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Published: October 26th 2008
The Acropolis in all it's splendour
This view dominates much of older Athens. Here it is seen from the Ancient Agora.I don't know if all of you "down-under" heard, but summer forgot to visit the UK this year. We had just one or two weekend days of hot sunny weather all "summer". It was the wettest August on record with 60% more rain than normal. So you can bet that by the time our ‘miss the hordes of fat, white & drunk UK tourists’ holiday plan of travelling to the beaches in late September finally came around we were well and truly ready for some sunshine.
With the aid of my trusty iPhone I had been checking the weather reports in Athens every day. Sunny with a high of 30degrees. Sunny with a high of 31. Hmmm. All going to plan. The day we arrived in Athens (after a six hour wait at the airport thanks to the usual delays on Easyjet) they had their first rain since the beginning of summer. It was much needed and- according to our hotel owner - finally broke the summer long drought. Unfortunately it also brought the temperatures right down to the low teens…..
The sudden realisation of the flimsiness of my ‘beach resort’ wardrobe wasn’t the only problem. As the built
up grime & gunk of months was slowly washed off the marbled pavement of the Plaka district (the pedestrian area at the base of the Acropolis- also where our family-run hotel was based) it turned the whole district into a veritable skating rink. I went for so many tumbles & slips, yanking Brendon’s arm off each time (Brendon’s shoes had more grip on all but one type of marble) it was as if someone had made us the main protagonists of a Laurel & Hardy skit - but neglected to tell us.
We still made the most of Athens, and the rain did ease - and the temperatures rise. We enjoyed following or very own (slippery) walking tour, past Syntagma Sq, the houses of Parliament, the Botanic Gardens, and had our first sight of the Acropolis from the enormous Temple of Olympus Zeus. Onwards and upwards (literally) past the old cottages at the base of the Acropolis and up to the legendary ‘city on the hill’ itself. The Theatre of Dionysus and Odeon of Herodes Atticus were awe inspiring - especially as the grand Odeon, with it’s tiers of marble seats still has live performances in it today (ok,
it was excavated first). The Parthenon itself was, in my mind, a bit of a disappointment. It was much smaller than I had envisaged, covered in scaffolding, had no information for cold & wet tourists, braving the strong winds at the top of the hill, and really just appeared to be a skeleton with all the rich detail eroded by time, wind , and today’s biggest threat; acid rain.
Other highlights of Athens were the Temple of Winds in the Roman Agora, the size and grandeur of the Ancient Agora - Agora means market - the tortoise we found in the Ancient Agora - in the middle of a city of 3 million people! - and of course the food!
Souvlaki, Greek salad, Greek yoghurt, tzatziki, Greek coffee, beautiful aubergine and tomato and pepper dishes, the fresh herbs… I can go on. And eating while watching the sun set over the Acropolis was magical.
After a weekend in the capital, we carried our bags through the dark streets at 5.45am, to the very clean, shiny metro and off to the port of Pireaus to board our 4 hour ferry to the island of Paros. So began part two
The Temple of Olympus Zeus
With the Acropolis in the background - and Brendon playing 'where's Wally?' in the foreground. of our holiday, relaxing in the tourist free (they’d all shipped out the previous week) Cyclades Island of Paros. We found our own little patch of paradise at the beautiful Sofia Pension http://www.sofiapension-paros.com/ , so lovely, it was hard to drag ourselves 50 yards to the closest beach. The photos can tell the tale much better ….
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