6/4/16
Today was our first real full day in Greece and it was really nice. Nice I say? Well that's descriptive... let me tell you about the day.
Wake up call was at 7 AM and we slowly rolled out of bed. I'll be honest; this bed felt good and I was tired; but up we got. We got dressed and headed down for breakfast. Now I'm dreading the coffee at this point - having experienced coffee in other countries it is typically way to strong for me. However, I was so pleasantly pleased. The coffee was good and the breakfast was great. Eggs -- not so much, but over all excellent. I had fruit, toast, sausage, and oj. It's funny things here are sweeter than back home - the OJ and Apple Juice was so much sweeter and we found the ketchup (at another meal - not with breakfast) is also sweet. Oh and the tomatoes- I can't forget about them. They are so fresh over here and well yummy! I could eat just tomatoes.
After breakfast we headed down to get our first taste of Athens and to meet our tour guide for the rest of the trip. Her name is Vivian and she is nice. She is young and has a 2 year old son. I can't imagine juggling this career where you are gone for days and weeks and a son, but she seems happy and is extremely knowledgeable.
Our tour started with her pointing out various highlights of the city and then the first stop was the site of the 1st Modern Olympic games. They started back in 1886 and were held at the Panathenaic Stadium. It was neat to see -- I loved seeing the flags billowing in the wind and seeing how awe inspiring a stadium made of marble looked in the glorious sunlight. It can hold 65000 people and is only used for special events.
After that we toured a bit more seeing unique buildings such as the:
National Historic Museum
Athens University
Catholic Church
before heading to the Greek Parliament to see the changing of the guard. In Syntagma Square they guard the the tomb of the unknown soldiers of Greece. I've been to the changing of the guard in the US as well and this was so different. A) it is ina public square next to busy roads etc... so it wasn't quiet or somber as the one in the US is. People talked and carried on like normal. B) They do this high kick; supposedly symbolic of kicking the Turks out which looks rather silly C) they wear traditional wooden shoes with pompas on them that way roughly 6 pounds a piece! It was hot and I'm sure they were hot in those uniforms, but they had a cover to stand under and even a building they could step in if the weather was bad. In the US our solider stand in the rain, snow, beating sun, it doesn't matter... Maybe it gets hotter here, but I thought that was a significant difference. You could also take a picture with them - you could not post or touch them, but you could stand beside them. I don't remember that being possible or even thought of in the US.
Once we left there we headed to what I thought was the highlight of the day - the Athenian Acropolis. The Acropolis is a fortified hill that only has one navigable side. It houses several temples and was a religious icon during pagan times. We hiked up to the first stop which was the Beule Gate; entrance to the Acropolis. The hike wasn't that bad, but the sun made it rough. Between that and the slippery marble I was surprised we didn't have people falling out by the end of the journey.
The view from the Acropolis was worth it by itself. Fabulous. They have an active out door theater (Odeion of Herodes Atticus) and I could imagine sitting there listening to the music while seeing that view.
We then walked through the Propylaia and she gave us a explanation of what we were seeing The first temple you could see, but not get exceptionally close to was the Temple of Athena Nike. It was pretty and you walked through ruins of another temple to move forward. The architecture and the grandeur of it was impressive. The columns... oh the columns.
And then we went on up to see the Parthenon and the Porche of the Caryatids. Both were amazing, but I actually liked the Porch of the Caryatids better. I loved the statues that were columns and it had windows that were extremely symmetrical (no glass of course). It was just pretty and unique. Don't get me wrong I loved the Parthenon as well and it was pretty... maybe some of it's grace was taken away by the equipment they had inside that you could see - it messed up my pictures, lol.
By this time Mama is miserable with the heat (and I can't blame her) so we headed back to the bottom. Once there we got ice cold fruit drinks (lemonade, strawberry and orange) and just sat for a moment in some very scarce shade.
I should also mention before moving further we could see the Temple of Zeus and the Theater of Dionsys from the top of the Acropolis. I got some pictures of it and hope to go see it closer on the last day of our trip.
We then headed back to the bus and that was the end of the tour, but not the day. By this time it is 1:20 and the rest of the day is ahead of us and it's free. Mama decided to go back to rest and the rest of us headed to grab a bite and then to the National Archaeological Museum.
We ate at a restaurant right outside the museum and as a local told us it was slightly pricey, but not to bad and well it had chairs. The food was good and service was great. I had a salad with pork on it. The pork had a nice flavor and the salad had a sweet vinaigrette dressing that I really liked.
Upon entering we walked into a gallery and I thought ... hmmm. not to big we should wrap this up quickly. Boy was I wrong, it just goes and goes and goes, but it was neat. I especially liked the following:
* Little miniature horses, cows, people and vases, reminded me of doll house furniture.
* The vases were gorgeous and so unique
* Their was a vase in the shape of a pig - I think it was the first piggy bank.
You could take pictures with no flash and I was amazed at how well the museum did the lighting. You couldn't even tell the glass was there in most exhibits so I was able to do photography and get some nice memories. Speaking of photography Beth got in trouble :) lol. She went to smile and point in a picture and was told "no posing". Apparently you can stand beside a statue but not make a funny face at it, very odd.
We spent 2 hours in the museum and didn't see close to all of it, but we were tired and knew we wanted to get rest before dinner tonight so we headed back. Vivian, our guide, had told us 5 Euros for a taxi so when we went to get the first one and he told us 10 we knew better. He tried to haggle, but we didn't have a good vibe so we walked down a ways. The next one was very nice and he told us 5 Euros, we gave him 6 just for being honest. He has family in CT, which is cool. His wife's mother and sisters. Yes I'm with Beth which means we get to know everyone, I love it!
We then took a much needed nap before the scheduled dinner and dance this evening.
Once we got up we headed out again to a greek dinner and dancing excursion. The food was different - mostly good. It consisted of several courses:
1) Starters -
Kidney Beans with a Sauce
Bread
Garlic cream spread - Excellent!
A grit type thing - not sure what it was called but it was ok.
2) Appetizers
Sausage Links
No idea what the other items were that were on my plate. Only that they weren't my favorite.
2) Salad
Again I can't get enough of the tomatoes
3) Main Course
This was a chicken meal with potatoes and a red sauce with cheese. It was ok ... I didn't dislike it, it just didn't really speak to me. I ate enough of it, but I also snacked on more tomatoes and cucumbers.
4) Dessert
Flaffels
Fruit
They also live music and dancers. The Greek customary dances are unique to see. They look simple enough, but my guess is they are surprisingly hard. They asked for active participants several times and Beth went up and danced with them. A couple of them she was by herself, but she did so great and well I loved watching her. She is just fun and full of life. The joy that she has is contagious.
We then headed back to the hotel and we start again at 6:30 in the AM. Hope all is well in blogland - more to come tomorrow :)
No comments:
Post a Comment