30 July 2016
Athens, Greece (Αθήνα, Ελλάδα) Disembarking at dawn, we were relieved to find ourselves on solid ground again and excited for the day ahead. François and Fabienne dropped us off in Syntagma Square (Athens' largest square that sits right in front of the Greek Parliament) and we said our goodbyes. It had been a wonderful two weeks, and in 24 hours we would be back in the UK while they would take a few days to catch another ferry to Italy and drive cross-continent to Lille. Their first stop was Delphi, whereas ours was trying to find a bakery open for breakfast.
Setting off, we noticed a few places that we had visited on our last trip to Athens in 2013 and reminisced accordingly. However, it was too early in the morning for anything at all to be open. Thinking that we might have more luck searching in the more touristy Plaka neighbourhood underneath the acropolis, we headed in that direction but still found each street completely deserted and shop doors shut. Though our main priority was food due to hunger and grogginess, we did appreciate the feeling that we had a whole city to ourselves! Looking both ways before crossing a street (you can never be too careful), we saw the first car of the morning and stopped to let it past. As it drew closer, we noticed that it had a red number plate and with a jolt realised that it was the car we had been travelling in across Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes! François rolled down his window and explained that they decided it would be a shame not to see the acropolis before leaving for Delphi, so they were navigating the narrow roads of the Plaka. We hopped in the back again and made for the top of the hill.
Bidding farewell for a second time, we started off down the hill to continue our bakery quest while the others drove off, this time really going to Delphi. A couple of old dogs followed us, possibly in the hopes that we had food (how wrong they were). After a few minutes, we saw a car with a red number plate driving back up the hill towards us and François explained that apparently that route was blocked off. Laughing, we waved goodbye for the final time and wandered through the Plaka. The city was beginning to wake, and we saw that a couple of cafés had opened and a man was unloading baked goods from a truck for his stall.
The area around the flea market is a hub for hostels, so we picked one at random and went in. The receptionist was very nice, and printed our boarding passes for free! He also told us of a luggage storage place just around the corner that was fairly affordable. Hostel questioning success! We were able to store our bags for the entire day for €8, and freed from our backburdens we set off for the Ancient Agora of Athens.
In ancient Greece, the agora was the focal point of socialisation and is similar to a Roman forum. As we entered, our attention was immediately drawn to the Church of the Holy Apostles. Built in the 10th-century, it's one of the oldest churches in Athens and was constructed partially over a 2nd-century nymphaeum.
Our last stop at the agora was the Stoa of Attalos, which had been reconstructed and turned into a museum. Quite impressive in its own right, the stoa displayed some beautiful sculptures and artefacts that had been unearthed at the agora and we enjoyed walking around sheltered from the sun.
Before lunch, we wandered around the flea market and found the same spot where we had seen a gramophone fall on a vendor's head on our last trip. Then we strolled around the Roman Agora, which had been built in Roman times when Athenians felt that the Ancient Agora was becoming too cluttered with buildings. I mean literally strolled around, as we didn't actually go inside the site, but circumnavigated the perimeter looking through the fence.
We found a vegetarian café for lunch called Avocado. Yannick had pasta dish with pesto while I opted for a "macrobiotic" meal. I didn't know what a macrobiotic meal was (I'm still not too sure on the details), but the description sounded a lot like the food I eat at home. Mainly comprised of rice, sweet potato, greens and tofu with a soy dipping sauce, it was delicious and a change from all the traditional Greek food we had been eating.
From there we tried to take a tram and failing that a bus to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. When discussing the city with Fabienne, we had recalled only visiting the Acropolis Museum, while she mentioned that the archaeological museum was well worth a visit. Not wanting to miss out, we paid the entrance fee and began our perusal. Within five minutes, we realised that we had in fact visited that very museum before, spotting the gilded death mask of Agamemnon (alleged). Silly us!
Before lunch, we wandered around the flea market and found the same spot where we had seen a gramophone fall on a vendor's head on our last trip. Then we strolled around the Roman Agora, which had been built in Roman times when Athenians felt that the Ancient Agora was becoming too cluttered with buildings. I mean literally strolled around, as we didn't actually go inside the site, but circumnavigated the perimeter looking through the fence.
We found a vegetarian café for lunch called Avocado. Yannick had pasta dish with pesto while I opted for a "macrobiotic" meal. I didn't know what a macrobiotic meal was (I'm still not too sure on the details), but the description sounded a lot like the food I eat at home. Mainly comprised of rice, sweet potato, greens and tofu with a soy dipping sauce, it was delicious and a change from all the traditional Greek food we had been eating.
From there we tried to take a tram and failing that a bus to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. When discussing the city with Fabienne, we had recalled only visiting the Acropolis Museum, while she mentioned that the archaeological museum was well worth a visit. Not wanting to miss out, we paid the entrance fee and began our perusal. Within five minutes, we realised that we had in fact visited that very museum before, spotting the gilded death mask of Agamemnon (alleged). Silly us!
Luckily, it didn't really matter that we had visited before, as it was three years ago and we had forgotten seeing most of it. A few artefacts jumped out at us, one being a kleroteria: a stone slab with allotment slots used for determining who would be up for jury duty. Kleroteria stood at the entrance to every court in ancient Athens.
Loafs of bread from thousands of years ago never fail to impress me! We also took great interest in the Egyptian section, which featured wooden sculptures, sarcophagi, and papyrus documents.
Boring airport stuff aside, when we returned to London we went straight back to Bethnal Green where we could stay in a nice little flat with a nice little cat. I was ecstatic to be able to eat less oily food for a while, but eventually came around to the idea of "Greek nights" where we would prepare an array of mezes as if we ran our own taverna!
So, our goal of enjoying great food, visiting archaeological sites and sunbathing on stunning beaches was certainly fulfilled. Bring on our next Greek trip!
This post was almost called: 'Pastry Quest - Sesame Says Me!'