Syntagma Square Metro station
Kouros
Amanda & Ian making friends
Greeks..."uncut"
Statue
Little old ladies and pigeons outside of museum
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Greek Orthodox clergy
Site of first modern Olympics
Rain at the Acropolis
Greek Orthodox paraphrenalia
Folk dancing at Nurigas
Kouros
Amanda & Ian making friends
Greeks..."uncut"
Statue
Little old ladies and pigeons outside of museum
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Greek Orthodox clergy
Site of first modern Olympics
Rain at the Acropolis
Greek Orthodox paraphrenalia
Folk dancing at Nurigas
Though after much intercontinental travel I think I would have been happy going shopping and then to a movie today in Athens, Amanda the former anthropologist was bound and determined to go see the Acropolis and the Archeological Museum. After breakfast at the hotel, we hopped on the Athens Metro to start our day at the Museum.
*
Once there we discovered that neither of us were that interested in reading the explanatory placards posted everywhere and that a live museum guide would run us 50 Euros / hour (~75 USD). Of course I thought about the kick-ass 2 hour guided tour we got through the Egyptian Museum for $25 total and was really missing Cairo again. We basically wandered from room to room, stopping to let each door monitor coo and babble at Ian in Greek. There were a few groups of Greek schoolchildren there as well, and I noticed that even the Greek kids love babies. Whenever we walked past they stopped whatever they were doing in order to turn and smile.
*
The first area we visited I think were finds from Mycenean tombs and included a lot of pottery, jewelry, and very-gilded diadem. There were some 2500 year old safety pins which I though were very cool, and of course some painted wall fresco-type things. Our real interest was in the sculputre. The earliest works we saw were Koura, youthful figures meant to either guard or represent gods. What was fascinating about these larger than life figures was how obviously they had been influenced by the Greeks' travels to Pharonic Egypt. Not only were some of the figures massive size a first for Greek artists, but they also had large triangular hair-dos reminiscent of the pharonic headdresses and they all stood erect with the left foot slightly forward (see Cairo Museum entry). As we moved forward through time new saw the sculptures become more complex and refined and we commented on the artists' ability to capture facial expressions (and the fact that through the sculptures we now know that the ancient greeks did not practice circumcisions ;-))
*
We stayed about an hour and a half and then decided to try and find a bus back to Syntagma Square. Neither of us can read Greek (they really do use a different alphabet) so we took a guess and hopped on the number 8 bus that looked promising and ended up near enough to our destination. I think the greek system is a little strange in that you are supposed to buy your ticket before getting on the bus. Near the back door there is a ticket validation machine, so that you have zero interaction iwth the driver and are just on an honor system as to whether or not you have or validate your ticket. We did neither, and saved a few Euros in the process ;-).
*
After getting off the bus we passed by the Parliament building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We stopped for photos of the guards in their wool stockings, long white tunic/miniskirts, and curly-toed, pompom-adorned Greek slippers. Though it was pushing 2:30 and we hadn't had lunch, we pressed on to try and get to the Acropolis. We check internet briefly, I changed out of my stylish European shoes and into more practical American touring sneakers, and we hopped on the "Happy Tram" tourist train for a ride to the Acropolis. The Happy Tram ended up being the Crappy Tram as it drove back through all the sights we had already seen on the tram with Jennifer, but this time without any commentary. Sights included Hadrian's Arch and the Agora Complex.
*
By the time we finally got to the Acropolis at around three, I was ravenous. We stopped into restaurant decorated sometime in the swinging 70s for a grossly overpriced (~40 USD) lunch of salad, grilled cheese, and hot chocolate. We actually had to pay extra for the butter that we asked for with our free bread. I couldn't believe my eyes as we were finishing lunch - it had started to rain. We fought the one-way flow of traffic coming down from the Acropolis, thinking that we would brave the rain and just go do it. Once we got there and realized just how cold and wet it really was, how unprepared we were, and that it would cost us 12 Euro each to get in a be miserable. Thus, we taxied back to the hotel for naps and warm showers and promised ourselves that we would definitely get up early tomorrow morning to go to the Acropolis.
*
The evening activities consisted of wandering the streets looking for souveniers, internet to update our respective blogs, and dinner at Nuriga's fine Greek restaurant that included live entertainment of musicians, folk dancers, singers, and a bellydancer. I will keep my critical comments regarding the dancer to myself, though in the end I have to admit that I was ultimately entertained by her performance. It may have had more to do wiht the hysterical middle-aged man that she pulled up on stage to dance with her, but when it was all said and done it really doesn't matter why you enjoy a show...just that you did. The food was unfortunate - for us vegetarians the provided bread (butter not included), greasy boiled potatoes, stuffed grape leaves, spanikopita, and a Greek salad with some funny tasting feta cheese. Ian made it through the evening fairly well, although he and Amanda had just stepped out at about the same time that I hopped up on stage to try my hand at fold doancing. We were home by 11:30 and I was happy to have seen just a little dancing while in Greece.
*
Once there we discovered that neither of us were that interested in reading the explanatory placards posted everywhere and that a live museum guide would run us 50 Euros / hour (~75 USD). Of course I thought about the kick-ass 2 hour guided tour we got through the Egyptian Museum for $25 total and was really missing Cairo again. We basically wandered from room to room, stopping to let each door monitor coo and babble at Ian in Greek. There were a few groups of Greek schoolchildren there as well, and I noticed that even the Greek kids love babies. Whenever we walked past they stopped whatever they were doing in order to turn and smile.
*
The first area we visited I think were finds from Mycenean tombs and included a lot of pottery, jewelry, and very-gilded diadem. There were some 2500 year old safety pins which I though were very cool, and of course some painted wall fresco-type things. Our real interest was in the sculputre. The earliest works we saw were Koura, youthful figures meant to either guard or represent gods. What was fascinating about these larger than life figures was how obviously they had been influenced by the Greeks' travels to Pharonic Egypt. Not only were some of the figures massive size a first for Greek artists, but they also had large triangular hair-dos reminiscent of the pharonic headdresses and they all stood erect with the left foot slightly forward (see Cairo Museum entry). As we moved forward through time new saw the sculptures become more complex and refined and we commented on the artists' ability to capture facial expressions (and the fact that through the sculptures we now know that the ancient greeks did not practice circumcisions ;-))
*
We stayed about an hour and a half and then decided to try and find a bus back to Syntagma Square. Neither of us can read Greek (they really do use a different alphabet) so we took a guess and hopped on the number 8 bus that looked promising and ended up near enough to our destination. I think the greek system is a little strange in that you are supposed to buy your ticket before getting on the bus. Near the back door there is a ticket validation machine, so that you have zero interaction iwth the driver and are just on an honor system as to whether or not you have or validate your ticket. We did neither, and saved a few Euros in the process ;-).
*
After getting off the bus we passed by the Parliament building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We stopped for photos of the guards in their wool stockings, long white tunic/miniskirts, and curly-toed, pompom-adorned Greek slippers. Though it was pushing 2:30 and we hadn't had lunch, we pressed on to try and get to the Acropolis. We check internet briefly, I changed out of my stylish European shoes and into more practical American touring sneakers, and we hopped on the "Happy Tram" tourist train for a ride to the Acropolis. The Happy Tram ended up being the Crappy Tram as it drove back through all the sights we had already seen on the tram with Jennifer, but this time without any commentary. Sights included Hadrian's Arch and the Agora Complex.
*
By the time we finally got to the Acropolis at around three, I was ravenous. We stopped into restaurant decorated sometime in the swinging 70s for a grossly overpriced (~40 USD) lunch of salad, grilled cheese, and hot chocolate. We actually had to pay extra for the butter that we asked for with our free bread. I couldn't believe my eyes as we were finishing lunch - it had started to rain. We fought the one-way flow of traffic coming down from the Acropolis, thinking that we would brave the rain and just go do it. Once we got there and realized just how cold and wet it really was, how unprepared we were, and that it would cost us 12 Euro each to get in a be miserable. Thus, we taxied back to the hotel for naps and warm showers and promised ourselves that we would definitely get up early tomorrow morning to go to the Acropolis.
*
The evening activities consisted of wandering the streets looking for souveniers, internet to update our respective blogs, and dinner at Nuriga's fine Greek restaurant that included live entertainment of musicians, folk dancers, singers, and a bellydancer. I will keep my critical comments regarding the dancer to myself, though in the end I have to admit that I was ultimately entertained by her performance. It may have had more to do wiht the hysterical middle-aged man that she pulled up on stage to dance with her, but when it was all said and done it really doesn't matter why you enjoy a show...just that you did. The food was unfortunate - for us vegetarians the provided bread (butter not included), greasy boiled potatoes, stuffed grape leaves, spanikopita, and a Greek salad with some funny tasting feta cheese. Ian made it through the evening fairly well, although he and Amanda had just stepped out at about the same time that I hopped up on stage to try my hand at fold doancing. We were home by 11:30 and I was happy to have seen just a little dancing while in Greece.
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