What a weather for Dec. 1st! Short-sleeve weather during the day, just cooling down in the evening. Bright-blue skies and sunshine from sunrise to sunset, lemons and oranges, olives and figs still on the trees and even blooming shrubs and trees - what a pleasure for the eye! After a good breakfast in the hotel, we explored the city, taking the modern subway (pic above) a couple of times, but mostly walking - over 10 mi (16 km) in total at the end of the day. Sunday, therefore streets were packed with people, mostly Greeks, being on their "peripato", their family sunday walk, or visiting sights, which are free on winter Sundays.
We were sort of drifting first, walked around the Akropolis, on the promenade, now by daylight, glimpsed into the Akropolis Museum (on pic above) and - best part - climbed uneven steps in Antifiotika, where middle of the 19th century workers from the Greek islands were engaged by the Bavarian King Otto for building projects. They illegally started to settle here and founded their own idyllic, rustic little village at the foot of the Acropolis (pics below).
Climbed the Pnyx, a hill which served as a gathering place for the Athenians in the 5th century BC and now offers beautiful views, not only towards the Acropolis, but also, of the Ancient Agora (pic).
The fleamarket in the Plaka takes only place on Sundays and was much larger than we remembered, with surprisingly many book stores/vendors! At the same time there was a craft fair around Thissio, real inexpensive souvenirs, jewelry and knick-knack.
Psirri, another old town neighborhood, was crowded, too, and has more and more murals to offer. Formerly a blue-collar, workers' neighborhood, it has become hip in the last couple of years.
Syntagma Square is the representative square (whereas Platia Omonia is the one for the "people") towered over by the Greek Parliament. We were fortunate to watch a change of guard, which is pretty funny with the soldiers in their historic costumes. On to the National Garden, a park founded by the Bavarian King and planted with rare, partly exotic trees, in the meantime all a bit overgrown, but a green oasis in downtown Athens.
Walked Leof. Sofias passing by a couple of museums, like the Goulandris Collection and the Byzantine Museum without taking time to stop (have done it all in 2017), on to Kolonaki, a high-end residential/commercial neighborhood. We climbed the Lykabettos Hill, which is pretty steep, but offers the best views in town, all the way towards Piraeus.
Stayed there till sunset, explored Kolonaki a little longer, then our feet got increasingly tired and we decided to call it a day (or, rather, we went on a hunt for a place to have dinner). Eventually, being picky, we found the right place and had a great meal with one appetizer (Dakos - bread, olives, feta, tomatoes, capers, olive oil) and two entrees plus 1/2 liter of "house wine"for 30 Euro in one of the few left authentic basement tavernas in the Plaka.
During the day we have noticed some things which haven't changed for decades: e.g. the Koulouri, nuts, chestnut and corn vendors on the streets, and, 2nd, the traditional music groups, like the one we watched for the second time on Monastiraki Square.
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