you like) from our new favourite place!

Athens, Hot & Humid, 30

Of Risogalo and Refelctions!

Sunset last night. We told the taverna owner that we were just attending his establishment to enjoy drinks and to watch the sunset. Then bread arrived, and we watched the sunset. We didn't touch the bread and when we paid our bill and left the fellow's boss was questioning him about how we got away. Ah, isn't Greece fun! We ate Italian last night...yup I know. Don't ask.

After dinner we dropped Kathy back to the apartment to take a phone call from Bob and then walked to the harbour. We wandered the back streets and found some prints by the photographer that Erin and I had 'discovered' in 2003...those prints have graced our kitchen and guest room ever since. I wish I'd taken them and I look at them every day...love them.

We found another series of his work and after purchasing a tube to carry them home I figured that it would be too long to put in my carry on size pack. So late night I walked downstairs and asked our hosts if they had a sharp knife available to cut down the tube. They said that they didn't, however, eye knew the knife smith down the way and he might be able to help. Cosmos walked me there and he asked if they could help. Turned out it wasn't a problem, and we soon found ourselves in his workshop. I asked about all the knife shops, and was told that historically all Cretian men have a knife. This gent was the next in a long line of knife makers with the skills passed down father to son. I was told he's the best knife maker in the region. Each knife has a poem engraved into it that the knife maker writes. There is a special name for this profession, but I can't remember it. In any event, he taped the tube at the correct place, a true professional, and cut it with his band saw. Then he plained the outside clean and sanded the inside of the thick tube wall. I offered him cash for his time and he put his arm around me and said "no, this is how it's done in Greece". A very good experience and a good memory. Did I say that I've really enjoyed Crete? 

It finally happened!!! Risogalo! Real risogalo! Found in a small cafe in the heart of Athens old town. There must be a little Greek grandma around here somewhere? So happy after only finding the industrial versions in the markets. 

This morning was an early start in order to catch the bus out to the airport located a ways out of town over by the monastery we visited on our last day with the rental car. The security was pretty basic and no one even looked at our passports until we were boarding. The plane left late, but somehow arrived early? We are still trying to figure that one out. They began serving drinks and before they were half way through that process the pilot announced that we were beginning our final approach into Athens. The stewards seemed puzzled and started quickly handing out cookies, no drinks to the rest of us. Actually quite comical. Equally comical was the boarding process. We took a loading bus to the plane parked on the runway and were loaded through the front and rear doors. You'd be surprised, maybe you wouldn't, at the number of folks who got on the front of the plane only to find that they had to walk against traffic all the way to the rear of the plane, and visa versa! It was comical relief:)

Anyway a few nice views from the window after we were airborne. Leaving Chania and Greece behind.

Hello Athens!

We arrived and this time it was much easier finding our way into Athens. While killing time on the metro ride we reminisced about how difficult the first day had been. Having to change flights in Vancouver, arriving late with just a very short time to get to our Milos ferry. If any one of 4 or 5 things had happened, we never would have made it to our ferry in time. As it was, we arrived with just minutes to spare. Fun to reflect on now, not quite as much fun at the time.

Today we went for a walk around the base of the Acropolis , along the walking road they built in 2003 as part of the preparations for the 2004 Olympics. Erin and I walked it just after they completed it. All the sculptures have been removed and it's looking pretty run down now. Sort of the story of Athens since the economic debacle of 2008. The walls and buildings are heavily tagged with graffiti. But more on that later. Today was about walking to the Tower of Winds where many in the family have some history. Many photos have been taken there in 1975, 1981 and 2003. Strangely not a single one of me?! the first in 1975.

The second in 1981.

And then again in 2003.

Oh, I just found a photo of me in 2003! Erin took it with my camera.

We took a few more today to add to the collection.

Lots more to come from Athens. We've finished our beautiful bottle of white Peloponnese wine and potato chips and it's time to find a place for dinner. Hope you are all well. We are having a pretty fine time here!