Greece is the word.....

Sunday March 8, 2009

We got up early as normal for us and grabbed breakfast in the hotel restauraunt before heading out to the Acropolis. Our plan was to get there as soon as they opened since everything in Athens closes around 3pm this time of year. We walked by the Herodes Atticus Theatre on the way over to the entrance. At the entrace, we realized that the time we thought they opened was wrong and we still have 30 minutes to wait. While waiting, we watched the Evzone guards come out and get onto a bus, getting ready for the changing of the guard later on. The Acropolis finally opened and we went in. Luckily, all of the attractions were free on Sundays until the main tourism season starts up.

The Evzone guards leaving the Acropolis:

The first main part of the Acropolis was the Propylaia, which is the main entrance to the temples, with a steep staircase with columns leading up. Once you go past that, you get to the Parthenon, which is the major attraction. It was huge, with tons of columns and lots of details such as sculptures and reliefs. Also impressive was the Erechtheion, a temple that was dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. The statues were impressive, but unfortunately they were copies and we couldn't see the originals since the museum onsite was closed for renovations. After that, we walked back down the hill and over to the Dionysus Theatre. The chairs were inscribed with names of priests of Dionysus to reserve their place. This is where the plays of Sophocles and Euripedes were originally performed.

Tami and me at the Propylaia:


The Pantheon:

The Erechtheion:

We took a side exit from the Acropolis and headed over to the Temple of Zeus. Right at the beginning of the area, there was Hadrian's Arch which was erected to seperate Old Athens from New Athens (new being a relative term.) From the original 104 columns, all that remains are 16. Even with so little still standing, it was pretty impressive and large. There were some other ruins around in this area, but they were not nearly impressive. Afterwards, we walked up the street back towards Parliament, stopping only to see the remains of some Roman baths. Once we got to Parliament, we waited for the changing of the guard ceremony. They have one hourly every day, but they have a more formal version on Sundays at 10:30. When they finally showed up, they were accompanied by a band (unlike the British one, they didn't play 80's pop songs). For the guards that switched out, they have a very formal way of marching. They lift one leg perpendicular to the ground, point their toes in the air and hold it for awhile before taking their step. It takes a long time to get anywhere!

The Temple of Zeus:


The Evzones High-stepping it:

We then proceeded to the Syntagma Metro Station where old cemetaries had been found while they were excavating. They ended up displaying everything they found in the actual station, which was very interesting. We then walked through the National Gardens over to the Kollimarmaro Stadium, which was originally built 4th centry BC, and then was renovated and used in the first of the modern Olympics back in 1896. We snapped some pictures, then headed back to Plaka to see about getting some lunch. We found a place called Koouikor Grill House which was a bit touristy, but had good Greek food. Tami had Souvlaki and a glass of retsina (which tasted like drinking a tree) and I had a Gyro with a glass of Alpha beer. We then walked over to O'Bretto's, a store which makes and sells their own liquors. We both tried a small glass, Tami had banana and I had coffee. They were excellent, and we would have bought a bottle to take home if we had checked luggage. We then walked through the Plaka area, stopping in stores along the way if they caught our interest, until we made it over to Kerameikos which are the ruins of the old city wall. By this point, it was starting to rain, so we just looked at the main statues in the area before heading back into town. We tried to go to the Agora, but by the time we found the entrance, they had already closed. We could see most of the ruins from outside the gate though, so we were happy.

The Olympic rings at Kollimarmaro Stadium:

Kollimarmaro Stadium:


The colorful wall of Brettos:


The walls at Kerameikos

We walked back into Plaka and decided to stop at a Taverna and have a snack. We stopped at a place and Tami got a Banana Split and a tea while I got a Baklava and a Greek coffee. By this point, most everything was closed and our feet were sore, so we decided to take the bus back to the airport to wait for our flight back to London.

No Bulldogs in THIS Athens

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Woke early at Yotel for a 6 am flight to Athens, Greece. We arrived in Athens a bit before noon and made it into the city around 1:30 pm. On the way we saw a line of cops with riot gear and full body shields and then a protest march. Luckily we kept going and made it to the city center for a less uneventful weekend. So far in 2009 Athens has been ravaged with riots and protests due to police shooting a student and just political unrest. A week before we arrived there had been more protests but we didn't know about it until the day before we flew out. Luckily there really wasn't anything going on while we were there.

When we arrived at Syntagma Square we immediately started walking towards Ermou Street. This is a highly popular shopping street, though we didn't do any shopping. We walked by Kapnikarea, a small church located in one of the junctions on Ermou. We continued walking until we found the flower market that was very pathetic so we were only there less than 5 minutes before continuing on by another large church on the way to the Central Market. This is probably the largest meat and fish market that we have ever seen, with hundres of stalls selling almost any kind of meat and fish you can think of. It was neat but very grotesque, with lots of open bodies having all of their guts hanging out and tables of just animal heads.

Kapnikarea:


Octopus at Central Market:


Flags at City Hall:

When we left the Central Market we walked by the City Hall building and then to Loumidis coffee store. Greg bought some coffee (which ended up being horrible) and some wonderful Turkish delight. We left the store and walked to Panepistimio where we had lunch at Evergreen. Greg and I both got a beer from a local brewery called Craft. Greg's beer was a very odd smokey lager that tasted like a bbq in your mouth. He finished dinner with an espresso that came with sparking water to clear his pallette, weird.

Agii Theodori:

After lunch we went to Agii Theodori (another small church) and then to Le Chocolat to buy some wonderful Greek chocolates. Next we walked to the Parliament building to see the Evzones (Greek guards) and the tomb of the unknown soldiers. The Evzones are some of the most interesting guards that we have seen anywhere. They wear traditional Greek outfits that have a skirt and pompoms on their shoes. We were told that they may look like sissies in skirts, but they are highly skilled and very strong. Our next stop was the Mitropoli church, which was stunning inside, and then to Starkbucks so Greg could get his coffee mug that he collects. After that we did a bit more shopping in some souvenier stores.

Le Chocolat window display:


At Parliament, the Evzones:


The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers:


Parliament as seen from Syntagma Square:


Just one of many silver wall plaques in Mitropoli:

Our journey then took us by Hadrian's library, Tower of the Winds, and the Roman Forums. These are all ruins that are still standing. It is mainly a lot of columns and some steps but the Tower of the Winds is still intact. The Church of Agia Aikaterina was the next place we stopped by and then to Hotel Herodion to check in. We took a quick nap and grabbed a snack at the bar while waiting on our bus to arrive, we had an excursion planned for the night.

Columns at the Roman Forums:


Hadrian's Library:


The Tower of the Winds:

Our bus arrived and took us around the ports of Piraeus so we could see the boats and some of the stadiums at night that were used during the Olympics. After the trip around Piraeus we headed to Taverna Kalakerinos for our dinner. There were about 14 of us in our group and we all gathered around the table to enjoy the show. There was a Greek band playing and singing while dancers, belly dancers, and another singer also performed. Our dinner consisted of a lot of Greek traditional foods including, Moussaka, Grape leaves stuffed with minced meat, cheese pastries, sausages, squid, Greek salad, souvlaki (yummy chicken skewers), rice, potatoes, Ouzo to drink, and honey & sugar donuts for dessert. It was all very good and we were stuffed and happy when we left. When we got back to the hotel we took a look out of our window and enjoyed the view of the Acropolis lit up at night before heading to bed for the night.

Looking towards the lights of Athens from Piraeus:

Some of the dancing at Taverna Kalakerinos

A little information about Athens, it is full of stray dogs. We had read this before we went but didn't give it any thought until we were there. It was true, there were stray dogs everywhere, at every square and every historical site. At Parliament there was a dog sleeping at the base of each side of the steps. In Panepistimio there was a yellow lab laying in the grass near the large statue. We saw dogs walking down the streets, lying around, guarding entrances, everywhere. We even saw one sitting in the middle of an intersection (not a busy one) just watching both ways. All of the dogs, except for 1 that we saw, were large, mostly mixes but including those that looked like border collies, labs, shephards, etc. We learned that the dogs are actually very well taken care of by the city. They are all spayed/neutered and tagged as well. Before the Olympics in 2004 they gathered up all of the stray dogs and made sure they were clean and fixed and then let them back out. All of the dogs are very friendly, and like I said, very well taken care of, not one looked skinny. However, there was not 1 that looked like a bulldog, GO DAWGS!

Here are just a few of the dogs we saw, the first one is my favorite:

Flowers galore in London

For the past two weekends we have just been hanging out around London, taking it easy (not really). On Saturday, February 21, 2009, we went to the National History Museum to take in the Wildlife Photography Exhibit and some of the rest of the museum. The photographs were amazing, especially those of the underwater wildlife. One of my favorite pictures was of 2 fish under water, a larger fish and a smaller fish in it's mouth. The truth to the story is that these large fish line up in front of the smaller fish, who then cleans the inside of their mouth. So, the big fish is not eating the smaller fish, but allowing the smaller fish to eat. Too funny.

There were lots of other pictures of birds, fish, leopards, mushrooms, and more, it was all very amazing. We then walked around the museum a bit, but got tired of all of the kids running around so we headed out to meet up with Lisa, Lilli, and Dean for lunch. We enjoyed a loooooong lunch at the Latin Corner, but were definitely ready to head out of there. After hanging out a bit Greg and I headed off towards Oxford Circus for some shoe and book shopping.

On Sunday, February 22, 2009, we decided to spend the day at Kew Gardens. We had heard a lot about Kew and knew they were having an orchid festival and we really wanted to go. We didn't know how massive Kew Gardens was, and spent all day there, when we thought we would just be there for 2 or so hours. We walked around all of the temperate houses, orchid displays, and many other buildings. We had lunch at one of the cafes and even walked up to the top of the trees to take a peek around. We headed towards the pagoda and stopped in for a spot of tea and souvenir before leaving the gardens a little before 6 pm. We were flat exhausted after all of that walking.

peek a boo


flowers at Kew

This one made us think "feed me Seymour"


Tami next to some pink flowers (of course)


Kew also had birds


Greg made a friend


We loved the Chinese Pagoda also

The following weekend proved to be just as eventful. On Friday we went to Diana & George's new place for some cocktails. I'd had a headache all day so we didn't stay too long but had a good time hanging out with them and their friends. On Saturday it was errand day, I got my hair done and Greg picked out new glasses (since his old ones are beyond broke) and did a bit of shopping at the mall.

Sunday, March 1, 2009, was market day for us. We have a list of things we want to do before heading back to the states and we try to mark a couple off each weekend. We started out earlier, 8:30 am, and went to the Columbia Road Flower Market where we took in all of the amazing flowers and plants. It is mainly for people who are planting in the gardens, but had a massive selection of fresh cut flowers as well. I walked out with bright blue roses, tulips for Lisa, and an amazing tropical flower mixture. There were also some small bakeries at the Flower Market where we bought some bread and cheeses.

the end of the flower market


the flowers Tami got


fairly scary car we saw down at the market

Our next stop took us to Petticoat Market, this one was not really our scene. Petticoat started out as a lace market but is now mainly cheap clothes and linens, we just breezed through before getting to Spitafields Market. This market was much nicer, we didn't buy anything but really enjoyed looking around. We stopped in at Market Coffee House for a bite to eat and some warm drinks. We then walked over to Brick Lane. It was packed. The market there was more like a very low end flea market, again we did not buy anything. Once you got through the flea markety area you get to the area that we were headed to. There are a couple of bagel shops there which we have always heard good things about. Here they are beigels and they were only 20 cents each, what a deal. We picked up half a dozen from the Beigel Bake and were on our way, they were delicious.

bagels!

Afterwards we headed to Camden to meet Lisa for a coffee and then headed back home. We are trying to take every minute here and do something wonderful and memorable.

In a couple of days we are off to Athens, Greece, stay tuned for that.