It's all Greek to me: Athens

Honestly, we were a little reluctant coming to Greece.  I know, I know, it SOUNDS crazy, but so did the newspapers.  We were due to fly from Rome to Athens on the 16th.  We were panicking a little bit as all flights on the 15th to Greece had been cancelled due to strikes by air traffic controllers.  Reading on, we saw that every day some strike was taking place, whether it be by the metro, bus, ferry or taxies, pharmacists, garbage pick-up, hospitals (excluding emergencies), banks, you name it.  The media also mentioned that this was a prime example of what the holidays would be like.  Strikes strikes and more strikes.  We actually debated if we should miss our flight to Greece and just go elsewhere.  But then we thought to stick with the plan and who knows, maybe things weren't exactly as crazy as the papers said they were.   On the 16th, the air traffic controllers were not striking but metro and buses were (and we thought maybe taxis too).  So, we were planning on spending a good 20 hours in the airport waiting to find some mode of transportation available to get from the airport to Athens.  Heck! I even had a sign made saying "Going to Athens ? How about giving us a ride please?" in Greek. Luckily, taxis were still runnning and when we got to the airport we met a Russian who was willing to share the ride with us.  Phew.  Phase 1 completed.

After a few days in Athens we realized just how much the media exagerrated. Yes, there were metro strikes or bus strikes but they would only strike for certain hours of the day and one day it was the bus, the other, the metro.  It didn't affect our plans at all. Thank goodness we decided to go. News is not always reliable.

Like Rome, there is so much to see in Athens. Plus, it's warm and there are the things everywhere that you notice and appreciate because you don't have them at home.  Like olive trees lining the streets.

  We were only there for four days but we got to see and do everything we wanted to in that short stay.  Of course, we climbed up to Acropolis, the ancient greek city, where we saw the glorious Parthenon.  This building was still in pretty good shape, considering it has been plundered so many times.  First by the Romans, who made a church out of it (and literally, climbed up ladders with hammers and and destroyed the carvings and sculptures that told ancient greek myths).  Than, the Ottoman came in, blew it up and built a mosque right smack the in the middle of it.  Today, nothing stands in there except the machinery attempting to restore the important historical monument.

If you look at the beams, you'll notice the diameter is thicker at the base and then gets smaller as it goes up.  The Greeks built it this way to perfect its look.

The most impressive thing about the Acropolis was seeing it change color during sunset.  The burnt orange reflecting on the marble is magnificent.  Most definetly my favorite color.  The neat thing is that none of the other buildings in Athens went orange as the Acropolis did.  It stood out like a gold brick in a pile of mud (although I would never consider the rest of Athens mud or anything).

And then at night:



We also saw the Theatre of Dionysos which was one of my visit's highlights (considering I've studied at bit of Theater History).  This building is one of the earliest theaters in the world.  During the huge Festival of Dionysus (the God of wine, and so a drunk fest), Greek playrights such as Aristotle, Sophocles and Euripides would submit their tragedies (and sometimes comedies) in competition.  The plays would be presented in this theater and then a winner would be chosen. 

Built between 340 BC and 330 BC, this place held 17 000 people. 

The Ancient Agora was the focal point of civic and social life; it was here where Socrates hung out and preached his philophies.  Here, we found many temples intact and in magnificent condition. 

Stoa of Attalos. This temple was most definetly restored with new marble.  Even MY big muscles couldn't push it down.

The Temple of Hephaestus.  The best kept temple in Greece.

Then we checked out the Roman Angora, that is the Roman "downtown" once the Roman empire took over.

This ain't no ordinary tower.   It's the Tower of the Winds, built by Andronicus and it serves as a sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass all in one. 

Another temple we saw, which cetainly did not look as mighty as the God itself did (or as I imagined he did) was the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Hm.

I knew the pillars was still all original marble, because look at what my muscles did:

Oops.

Close by the temple was the Panathenaic stadium which was built in the 4th century as a venue for athletic contests.  It also hosted the first modern Olympic games.

Chris and I are snobby because we are sitting in the places where royalty used to sit.  Well, I'm snobby, Chris is sneezing.

For some good exercise and for stunning views we climbed up Lykatvittos Hill which is the highest of the four hills that surround Athens. 

Chris doing his geekiest old-man tourist pose.  We were lucky enough to catch the wind-blown hair in that one.  Two props missing: fanny pack and camera on the belt.

Panoramic view of Athens from the top of the hill

Every capital city seems to do the "Changing of the guards" at the parliament.  This one reminded us of Monty Python's Agency of Silly Walks.

Yeah, real tough.

The world seems to be getting smaller and smaller and it seems like almost everywhere we've been we've had the opportunity to meet up with an old friend or a friend of a friend.  This time, Chris' brother and sister-and-law (thanks Shawn and Karla) knew someone from Athens.  We gave him a call and he was more than happy to meet up with us for supper. It was really nice getting to know people from the area, as well as his beautiful family, in a non-touristy traditional Greek taverna. Greek suppers are amazing.  They start late (Greeks usually don't go out to eat until 10 pm or so!) and they last a really long time.  The dishes are wonderful (unbeatable feta cheese which you can buy for an eigth of the price compared to at home) and the meal always finishes with a complimentary dessert and a shot of liquor, usually licorice flavored (like Ouzo but wayyyyy smoother). Sometimes they give you a whole bottle of the stuff and let you help yourself!

A quick picture with great company !

Our stay in Athens was short (4 days) as we wanted to leave the big city for the holidays.  We decided we wanted to stay on one of the islands, one different from all the others, one with it's own culture and people.  An island like Crete.  So we packed our backpacks, once again, and headed off for a long journey on the a ferry to the southernmost island of Crete.

Let's keep on keepin' on !