The Athenian Way

Breakfast came a bit too soon for us Monday morning, especially after a day on board the ferry from hell. We enjoyed the usual toast and jam and tea and honey at the hotel and were off to see the one city we came to see- Athens.

Our stay in the city thus far hasn't been so pleasant and honestly the city hasn't lived up to what we've heard it would be, but on our journey through the ancient sites today we hoped that it could change our minds.

Kaitlyn and I traveled to the Acropolis where we started our 5 1/2 hour walk through the city. We climbed up to the top and managed to get to the site by opening (8am). We beat the crowds and toured the ruins without having to wait for people to move out of our pictures. It was fantastic! The ruins were definitely ruins though the Parthenon was neat and a few temples around it were beautiful to look at, especially because they were perched on top of the highest point in Athens. At one point I looked out and felt like an ancient Athenian politician looking out at his city and all his people below him. It was a pretty sick feeling.

The sun started to get hot at about 9am and we were feeling it as we climbed up on the rock of the Acropolis. Here we could look up at the Parthenon. It was a great view and we could see the crowds of people flocking to the site, so we decided to move on through to Agora. In the Agora, which is adjacent to the Acropolis, we saw more ruins and some churches and beautifully preserved Temples. We walked for hours and ended up hitting a little part of the residential neighborhoods that happened to have ruins scattered about as well.

My stomach started growling and it was time for some lunch, so we stopped after finishing the sites of Agora and the Acropolis and went to this restaurant on the way to the Temple of Zeus. The food was delicious and had the usual meats, but also rice and potatoes and vegetable skewers. I was full and ready to take on the rest of the sites.

We ventured through the small streets and made it to the Plaka, the oldest neighborhood in Athens. It was beautiful and the small alley ways gave it a special character. We shopped around and followed the other tourists' paths through the city and ended up in an outdoor mall-like scene with stores everywhere. Temptation lurked in every store entrance, but we breezed on by and made our way to the hotel to rest up with a nice siesta and to head back out for dinner.

Now dinner was very cool. We stopped at a Quikk Pita place in Plaka and ate vegetable pitas with a special sauce on the side. The menu had so many cheap items on it and a lot of it was vegetarian friendly. What a great light dinner! Off to the outdoor musical festival down the road and a quick stop at a bar to try some of the classic Grecian ouzo. It was definitely stronger than I expected. The licorice flavor was so potent and I could barely take more than three sips before having to drink some water to cool down my mouth. It sure went down warm and smooth, but not to the effect that it made it enjoyable for me :/.

The night came to a close with after more music and celebrations- just because. Off to Italia tomorrow!