Advertisement
Published: April 26th 2006
Edit Blog Post
We had to set the alarm, as we had to finish seeing the sights of Athens before we caught the bus to Litohoro. Breakfast was an apple, I really miss my regular breakfasts already.
The plan was to go to The National Archaelogical Museum which is regarded as one of the world's best museums. The guy on reception gave us directions, but we still needed help in finding it, but in Athens this isn't a problem.
The history in the museum is amazing. I love my history, and there is so much to read that we resorted to taking photos of the historical information so we could stick to our tight timeline.
The marble and stone artefacts were the highlight for us, and while the gold, bronze and vase exhibitions were interesting they didn't compare as far as we were concerned. Many of the artefacts have been preserved from ancient sites, and while it would have been nice to see them in their 'natural' place, it is a reality that it can't be like that. I had real difficulty in trying to get my head around how old some of the artefacts were. Reading that something is from 1350 BC is
easy enough, but I have nothing to measure that against to put it into some sort of perspective.
My favourite Greek God is Zeus, but there is some controversy with some statues as to whether it is Zeus or Apollo. The museum was pretty busy, but it has definitely been a highlight of our journeys so far.
We left the museum to keep to our timeline, but we still had time to catch the sights of the Ancient Agora and Stoa which were far more impressive than the Roman Agora. The outside of the Stoa looks fantastic, and inside they have a small museum which pales in comparison to the National Museum.
The toilets are different in Greece with some having buttons on the ground you push with your foot to flush, while others are just holes in the ground surrounded by tiles. The main thing though is the signs insisting that you don't put anything in the toilet, in particular toilet paper. There is a little bin next to the toilet, but I must admit I haven't been adhering to this rule. My thinking is that they will have trouble policing it!
At the Roman Agora it was more
ruins than anything else, but you could tell it was a big structure in it's day. The Tower of the Winds is still in tact, and there was a dog acting as a security guard (a very mellow one at that) to ensure I left the Tower as I found it (check out my favourite photo of this below).
After seeing these sites we only just had time to see what Keramikos is all about. When we got there we read some information on how it was the ancient cemetery of Athens. We didn't have time to fully explore Keramikos, we just caught our breath, had a quick rest, and then headed back to the hotel to grab the pack and catch our bus.
To catch the bus to Litohoro we had to catch a public bus from outside The National Library to Terminal B. Our bus arrived pretty much the same time we did, so there was no opportunity to take photos of the library or the other architecturally impressive buildings along side it.
We got to Terminal B in time to meet the connecting bus and grab a couple of rolls for lunch. While we were buying the
rolls, a little girl with her Mum offered me some tissues and was begging for money in return. I managed to resist, but it was still fairly confronting.
We made a quick toilet stop before getting on the bus, and there was a lady at the entrance asking for money. I had heard that you needed to pay to use the toilet in Europe in some public places, but giving the money to a person and not a machine was questionable I thought. I feigned that I had no money and was allowed through, while Beck also got admittance without paying the full fare.
Sitting on the bus waiting to depart, the same Mum as before, this time with her little boy in tow, climbed on the bus and went to every passenger with his hand out begging for money. I guess this was what he was saying in Greek. I nearly went to the bag to give him an apple, but I'm not sure what would have happened if I did.
All of the buses we've been on have been of an excellent standard, and cheap. This was no exception. We were simply going to buy a one way
ticket, but the man at the booth told us it was beneficial to buy a return, and we could use the ticket at any time within the next three months.
Beck and I managed to get in a bit of reading and writing, and Beck also got some sleep in along with nearly all of the other passengers other than the bus driver and me. It was good to take in some different scenery, with mountains, water and herds of goats.
The reason we were going to Litohoro was so that I could attempt to climb Mt. Olympus. The guy on reception at Hotel Tempi comes from this area, and he had heard no one was allowed up the mountain yesterday because of avalanches caused by fast melting snow. Still the weather was meant to be ok, and it would be my only chance.
Mt Olympus was very impressive when it came into view with it's eight peaks, and the sight gave a bit of a reality to my thoughts of bounding up and back in no time. If the weather holds I should be right though. The views were good, but it was still a bit hazy/smoggy. I'm not
sure if this would be caused by pollution from Athens, or somewhere else.
Litohoro was off the main highway, so we had to get off and wait 20 minutes for another bus to take us there. While we were waiting it got quite chilly. These helicopters took off from not far away and I joked they were going to rescue someone off Mt. Olympus. They then proceeded to do circular laps around the town. Very strange. Then an old man walked out of the night and happily explained they were American Apache helicopters from the military base near the town, and were doing a training exercise.
It was great when the bus came so we got out of the cold, and were close to finishing our journey. We found Hotel Enipeas straight away (small town), checked in, and then headed off for dinner. The elderly lady owner/manager asked for my passport, and I thought she was just going to copy the details, but she kept it. This seemed strange, but I didn't think I had any other option than to trust her. She gave us directions to where we requested to go for dinner (Lonely Planet), but we couldn't find
it so we settled on a little family restaurant.
We got tzatziki, Greek salad, and a souvlaki each. It was fantastic. Washed down with these half a litre Amstel beers. Home made Greek cooking - yum! There was heaps of bread as well, we've been eating soooooo much bread.
When we asked for the bill, we left a tip as we weren't sure what the protocol is in Greece. She didn't realise straight away that we had tipped, but when she did she chased after us thrusting these apples into our hands. It was a good moment.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.309s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 25; qc: 103; dbt: 0.0769s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb