Sometimes you make plans and think ‘this is a reasonable option.’ Then the day comes and it is fact, not a reasonable option. But you power through anyway. Welcome to our day in Athens.
We started the day in Thessaloniki, and ended it in Madrid. Yes, I know this blog is called Athens. It was an early morning flight in, and a late night flight out. Which gave us 12 hours or so to explore the Greek capital.
We actually made it to the city around 10, after an hour long train from the airport. Our main bags were kept there for the transfer, which was quite literally, a huge weight off of our backs. But like Thessaloniki, not much is open before 10. So we got a streetcart bagel for breakfast, and headed to Lycabettus Hill for a look at the Acropolis. We passed by an ancient Greek invention museum, which was previously unknown to us, but looked interesting.
The viewpoint at the top of Lycabettus Hill I’m sure was great, but the viewpoint halfway up was wonderful too. We came up here for a nice look at the Acropolis, which we decided we would only view from afar. The landmark of Athens is very impressive from above. The Parthenon temple, is an impressive structure on the hill. Its is also surrounded by all sorts of other temples and ruins on the grounds, and thousands of people. That’s a place you have to go first thing in the morning, and first thing in the morning we were across the country. We felt content halfway up the hill, so we headed back down to the National Garden.
The garden was amazing. It was clearly someone’s botanical baby. There were all sorts of varied flora. Trees of different heights, buses with different leaf sizes and textures. And they all flowed seamlessly into each other. It wasn’t the biggest garden (Athens looks a lot bigger on the map than it actually is), but an enjoyable 10 minute walk in the heart of the city anyway.
At the end of the park was the original Olympic stadium. A massive apitheater dominated this region of the city. It was over 200m long, and had at least 60 rows of seats. Keep in mind this is over 2000 years old (with restoration). It was fun to see, but we didn’t need to go in.
Then the Temple of Zues. Our hand selected ruin for the day. With a nice view of the Acropolis, this temple was of eaqual size, but it all kinda ell down. Theres only 15 pillars left, and most are under scaffolding. Fut a few were out in the open, including one that toppled over in a stolm 180 years ago. Must have beebn some storm.
The grounds had all sorts of artifacts, as well. Old pillar sections, old tops, statues, all the above. We spent a good while here checking it all out. The architecture holds up to the hype, that’s for sure.
We had a souvlaki wrap for a snack, and then headed to anafiotika, a coulurful hillside neighbourhood with narrow walking only streets. They must have had some tourist trouble before, as theres lots of BE QUIET signs everywhere. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant around here, with a million appetizes, a decent skewere, and a well cooked fish. Of course, in Greece, we got some free desset with it soo, a nice orange cake with yogurt.
It started to rain, so the plans of vibey street went out the window. Instead, we headed back to the Greek invention museum we had passed by earlier.
This is a great museum. If you are ever in Athens, we recommend this wholeheartedly. The top floor had all sorts of ancient Greek games, and versions of them you could sit down and play. Like trias, an old, better version of tic tac toe. There was also the ostomachion, a fill in the shape tanagram type puzzle, which we disassembled and had more struggle than anticipated putting it back together.
The next level had all sorts of old Greek inventions. It was interactive, so we could play with them all. The staff were very happy to show us around too. There was an old telegram system so send pre-programmed messages, a crane, alarm clocks. Cam’s favorite was the manual pump firehose. They used hydraulic and pneumatics to a great extent, that’s for sure. I liked the Archemedes screw, a manual pump to move water uphill. There were also a jug that could turn water into wine (a fun illusion), cups that spilled when you put too much wine in them (to punish the greedy), and an astrogocial computer to keep track of all the astronomic events.
We must have spent two hours in this museum playing with everything. The coolest invention was that of a fire sacrificial pillar, from which you would burn something, and then the temple doors would automatically open. This is total conjecture, but we believe that all of these types of inventions aided in Constantinople’s spread of Christianity through the promise of miracles during the early Roman rule.
Rain was over, and we headed to vibey street. Tired though, so we got some pizza and rested, and then made our way. The main square was full of all sorts of nonsense, and the tourist street had all sorts of knick knacks. It was cheesy and fun.
Of course in Athens, theres old ruins everywhere. Some city blocks are blocked out cause of Hadrians Library or other sort of ancient buildings. Athens has been a city for a very long times. Theres ruins in the metro stations too. Cats everywhere as well. Back to the airport we went for a long flight to Madrid. We were tire,d and slept pretty well on the flight. Not in the airport though, the security people woke us up to move. Our (hopefully) last sleep in ain airport. For another flight in the morning. We will see you there!