Wandering the ancient sites of Athens … with Cyn

What a fantastic city! Many of the tour books suggest that visitors to Greece should spend two or three days in Athens and then head to the islands. But, honestly, I have been here for nearly three weeks and I have so much more to do!

This is a longish post … but also a whirlwind because it covers more than a week of intensive sightseeing.

The day after my last blog entry, I walked 15 minutes from my flat to the National Archaeological Museum which holds so many of the pieces I recognize from the online courses I have taken and the archeology shows I have watched.

I wandered for two hours and saw only the first floor, which means I will have to return.

Then I spent my first real weekend here meandering through the old downtown. Sometimes you turn a corner in Athens and suddenly, right in front of you, there are excavated remnants of city life from 2500 years ago.

There are also countless wonderful restaurants with delicious food like this spinach pie — and so many of the eateries have live music.

I also spent time relaxing and reading on my sunny balcony. The weather here has been (almost) perfect for sightseeing — sunny and hovering between 14C and 18C.

I say ‘almost perfect’ because, on Monday January 13 it began to pour. That is the day Cyn arrived.

I took the Metro to collect her from the airport. It costs 9 EU to get by subway from the airport to the Larissa stop around the corner from my apartment, but 50 EU ($80 CDN) by cab with a tip. Cyn sensibly opted for the Metro.

The next day was also super rainy. But there was no way Cyn and I were going to sit around the tiny apartment. We went online and bought five-day Multipass tickets to the six major archeological sites in Athens and headed out on foot to the Museum of the Acropolis.

I should say that, while Cyn was in town, we rarely took the metro anywhere, and I managed to log 103,000 steps (79 kilometres) on my Skechers over seven days. I am very happy with that!

Anyhoo … the Acropolis museum is a must-see. And one of the main takeaways is just how much of Greece’s archeological heritage has been looted by other countries — especially England and France.

Wednesday was also a little overcast but no matter. We hopped on an excursion bus that took us three hours north to Delphi, the home of the ancient oracle. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, telling us stories of modern and ancient Greece throughout the journey. And just being at that magnificent site where people from all over this part of the world sought advice, starting in the 8th Century BC, left me awestruck.

Cyn and I walked nearly to the top of a theatre, which was a long way up! Then we explored the ruins which have been excavated but not rebuilt.

Before we left Delphi, the bus stopped at a hotel for lunch (this was optional but, if you do this tour, do get the lunch — there was so much traditional Greek food and it was well worth the extra cost). Then we headed home, arriving in Athens well after dark.

On Thursday, we walked back through the downtown and climbed to the top of the Acropolis. It’s a long way up, but the slope is gradual and neither of us felt we had the wind knocked out of us. We had downloaded Rick Steves’ tour of the site and spent a few hours taking in the temples, including the Parthenon, which is being painstakingly rebuilt using stone from the same quarry accessed by the ancient Greeks.

Friday started with a food tour in the market area. If you are ever in Athens, this is something I would highly recommend! Rachel, the guide was such a delight! She took us to three different restaurants for sit-down meals and also we stopped at places to sample olive oil and honey. We strolled through the fish and meat market, we sampled Greek coffee and wine and ouzo, and we shopped for vegetables.

This guy was making phyllo dough in one of the windows that we passed.

Then Cyn and I walked across town to Lycabettus Hill, the tallest point in Athens. We did take the tram to the top, but I swear we had to walk two thirds of the way up before reaching the tram embarkment spot.

The view of the city from the vantage point at the top is kind of incredible. We arrived just at dusk so we watched the Parthenon light up on the hill across town. We also had a drink in the little bar (beer for me and Aperol spritz for Cyn) and looked down at the twinkling lights of Athens below.

We stopped in at the BeeRaki tavern on the walk home and had dinner. The server Natasha was just as lovely as on previous occasions, but (typical tourists) we were too tired to stay until 9 pm when the live music started and when the real Athenians arrived for their evening meal.

On Saturday we walked back into town and then strolled through the ancient Agora, listening to Rick Steves’ excellent online tour. The Agora was the city centre, the market, and the place from which the democratically elected municipal leaders governed the populace. When you wander its paths, you are strolling in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Hadrian, Socrates, Dionysus and, basically anyone who was anyone in the ancient world.

We followed that with a lovely meal at one of the tourist restaurants that look up at the Parthenon. It was a bit more than I pay at BeeRaki — I think it cost 50 EU for the two of us which covered an appetizer, two seafood mains, and two glasses of wine each. The shrimp saganaki was the highlight of the meal and not at all what you would expect if you have had saganaki in Canada.

We started Sunday with the changing of the guard at the parliament in Syntagma Square. Even though it is not the height of the tourist season, it was still very crowded, and some of the other tourists were ignoramuses, standing in front of us or shouting in our ears, but we managed to get a great vantage point from across the street.

You wonder how it became a thing for the guards to do the high-stepped walk. But it was a very cool experience. And I love the pompoms on their boots!

We had a quick lunch and the headed for the National Garden. It was full of Athenians out for a walk with their families on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. And there are so many lime-green parrots - apparently they are an invasive species — perched in huge nests. There is also a wonderful Roman mosaic floor that has been excavated.

We then walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus which is a massive edifice on the of edge of the old downtown. It was started by the Greeks in the 5th Century BC and completed by Hadrian some 638 years later. One thing you can say for the invading Romans — they got stuff done.

We walked through the Plaka and stopped at a place for loukoumades (Greek donuts covered in honey). Then we had a drink at one of the many rooftop bars overlooking Monastiraki Square where the server was absolutely lovely.

On the way home, we walked past the Central market and heard traditional Greek music playing at one of the restaurants inside. We got a table and spent an hour dancing with Greek (and Canadian) ladies and just loving the excellent band and singer. The happy (slightly tipsy) crowd knew all of the songs.

We also shared a plate of lamb and potatoes. I don’t ordinarily eat lamb (because, you know, its a lamb) but this had been cooked in hot sand for 17 hours and was absolutely delicious:

On Monday (Cyn’s last day in Athens) we walked to a store we heard sold local crafts. It was closed but the store next door, which sold only jewelry made in Greece, was open. So we went in a both bought a bauble.

Then we again strolled through the Plaka and returned to the central market where we bought the honey (the orange blossom honey with Greek yogurt is absolutely amazing) and olive oil we had tasted on our food tour. I also purchased very cheap wine (which ended up being so bad I could not drink it — which is saying something — and had since poured it down the sink.)

We went back to the apartment, dropped off our purchases, and then took the Metro to the port of Piraeus. We had lunch (lamb for Cyn and excellent moussaka for me plus some delicious fried shrimp wrapped in phyllo) before strolling the piers.

Then it was back to the apartment for Cyn to finish packing. I walked her to the Metro and we said our goodbyes before she headed to the airport.

Next visitor is Josie on who gets here Thursday. We will see what we can get up to over the next two weeks. I have so much more to see and do here in beautiful Athens.