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Published: April 27th 2007
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Me in Athens
At the base, I think the west side, of the Acropolis. Finally, getting to my Athens trip. Even if the blog is not that interesting, I think you find the pictures amazing! I have no second doubts about going to Athens, but I must say, I was a little disappointed with it. I had a great time and had perfect weather, but was surprised by how "desertist" it was. I really thought it was going to be plush and green. Now it was not as desert as Cairo, but just a lot of dust, dirt and sand. But with that said, I had a great time and really enjoyed my visit. If you just want to see Athens, four or five days is almost perfect unless you want to get into all of the facts and details. As for me, four days worked out perfectly and this hotel was much better than the one I had in Warsaw. (I know, how could it be any worse...lol). And I do want to go back to Greece, but just not Athens. I would love to explore some of the islands in and around Greece.
If you are interested in Greek methology and/or the start of Paul's preaching, you must go and see
Athens! If you want to follow some of Paul's preaching to other cities, you may want to plan to stay there longer. As I am slowly learning, paying the extra money for a personalized guide may be well worth it especially if there is a small group/family going. Although this tour guide was more personalized than the one in Warsaw where she gave the tour in two languages, I still would like to have my own guide. We had about 15 people in our group, which really was too big for my liking, but it did give me a feel for the land and answered some of my questions so I knew where I wanted to spend my free time the next few days and obviously did not cost near as much as an individualized tour.
Being a tourist town, Athens was a pretty easy city to get around, but no road goes the same direction for very long and very few run parallel to each other so that is sort of confusing, but with a map and a few landmarks, it is pretty hard to get lost by more than a block or two before you are back
Hadrian
This was from the "inside" of what was the view from the Temple of Olympian Zeus towards the Acropolis.
"An impressive Roman monument. It was built in AD 131 with Pentelic marble to honour the Roman Emperor Adrian. It marked the boarder between the old and the new city of Athens in the Roman period." on track. The only real problem I ran into was on Tuesday when I tried to get back to the airport. There are trains and the metro that runs all the way from the airport to the city and vice versa, but on Tuesday, the public transit was holding a 24 hour strike. Now, I can not say I was not forwarned as they were announcing on the intercom at the train/metro stations the day before and even gave instructions on how to get to the airport in both Greek and English, but I did not pay any attention to it. It was a good thing I got there when I did because although it was not difficult to follow the instructions, but when you are not familar with the city and/or the names, it becomes a lot more challenging. It took me twice as long to get to the airport, but I made it with plenty of time. I think I was the only non-Greek or non-Russian on the plane but it was a fairly empty flight and I had the whole row to myself.
So besides getting to the airport, I did not run into any other
Temple of Olympian Zeus1
Again, from the Temple looking up towards Acropolis.
"An impressive temple dedicated to the father of the gods - Zeus. the biggest temple of antiquity." problems. The hotel warned me of a few areas to stay around from, primarily for the drug trafficing and prostitutes. I did not realize this, but Athens is fairly well known for its adult entertainment establishments/theatres and "workers." In the market areas, I also kept a close eye on my wallet and passport because it was very crowded and a lot of people bumping into you. Again, no problems, but just a little concern. The hotel also warned me never to pay full price and that is part of the game, but I did not the vendors in Athens anywhere near as pushy as Istanbul or Cairo.
As you can see by a lot of the pictures, The Acropolis can be seen from most parts of the city and I just loved when it was lite up at night. I tried to get a few pictures but without a tripod, it was very difficult. Again, even though I did not love the city, I had a great time there with perfect weather. From what I am told, do not go there in the middle of the summer as it is why too hot to enjoy anything, which again surprised
Notice the Pillar
I was trying to make it look like the pillar from Zeus's Temple was holding up the picture. I am not sure it worked or not, but that was what I was trying to do. me as I thought it was more Mediterranean. As for me, I feel in love with the Ancient Agora where the one temple is still intact with its roof. The othere area, although not much is left, is the Temple of Zeus. I loved taking pictures of it up towards the Acropolis, trying to us the still remaining pillars as "support" to the picture frame. Hopefully you will understand when you see some of the pictures.
Bottom line, a well worth trip and if you go, do not be surprised by the drier almost "deserist" terrain. The people were very nice and everything was in Greek and English. Gyros and Baclavas taste about the same in Greece as they do anywhere else I have tried them, which sort of surprised me. I like them both here and there! Also, if you are a coffee drinking and have not tried Greek coffee, I highly recommend it. Do not expect American coffee, it is much much much thicker and very strong. I had to use a little sugar in mine and do not drink the last drops as it is unfiltered and will get all of the grinds in the bottom
Acropolis from the Stadium
I took this picture while at the Olympic Stadium.
"The holy rock of Athens. The citadel and the sanctuary of the city in antiquity." of your cup, but the flavor is wonderful.
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Margaret
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Great pictures
These were great pictures. I loved Pompei after Rome and it was because you didn't have to visualize so much. In Rome it's a few bottoms of columns and a lot of imagination. When it's whole, it's much more interesting.