Searching for Greek Gods Days 5 and 6: Cute Boots, Crackheads and Communism

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Searching for Greek Gods is exhausting. I mean, not that I'm complaining, afterall I'm in Athens! It's a history and travel lovers dream, an intellectuals paradise, and on top of all that its crawling with boys on motorbikes...you just can't go wrong in this city. But it doesn't mean I don't get exhausted, and the day after island hopping I just didn't feel like doing much of anything. And so I did precisely that, since this technically is my vacation, I took liberty to lounge around in sweatpants watching really bad Greek TV, reconnecting with friends via facebook, indulging in some Greek wine and doing a whole lot of absolutely nothing. But my day of non-European leisure was just that one day, because everyone knows you can't find a Greek God sitting around at home all day and being lazy...so after 24 hours of nothing I was more than ready to hit the grindstone and find myself a gorgeous Greek God.

So I didn't find my Greek God roaming the islands, and while spending my summers lounging around on the Greek Islands sounded spectacular and all, it obviously just wasn't meant to be. So, where next? Well I've always had a heart for intellectuals, maybe museum hopping would be my key to Greek God-dom. So as half of my family headed up to explore the Acropolis my Grandmother and I hit the new Acropolis museum at the bottom of the famous hill. Ancient artifacts are so my thing, and paired with the prospect of meeting a super smart Greek God this day definetley held some promise.

The New Acropolis Museum is definetley something all history geeks should check out. Although, word of advice, start on the top floor and work your way down for the most complete, comprehensive view. The museum boasts its ancient roots before you even step front in the doors, as you walk across glass plated floorboards revealing what is a 2 year in progress excavation, showing all kinds of structures from the original Athenian residents back when the Acropolis was in its prime. There's nothing quite like walking amongst 1000 year old ruins to help you realize just how amazing and precious life really is, one day people could be walking over your city just like we were walking over theirs.

The museum is more than worth its 5 Euro entry fee although at first glance it may not seem like it. The first (bottom) floor is flooded with ancient artifacts and statues, dating as far back as Mycenaic times (we're talking in the 1500 BC + area here...) As you walk up the stairs the jumble of giant ancient art, mostly in pieces, can get a little wearing. I mean, even as a history buff there's only so many pieces of Apollo's torso you can see before it all starts to blend together. The museum does have some phenomenal reconstructions that show you how the Parthenon and other ancient sites on the Acropolis used to look at several points in its development. Seeing the completed structure in model form gives you a whole new appreciation for the fantastic structure. This level also has a cafe where you can sip coffee while gazing adoringly at probably one of the best views of the acropolis in the city. While we didn't stay for coffee, we did wander around on the terrace, and the views really were breathtaking.

The top floor is really the museums gem. A video plays first in Greek with English subtitles and then again in English with Greek subtitles discussing the full history of this world-famous archeological gem. You learn about how it was orignially built as a temple for Athena, and how intricate and colorful the artwork and sculptures attributed to this temple truley were. You learn about its perils as its role changed with the leaders of Greece, being turned into Christian and Catholic churches with the crusades and Roman rule, and later being turned into a mosque when the Ottoman Turks took charge. One particularly passionate plea made by this movie, and echoed by native Greeks all over the city, was the pillaging of the Parthenon by Lord Elgin of Great Britain, who took many pieces of the Parthenon's art and it is now displayed proudly in Britain's British Museum. However, despite so much constant change and hardship, the Parthenon survives today and is relished as the prime cultural gem of Athens and the entire country of Greece. Watching this movie and also exploring the remaining decorative art on the top floor, truley gave me a new perspective of how much the Acropolis means to Greece. It really is their pride and joy and rightfully so, the passion they have for it is contagious.

After the museum, it was shopping time. My grandmother and I wandered in and out of all the tiny shops near the museum in a district known to most as the Plaka. These stores really are nothing special, mostlyaimed at deep pocketed tourist nearly every shop sells the same kind of thing, Evil eye bracelets, olive soap, tiny Greek God figurines, Greek sandals, olives, wine and a plethora of fun jewlery, books and t-shirts. Nevertheless, as tourists, we couldn't help but indulge, buying wine for later that night and a few cute souvineirs for friends and family left at home. After shopping, we found ourselves a quiet coffee shop where we could relax (and scope out Greek God hotties).

Coffee shops really have become one of my favorite Athenian spots. Not only are they EVERYWHERE, lining the streets with cute little tables and the scent of espresso, but they also serve food that is to die for. Philo dough pastries are amazing, it doesn't even matter what's in them, feta cheese, ham, sausage, spinach, chocolate; there's no such thing as a losing combination. So my grandmother and I grabbed some tasty sausage pies (fabulous I must add) and toasted our coffee mugs while we waited for the rest of our family to catch up. I must admit though, while the Plaka is great for people watching, its not exactly Greek God heaven. Because of the touristy feel of the area, it was a lot more families and well...tourists. So while I might have spotted a few Dutch Backpacking hotties and a couple of Italian Romeos, as far as the Greek God Department goes, there wasn't much.

A great Greek God watching spot however? Monastiraki Square! After cruising Greek Gods over coffee, my aunt and her family came down from the Acropolis and joined us for their own philo dough and coffee...then my Aunt and I took off on a grand shopping adventure. Before you judge the rest of this story, please keep in mind that map reading when street signs are in Greek letters is extremely difficult..add in the fact that I'm directionally challenged...and well, this was bound to happen...

We took off through the Plaka and behind the Acropolis. This ritzy area filled with coffee shops all boasting phenomenal Acropolis views was new to me, and I must say, quite impressive. Our walk, which we thought was taking us through the Ancient Agora, instead brought us past a park (with some very cute soccer playing Greek Gods) and then through some kind of makeshift flea market (later discovered to be Thissio). From the flea market we found ourselves near the famous Keramiekos cemetary, but while ancient gravesites alone can be kinda creepy, it was the loudspeakers on the street next to us that really freaked us out. Each speaker we passed had a famous speech blaring from it, although we only recognized a few, that was more than enough. One spoke the words of Winston Churchil, the next was FDR, a few later we heard Josef Stalin, then Che Guavara and finally Hitler. We didn't need to hear anymore and we quickly found ourselves in another part of town....

After schleping past our fair share of crack dealers, black markets and loads of other suspicious activity (obviously our map reading skills had led us astray AGAIN), we finally found the famous marketplace (by accident) and I only needed to see a few skinned and butchered lambs and bunny rabbits alongside blood covered butchers blowing me kisses to realize this wasn't a place I wanted to be either. While the market was cool, I wasn't ready to be unwillingly convertedto vegetarianism, so we opted to try our map reading skills AGAIN and see if we could find the famous Monastiraki square where so we could finally get our shop on.

And turns out, it wasn't hard, just a few blocks past the market stands this massive square, buzzing with people and vendors we finally had something to be excited about. This marketplace is a lot like the Turkish Bazaar in Istanbul and the Black Market I found when I lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Stores line both sides of the street, some selling shoes, other selling jewelry, even more selling soccer jerseys. If you want it, you can find it in Monastiraki, and believe me we spent many a Euro here. Turns out its also the perfect place for Greek God Scoping as they're everywhere. Speeding down streets on their motorbikes, sipping coffee in the coffeeshops, smoking cigarettes outside the metro, even working the storefronts. Yes, this was my new favorite people watching spot in Athens, I'd make it a point to get back here.

Finally, after making a solid attempt to empty our wallets, my aunt and I headed home with our hands full of shopping bags and collapsed on the subway as our feet ached from our tretcherous journey. I was excited and rejuvinated though for a new week of Athens exploring and Greek God scoping...

Next on our agenda: Mountain climbing...I mean seriously what's hotter than a Greek God/Mountain Man...that's right, nothing!

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