October 27, 2015

 

 

Our Big Fat Greek Day

Today will take some planning.  Tomorrow is a Greek national holiday and we understand that most things will be closed which means we have to pick our spots today.  There are mixed opinions about whether the Acropolis will be open tomorrow so we put that on our list to check.

We have a first day breakfast included with our room which saves us 8 euros apiece.  It is a pretty mediocre spread and we’ll probably skip it tomorrow.  Our plan is to do the hop-on hop-off bus and use it for two days to see a lot of Athens without a lot of work.  It is after 10:00 when we finally get rolling, walking to Monistiraki Square to catch the bus.  We have 23 minutes before the bus is scheduled, plenty of time to get cash from the ATM, buy our ferry tickets for Thursday from a travel agent, run the tickets a couple blocks back to our hotel room and get back to the bus stop.  19 minutes flat!  Of course the bus is 15 minutes late and they run every 30 minutes.  Welcome to Greece.  

The first bus stop is the Athens Market which is on our list but missed the cut for today.  As we travel to our next stop we realize that the Market will be closed tomorrow and it will wrap up today at about 1:00 so we may have missed our chance.  No way.  We use the hop-off option and do the 15 minute walk back to the market.  The outside perimeter of the square block market is all meat.  Some of the stalls are making a show of refrigeration although we question whether it’s real.  There are a lot of skinned whole animals hanging around which we believe are lambs, having eliminated German Shepherds as a possibility.  Also large barrels of lamb heads which have to be a soup ingredient.  No, we didn’t take pictures.

The inside of the market is all fish with every type of sea creature represented.  Everything looks fresh and good but again there is an obvious lack of refrigeration.  They better sell it fast.  The fruits and vegetables are across the street where the smells are better and the displays are prettier.  It’s probably all in the eye of the beholder.  We do like to visit the fresh markets wherever we travel as they provide a unique glimpse into the daily lives of the locals.  They are never dull.

Now, it’s back on the bus for a trip up the hill to the Acropolis.  We have to walk uphill for a couple hundred yards to find out if it is open tomorrow (it is) and while we are there we decide to stay.  Here’s the abbreviated version of where we are.  Greece was a key player in the world 25 hundred years ago.  It provided us with some of the great philosophical concepts of western civilization including equal rights for everyone and a full blown democratic system of government.  While they were at it they were also busy creating great works of art, fighting off Persians and implementing a sophisticated economic system while much of the rest of the world was still living in caves and clubbing animals.

Athens was the main player in Greece although other city-states were either allies or enemies depending on which century it was (hello Sparta).  On a high ridge over Athens the citizens created a place of worship and sacrifice worthy of their stature and that is the Acropolis.  Within the Acropolis are multiple places of worship, the most impressive being the Parthenon, the temple of Athena.  Athena was the most powerful of the Greek Gods having defeated Poseidon in a contest of equals and forever reigned supreme.

The Acropolis has had a difficult time over the years with the Greeks unable to defend itself against more powerful foes beginning in about 300 BC.  Eventually the Romans moved in but were respectful caretakers compared to others that followed.  Over the last few hundred years the Acropolis has made a comeback as archaeologists have put the bones back together again, filling in the blanks where necessary to recreate much of the original form.  To say it is impressive would be an understatement.  To imagine the society that existed here, 500 years before the Roman Empire, walking these same walks through these same gates is mind boggling.

Looking down from the Acropolis, Athens spreads out in every direction inland towards some low mountains and seaward towards the port of Piraeus.  Below the Acropolis the ruins of the Greek and Roman agoras, the stoa and various city gates are still visible.  That’s where we’re headed now.  It’s almost 3:00 and someone will be getting hangry without getting something to eat.

The Plaka neighborhood is the oldest in modern Athens and sits tight against the hill of the Acropolis.  We nosed around here for a while last night and saw plenty of fun little restaurants. At a sidewalk table just below the Acropolis Museum Mary gets a grilled cheese (not sandwich and the cheese is from Crete) snack and John has a kabob with tzatziki, pita and tomatoes.  Beers go without saying.  Now we all feel better.

We walk a little back up hill to the Acropolis Museum and thought our Acropolis tickets would get us in but no dice.  It is open and free tomorrow so we’ll come back then.  We spend what’s left of the afternoon wandering the back streets of the Plaka and down through the Athens “Flea Market,” a permanent warren of little shops sort of like a Moroccan souk.  It’s almost 6:00 when we get back for our late afternoon nap but a good day.

Dinner tonight is at Oinopoleio Cookhouse, next door to last night’s place.  We start with a meatball appetizer and a house-made wine.  John orders the lamb shank (sorry all out) and settles for the lamb chops with fries.  Mary has a cheesy ravioli, obviously with Greek cheese.  The lamb chops are really a pile of lamb ribs, at least a dozen of them nicely charred and really tasty.  A couple of scraps “accidently” fall off the table to the kitties underneath.  There is a single German girl at the next table who tells us a little about her travels.  She is just returning home from some time in Thailand and we get the impression that she gets by on the kindness of strangers.  She and the waiter might have a little thing going before dinner is done.

A short walk home again tonight.  It is almost a full moon over the Parthenon from our balcony.

What did we learn today? 2500 years ago Greek politicians were arguing about equal rights, income inequality, and what to do about the Persians. We’ve made a lot of progress.