The writing is on the wall in Athens

 

Photos

The Acrolpolis museum

Excavations under the floor

Model of the original Acropolis

Beautiful statues – what bodies!!

The original ‘haka’ face in 500bc

View from the top floor window

Why would you name your shop ‘Sperm’

The no-problem graffiti

We have been to Athens a number of times before, so after a few hectic port days, we decided to take a taxi into Athens, about 25 minutes from the port at Piraeas, and just wander around. We shared a taxi from the port for 15 euros, and our first stop was the newly completed Acropolis Museum. Outside the terminal building, taxi drivers were offering full day tours of the sights of Athens for 80 euros – a good deal if 4 share the taxi.

It is a very impressive glass building at the foot of the hill below the Acropolis of Athens. When the foundations for the museum were being dug, ruins from ancient times were discovered underneath, so the museum is situated on large pilons with a unique glass floor, so visitors can see the excavations happening below. It is a very impressive collection of artifacts from the various buildings on the Acropolis – including a full size reconstruction of the Parthenon on the top floor with full length windows looking out over to the real thing.

More evidence that the Greeks invented everything – even the New Zealand haka – see the photo above of the plate from 500bc with the tongue out in an aggressive pose, just like the haka!

After a Greek coffee – we are still getting used to how strong the coffee is – the small tourist train stopped outside the restaurant, so we paid the 5 euros and took the 45 minute tour – a bit of a disappointment – everything is covered with graffiti – mostly protests about the government. When I spoke to an American man married to a Greek lady living in Athens and mentioned the problem of the graffiti, he said that ‘there isn’t a problem with the graffiti, the real problem is the Greeks don’t think they have any problems’. Athens looks very run down and dirty, the streets are very narrow and people park anywhere their car can fit, causing lots of interesting situations for those negotiating the streets.

We headed off to find a barber so that Arnold could get a haircut, while Jo and Garry explored the Plaka. While Arnold had his haircut, I was approached by a waiting customer who asked if we knew anything about traveling around Australia, his son is the conductor of the Greek Philharmonic Orchestra and is performing a couple of concerts in Adelaide, so the whole family is coming for six weeks. He was really interested in the Great Ocean Road, Barrier Reef, Sydney, the Greek population in Melbourne – everywhere we go, the Greeks are proud to tell us that Melbourne has the third largest population of Greeks of any city in the world.

After meeting up again, we wandered up and down the narrow streets – the parking and road rules here are crazy – out of control or non-existent – and finally arrived at the Ancient Agora, where we were enticed into a restaurant by a guy who was offering free wine with lunch – a winning deal whichever way you look at it!! I ordered Dolmades and Greek salad and once again wasn’t disappointed.

The Plaka is a rabbit warren of narrow streets with every type of store and it is quite fun to chat to the owners who try to entice you inside – a young girl asked – do you want to spend money – and a lady who tried to get us in with the line that all her jewellery was ‘husband friendly’ – it was only gold plated – not real and so wouldn’t break the bank!! Perhaps the most intriguing shop was a dress shop called ‘Sperm’ – go figure.

It was very hot, although much quieter than we had expected, so we decided to get a taxi back to the ship, check out the duty free shop and meet for a swim as we sailed away. Athens is probably the first city we have visited on this trip where I wouldn’t be in a rush to come back to.

Captain, pull in those lines and let us head to Katakolon, the fishing village which is the gateway to Olympus….