Athens: The Grand Finale

Black Sea Navigation: BULGARIA: [Nesebar] [Varna] ROMANIA: [Constanţa]
TURKEY: [Sinop] [Bodrum] [Istanbul: Basilica Cistern] [Istanbul: Topkapi] [Istanbul: Haigha Sophia]
GREECE: [Limnos] [Meteora] [Thira] [Athens: Acropolis and Plaka] [Acropolis Museum Highlights]

I had approximately 28 hours in Athens at the end of the trip.  We who were lingering in Athens said our initial farewells to the remaining octet, who were headed in divers directions.  
After some initial consultations, we decided to take the metro to the hotel, which was a good idea, and also decided to walk from the port to the metro station, which was a bad idea.  (A taxi driver told us it was a very close and entirely walkable "300 meters," while a parking lot attendant told us -- with a far closer approach to the truth -- that it was 2-3 kilometers.  We believed the taxi driver, since he seemed to be speaking against interest.)

Then again, while it was a bit of a schlepp to the metro with our luggage, it was very easy once we got there.  They have large, clean, functional elevators for entry and exit, and for changing trains from one level to the next. Presumably they re-did everything for the Olympics, but it all works very smoothly, putting NYC's largely wheelchair-inaccessible subways to shame.

The staff at the Philippos Hotel were friendly and accommodating; they stowed our luggage for us so we could go touring until our rooms were ready, and they told us we could help ourselves to the breakfast buffet.  (We'd already eaten, but the coffee was very, very welcome!)

We started with the Acropolis, although unfortunately we went at the hottest and most crowded time of day.  We also ran into two logistical quirks, which we probably could have avoided if we'd actually read a guidebook or something before going.  First was the problem that they only accept cash at the ticket booth (no credit cards) and they don't have ATMs on-site.  We had enough cash to purchase the tickets, but unfortunately, the person we'd dispatched to stand in line for tickets was the one without cash.  Grrr.  The second wrinkle was that the "four-day ticket" to multiple locations including the Acropolis only allows you to enter each location once during the four days.  So our dream of popping back in to the Acropolis first thing in the morning before the crowds hit was unfortunately crushed.  



More after the jump...

Coincidentally, we ran into my cousin-in-law as we were heading out of the Acropolis.  He said hi to the girls, before we were swept away with the exiting crowd.  (His wife and son were headed back to the States for the start of school and football season.)

After we'd toured the Acropolis, we had lunch at To Kati Allo, which was very good.  My companions went back to the hotel for a well-deserved siesta, while I visited the Acropolis Museum.  I took notes to make a treasure hunt for the girls, since they were going to visit the museum the following afternoon.

Ruins beneath our feet

We met up and visited the Arch of Hadrian:

Looks like a Hollywood set! 

Don't look now, but it's the Acropolis!

 Next door is the Temple of Zeus:

The cicadas were almost deafening in the city;
we finally spotted some of the culprits on a tree in the park
at the Temple of Zeus.

We headed over through the National Garden to the parliament building to watch the changing of the guard.

The One Ring?

We stopped in to look at some exhibits at the Syntagma metro station.

Timepiece sculpture (commissioned for the Olympics)

Early plumbing 

Loom weights

We also set out to see a little Byzantine church in the shadow of a cathedral.  For such a tiny church, it has quite a few names, according to Wikipedia:

The Agios Eleftherios church, also known as Mikri Mitropoli ("little metropolitan church") or Panagia Gorgoepikoos is a Byzantine-era church located at the Mitropolis square, next to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens...

A charming kid-sized church

The nearby cathedral

Details of the window

Temple foo dogs?

Disjointed roof

Mosaic in the courtyard

Monocle Industries?

Dinner was at someplace forgettable, a tavern with a courtyard where the service was woefully inattentive, and the "bill" (stated orally to us, but not written down) was a lot higher than we'd anticipated based on the menu prices.  The food was good though.

View from the hotel

 The next morning, we breezed through the Plaka together before I headed off to the airport.

A distant ruin

I was taken with the variety of sculpted hairstyles on display at the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos:

Heracles with his lion skin!

Our last visit was the  Temple of Hephaestus, one of the few in Greece that still maintains its claustrophobic inner wall (rather than the airy destroyed look we know and love in the Parthenon etc.)

It was a really lovely trip.  I stayed at the Agora/Plaka/Hephaisteion longer than I'd planned, said my farewells, then hot-footed it back to the hotel, grabbed my luggage, and headed off to the airport.  Smooth sailing all the way home.

Black Sea Navigation: BULGARIA: [Nesebar] [Varna] ROMANIA: [Constanţa]
TURKEY: [Sinop] [Bodrum] [Istanbul: Basilica Cistern] [Istanbul: Topkapi] [Istanbul: Haigha Sophia]
GREECE: [Limnos] [Meteora] [Thira] [Athens: Acropolis and Plaka] [Acropolis Museum Highlights]