Ancient Athens


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Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens
May 3rd 2008
Published: May 3rd 2008
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I’m in Athens…. No thanks to Olympic Airways.

I woke up on Thursday thinking I would be having a nice leisurely day where all I had to do was head out to the airport, catch a flight to Athens and check into my hotel there. That’s what happened, but I thought it wouldn’t when I received a fax from my travel agent underneath my hotel door. Turns out Olympic was having a local strike (really local, only Thessaloniki as far as I can tell) and my flight was cancelled.

After a minor panic and then some anger directed their way, I went and talked with the concierge. Olympic in Sydney told me to ring their office in Thessaloniki, but surprise surprise! They weren’t answering - you’d think they were on strike or something (seriously, what is it with Greeks telling you something, directions or whatever, and not telling you they’re closed!). Fortunately, the concierge was able to book me a ticket with Aegean - the flight was a better time, a better experience than Olympic, better all round, really!

So I made it to Athens, hopped in a taxi and headed to the hotel. The airport is a fair distance away, so it cost quite a bit. Didn’t have any choice though, as Athens’s public transport was on strike! The driver was pleasant enough, and we chatted a bit on the way. He talked about the Olympics a lot. I didn’t want to point out that it was 4 years ago and 8 years ago I experienced the same thing in Sydney.

The hotel is not that great. The lobby looks nice, but the room is a bit shabby - especially as they claim to be 4 stars! Makes me really appreciate how good the hotel in Thessaloniki was. This one is almost the exact opposite - great location, but pretty poor otherwise and internet access is 5 euros for an hour!

The only other thing I did was head out for some food that evening. Athens didn’t impress, to be honest. Littering seems to be a national hobby and I kind of got freaked out by all the men that were just hanging around. Not doing anything, just hanging. There was one small street where some dressed-up ladies were standing. What could that be about? I thought. Perhaps they’re waiting for someone to talk to them. I kept walking.

Anyway, on Friday I headed out to see the city. In particular, the ancient city. With the map the hotel gave me in hand, I set out and promptly got lost. Not lost, per se, but the shortcut I had mapped out through the backstreets was not to be. I kept coming across street names I could see on the map (they have more street signs here!), but their distribution seemed to have little relevance to what my map said. In the end I found a main road and stuck to it.

The road, Pireos, took me to something called Keramikos - a name that a couple of us will find familiar. This Keramikos, however, was the city’s cemetery in ancient times, apparently. The ticket office seemed closed, so I made do with a handful of photos through the fence. The Ancient Agora awaited. After some more confusion with street markings (since when do you mark a pedestrian walkway in the same colour as a major road!?) I found the entrance and purchased my ticket that would get me into most of the sites, including the Acropolis.

Heading inside the Agora, I first
The Ancient AgoraThe Ancient AgoraThe Ancient Agora

With the Acropolis in the background
headed to the Stoa of Attalos. The Stoa is actually a faithful reconstruction, not the original, but still very impressive. Inside is the Agora Museum, which is small but interesting. I ended up visiting the Stoa 3 times - not because it was so good, but because there was a water fountain there and the day was hot already.

I then continued looking around the Agora. It was the centre of the ancient city, but not a lot is left but building outlines. The most intact building was the Temple of Hephaesteus, up on the hill, from which there was also an excellent view of the rest of the Agora. That was about it, but I did overhear a conversation between an American couple:
Husband: It was the ancient marketplace
Wife: What did they do there?
Husband (exasperated): It was a marketplace. They sold things
Wife (indignant): Well, I didn’t know what they did in ancient marketplaces.

Errr… anyway….. I left the Agora and got a drink at a café nearby. While having a break I mapped out a path that would take me to the Acropolis via a few other sites. At this stage, I was not looking forward to heading up to the Acropolis - it looked quite high and the day was still getting hotter.

Next stop was Hadrian’s Library. From what I could see from the outside, there wasn’t a lot there and as it was not included in my ticket I gave it a miss. I then headed to the Roman Agora (which I’m sure the Lonely Planet writer never visited due to the incorrect description of the layout). You walk inside via the Gate of Athena Archegetis which was built in the 1st century AD, but apparently financed by Julius Caesar (it must have taken a while, as he was killed in the 1st century BC). Inside, amongst other things, were the foundations of a public latrine. They were called Vespasians by the Romans as the Emperor Vespasian imposed a tax on their use. The major highlight, though, is the Tower of the Winds - essentially a 1st century BC sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass.

Continuing on, the next stop was the Acropolis. I found an entrance on the northern slope, and began my ascent. Lonely Planet recommends you going early in the morning (not happening) or late in the afternoon (I wasn’t going to wait) to avoid the crowds. They weren’t kidding! I think I also arrived with a bunch of tour groups, which didn’t help. Thankfully though, the climb is nowhere near as bad as it looks.

Unfortunately just about everything on the top of the Acropolis is covered in scaffolding at the moment, as part of restoration and preservation work. Regardless, the Parthenon was still amazing. The Acropolis museum is closed at the moment, unfortunately, so that was a bit disappointing. But just walking around the iconic site was great.

I then headed down and went in search of some things I had seen from the top. I realised I had just had a badly timed entrance as there were very few people heading up when I left.

I checked out the Theatre of Dionysis before leaving the Acropolis site. After some lunch, I headed over to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus (as opposed to the Zeus that lives down the road, I guess). The temple was begun in the 6th century BC but not completed until Hadrian did so - 700 years to build! It was worth it though. There’s only a handful of columns there (1 was blown down in 1852) but they are huge! Very impressive.

The next site was the Panathenaic Stadium, a restored stadium that holds 70,000 people. Apparently there were a thousand wild animals slaughtered there for Hadrian’s inauguration! It looked great, but you can’t go inside.

Feeling quite foot-sore, I then began to walk back to the hotel. A quick walk through the National Gardens (free, with a bonus bird crapping on me!) and a couple of photos of some “Neoclassical” buildings later, I was soon back at the hotel. That was it for Friday.

The plan for Thursday was simple - The National Archaeological Museum. My hotel is kind of half-way between the museum and the Acropolis, so I headed off in the opposite direction. Sticking to the main roads, I didn’t get lost.

My first experiences of the museum were not good though. For one, there was a sign saying that for the weekend of 3rd and 4th of May (ie this weekend), the first floor would not be open to the public. This annoyed me greatly, as Lonely Planet said the best exhibits (particularly the Mycenean finds) were on the first floor. Turns out though, LP’s “first floor” is actually the ground floor.

The second thing that annoyed me was the guy at the cloak room telling me that I had to put my bag in at the other (less secure looking) cloak room because this one was full. This annoyed me for two reasons. First, I could see empty shelves behind him. Secondly, after I walked off I saw him taking bags off a bunch of other people! Way to piss me off!

Anyway, the museum is very good, even with parts of it closed. It wasn’t just the first floor, the supposedly excellent Egyptian section was also closed. The highlights for me were the Mycenean finds, particularly the Mask of Agamemnon (Agamemnon is the Mycenean king from the Trojan War, but the mask actually dates to 400 years earlier) and the Vaphio gold cups.

All up I spent 4 hours walking around soaking up the history. I couldn’t have spent longer if I’d wanted to though; this is another museum that closes at 3pm. There wasn’t anything nearby that I wanted to see, nor particularly anything else really, so I headed back to the hotel. I need to get an early night as my tour to some nearby islands picks me up at 7:00 am in the morning.


Additional photos below
Photos: 25, Displayed: 25


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A Please Do Not Touch SignA Please Do Not Touch Sign
A Please Do Not Touch Sign

Notice that it is in English and there is no equivalent Greek sign?
A Neoclassical buildingA Neoclassical building
A Neoclassical building

I think it was a library
Some Mycenean findsSome Mycenean finds
Some Mycenean finds

With the Mask of Agamemnon on the top right
Finds from ThermopylaeFinds from Thermopylae
Finds from Thermopylae

Lots and lots of arrowheads!
A bronze statueA bronze statue
A bronze statue

of a jockey. From the other side he looks like he's giving someone the finger.


6th May 2008

Sounds like your having a great time fucking airlines they love to screw ya around. The photos are fantastic cant wait to see them all P.S americans should not be let out of their own country =)
7th May 2008

Hey Vincenzo, Just subscribed to the blog and caught up on the Adventures of Dave in the motherland. You'll find a lot of stuff closes around 3pm. Siesta time my friend. Greeks need to have a sleep so that they can wake up and have dinner ridiculously late and party till the wee hours of the monring. Keep up the good work on the blog - it's getting me psyched for my arrival. cb
8th May 2008

:)
To Bec: 1,101 photos so far! :D To Costa: I still say 3pm is a silly closing time! :P Seriously though, what a great country!
9th May 2008

nice one Bruvva!
Awesome! Some top stuff there! I tell you it sounds to me like these Greeks are a tired bunch. All those thousands of years of civilization seem to have knackered them, siestas at 3pm, everything closed, crazy strikes. And they call Aussies apathetic?!?!?!?! BAH! Oh and I love the 'Well, I didn’t know what they did in ancient marketplaces' Keep em coming!
20th March 2011

Is that a decent blog entry
Oh my god. Why cant u see the greater picture? I'm Greek woman and i wont sit and stare at your ridiculous comments. Generally my country, is not as stupid as u present it. You cant judge a whole nation from a stupid minority. One thing that bothered me a lot is your description of the ancient statues that you have taken pictures of. More specifically "a statue" , "And another statue". You are not even close to know what these statues represent. You came to Greece to see an anonymous and wannabe "statue" ? Cant you even show some respect to our legacy? Or the bronze statue. Dude you don't know anything about Greece and you just come and criticize our ways and ancient statues? "A charming fellow" OH my god, i really hate people like you. Also yes, we go on strikes and yes we have rules. It's not our fault that u get mad on them. You should know better than that. By the way "Costa" should rethink his comment because the fact the we party and we live our life is our choice. We are working on a daily basis and people should get some time off you know. I don't think that we are perfect but I should recommend to that dude that if he has a schedule of visiting museums and places at whatever time he wants he should go somewhere where people work to death all day long and don't have a life :) ps. we have dinner when want. we don't put our whole life on a timetable you douchebag. stay to your country if u are not okay with our ways.

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