Today, our third and final day in Greece, was planned to
start as yesterday did, bright and early.
However, Dan decided to get up 30 minutes before us, coughed up a lung
in the shower and fooled around in the bathroom like a bull in a china
shop. Lauren and I decided we
wanted some extra sleep and were willing to risk missing the free hotel
breakfast for some rest after the ruckus.
We reset our alarm and woke around 9. By the time we were ready, we had, in fact, missed the
breakfast, but they offered to reopen for us to get some food to go. Instead, we found a small café near the
tourist district, although the restaurant seemed to be occupied by all Greeks,
which I guess is a good sign. We
ordered omelets (the only option for breakfast, besides coffee and orange juice). Dan got brave and ordered Greek coffee,
which was another mistake. It was
a short espresso coffee and terribly bitter. The ham and cheese omelets were very good and filled
me up well. We wanted to spend our
day hitting all the attractions that we had missed the day before, beginning
with the National Archeological Museum, which is located in the center of the
city, quite a ways from our hotel.
We were so exhausted from walking miles around Athens we decided that
the metro was a better way to get around.
Dan and Lauren had a little spat over which metro stop to take, mostly
because none of us really knew where we were, so once that was resolved, we
paid the metro and navigated the system just like we were back in St. Louis,
hopping off at Victoria Station and walking a few blocks to the museum. The place was enormous and filled with
the most important and famous artifacts from archeology around the world,
specifically Greece and Egypt. We
couldn’t help but laugh at all the nude statues and in particular, a display of
Greek body part sculptures, which were created and offered to the Gods for
healing of a specific ailment – little boobs, butts, penises and ears made of
stone. Hilarious!! There was
another display of items recovered from a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea. The ship was destined for Italy and was
loaded with statues, sculptures and riches. It was incredible how some of the items were partially
submerged in the sediment and those portions were perfectly preserved, while
the exposed areas were horribly eroded by sea organisms. This made for really unique
artifacts. We left after taking
photos of a huge statue, which is debatably Zeus or Poseidon, no one really
knows. We took a rest on the stone
steps of the Museum and reached a consensus on the next leg of our
journey. Just adjacent to the
museum was the old Polytechnic, a famous university in Athens. It was the sight of a deadly
demonstration on my birthday, November 17, in 1976. Some college students organized a riot and were killed in
the process, but their rebellion changed the face of Greek government
forever. November 17 is held as a
national holiday in Greece – I knew that was a special day!! The Polytechnic was oddly rundown and neglected,
but an incredibly beautiful building.
There is graffiti all around Athens, but this was a different tone, more
depressing and dark. We were sort
of creeped out, so took some photos, climbed the marble steps and hit the
road. I had been begging to make our
way to Omonia Square and visit the famous Central Market there. This was a site highlighted in my
travel book. It is a large,
semi-outdoor market brimming with meat, fish, spices and countless other types
of food, as well as a pungent stench.
The market was super interesting to see, but horrible to smell. The meat area stunk so badly Lauren was
gagging and had to run out the door.
Not to mention, the perverted butchers who were whistling at her and not
too friendly to us. There were
mounds of fresh meat, out in the open, bloody and warm with old Greek women
fingering every piece as flies swarmed.
Crazy! We left the market
and headed back towards the metro stop, admiring the Athens town hall and huge,
pigeon-filled square.
Now, we planned to head back to the Acropolis for lunch and a tour of Filopoppus Hill. According to my book, there was a nice bistro on the hill, which was great for lunch. After exiting the metro, we walked along the backside of the Acropolis, which offered incredible views of the Parthenon, to Filopoppus hill. He chose a path at random and made our way up, keeping an eye out for the café at all times. First, we stumbled upon Socrates’ Prison, a cave, where Socrates was held and died of hemlock poisoning. At this time, Lauren had to pee terribly and we were dying for a bottle of water and a meal, as we continued up the forested hill. Eventually we made it to the restaurant, which was obviously no longer in service. There was a homeless man asleep on the bench and an eerie feeling about the whole area. The trip took a nosedive from here! With Lauren still having to pee and us even more famished, we continued walking and found the Psynx. This giant stone cliff sits on Filopappus Hill and offers extraordinary views of the city. My book called it the birthplace of democracy in Greece, but we think our fun died here. We took some great photos from there and even employed some friendly Asians to take a couple good group shots. Haha! We headed down looking for a toilet, as Lauren encountered a patch of the ice-marble and fell straight to the ground. It is a wonder she didn’t pee her pants! We laughed it off and kept moving to a disgusting public toilet with Greek labeling, so we had no clue which was the men’s and women’s. Either way, it got the job done. We decided since we were already on the hill, no matter how hungry, tired or disgruntled, we would make it to the top for the famed views. We climbed up trails, steps and rickety bridges, with everyone griping the whole way, but we eventually made it to the peak and to the Filopappus Monument. At the top, we took our usual photos and encountered the strangest man of the trip, sitting on the edge of the giant cliff, reading a book. He was asking Lauren and I to come out there for a picture. We had learned our lesson about the dangers of the slippery marble and quite honestly thought this creepy man would throw us off the ledge anyway. He proceeded to tell us that he was the next prophet and pretended to jump off, saying Jesus would save him. When we were no longer paying attention to him, he got our attention again by doing one-handed pushups on the very edge of the stone cliff, while reading (see Dan’s facebook wall for video!). What a nut! Thanks to him and the debilitating hunger, we headed down the hill. We stopped for a snack at a café near the New Acropolis Museum, which was our next planned stop. We had some pastry items from the café and I had another Mythos! The New Acropolis Museum was awesome. It was constructed on top on an ancient Christian settlement and has a glass floor to look at the ruins below. It is extremely modern with excellent displays of the statues and sculptures removed from the Acropolis over time. Once again, we got in for free and right of the bat, Dan (Annie Leibovits) got yelled at for taking pictures with his camera – finally!! The inside of the museum is built to exactly resemble the size, shape and layout of the Parthenon, so that the excavated pieces are displayed in their correct locations. We viewed a short film about the history and construction of the Parthenon, and after nearly falling asleep, we decided to leave and head for home. We made our way to the hotel around the backside of the Acropolis and passed though a very cool area called Thiseio. We regretted not having found it before, since it looked so nice and fun. Back at the hotel, we showered and relaxed a bit before eating dinner at the hotel restaurant, where we had spent so much time already. The food was not great, but it served the purpose. We went back to the room to pack our things and prepare for our 3AM departure for Santorini, Greece!
Before we fell asleep, we had a laughter-filled conversation about the day's activities in which we all said our lowest moments of the day. Lauren said, "falling on my ass!" Dan said, "probably at the moment when Lauren was going to kill me." (This moment came right after Lauren's fall, when Dan stepped on her toes trying to help her up - that did not help the situation.) I could really not think of a low moment, which I think bodes well for our final day in Athens!!
Now, we planned to head back to the Acropolis for lunch and a tour of Filopoppus Hill. According to my book, there was a nice bistro on the hill, which was great for lunch. After exiting the metro, we walked along the backside of the Acropolis, which offered incredible views of the Parthenon, to Filopoppus hill. He chose a path at random and made our way up, keeping an eye out for the café at all times. First, we stumbled upon Socrates’ Prison, a cave, where Socrates was held and died of hemlock poisoning. At this time, Lauren had to pee terribly and we were dying for a bottle of water and a meal, as we continued up the forested hill. Eventually we made it to the restaurant, which was obviously no longer in service. There was a homeless man asleep on the bench and an eerie feeling about the whole area. The trip took a nosedive from here! With Lauren still having to pee and us even more famished, we continued walking and found the Psynx. This giant stone cliff sits on Filopappus Hill and offers extraordinary views of the city. My book called it the birthplace of democracy in Greece, but we think our fun died here. We took some great photos from there and even employed some friendly Asians to take a couple good group shots. Haha! We headed down looking for a toilet, as Lauren encountered a patch of the ice-marble and fell straight to the ground. It is a wonder she didn’t pee her pants! We laughed it off and kept moving to a disgusting public toilet with Greek labeling, so we had no clue which was the men’s and women’s. Either way, it got the job done. We decided since we were already on the hill, no matter how hungry, tired or disgruntled, we would make it to the top for the famed views. We climbed up trails, steps and rickety bridges, with everyone griping the whole way, but we eventually made it to the peak and to the Filopappus Monument. At the top, we took our usual photos and encountered the strangest man of the trip, sitting on the edge of the giant cliff, reading a book. He was asking Lauren and I to come out there for a picture. We had learned our lesson about the dangers of the slippery marble and quite honestly thought this creepy man would throw us off the ledge anyway. He proceeded to tell us that he was the next prophet and pretended to jump off, saying Jesus would save him. When we were no longer paying attention to him, he got our attention again by doing one-handed pushups on the very edge of the stone cliff, while reading (see Dan’s facebook wall for video!). What a nut! Thanks to him and the debilitating hunger, we headed down the hill. We stopped for a snack at a café near the New Acropolis Museum, which was our next planned stop. We had some pastry items from the café and I had another Mythos! The New Acropolis Museum was awesome. It was constructed on top on an ancient Christian settlement and has a glass floor to look at the ruins below. It is extremely modern with excellent displays of the statues and sculptures removed from the Acropolis over time. Once again, we got in for free and right of the bat, Dan (Annie Leibovits) got yelled at for taking pictures with his camera – finally!! The inside of the museum is built to exactly resemble the size, shape and layout of the Parthenon, so that the excavated pieces are displayed in their correct locations. We viewed a short film about the history and construction of the Parthenon, and after nearly falling asleep, we decided to leave and head for home. We made our way to the hotel around the backside of the Acropolis and passed though a very cool area called Thiseio. We regretted not having found it before, since it looked so nice and fun. Back at the hotel, we showered and relaxed a bit before eating dinner at the hotel restaurant, where we had spent so much time already. The food was not great, but it served the purpose. We went back to the room to pack our things and prepare for our 3AM departure for Santorini, Greece!
Before we fell asleep, we had a laughter-filled conversation about the day's activities in which we all said our lowest moments of the day. Lauren said, "falling on my ass!" Dan said, "probably at the moment when Lauren was going to kill me." (This moment came right after Lauren's fall, when Dan stepped on her toes trying to help her up - that did not help the situation.) I could really not think of a low moment, which I think bodes well for our final day in Athens!!
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