The Athens Walkabout - Of ancient sites and history

Armed with the Kindle version of Lonely Planet, a desire to see as much as we could in what little time we had, and to maximize our travel potential (maximizing any finite resource is an occupational hazard…) – we basically walked almost all of Athens.

Except maybe from the airport to downtown.

But pretty much everywhere else. From one neighbourhood to another, up and down cliffs and alleys and tourist attractions located within proximity…we walked.

This is when I have to put out a satisfied customer review for Fit Flops. Those are undoubtedly amazingly comfortable and durable walking footwear. Considering that much of Athens is still covered in the occasional cobblestone, I never once felt a pebble under my foot through my rubber Fit Flops.

But I digress.

With Addii the tour guide and me the bumbling tourist in tow, we saw way more than the average tourist, and paid much less too J

Towering palm (coconut??) trees creating a majestic and imposing entrance to the National Gardens. Located right next to the National Parliament Building, the Gardens were originally intended as the Royal Garden of Queen Amalia, who filled it with 15,000 domestic and exotic species of horticulture in 1839. The Gardens were opened to the public in 1923.

An elderly couple taking refuge in the shade with pigeons for company - at the periphery of the National Gardens.

Situated just behind the National Gardens is the Panathenaic Stadium (aka Kallimarmaro Stadium) - originally built in 330BC for the Panathenaic games. It was restored in 1895 and hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

The symbol of the Olympic rings have stood the test of time...

The Zappeion (located within the National Gardens) was the first building to be built specifically to cater to the revival of the modern Olympic Games in the late 19th century. Officially opened in 1888, it is named after its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas.
Interesting tidbit: the Zappeion was used as the main fencing hall in the 1896 modern Olympic Games.
Nowadays, it is mostly used for events and ceremonies.

Temple of Olympian Zeus - or what's left of it: 16 columns from the original 104. In its prime, the Temple housed 2 colossal gold and ivory statues - 1 of Zeus, and the other of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (who is credited with completing the construction of the Temple after almost 700 years of delay due to political turmoil since 515 BC).

The view of the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis. See the empty green field in the middle of otherwise crowded buildings - that's the original size of the Temple.



In appreciation of Hadrian's success in completing the Temple of Zeus, the Athenians built this two-storey arch which acts as a kind of gateway entrance to the grounds of the Temple. The inscription on the west side of the arch reads, "This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus"; and on the east side of the arch, reads, "This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus". It thus names both Theseus and Hadrian as founders of Athens but also draws a distinction between old and new Athens.

At the foot of the Acropolis lies the Roman Forum - in 1 AD, the Romans moved the marketplace from the Ancient Agora to this site. The ruins are now surrounded by chic tourist shops and al-fresco dining restaurants and cafes.

Situated at the far end of the Roman Forum stands the Tower of the Winds. It was actually a water clock operated by a stream from the Acropolis - designed by Syrian astronomer Andronikos Kyrrhestas in 50 BC. It is named such because each side of the octagonal tower has personifications of the different directional winds carved onto them.

The grill iron fencing next to the Tower of the Winds bears several padlocks like this one shown here, engraved with names of couples as a sign of their undying commitment to each other. And one wonders why people see marriage as a deadlock....haha!



Tip: to visit the ancient sites, buy a combi ticket for a single price that allows entry into all. Otherwise, be like us: stumble upon a free entry day to the Parthenon/Acropolis (which, if you ask me, is the one ancient site that anyone must visit and walk through); take a walk to the other sites as well, but standing by the fencing provides more than sufficient view of the sites without needing to enter! Unless of course the Parthenon did not satiate your appetite for columns.....

The only other site we did not manage to view was the Ancient Agora because we kept missing the opening times – that site is rather huge and not viewable from the periphery though. Probably best to enter J

Sweets for my treats - Athens

Head to Ariston on Voulis 10  (nearest Metro stop: Syntagma) for some great tasting and very affordable traditional greek pastry pies. The store front could pass off as an electrical shop of sorts (if you ask me) but let your nose be led by wafts of freshly baked pastry and you won't be disappointed!

The pumpkin pie here is not to be missed - think of Thanksgiving encased in a flaky crust instead of the usual shortcrust. Yums! Also try the traditional Spanakopita (spinach) or Tyropita (spinach & feta cheese) - you will rediscover your love for Popeye's favourite veg! 

Each slice of pie is in the range of 2 euros. 
 

While trying to orientate ourselves after picking up some pie, we chanced upon dozens of boutique chocolate stores along Vasileos Georgiou street (right off Voulis) - also affectionately known as the "Chocolate Street" . 

Take your pick from the array of hand-made chocolate stores along Vasilous Georgiou.
Even big chains like Leonidas has a presence here.
Photo credit: Adeline Wong

But the best find was this dried fruits and nuts shop on the corner of Nikis and Vasileos Georgiou (the Greek name of the shop eluded me – right around the corner of Macdonald’s off Plateia Syntagma). Endless sacks (literally sacks!) of fruits, nuts and everything that you ever imagined the Greek gods had their fill of!

Endless sacks of nuts and fruits to relish

Easter candy!

I discovered the most amazing pistachios I had ever tasted in my life here - peeled, unsalted (or salted if you prefer) and so sweet like you'd never believe pistachios could be! And figs! There was plentiful delicious fresh figs!  It was with much self restraint that I managed to not buy up the entire store.  

The BEST pistachios ever! And even more amazing - no shells to crack or hurt your fingers with!

They're peeled!



Fresh figs. Mmmm. *chomp chomp*

As if that wasn't enough to satiate us for the rest of the day, the Greek gods sent us more goodies. While Addii and I were chatting to ourselves about buying some baklava inside our nuts and fruits store, a kind Greek local overheard our conversation and recommended one of Athens' most famous baklava shops just around the corner.

Karakoy Gulluoglu on 10 Nikis (yup, that's a mouthful to pronounce) is actually from Turkey, and the brand name carries widely across Istanbul as one of the best places to indulge in the sticky, nutty philo pastry delight that's baklava.

Let your eyes feast on tons of varieties of the much loved honeyed pastry, in all shapes and sizes, various flavours and types.

 

Rows of freshly made baklava entice the senses at Karakoy Gulluoglu



We got ourselves a few different pieces for sampling and sharing. Mmmm so delicious!!

And if the sugar craving needs even more fulfilment, go look up the restaurant Doris (Praxitelous 30), which whips up some of the most excellent loukoumades (greek donuts) in a very pink restaurant.

Colourful storefront signboard of Doris

These freshly deep fried pieces of dough are drizzled with honey and come with choice toppings like nuts and chocolate sauce. We got the honey and almond mix to share.

Ooooh.

Enough said.

Pair those deep fried sweet darlings with a cup of strong Greek coffee and you’ll have enough stimulants to get you bouncing off the walls.  

The chef-owner was incredibly generous and totally made our day by throwing in the loukoumades for free on our  bill too! Each plate costs about 3 euros. There's more than enough on that plate to make it worth anyone's while.

Go early though - Doris closes at 6.30pm.

Changing of the Guard

Plateia Syntagma (Constitution Square) is the central municipal seat of government, where the Hellenic Parliamant, the Presidential Mansion and the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are situated.

These key government and historical installations are guarded by members of the Proedriki Froura (Presidential Guard), also known as Evzones (singular – Evzoni). Evzones are apparently selected based on physical attributes: only the tallest and handsomest in the mandatory Greek military service are selected. The elaborate ceremonial attire worn by the evzones draws its roots from the rebels who won the War of Independence for Greece (1821-1832). The short white poofy skirt apparently has 400 pleats symbolizing the years under Turkish rule!

Every hour, a changing of the guard ceremony takes place, rain or shine, in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

View of Syntagma Square from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Evzones marching in for the changing of the guards

An elaborate marching ceremony ensues where the previous guards handover to the incoming guards

Coordinated marching in their elaborate traditional uniforms. Love the fuzzballs on the clogs! :)

Evzoni are not allowed to blink, move or pose for pictures without the head guard's permission. So even if the guardhouse next to them goes up in flames, they are not allowed to move from their position! Visitors are also not allowed to make funny faces or instigate a reaction from Evzones on duty otherwise the head guard will come at you!

The Acropolis

In spring semester of freshman year, I registered for Classical Greek Archaeology as one of my electives. Twice a week, I’d spend 1.5 hours sitting in a rather dank, windowless basement classroom of the library, poring over pictures of sarcophagus, koroi and various ruins, learning the architectural and design period they belonged to, and wondering what I’d ever do with this information in my head.

10 years later, I stood before the Parthenon on the famed Acropolis. Vague memories of time spent studying pillars and carvings suddenly came to life as I slowly tried to pull out the differentiation between Doric, Ionic and Corinthian pillars from the dark recesses of my ageing mind.

The Parthenon was exactly how I imagined it would be, from the days that I had spent staring it from a glossy coffee-table book that doubled up as my textbook. You know how some legendary must-see-before-you-die sites in the world end up being disappointing compared to the reputation that they’ve acquired (eg. Mona Lisa in the Louvre)? Not the Parthenon. The grandeur of those white pillars that have weathered thousands of years, standing tall and proud on the top of the rock overlooking the rest of Athens...it deserved the fame that surrounded it. We were even lucky enough to get free entrance without planning for it! It was likely due to the Easter open house special or something like that since we went on Holy Saturday. Not complaining!  

Built in 5^th century BC (before Christ!!) during the Golden Age of Athens, the temples on the Acropolis Rock were built to honour Athena – the Goddess after whom Athens was named.

Pity the Ottomans and Venetians destroyed parts of the Parthenon during various stages in history, ending with Lord Elgin sneaking off a whole load of the metopes, friezes and sculptures to England in the late 19th century.

Greece is now making it a political stand, cloaked in cultural and historical claim to identity, to demand the return of the stolen marbles known as the Elgin marbles (now housed in the British Museum in London).

The Parthenon on the Acropolis Rock - view from the roof of our Herodian Hotel at night. Too bad didn't have a tripod to get a sharper shot.

 

Hand painted sign pointing the way to the Acropolis amongst the winding roads in Athens neighbourhood.



Herodes Atticus Theatre - a later addition to the Acropolis structures in 161 AD.

View of Athens from the Rock

Incessant tourists making their way up to the Propylaia - the grand entrance through which all visitors must pass through to reach the inner temples.

The Parthenon - the epitome of classical Greek architecture and the finest Doric order temple in its day. The name is dervied from Greek referring to the temple of the virgin Athena, who was represented by a giant gold and ivory sculputre inside. All that remains now of the north facade are 17 columns and some surviving metopes and friezes.

The famous caryatids guarding the Erechtheion. Legend has it that Athena and Poseidon battled for the patronage of Athens at the very spot where the Erechtheion is built. No prizes on who won that battle!
The Erechtheion 's design actually unites 2 separate temples to each of the 2 gods.

Proof of presence! In front of the East pediment of the Parthenon.

Addii and her nike shoe below the Temple of Athena Nike. Gettit??
The temple represents victory and sits next to the Propylaia, perched on the Rock most vulnerable to attack.



The Theatre of Dionysus - or what's left of it. Site of competitions of Greek tragedies and comedies in ancient Greece.

Advice: go early in the morning or late afternoon to avoid the crowds and also a sunburn!

Visit the New Acropolis Museum after for interesting information on the history of the Acropolis, the restoration efforts and the political and cultural efforts to retrieve the missing bits of Greek history from the British.

Easter Triduum - Greek style

Easter in Greece is an interesting dilemma.

On one hand, as a cultural tourist, one expects, and looks forward to, great Easter celebrations given the staunchly Orthodox Christian history and religious identity of the Hellenic state. On the other hand, as a commercial tourist, one also expects the entire country to shut down during this period of first mourning (on Good Friday) then feasting on Easter Sunday. So not the best time to see the sights.

But oh well, we decided to go nonetheless. After all, if we couldn’t visit any sights, we could certainly revel in the Easter mystery with our fellow Christians!

The island of Patmos is supposed to have the most exciting Easter celebrations throughout the entire Greek nation. But we were warned against going there because the rest of Greece would have descended upon it and we would not have seen much but would have paid pockets full of euros for accommodation.

So we scratched that. And stayed in Athens instead.

Plaka, the Old Town neighbourhood of Athens, is dotted with little churches that blend right into the low rise, single storey homes that look like little igloos built into hilly slopes. On every other corner we wandered, we saw a church. Which remained locked during the day (unlike Catholic cathedrals that tend to remain open for sinners to wander in) but which suddenly came alive on Good Friday night.

Having arrived on Good Friday morning itself, we wandered out into the Plaka neighbourhood right next to our amazing Herodian Hotel at the base of the Acropolis to see if we could find some action.

Home made Easter nest hanging above the door to one of Plaka's more exquisite looking houses.

The Plaka neighbourhood - my favourite area in Athens - unusually quiet on Good Friday afternoon.

As night fell, we saw loads of locals streaming into the normally touristy Plaka area, trying to squeeze into one of the many little churches to participate in the Good Friday service. Street vendors leveraged on the opportunity to sell overpriced candles at street corners in anticipation of the candlelight street procession that would soon follow the end of the service.

Addii and I dutifully picked up a candle as obliging tourists – after all, how does one partake of a candlelight procession without a candle??

As we were not able to squeeze into the small little churches, we spent quite some time wandering between churches, peeping through stained glass windows and hanging outside the church compound with other stranded procession-hopefuls and patiently waiting for something to happen.   

The faithful sneakin a peak through the barred windows of a

small chapel  to partake in the Good Friday service by proxy

 

Stranded hopefuls milling outside the church waiting for the candlelight procession to start

Then suddenly, with an intangible surge in the atmosphere, the crowd starting moving. Flames were passed around as strangers lit each other’s candles, and we followed the inevitable squeeze of human bodies as expected. Up and down stairs hewed into the slopes, through winding roads and past other clueless tourists having a late alfresco dinner in the cool spring night. 

 

Lighted Chinese paper lanterns used by locals
during the procession!



The crowded procession making its way through
 the winding streets of Plaka

It never seemed to end though. And after some time of aimless wandering, the crowd started to thin. And saddled with jetlag after having just arrived that morning, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.

  

The other thing that we were told not to miss as an Easter specialty was lamb grilled on a spit. All families roast their own lamb for their family meal on Easter Sunday and it is a decidedly Greek thing to do and eat.

So we went hunting for lamb spit.

And lucky us, just around the corner of our hotel, we found an old man with a dead animal skewered above orange coals, and we promptly decided to have our Easter lamb there.

The unfinished product....and 3 hours later....



Sensing my desire to have a go at the lamb roasting, the old man invited me to hold onto the roasting handle then asked Addii to take a photo of us. How spontaneous!

Final product: succulent roasted lamb with fries

And for the more adventurous palate: roasted intestines stuffed with other innards from the same lamb.
Yup. I did say adventurous, didn't I?



 

It's all Greek to me!

Day 1 – Athens: Déjà vu

22 April 2011.

I stepped off my SQ flight bleary-eyed onto the gangway, groggily making my way into the airport. It was only 7.30am but the bright Mediterranean sunshine had a way of making its presence felt, permeating through the floor-to-ceiling glass panels of the building and throwing light onto everything in its path.

As I squinted out of the window against the sun, realisation found its way into my consciousness.

I had landed in Greece.

I checked my watch – 2 more hours before Addii appeared on her Continental flight from the US. Grabbing my bags, I checked into a cafe to douse myself with caffeine and await my travel companion’s arrival.

This trip has been 10 years in the making.

Addii and I did our first trip together during spring break of 2002 – she was a senior, and I was a freshman then. Our common thirst for adventure, addiction to globetrotting and love for food brought us on many other road trips subsequently. But we never managed to pull off another extended trip as our career paths brought us to different parts of the world at different times.

But dream we did. We talked about Greece, Turkey, South America and all the places in the world we wanted to visit. We dreamed of all the crazy things we’d do when we managed to align our schedules the next time.

In the last few years, we talked about Greece a lot more. But time still wasn’t on our side.

Then this year, the stars aligned and now, serendipitously,  I was sitting in the airport, in Athens, reading the Straits Times that I picked up on SQ and marvelling at how wonderful this all was.

Time to go meet Addii at arrivals. Our adventure was about to start!