Back to Athens, Round 2

September 10 continued...

We hopped our plane to Athens the morning of the 10th, and then bussed our way to the Athens Cypria Hotel near Syntagma Square. Nathan and I lucked out yet again… we figured out while we were riding the bus already that we were supposed to have purchased and validated our tickets before getting on the bus. Oops, we hadn’t even bought tickets, expecting to buy them on the bus (which had been standard practice throughout the islands). Luckily, we were not checked for tickets… the penalty was stiff. The free bus ride was not worth the anxiety that consumed me on that ride! I had the whole conversation scripted in my head, pleading ignorance, if we had gotten checked. Sigh.
Around 4 PM, fully armed with directions of where to go and where to eat from the concierge at the Cypria, we headed back to the Acropolis part of Athens. Since we had not gotten up to the Acropolis on our first attempt when we had first visited Athens, it was calling us back to come and explore.
Bob Barker would be sorely disappointed with Greece and their lack of controlling the pet and stray population… there were dogs and cats everywhere in Greece, we saw a lot more dogs in Athens than anywhere else. Some had owners, most did not. There were more cats all over the islands. I found them amusing, feeling sorry for them at the same time, but thankfully didn’t fall in love with any of them enough to bring them home. Ha.
I got some shots of a few dogs and cats around the islands, and then some of a few dogs down at the entrance to the Acropolis. Nathan went to buy our tickets, so I needed something to do. Ha.
The reason I’m mentioning the dogs and cats it because I got some of the funniest shots of one dog up at the top of the Acropolis. He was having a snooze, dead to the rest of the world, while lying on a wall atop the city of Athens. I thought it was hilarious! Nathan, of course, made fun of me for shooting the crap out of the dog laying up on the wall. ;)
The Acropolis was amazing! It only took second place to dogs adorning the plaza and walls. We timed it perfectly, climbing up just in time to see the sun start to descend over the city. I got some great shots, and Nathan studied the inner-workings of the whole restoration process. Every single last part of that building that had fallen or been taken off had a number on it. They knew exactly where every piece was to go when putting it back together. Totally amazing!
There was a large modern open air theater on the grounds of the Acropolis that we could see down into. We got to hear an orchestra preparing and rehearsing for a concert later that evening. What an amazing sound! We recorded some of the music being played, it was one of those moments that I’ll think about once in a while as one of my favorite memories of Athens!
We proceeded over to the Old Agora after the Acropolis, something Nathan appreciated more than I did, but nonetheless, it was amazing as well! He read every sign he came across, absorbing all of the information like a sponge. The only thing on my mind was the fact that I had almost used up every last frame of memory that I had brought for my 5D camera. :0 I was rationing shots, trading out my small camera for the standard shots at this point. ;)
We headed over to a restaurant that was recommended to us from the concierge at the hotel (Filistros, or something like that). It was difficult to find this restaurant, it was in the part of Athens that was really only walked by the locals. That was the main reason we went to this restaurant, we asked for something that would be special for our only night in Athens, something the locals love… and we got it!
We dined on the roof top terrace of the restaurant, and we lucked out having gotten there before the larger parties that had reservations. It looked straight at the Old Agora and up to the Acropolis. Soon, as the sun set, the buildings were aglow for the evening. We celebrated the end of our trip with a fabulous bottle of Greek red wine. Nathan had eggplant rolls with a minced meat filling, and some of the best fried potatoes I’ve ever had. We decided that they were like hashed browns smothered with a smoked cheese with tomatoes, peppers and onions. Oh my…. I ordered the veal cooked in a clay pot with a tomato sauce, feta and black olives. It was fantastic! The restaurant was so wonderful, we gave huge thanks to the gal that recommended it to us. She was a bit jealous, saying that she’d actually never had been there, but needed to go. We thanked her immensely!
After we paid our bill we started our walk back to the hotel. We decided to walk the one metro stop instead of taking the metro. We walked back past the entrance of the Acropolis, now stunningly lit beautifully against the night sky, and also walked past the museum that we had been to on our previous trip to Athens. We saw the herds of people walking in to the theater that we had looked down into earlier in the evening, being some of the only people walking away from the Acropolis. It surprised me that it was nearing 9 PM and everyone was just arriving. Surely the concert was to go until 11 PM or even later.
I snapped my last remaining shots of the street vendors selling roasted corn (very weird) and roasted nuts and suckers. We walked back towards Syntagma Square and wound our way back to the hotel. Nathan found it highly amusing that there were police in full riot gear near the square… just in case. ;) I was comforted by the aggressive presence of the police watching out for us wherever we were. It's quite humorous seeing the illegal street vendors having to pack up their stuff within a minute and run from the cops to resist getting caught!
We stopped at a busy restaurant near our hotel and had our last Mythos beers, and after exhaustion set in, we headed to our room. The next day would be a long travel day, and we needed sleep.
I looked forward to the airplane for one reason specifically… to be able to flush the toilet paper instead of having to put it in the waste basket. I never did get over that. ;)
We had a smooth and uneventful trip home, and seeing those kids snuggled comfortably in their beds when we got home was the best sight of all. We missed them so much!