Saturday, October 25, Day 135 - View from the Top
Today, we bought a six venue ticket that would take us into the main ruins of Athens, 12 Euros each. So in addition to taking the funicular inside Lycabettus hill to the top with a fabulous view of the city (not included in our 6 tickets),we also found a geocache, and visited the Kerameikos Museum (funeral, grave relics, tomb yard), the Olympieion - Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Panatheraic Stadium (not included in relics ticket).
The sun played peek-a-boo throughout the day, so we waited patiently for just the right light to take photos.
Looking Down from Lycabettus Hill:
Necropolis - Kerameikos Museum
clocked in 8 miles of walking, sat in a restaurant that had an outstanding night view of the Acropolis, ate Moussaka, drank red wine, and had the traditional Greek Ouzo.
Looking Down from Lycabettus Hill:
Necropolis - Kerameikos Museum
Olympieion - Temple of Olympian Zeus
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| Looking Up to Tomorrow's Plan |
As the day wound down we just walked around absorbing the sights and sounds of Athens,
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| Hadrian's Gate |
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| Produce Markets |
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| Flea Markets |
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| Modern Art - Graffiti Everywhere |
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| Old Buildings in Need of Repair |
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| My Mom Would Have Love This!
We even got a glimpse of a Greek wedding in progress as we passed this little church!
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Sunday, October 26, Day 136 - Acropolis
After a month in Turkey after, we got used to the Muslim call to prayer broadcasted from minarets. This morning the call to prayer came from orthodox churches from around Athens. As in America, the clocks fell back an hour last night.
We got dressed and hiked up Moussan Hill, another overlook. I took photos thinking I was my camera was on automatic daylight setting, and didn't realize until later when I checked the photos that they were over-exposed (pure white light), that I had forgotten to change my settings from taking the night scene photos the night before. Grrrr, oh well....not planning to climb that hill again. Okay so here is a stock photo
We also visited Socrates Prison, a cave.
Socrates, was convicted of sedition, corrupting the minds of the young, and worshipping his own "god". The death sentence was handed down by the jury, many of whom had been provoked by Socrates thoughts and outspokenness. Socrates chose hemlock for his death sentence...a true Greek tragedy. Socrates was a fairly obscure figure in his own time, and became a noteworthy historical figure only after his student Plato wrote about him and his demise. We are intrigued, and want to learn more.
Socrates, was convicted of sedition, corrupting the minds of the young, and worshipping his own "god". The death sentence was handed down by the jury, many of whom had been provoked by Socrates thoughts and outspokenness. Socrates chose hemlock for his death sentence...a true Greek tragedy. Socrates was a fairly obscure figure in his own time, and became a noteworthy historical figure only after his student Plato wrote about him and his demise. We are intrigued, and want to learn more.
Much of the top area of the acropolis is a chunk library of pieces with catalog numbers, perhaps with the hope of putting it all back together again.
Looking down from the Acropolis we had a great view of the Odeon Herodes Atticus Theater, originally built in the 2nd century CE and rebuilt in the 1950's, and used today for musical and theatrical productions.
Late in the afternoon, we visited the theater of Dionysos (ruins) , found another geocache, walked through the tourist section of the promenade, and returned back to our flat with another 5 miles under our belt. It was too early for dinner, so we drank our wine, ate cheese and played cards until 7:30 then walked to the local eatery for quinoa salad, Greek salad, and lamb shank. Delicious.
Monday, October 27, Day 137 - Last Full Day in Athens
There is a school across the street from our flat. The last two days have been quiet, but today the voices of children filled the play ground. The sun is out this morning belying the forecast that said it would not poke out until later this afternoon. Our plan was to take advantage of the morning to catchup on blogs, reading, and laundry, and head out later this afternoon to visit the last of our sites, mainly the ancient and Roman Agoras, and finishing our day downtown where we can return to the same restaurant and repeat our wonderful moussaka experience. We may speed up the timetable a bit if it looks like rain this afternoon.
Tomorrow, we will depart early for the airport and head to London.
All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Athens, Greece.
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