Today was supposed to be an early start so I could once again cover a series of sites around Athens. After another tasty breakfast of toast, jelly/cheese, tomatoes and a hard boiled egg, I headed off to the Temple of Zeus and the Olympic Stadium--more large expanses filled with mostly randomly strewn large marble stones. I attempted to make my way from the Olympic Stadium to the Archeological Museum, but like most of my time here, the hostel map does not actually reflect reality. Heading down the road I thought was on the map led me to Lykavittos Hill which was in the far NE of the city when I needed to be beyond far N. To boot, like its name implies, the hill is quite a ways up in altitude and used up quite a bit of energy trying to figure out how to get around it. Up top though there was a large
cropping of what appeared to be Agave cacti--that's right, the plants used to make tequila. After an hour I did finally arrive at the museum to discover that it was closing in one hour due to another 24 hour transit strike. Good thing I moved my day trip to Hydra to Sunday. Hopefully there won't be another strike until after Monday.
Greece has a 12% debt with the EU and they've been called out on it. To remedy the problem the greek government had decided to make job/salary cuts and to raise taxes. Hence the last minute notice 24 hour transit strikes. Today I witnessed the protests in action. Roughly 12,000 Greeks marched from near Syntagma Square along one of the main roads in Athens carrying banners, flags and mega phones as they chanted. Last night a scuffle with the police ending in pepper spray and tear gas was reported. I was only near the marching long enough to collect a 30 second video before I navigated away.
The Archeological Museum was really nice. Among the many statues, bronze works, coins and pottery I was able to see two of the statues Rick Steves showcased on his 1/2 hour show on Athens (Running Horse and Greek god Throwing a Spear). The afternoon and evening held little to amuse me as the historical sites here close at 3pm in winter. I wandered around to the fruit and veggie market, picked up gyros at a local restaurant and hit the hostel sports bar for a Castleburg beer while I read a few chapters of Sense and Sensibility. I know my calves and ankles were thanking me for taking it easy on them tonight. Tomorrow's excursion to Delphi will be challenging.
Showing posts with label Athens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Athens. Show all posts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Well Worn Paths
I attempted to get an early start in hopes of covering as many of the 6 major historical sites in the area (Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Kerameikos/Cemetery, Temple of Zeus and Olympic Stadium). Breakfast took a bit longer as I sat with Frances and a new friend Stephen. It was hard to leave good conversation. Roughly around 10am I made it to the Acropolis to begin my day's discoveries.
It's hard to describe the expansive views and vast marble creations as you walk around on the highest hill in the area. The packed in city below sprawls all around dotted with ancient ruins and very modern glass buildings. What didn't make sense on the map a few days ago was much clearer now. I'm glad I went to the museum yesterday to give some perspective to what I was seeing today.
From here I worked my way to the Ancient Agora to discover that this was where I had ended up a few days earlier when I was "lost." This time I knew exactly where to go. The Agora is HUGE. I must have spent a good 1.5 hours there trying to get around to everything. Towards the end my camera battery started to flash at me. I wasn't sure how much more time I'd have so I tried to cover things quickly so I could still make it to the Roman Agora and the cemetery. To come back to one or two of these would make for a long walk and "wasted" time.Fortunately the Roman Agora is quite small in comparison and was easy to breeze through. What I didn't realize was how long it would take to walk from there (NE corner of the Acropolis) to the cemetery. I think it took close to 20 minutes. When I arrived I had 20 minutes to cover the entire town/cemetery. I was close to sprinting through the rocky, winding pathways up and down hills. I managed to get shots of the overall areas and what I think might be all of the explanatory plaques--all with a low camera battery. Now that's what I call impressive!
After a much deserved rest, I hit a local crepe restaurant for dinner. For E10 I had a Sprite, Tiramisu and a crepe with chicken, tomatoes, green peppers and mayo. Needless to say, I was quite full. I spent the rest of the evening researching trains, planes and ferries to figure out my next step on the journey. Hopefully this will include a day trip to Piraeus and Hydra on Sunday and moving on to Corinth on Monday.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Human Time Warp
I slept in a bit and tried to take it easy to rest my sore legs/ankle. Unfortunately I ended up walking much farther than planned. The 2.5 hour walking tour I wanted to do was canceled as I was the only one interested and she needed 4 people minimum. In wandering around on my own I got "lost" because the hostel map has about 1/10 of the street names in the area. Unable to navigate well meant I ended up on the far NW side of the city before I could find a street name on the map. I opted to sit for a couple hours and eat lunch once I found the hostel again. I did a bit of planning for the next few days before heading out to the brand new Acropolis Museum. It's quite amazing.
The layout is a series of rectangles piled on top of each other at skewed angles comprising 3 floors of marble pieces from the Parthenon on the Acropolis. The building is almost entirely glass. Even large sections of the floor are glass to reveal the excavated sites of the areas along the slopes of the Acropolis. That was probably the coolest feature.
Looking down at the older cities below was fascinating. Made me think about all the
different civilizations and ages of history that existed before I walked across it at that moment. Seeing history displayed in this way made me ponder in a very new way what it means to be human and to exist over time. How generations and eras follow one after another and each group of people makes their own way in life and leaves their own marks upon the Earth that others will uncover and marvel at. How does it fit into the framework of life to consider that some of these people lived around 600 BC? Now place that along with the belief that God is in existence throughout this entire span. Let your brain simmer and ache over that for a while!
No photography is allowed in the museum. To commemorate my time there I picked up a pack of postcards that sort of tell the story of what I saw inside. They really don't do justice to it, but it's the best they offer. From the museum I walked through the National Gardens. They weren't as lush as I'm used to, but it is winter here still. All over there were orange trees and 3 large fountains. It was right around 5pm and the daylight was just right for enjoying and photographing the gardens. My favorite part was this long trellis covered walkway that opened into a walkway of palm trees.
From the gardens I meandered the streets for a bit before dinner. I wandered by a shop where the owner stepped out and asked why I walked along so quietly and slowly. After chatting I learned that he had spent time in Minneapolis with friends and recently met them here in Greece. He was able to suggest a good restaurant to me and naturally showed me around the shop. Inside were exquisite looking, colorful glass pieces that were most tempting to buy. I will definitely be returning to potentially purchase something that hopefully won't break in my luggage.
This hostel has a sister building with apartments and an attached sports bar. I checked out the bar where they were televising a futbol game at 8pm (if only I'd known they meant 8pm London time from where the game was being broadcast). It was just about 7:30pm so I grabbed a Mythos beer and chilled for a bit. Shortly after a young woman joined me. We had a great time chatting. Frances is 19 from a small town outside York, UK. She gave me some great tips on things to see and places to stop once I reach the UK. She is taking 2 months to travel around Greece, Italy, Portugal among other places before enrolling in university (what Americans call college) to get her degree in classical studies. This year is time to relax a bit, get some perspective and travel. Very similar to me. All in all, a great way to end the evening.
The layout is a series of rectangles piled on top of each other at skewed angles comprising 3 floors of marble pieces from the Parthenon on the Acropolis. The building is almost entirely glass. Even large sections of the floor are glass to reveal the excavated sites of the areas along the slopes of the Acropolis. That was probably the coolest feature.
Looking down at the older cities below was fascinating. Made me think about all the
different civilizations and ages of history that existed before I walked across it at that moment. Seeing history displayed in this way made me ponder in a very new way what it means to be human and to exist over time. How generations and eras follow one after another and each group of people makes their own way in life and leaves their own marks upon the Earth that others will uncover and marvel at. How does it fit into the framework of life to consider that some of these people lived around 600 BC? Now place that along with the belief that God is in existence throughout this entire span. Let your brain simmer and ache over that for a while!
No photography is allowed in the museum. To commemorate my time there I picked up a pack of postcards that sort of tell the story of what I saw inside. They really don't do justice to it, but it's the best they offer. From the museum I walked through the National Gardens. They weren't as lush as I'm used to, but it is winter here still. All over there were orange trees and 3 large fountains. It was right around 5pm and the daylight was just right for enjoying and photographing the gardens. My favorite part was this long trellis covered walkway that opened into a walkway of palm trees.
From the gardens I meandered the streets for a bit before dinner. I wandered by a shop where the owner stepped out and asked why I walked along so quietly and slowly. After chatting I learned that he had spent time in Minneapolis with friends and recently met them here in Greece. He was able to suggest a good restaurant to me and naturally showed me around the shop. Inside were exquisite looking, colorful glass pieces that were most tempting to buy. I will definitely be returning to potentially purchase something that hopefully won't break in my luggage.
This hostel has a sister building with apartments and an attached sports bar. I checked out the bar where they were televising a futbol game at 8pm (if only I'd known they meant 8pm London time from where the game was being broadcast). It was just about 7:30pm so I grabbed a Mythos beer and chilled for a bit. Shortly after a young woman joined me. We had a great time chatting. Frances is 19 from a small town outside York, UK. She gave me some great tips on things to see and places to stop once I reach the UK. She is taking 2 months to travel around Greece, Italy, Portugal among other places before enrolling in university (what Americans call college) to get her degree in classical studies. This year is time to relax a bit, get some perspective and travel. Very similar to me. All in all, a great way to end the evening.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Long Way Around
What a windy day in the city! I'm not talking a light breeze or even a gust. It must have been about 50mph wind today. Metal not secured on peoples' rooves were flapping about and dust was forming into swirling tornadoes all over the place. I believe I've acquired a layer of dirt all over me.
After securing my train ticket to Athens, I wandered around to find a grocery store for some snacks later on which would suffice for dinner on the train. In all my walking of Kalampaka, I couldn't find any take away food or sandwiches. They must be somewhere, but nowhere I could find them. I decided not to lug the food around all day, as I needed to check out of the hotel at 11:30am, and I wanted to see a few more of the sites in town.
After a long stroll, I finally found the Holy Maria church in the far NE corner of town on the highest and steepest hill possible. I was still quite sore from yesterday's hiking around Meteora.
In the afternoon I had hoped to make my way along a foot path to the last two monasteries on spires. At the start the path was pretty easy to follow. It wound just at the edge of the city between the last few houses and the base of the spires. Most of the time it felt like I was in someone's backyard and at one point crossed an area with cables running up the spires for reception to the homes below. This is where the trail dumped back into a street in town. I hadn't expected this at all. I backtracked thinking I must have missed an obvious turn. There were no signs along the path and when I tried another version, it quickly ended into the mountainside. Already feeling pretty whooped from yesterday and not feeling like I had enough time to get there and back, I gave up and headed to a cafe near the hotel. I figured that if I'd seen 3 monasteries, I'd probably seen enough to suffice for all 5 of the 6 that were open.
Cooled down from an icy Coke, I walked a quick 10 minutes to another site the hotel had suggested not missing and then headed down into town to grab some food for dinner. I picked out some fresh wheat bread for 1E, some tzatsiki, cheese and tahini (ground sesame seeds--like thin, oily peanut butter).
The train ride was excessively late--about 1.5 hours. To exit the station I had to go down 25 some stairs and then back up 25 stairs. To get to the Metro I had to go up probably another 50 stairs, around the corner of the building and then up 5 stairs and down another 40. Mind you, none of these stairs had elevators or escalators. Fortunately the next tram came in 3 minutes. After this, finding my stop and the hostel was easy. This station had escalators all the way out to the street level and the hostel was literally right around the corner. At about 11:30pm I was checked in and then made a small wracket trying to dump my self into the bed. What a tiring day!
After securing my train ticket to Athens, I wandered around to find a grocery store for some snacks later on which would suffice for dinner on the train. In all my walking of Kalampaka, I couldn't find any take away food or sandwiches. They must be somewhere, but nowhere I could find them. I decided not to lug the food around all day, as I needed to check out of the hotel at 11:30am, and I wanted to see a few more of the sites in town.
After a long stroll, I finally found the Holy Maria church in the far NE corner of town on the highest and steepest hill possible. I was still quite sore from yesterday's hiking around Meteora.
In the afternoon I had hoped to make my way along a foot path to the last two monasteries on spires. At the start the path was pretty easy to follow. It wound just at the edge of the city between the last few houses and the base of the spires. Most of the time it felt like I was in someone's backyard and at one point crossed an area with cables running up the spires for reception to the homes below. This is where the trail dumped back into a street in town. I hadn't expected this at all. I backtracked thinking I must have missed an obvious turn. There were no signs along the path and when I tried another version, it quickly ended into the mountainside. Already feeling pretty whooped from yesterday and not feeling like I had enough time to get there and back, I gave up and headed to a cafe near the hotel. I figured that if I'd seen 3 monasteries, I'd probably seen enough to suffice for all 5 of the 6 that were open.
Cooled down from an icy Coke, I walked a quick 10 minutes to another site the hotel had suggested not missing and then headed down into town to grab some food for dinner. I picked out some fresh wheat bread for 1E, some tzatsiki, cheese and tahini (ground sesame seeds--like thin, oily peanut butter).
The train ride was excessively late--about 1.5 hours. To exit the station I had to go down 25 some stairs and then back up 25 stairs. To get to the Metro I had to go up probably another 50 stairs, around the corner of the building and then up 5 stairs and down another 40. Mind you, none of these stairs had elevators or escalators. Fortunately the next tram came in 3 minutes. After this, finding my stop and the hostel was easy. This station had escalators all the way out to the street level and the hostel was literally right around the corner. At about 11:30pm I was checked in and then made a small wracket trying to dump my self into the bed. What a tiring day!
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