03-Athens

Sponge vendor on street

Monday, 3 April. After a continental breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi into central Athens and registered at a hotel near Syntagma (Constitution) Square. After unpacking, I had the hotel clerk book us on a bus tour to Delphi for the next morning, and one to the Argolis the following day. Then we walked around the downtown area looking in the shops. We were surprised to see how the quality of the Greek vases had deteriorated over the ten years since our last visit. The “souvenir” vases sold in most of the tourist shops were of very poor quality, obviously mass-produced. However, we found a shop that sold only high-quality reproductions of museum pieces, though at relatively high prices. I bought a very nice classic Greek vase there.

Our walk took us into Syntagma Square, so we took the opportunity to photograph the evzone guards at the Greek version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament building (formerly the Royal Palace). We got a quick snack for lunch from a street vendor.

Syntagma Square & Parliament

Evzones guarding Tomb

Evzone up close

We had an excellent transportation map and became very adept at getting around on city buses. When there were no convenient buses, we would take a taxi. Both were quite inexpensive. We visited the Acropolis, on our own this time. (In 1963 we had been on a tour and couldn’t roam around at will.) We focused mostly on the Parthenon, of course, but explored the Erecthion and the Propylea as well. We also discovered the Acropolis Museum that we hadn’t seen before. It was somewhat of a disappointment, though.

Aerial view of Acropolis

Acropolis from below

The Propylea

Jane in front of Propylea

Jane by Partheneon

Darrell inside Parthenon

Erecthion: Porch of the Caryatids

Erecthion beyond Parthenon

Erecthion: a split level temple

Next we went to the Archeological Museum, another thing we hadn’t seen before. Although the building was fairly small, it was packed with so many treasures that we were almost overcome. We were exploring every room in great detail until finally there was an announcement warning that the museum would close in half an hour. Then we had to rush through the last couple rooms.

Archeological Museum

"Mask of Agamemnon"

Gold drinking cup

Mural room from Akrotiri
(17th Cent. B.C.)

Jockey of Artemision (140 B.C.)

Poseidon (460 B.C.)

Room full of Greek vases

It was not quite 17:00 when we left the Museum, and there were still a couple hours of daylight. We decided to take a look at the Agora, which we had seen in 1963. The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the equivalent of the Roman forum. The Stoa of Attalos was about the same as we remembered it, but it seemed there had been more restoration, or at least a clearing of vegetation and straightening up of the rubble, in the Agora than before.

Agora seen from the Acropolis

Stoa of Attalos (150 B.C., reconstructed in the 1950s)

The Theseum (450 B.C.)

Calliope in Monastiraki

By this time the sun was down, and it was cooling off. We walked through the Monastiraki district on the way to our hotel and stopped at a small but lively restaurant for dinner. It seemed to be a typical old fashioned Greek restaurant, the kind the locals would frequent, but the proprietor (who was also the cook) was Italian. It was nice to be able to hold a conversation with someone. We certainly couldn’t do it in Greek.

We detoured a little way through the Plaka on our way back to the hotel, just to see it at night. It was much more “touristy” than when we’d seen it ten years earlier. At that time there had been few lights and very few restaurants.

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