More Metal than Marble
Trip Start
Jul 06, 2008
1
23
26
Trip End
Aug 18, 2008
Athens,
Attica,
Greece
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The area that we were looking was called Plaka. It was a busy area with sidestreets and buildings not on any of the maps we had - perhaps the exercise is not going to be an option. After only a couple wrong turns and then a couple quick fixes, we found our way to the area we had somewhat researched.
After asking for prices a few different places, we finally came across an old Hotel whose manager, Mario, was a friendly guy who seemed to be quite honest. All of the places we had looked at so far were asking between 70 and 160 Euros for a night. Even the hostel that was supposedly the best budget option was 25 Euro per person just to sleep in a ten-bedroom dorm. OUCH. Mario told us he could give us a private double room for 50 Euro - and then he smiled and winked at us and said he would give it to us for 40 Euro. He shook his head and complained about the outrageous prices some of the others were charging and he mentioned the hostel that we had already looked at and quoted the same price we had been told. We were free to look at the room, but with the price being so low, we weren't going to be too picky.
We ended up staying at Mario's hotel, although it was rather run-down and a little bit dingy and dark - oh well, we would only be sleeping there, and we liked Mario who said he would keep some of our food items in his fridge for us.
We quickly got our things settled in the room and grabbed our camera and a day pack and headed for the Acropolis. It was very close to where we were staying which was nice because the day was very hot. We haven't seen a drop of rain since we left Alberta. Only sun and heat.
The Acropolis is set on the highest hill in Athens. We can see it from our hotel and probably from just about anywhere in the city. We paid our entrance fee and began our walk upwards, wondering through some of the smaller ruins along the way.
We passed an old theatre, archways, and some nearly unrecognizable ruins scattered on the ground. In some areas, they had statues and pillars placed under a canopy with a worker somewhat guarding them. Everyone was free to come and see them and take photos but no one was allowed to touch them. All of these items had dates and descriptions written on plaque at the bottom of them. Some went back all the way to 235 BC.
We continued our way up eager to see the Parthenon. When we turned a corner and looked up, stairs led us farther upwards towards tall pillars that we would then walk through. All, or most of the walkways we marked and nearly 100% of the ruins were roped off - nobody was allowed to walk amongst them or through them. This was very different for us as we have been used to walking right in the ruins and being able to investigate what they have to offer from very close up. Perhaps the barriers were due to the construction and restoration going on at this time. The Parthenon was covered in scaffolding and it was difficult to see through the metal and get a really good vision of the beauty of the ancient temple. We tried to get pictures on the other side of the Parthenon, but it was not possible to fully omit the workers and the scaffolding. We are so pleased that we were able to go though, and it often came to our minds that Cor was here many years ago and had probably walked in the same areas we were walking right now. We wonder what it looked like then? Probably less construction for sure.
We headed back to the hotel and ended up sleeping for a couple of hours. The little bit we managed to sleep on the ferry was not holding us over. When we woke up, we headed out once again and hoped to see a few more of the sites that were not directly in the area of the Acropolis.
We were lucky enough to come across the Changing of the Guards at the parliament buildings. It was quite the thing to see. They wore uniforms that were a tan/khaki color and had on bright red hats. They also wore white tights that ended with dark shoes topped off with giant brown pom-poms. During their 'change' they did somewhat of a demonstration of the Land of the Silly Walkers walking with one leg stretched straight out and parallel to the ground before it took it's next step. We took some pictures and also some video for you to check out.
We took some time and walked through the Gardens behind parliament as well. They had small stone pools of fish and one full of turtles as well. The rest was more of a nice walk in the shade. As we continued on we came acoss an old Olympic Stadium. It was very big and no matter what angle we tried, we couldn't fit it all in a camer shot.
As we were heading back to find a place for supper, we stumbled upon some more ruins that we weren't even looking for. 'The Temple of Zeus the Olympian' was nice because it wasn't as crowded as the Acropolis and there was no work being done on it either.
Enough walking for one day. We grabbed some food and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The following day we woke at 10:30am. A new record on our travels! Apparently the 2 hour snooze the afternoon before had not rectified the lack of sleep on the many ferries we had taken recently. We headed to the Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora. There was also a museum along the agora that we were able to check out. All of this was located below the Acropolis.
When we returned to our hotel, Mario was watching the Olympics on his little TV in the tiny reception area. We ended up sitting on the stairs and watching with him for awhile. He would explain what the announcers were saying and we enjoyed watching some of the events.
Athens was great to see, and we are so glad that we were able to visit. We have a flight to Cairo in the mornign and must be up by 4:30am to catch a bus to the airport. We are super excited for Egypt tomorrow! Bring on the PYRAMIDS!
Hugs and Love,
Dana and Trevor.
01. Sunrise
