Memories and new discoveries

Walking down memory lane - that's what we did this morning. Took a bus for a change, because bus trips are more interesting than subway trips. The bus crossed several neighborhoods to the National Museum, the place we spent most of the time (besides the Acropolis) when we stayed in Athens during Archeology studies. We clearly remember the long days in this museum, studying each and every piece in detail, first time on an excursion in the early 1980ies. At the time, they still shut down the museum for a long lunch break, which was fine with us. Otherwise, our professor wouldn't have given us a break at all. The exhibition halls are unchanged, our footprints still visible on the floor,,, They just added, or rather rearranged, two new halls for special exhibitions, like currently one about Hadrian and another one about "Beauty and Body in Antique Times".

Head of a "kouros" (right) and one of the many Venuses (type "Louvre Naples") I did research on for my doctorate:

The special exhibition about Hadrian and the museum's courtyard:

Exarchia is the neighborhood around the museum and the Athens University (pic on the right), and, it was the area were the riots and demonstrations end of 2008 started. The neighborhood, which was always sort of anarchic and chaotic, suffered for many years and is still not the same as before, but - despite of holes on the walkway – there is hope,,,

Attica Center is one of the large shopping denters in town and they obviously try to compete with Macy's when it comes to window displays for Xmas. Traditionally, Greek Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in the night of January 1st with completely other traditions and rituals, but, seems like commerzialisation has striked. We not only discovered this crazy café-bar-restaurant in Psirri (pic below), over-boarding with decoration, reminding of Dyker Heights in NYC (which is certainly working well on Instagram!), but also (American) Christmas carols all over, while people are sitting outside enjoying their coffee or snack.

Contrast: Omonia Square - the people's square - is surrounded by more and more decaying historic buildings. What a pity! But, these huge representative buildings are much too expensive in the upkeep and renters are hard to find.

We continued to the City Hall (left) and the old Central Market, Dimotiki Agora, a huge central market hall with different sections (meats, fish and some tavernas), surrounded outside by shops/vendors of dry goods, nuts, herbs, spices and such. On the square in front of the hall there is an open-air-market with fruit/veggies and olives (!) surrounded by little shops selling household items, groceries, oil and wine, cheeses and sausages. That's Old Athens, which has never changed! What a cornupia of Greek goods!

We decided to do the same thing we did as students: buy provisions on the market and have dinner in the room. We got Greek cheeses, grapes, fresh bread and retsina - and had a feast. It's still so inexpensive, that it seems unreal. A loaf of bread for 50 c., 3 kilo of clementines for 1 Euro, excellent cheese for 10 Euro/kilo, a liter of wine for 3 Euro. Sometimes you almost wish, they would rise their prices for tourists and wealthy people, but the high unemployment and poverty rates explain why groceries (and, even restaurant meals) are still more very affordable.

The further away from the market we got on Odos Aiolou, the fancier it became and there were creative little restaurants of all kind, with outdoor seating and very inviting (and crowded). We had loukoumades (sort of freshly baked firm donut balls) with honey and cinnamon as a little "pick-me-up" in one of the new stores there, before we checked out a couple more shops and restaurants in Psirri and the Plaka and watched the cats (in the old times it was big stray dog populations as well).

Along Athens' famous shopping mall Odos Ermou - often compared to Via Veneto, 5th Ave or Champs Elysées - we slowly walked back to Syntagma Square and the subway station.

Inbetween Tradition and Modern Age

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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Xαίρε Αθήνα !

Home for not quite two weeks from the U.S., we are out again, this time for a six-day research trip to Athens/Greece. Don't know how many times we've visited Athens - starting in the early 1980ies as students of archeology, and returned quite often, later for our guide books. The city has changed considerably in the course of time, it is much cleaner and more attractive now. Even the riots and the economical crises a couple of years ago seems to be over, or at least isn't as obvious anymore.

It's not really been our day. First, we needed to visit the medical services at Munich Airport because of Peter's eye infection (which had become worse again, plus, he had forgotten to bring his antibiotics). Our flight with Aegean was smooth (pics above taken over the Alps and before landing in Athens), and, we even got a hot meal during the 2:15 hour-flight! Then we had to wait about 1/2 hour for the train into town and, in total, it took us about 2 hours from touch-down to the hotel (not much less than in NYC!). Second mishap was, that we would almost have been robbed on the train, while exiting. Nobody could say, we aren't travel-savvy, but we were distracted by a not-working door, and, to make a long story short: Peter was stolen his little cardholder (credit cards/I.D., no money), but an elderly gent (not sure whether he was involved in this whole group action or not) gave it back to us when the train was about to depart; we didn't even notice before. My purse was open, too, but nothing missing. Lucky us!!!

Checked into the Ibis Styles Athens Routes, just open since August, brandnew and comfy, with great service. A little out of downtown, though, in the Neos Kosmos neighborhood, but by subway and with a 5-day-ticket for 9 Euro, not a big deal.

Checked in and went out again to explore old town, though it got dark briefly after 5 pm. Amazed about all the Xmas decoration (usually Greeks don't celebrate our classical Christmas, but celebrate on Jan. 6), we walked the loop around the Acropolis and its fantastic museum by night (pics) and through the Plaka (pic below) before we ended up in our fav souvlaki place and had dinner for 20 Euro in total.

Walked about 8 miles in 3 hours and are tired now.