Syntagma Square

Trip Start Apr 30, 2008
1
6
31
Trip End May 31, 2008


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Saturday, May 3, 2008

The square is not far from my hotel. Not much of one, as far as main squares go, but its one of Athens' centers and served as my base of operations through much of Friday. After six hours of sleep I grabbed breakfast at the hotel and headed off for a walk through the warren of narrow streets and alleys in this old neighborhood, ending up at Syntagma for coffee and people watching and finishing the book I had started on the plane. The sun bore down from cerulean skies -- 28 C by midday (or, pretty hot F). Found the Post Office where I would meet the owner of Divine, my favorite Greek restaurant in Seattle and her two friends that night, and settled into another couple of hours on the shady side of the square where I switched from coffee to beer and started a biography of Russia's Alexander II. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Later, back at the hotel, I climbed the stairs to the roof. Athens, the white city sprawling at my feet and The Acropolis thrusting skyward less than two miles away.

At 9 I'm back in front of the Post Office getting into the car with Vivian, Alicia and Christina.

The restauarnt is called Ancient Tastes and the menu is a carefully researched approximation of what the folks back in the 5th century BC might have had on their plates. Not a tomato or a fork in sight. I had pork stuffed with lamb's liver, beets and garbanzo beans, smoked fish, olives and bites of everyone elses's meal, all washed down with a very young red wine served in clay jars. My first full meal in Greece and a feast in the company of three lovely and charming women. Dionysus didn't have anything on me. 

A little after  midnight I take a cab back to the airport to meet my friend Bella's plane from St. Petersburg. It's after 2 by the time we get back to the hotel and check her in. She's brought me a bottle of Russian Standard Platinum and we share a glass on the roof, the Parthenon and rocky Acropolis, all lit in soft gold against the black sky.

Saturday morning it would be time to check out, cab back to the airport and rent a car. My friends at the restaurant estimated it would take us 5 hours to get to Visitas in Pelion. I'll bet I can make that more like 6 or 7.
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Comments

krisbeee
krisbeee on May 3, 2008 at 11:00PM

from the armchair
Aaaah ... enjoying your adventures immensely! (uh, except for your flights.) All's well at Chez Mays. Hope your trip just keeps getting better and better.

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