Amazing Athens

It’s all Greek to me.

Our Tarom flight from Bucharest was very smooth and we were served complimentary cheese and tomato sandwiches, tea and juice which is more than you get with most airlines these days. By following the Metro signs, we managed to find the ticket office, buy 5 tickets for 36 euro and board the right train straight to Monastiraki Square. I knew the way to AthenStyle Hostel! It wasn’t far at all but the most treacherous part was crossing Ermou Street. We just had to take a chance that someone would eventually stop for us.

AthenStyle Hostel

We were let into the locked foyer by the receptionist and then started to make our way to our rooms on the 4th floor. Keeley came down and said the lift’s a bit dodgy — -it had stopped between floors — so I decided to send my luggage up in the lift and take the stairs which I continued to do for our 3 days here. I did not step foot in that lift once! Consequently, my fitness level has improved exponentially and I have gone from barely able to make two flights of stairs to bounding up five flights. The central rail did help a lot though. Our room had a verandah with the most spectacular view of the Acropolis especially by night when it was all lit up. There was a large wooden table and a cane outdoor setting for our comfort as well. The bathroom had a Roman bath, a toilet and a bidet! Talk about fancy — but we did have to dispose of the toilet paper in a bin, not down the toilet which is par for the course in Athens as we later found out.

I went for a walk and found the ruins of the Ancient Agora, the Sanctuary of Zeus, the Sanctuary of Pan — both Greek Gods — and even the entrance to the Acropolis. I didn’t realise I had walked that far! I bought a frozen lemon juice for 4 euro! I thought it would be cheaper than that, but it was the only kiosk there and it WAS the Acropolis! I then clambered up some rocks for a view, and decided I’d go back to the hostel a shorter way straight down the side of the hill. There were dirt tracks so I thought they must lead somewhere. I made it to the bottom safely but had to jump down the last couple of feet.

The gyros (pronounced heroes)

For dinner, we decided the gyros were on the menu and for 2 euro each, they were bloody beautiful! We all started drinking our liquor supplies we bought in Bucharest airport duty-free so had an enjoyable evening. At 6.30, we headed up to the rooftop bar only to have to sit at the top of the stairs and wait for the bartender to come open up — he has overslept! The wait was worth it as the view was even more spectacular than from our verandah. I did see the workings of the dodgy lift though and determined there and then that I definitely would not take the lift no matter how tired I may become.

On our first full day in Athens, we awoke to a glorious warm sunny day, so dressed in summer clothes. After a minimalist breakfast of bread and jam, we headed off to the Acropolis Museum which was recommended as the first thing you should do in Athens. I knew nothing about Athens’ history at all before going to the museum but learnt an awful lot and made the whole looking at ruins thing more meaningful.

By this time we came out of the museum, the Acropolis was being overrun by tourists, so we thought it may be a better idea to make an early start to see it tomorrow morning. So we headed to Hadrian’s Arch, then the Roman ruins, then the stadium that was built for the modern Olympics in 1896, then to watch the changing of the guard in front of Parliament House.

The entrancing Evzones

I had never heard of Evzones before — the name given to the special guards who wear a skirt with 300 metes of material with 400 pleats and hard leather pointed shoes with 60 studs in the bottom of them which can be used as weapons (or to kick tourists out of the way!) They were fascinating to watch. I could have stayed for hours. Kiryn then navigated us through narrow streets continually climbing up and up until we reached the bottom of the funicular which was to take us the last 100 metres up to the top of Lycabettus Hill where there were 360 views of the huge urban sprawl that is Athens.

On the very top of Lycabettus Hill stood a tiny white church and a posh restaurant which is obviously a popular eating place at night as the funicular runs until 3 am. We decided to have a very late light lunch as the sun was sinking into the sea. Keeley and I shared a club sandwich with fried potato shavings dipped in rosemary — delicious — and Lorelle and I both ordered a frappe with ice-cream. Quite decadent. We just missed the 4 o’clock funicular (Kiryn was taking photos of the toilet) so we had to wait half an hour for the next one.

Not a great imposition in such a beautiful spot! I didn’t get to take any photos of the toilet as both my cameras had died, but the vanity basin, if you can call it that, was the most artistic one I have ever seen. The taps were high with the middle parts filled with flowers and hand towels, and when turned on, the water dropped three feet to the floor which was covered with river stones.

Athens’ orange trees

Orange trees line Athens’ footpaths wherever you go and walking down from Lycabettus Hill was no exception. We wondered why there were so many oranges on the trees and no one was picking them, but have since found out they are for decoration only and the fruit is actually inedible. To decorate the city, many were planted for the 2004 Olympic Games. Kiryn navigated our way to Evangelismos Station which was only two stops from Monastiraki. Lorelle bought some bananas for 1.49 euro per kilo so we could have something for breakfast before heading off to the Acropolis early tomorrow morning.

Kiryn once again fetched gyros for dinner plus a huge container of mango gelati which was just the thing needed to finish off another delicious meal. We played 500 on our verandah. The bottle of vodka I bought in Bucharest was fast disappearing, but I don’t think it’s nearly as alcoholic as the label reads. 40%? No way!

The early bird sees no tourists

Up early the next morning to walk up to the Acropolis before the tourist hordes are awake. We were the first tourists to the top although workmen were working on the restoration which I think is going to take longer than the original construction. Many of the beautiful friezes and metopes were stripped off the original structure by an English lord named Elgin back in the nineteenth century and apparently, there’s still some court proceedings going on where Greece is trying to get back what belongs to them. I think Britain should give them back.

The south porch of the Erechtheum still has the six caryatids supporting the roof, which I just found out are replicas. Five of the original caryatids are in the Acropolis Museum having laser treatment but most of the other statues and decoration has gone. Most of the 114 blocks of marble of the frieze surrounding the centuries-old Parthenon are in the British Museum.

The difference between the Acropolis and the Parthenon

We wandered around the Acropolis (the actual whole area at the top) marvelling at the immensity of the Parthenon (the actual largest building on the Acropolis) and taking photos with no stray tourists in the background. At one stage, I was the only stray! It was quite windy and chilly in the shade, but beautiful in the sun. After filling up on the Parthenon, we headed down to the Theatre of Dionysos, which, unlike the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, had not been restored.

As we were walking down the path, we overlooked the Odeon which was an example of how something can be restored but still keep its original character. Many of the partial statues from the Dionysos Theatre have been saved and are kept under cover to prevent further damage from the elements. It was not getting any warmer so we decided to head back to rug up a bit more. We caught a metro from the Acropolis Station to Syntagma Square then changed trains to Monastiraki. We arrived back right on 10, so thought I might grab some brekkie but there was only a couple of crusty ends of baguette left which I devoured in seconds, then joined Lorelle to sample Starbucks. I ordered a cheese and turkey brioche and a large caramel latte macchiato. I love Starbucks coffee! Lorelle headed off to try to find the Roman Agora, and I decided I needed a rest, not that we had done that much today, but I think yesterday was just catching up with me. I didn’t really expect to fall asleep for 4 hours! And I still had washing to do!

Laundry Lady

I headed down to the basement to do as much washing as would fit into one machine. I paid the receptionist 10 euro and was given 2 tokens, one for the washing machine, and one for the dryer. I sat down in the lounge on the hostel’s computer to wait for it to finish. Keeley came down to help me transfer all the clothes to the dryer. It was supposed to take 40 minutes but ended up taking almost 2 hours with an extra token and the clothes still weren’t dry!

So I carted them all up the 6 flights of stairs and hung out the wettest of my things on the verandah, but thought I’d leave Keeley’s clothes so she could decide what was wet enough to hang up and what wasn’t. Keeley became very cranky with me, for the first time this whole trip, I might add. I was pretty cranky myself actually — all that up and down the stairs, waiting with those creepy guys in the basement, and then after all that effort, having to hang the bloody clothes up to dry! We were all getting hungry, but we were waiting for Stacey to arrive back from Paris. Of course, her flight was 40 minutes late, so by the time she arrived, we were about ready to eat her. After another drink, well, the first for Stacey, we headed off to find Diodos Restaurant which was 19 Adrianou Street. Well, we think we found it. It had six letters and started with a triangle, then an I, then an O, then another triangle, then an O, then an S.

The most memorable restaurant

Anyone read Greek? Anyway, I can highly recommend the restaurant we found. If you ever come to Athens, it’s a must. Such a shame we found it on our last magical night here. Our waiter was outstanding — I’ve never had such good service- the food was simply delectable, and the retsina was excellent too.

We ate enough to keep us going for days: stuffed vine leaves, mushrooms and Philly cheese, grilled haloumi, deep-fried zucchini in the thinnest of batters and delicious bread, and this was just for starters! We were all full before we even started mains! Then it was cheese pie, lamb souvlaki, moussaka, an assortment of sausages, meat and chicken and vegetables — just amazing! There was not one thing that was not simply delicious!

We were all so stuffed-— Keeley could sit no longer and headed home so we asked for the bill and were brought out desserts! OMG! We kept thinking are we going to be charged for all this food and attention. So when we got the bill we were ecstatic! Not only was it the best restaurant meal we’ve had, but it was also the cheapest! 20 euro each including retsina, wine and raki! Oh, Athens! After too much to drink and FAR too much to eat, I am in love with this city.