The Acropolis, Temple of Zeus, and More Protests

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After a week in Athens we decided it was finally time to visit the Acropolis. Unfortunately, so did EIGHT cruise ships. Ugh. The conga line to the top was unbelievable. Luckily the ticket person let us go up the exit, though the exit line was equally formidable. Though the Parthenon and all the other temples at the top are covered in various stages of scaffolding, the site is still quite impressive. The entry gate must have been SO impressive to the ancients since it is still quite imposing today.

The visit to the Acropolis museum prior to visiting the site itself was very helpful. It helped us to understand exactly what we should be looking for and what the various pieces were. Some of the carvings are still intact on site, while others are in the museum below. While it was about one thousand degrees on top of the Acropolis and ridiculously crowded, D still enjoyed playing in the rocks and waving to her throngs of fans.

Soon we overheard someone saying they only had 30 minutes before they were supposed to meet at the bottom. We asked if they were on a cruise and received an affirmative answer. We decided to wait it out so we could get some shots without a million people in it. We sat down under the first olive tree (according to legend) and fed D her lunch (only to find out you aren't allowed to eat on the Acropolis, but for 'baby' they made an exception).

We decided to descend via the MUCH less crowded South slope (note to self: ascend via the South slope next time). On the way down, we visited the Theater of Dionysis as well as another ancient theater that had been retrofitted for modern performances. There were also lesser sites, such as the sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros (just rectangles cut in a stone alcove, not too impressive) and some large caves. After descending we grabbed some gyros from Savvas and hopped on the subway to get back home. Not satisfied with the gyros we grabbed some sweets from the bakery on the main drag near our home. I had some delicious concoction of orange and honey syrup over semolina and phyllo, while Pat opted for tyropita (cheese sandwiched in layers of phyllo).

After nap time, we headed to the large park near us and let D run around on the playground. I had just gotten my acceptance letter from a journal so we had a celebratory beer in the park as well. Then it was time for D to go to bed. Pat visited our local taverna for takeout and came back with a veritable smorgasbord of Greek delights: fava beans in tomato, lamb and rice, meatballs with orzo, beef in tomato sauce, pork in lemon sauce, grapeleaves with pork....stuffed.

The next day we headed out to see the temple of Zeus. This meant having to brave Syntagma square where all the protests have been occurring. We figured since it was Saturday there was no one at Parliament to threaten, but we asked a police officer on the way just to be sure. He said there was a protest, but no problems. So we walked between the lines of riot police and the peaceful protest full of both strollers and walkers. Doesn't seem like the protests will be ending anytime soon.

The temple of Zeus has some pretty impressive columns remaining as well as the ruins of some homes and a Roman bath. There was a particularly well preserved relief as well. On our way home we stopped at a cafeteria style restaurant near us for a giant Greek salad, oven cooked meatballs with rice, pork with peppers, feta, and oven cooked potatoes, and two giant beers to quench the heat.

While D was taking a nap, Pat went off to see if he could catch the end of the neighborhood farmers' market. They were all closing up, but he was on a mission to get the cherries, peppers, and zucchini I had requested. He asked the vendor for 1 Euro's worth of peppers and 1 Euro's worth of zucchini and came back with an entire shopping bag full of bell peppers AND an entire shopping bag full of zucchini (no such luck with the cherries).

Faced with so many peppers and zucchini, I decided to make stuffed peppers filled with turkey sausage, a ton of zucchini, mushrooms, kalamata olives, feta, fennel, dill, and tomatoes. They were delicious, which is good since we'll be eating them for a week (if you have any zucchini ideas, send them my way).

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Comments

[Doc Mara]

Nice
LOVE this pic. The streaming light coming down from Olympus into your Olympus camera makes the shot.

[Charlotte Winnier]

Go Spongers!
Tarpon Springs HS could not be more proud. Way to go! Great pics and narrative. Fabulous that you got published. When do you do a day trip cruise? Santorini? Where? Fabulous to see Patrick in full character too. Love Mom

[RoamingGators]

Thanks!
Wish we had brought a Sponger's shirt, but maybe next time. Santorini is too far away for a day trip, so we opted for Aegina (the island closest to Athens). I'm getting ready to post those pictures/narrative now.