Greece 9 - Athens /The Archaelogical Museum/The Antikythera Mechanism/The Tower of the Winds

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After our trip up the Acropolis we picked up our tickets for the hop on hop off bus. It took us up the graffiti covered streets around areas we had seen the night before . Our stop was going to be the Archaelogical museum. In big cities there are usually more than one museum. In London we have missed the V & A, the National History Museum. In Athens there is the National Art Gallery, the Museum of Cycladic Art, the Byzantine Museum, the Benaki to name but a few. There are only so many you can do in a short time. You get museumed out if there ever was such a word . We also had to put in a side trip to the Naval Museum at Flitmos Beach and had paid extra for the hop on hop off bus to take us there. Sadly that did not happen as the things we wanted to see down there were on loan or being repaired. It made us realise that we had really wasted our money on the bus.



We started to talk to a retired couple on the bus. He had worked overseas and used his air miles to go on this trip to Athens. She worked for a pharmaceutical company which traded with the USA. Yet again they had voted out in the great Brexit debate. They told us the guy selling the bus tickets was a doctor who could not get work in Greece and had to resort to selling tickets to make ends meet. He was not happy with German intervention into Greece and wished that the government would come out of the euro and go back to the drachma. It felt that the opinion here was that the EU was not good for Greece and they were watching the next round of the French elections. Of course the result is out now and Le Penn did not get in.



Before going in the museum we sat in a shady café drinking freshly squeezed orange juice . Why does it taste so good in the sun? Everyone seems so friendly. Even in this large city the waiters smile and we feel that they value our money and trade.



We paid our entry fee reduced for pensioners over 65 (3 euros) and started our tour. First thought not a lot of signage. Not a clue where to go. The building was opened in 1891 bringing together collections from all over Athens. So what are we really here for ? We are on an item hunt. There is one thing I particularly want to see in this museum . It is going to be a bit like hide and seek that we used to play as children. It is well hidden and our job is to find it amongst all the other treasures on view.

We started off in one of many sculpture galleries gradually moving from Neolithic art to simple but beautiful Cycladic art. The collections were chronological so it was easy to see how sculpture moved on over time. We viewed the simple but beautiful Volomandra Kouros one of the sculptures which harked back to Egyptian masterpieces. Figures with one leg in front of the other in a typical pose. Eyes front watching us. The perfect body with a perfect six pack. We are cold though my item is not in this room. There are so many of these figures you feel rather overwhelmed. The next room contains early and late greek statues followed by examples of Roman statuary. Still cold my item is not made from stone.

We moved from room to room to Myceanean pots and sculpture , Black and red pots and jugs with fabulous paintings . Still cold my item is not red and white . Along the way we saw grave markers from Greek periods right up to Roman. I can tell you the item I am looking for was not placed in a tomb. In another room we saw the Marathon Boy. Classical sculpture including bronzes - the Little Jockey was an amazing work. The horse was full of life with the little jockey tiny in comparison hanging on for dear life. Now perhaps we are getting warmer. My item is bronze.



There were collections of gold jewellery and pottery . In another gallery gold from Myceanean graves with a number of gold death masks . One reputed to be the death mask of Agamemnon dating from 1600 BC. We marvelled at the workmanship comparing it to jewellery found in Britain from the same period. The gold work was magnificent. Going a bit colder again no part of my item is made of gold. We stood at the showcases full of weapons and were amazed by examples of Linear B text an ancient writing and Linear A that has still not been deciphered. Words cannot describe what we felt as we moved from case to case. Each exhibit was as good as the last.

The hide and seek game is nearly over. My item was found under the sea . Would you be able to guess what it might be? I cannot believe how hard it was to find. It really was hiden at the heart of the museum. It was not their most famous piece. People walked by it. Hardly noticing it at all . But there it was , Easily fitted into a small box it is almost green in colour. It looked insignificant and I guess to many it was. The Antikythira mechanism. I had watched a programme years ago about how it was found on the seabed and no-one realised that the object brought up was so unique. The sea had claimed it and turned it into something unidentifiable and it was not until it was X rayed that its true meaning and use was discovered. You can walk by it without noticing it . It sits on its own in the middle of a room quite insignificant and many pass it by without giving it a second thought . It was made probably between 150 and 100 BC, a very complex geared astronomical computer. I was in awe of the workmanship , the marking of gears all turned green over time. I did not want to move away from it. I walked around it . Bits lay at the side of it . Attempts had been made to reconstruct a model of it. Was it worth the game of hide and seek? Yes taking so long to find it made it even more special.

Was this a good museum ? Most definitely and one not to be missed if you only chose one in the city.



Our next stop was the Agora – another 4 euros each entry This was the site of old Roman market and once must have been a bustling place. The Flea Market at the side gave some impression of what it must have been like. It’s a jumble of a place and reminded me of the Forum in Rome all jumbled by Mussolini. The newly erected copy of the Stoia was a bit naïve and not particularly interesting . It did hold some finds but after the Archaelogical museum they couldn’t hold a candle. The best bit had to the be the Temple of Hephaistos which was small but perfectly formed.



Lunch was in a café right alongside . Nothing special – we were glad to get away and head off for the Tower of the Winds. Now this is a lovely building built in the 1^st century AD by a Syrian astronomer. It is a compass, a sundial, a weathervane and a water clock. Again we could have paid another 3 euros each to go in but decided against it as we could see the tower perfectly well enough to take photos through the fence. All around the top of the building were friezes of the winds. On the north side Borean blowing into a conch shell, to the North West Skiron holding a vessel of charcoal. Around the corner to the west side was Zephyros tossing flowers in his lap. As you move around the building to the South west is Lips speeding the voyage of a ship. The four remaining sides – the south shows Notos upturning an urn to make it into a shower , to the south east Euros with his arm hidden in his mantle summoning up a hurricane. To the north Kaikias emptying a shield full of hailstones and finally to the east Apiliotis carrying fruit and wheat.



After a meal of Greek salad with feta cheese which I had developed a taste for and Caesar salad we went for a final walk in the park. Designed by Queen Amelia it was planted out and makes a green haven amongst the hustle and bustle of the city. Tall trees flourish, shrubs are planted everywhere . Signage poor and it feels as if you are walking round a maze with little idea how to get anywhere. In the middle a rather sad and neglected lake with bridge which once probably held goldfish. A small zoo now housing goats, rabbits and peacocks.



We got stuck in the lift at the hotel. I pressed the button to take us down for a last drink. Nothing happened. It stopped and the lights went out. We rang the emergency bell – nothing. It was too dark inside to see much . I pressed buttons everywhere and eventually the lights came on and off we went to the top floor . A space that is used in the summer for eating out. Tonight we were on our own up there looking down on the Athens Street and across at the lit up Parliament building. Up on the hill the Parthenon was lit up and the sun was just going down . Magical That was the highlight of the last few hours in Athens . Tomorrow we do the reverse journey back to Suzy. Will she still be there?

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