Homogeneous Athens

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Where does one begin to introduce Athens - a city which birthed democracy itself, that continued to shape European history and philosophy for centuries after its decline, and most importantly, continues to even today host some of the best Moussaka ever.

But what struck us the most wasn't political, philosophical or even edible. Rather, it was the distinct social homogeneity. All Greeks. As a wise man once observed, there are only three things you find everywhere in the world - injustice, flies and Asians (Chinese or Indians). If that is true, then Athens is clearly out of this world.

Our time in Athens was only brief - a 20h stop enroute to the Greek Islands. In retrospect, that clearly was not enough to even begin to enjoy this city. However, it was more than enough time to hoe into a few Gyros (Greek Doner Kebabs), Mousakas, and feta cheese.

After starting the day with a healthy breakfast of cheese pies and pastry, we headed to Athens most visited monument, the Acropolis. The Acropolis crowns a large hill that is graced with quaint old houses and cobbled streets. Its a picturesque though slightly steep walk, punctuated by old men and empty cafes. Near the top, we stopped at a rocky out-crop from which we could see a beautiful view over the city of Athens with its endless rows of dusty white buildings and tree-lined hills. That viewed paled next to what followed - our first hand witnessing of the Greek tourist police at work.

Given the heat, we noticed a number of enterprising Indian umbrella vendors flaunting their wares along the uphill path (This was the one and only time we did see some non-Greeks in Greece). Then suddenly, in total unison, they scooped up their wares, and like cattle, stampeded down the hillside. Minutes later, we saw them wandering uphill again, warily peering around. A few more minutes later, and suddenly, Indian stampeded commence again. This time though, we saw the cause - a single angry Greek policeman wildly waving his truncheon. Only two possible conclusions: 1) vending without a license, or 2) immigration police valiantly trying to preserve the cultural homogenieity. Either way, it was interesting entertainment for the surrounding toursit hoardes.

Anyway - the Acropolis. Yes, it was big and old looking and rather photogenic. But sadly, it was also under maintenance, which meant many of the really beautiful shots were mared by construction scaffolding. The site itself is not that big and is mainly dominated by the reasonably well preserved Parthenon - a marble pillared megastructure that once served as the temple of Athena. Overall though, the site is not that interesting, probably because we lacked insightful commentary of a guide. We did try to eavesdrop on a few passing groups, but sadly, European countries seem to be dominated by non-English-speaking European tour groups.

Next we headed down to Europe's long pedestrian strip (3km). This is a cafe and shop lined mall that captures the quintessential culture of Greece - eating, smoking, chattering and gawking at strangers walking by. It was lunch, so indulged in truly the best Greek dish - Moussaka, as well as delicious garlicy grilled eggplant salad. Greek food is simply delicious - though not for the oil intolerant.

Melenie then wiled away our cash in a local market while I headed back to our hotel to collect our luggage. Chief memories here were cherries - supremely cheap cherries. We also noticed that they sold the exact same (ie. I mean exactly the same designs) tourist junk jewellery that we've seen in every other country we've been to - be it India, Tunisia, Russia or Egypt.

All that is left to tell is our final experience in Athens, which was treating our little one year old to her first-ever ice-cream. Melenie was concerned that wasn't getting enough milk as little Sesame was much too busy gawking at the world going by. So in desperation, we bought her a McDonalds soft-serve. And thus was born, the "bush pig", a regular character for the rest of our trip. Somehow the ice-cream birthed in her the dire esto express her excitement by squealing like a wild boar. Although cute at first, we couldn't help being a little embarrassed for the rest of the trip of our pig-squealing animal. Thankfully the wild boar forsook her squealing ways on our short plane trip to the Greek Islands. Next stop - Santorini!

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Photos

The Parthenon
Previously the temple of Athena. Stupid scaffolding wrecks the picture.

Amphitheatre
I do recall that there was an interesting story about this amphitheatre - but I can't remember what it was.

Moussaka
One day I will make a shrine to this most delicious of foods. A must have in Greece.

Cheese pies
What better combination than cheese and pastry. Ah cholesterol heaven. Feta is the main cheese used - Greek feta is much nicer in Greece than back home.

Pastry goodness
Forget ancient ruins and historical significance. Cheese, pastry and Mousakka are sufficient motivators to visit Athens.

Random shot
In the back you can see the acropolis on the hill

Quaint alley
One of the pretty side streets we found while walking up the much-to-steep-if-you-have-to-carry-a-pram hill to the acropolis.

View of the acropolis
No close ups because it just looked ugly up close due to the construction.

Olives
Olives in Greece were sadly disappointing - overly salty and no real difference to the stuff we get back home.

Roasted eggplant dish
Oh - this was unexpectedly delicious. How can eggplant ever taste good you ask. Well, coat it in sufficient olive oil and cheese.

All-terrain Sesame
Sesame's pram got quite a thrashing - here its conquering rocky craggy cliff edges

Cross-cultural heritage
Egypt + Greece. Here I thought was some remnant of ancient Greek and Egyptian collaborative architectural design. Turns out this amphitheater is used to hold plays, and they are hosting some Egypt story at the moment.

Old stuff
Pillars and stuff at the Acropolis site

Something else
Some building on the acropolis site.

And yet another useless photo
This time, I can't even be bothered captioning it