Athens has at east one thing in common London. The locals have the same amount of contempt for tourist on the Metro line from the Airport that Londoners do on the Piccadilly line. The amount of death stares I got from early morning commuters coupled with a 27 hour transit made me wish I skipped another month and a bit traveling and went straight back to the UK.
Athens is surprisingly average to look at. If I couldn't see ***** at the end of the street the view from my hostel balcony would almost be indistinguishable from that of my hotel in downtown Dubai. Ancient ruins aside the building with the most character I have seen is the unoccupied dilapidated thing across the road. Of course as you get closer to the Acropolis and other touristy bits the buildings get a little nicer but someone with a sense of humour has covered every wall in sight with graffiti.
I woke early to try and get up there before anyone else. Mission accomplished. The first thing that really catches your attention is the scaffolding skills of the ancient Greeks. I consider myself blessed to see them like this before the scaffolding comes down like it already has at Ephesus in Turkey or Palmyra in Syria. Fortunately the Parthenon retains most of its scaffolding but the Erechtheion looks naked without it. But seriously folks you don't where to look. Rocks covered in chicken wire or the urban sprawl of Athens covered in a thick layer of smog. With the coach loads of tourists that now covered the site its easy to feel a sucker for the scam that is Europe, you were sold a cliche that only really exists on Post cards and in Guidebooks.
On the bright side you can see all of Athens' other archaeological sites, the Monuments of Filopapros, Temple of Hephaestus and he Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus is in a large field almost at the foot of the Acropolis. The view of the Parthenon is partly obscured by the angle but at least you can barely see the scaffolding. There are only fifteen columns remaining of the Temple but they offer something of a surreal calming effect as they stand in the middle of a field with the sounds of modern Athens and the flock of tourists that moves to all corners of the field grazing on the view from every conceivable angle.
The Roman Stadium, the site of the first Olympic games has been restored and looks quite modern. It is closed and largely vacant until a bus full of Italians walks up to the gate, takes a photo, turns around, takes a photo of the Acropolis and then disappears back on to their bus thirty seconds later. So quick that the Postcard touts have barely enough time to get up off their chairs and they have to assail them as they get back on the bus.
Ancient Agora is a collection of old stones at the north eastern base of the Acropolis that with some guess work and pattern recognition you could almost imagine that it was once the focal point of life in ancient Athens. The Temple of Hephaestus is the most complete temple in Athens tat isn't covered in scaffolding.
Filopappos Hill has the best view of the Acropolis and the city in all directions. If you squint your eyes or take photos out of focus you could almost pretend the scaffolding wasn't there. In direct contrast to where I was staying the area below Filopappos looked like somewhere you might actually want to live. The streets were clean and every cafe was full of old men playing backgammon or dominoes.
Something I have noticed is that must be no parking restrictions in Athens at all. Every inch of pavement had a car on it and every car was covered in a layer of dust. It some instances it was easier to remember your way around by where specific cars were parked rather than using street signs. When you buy a car you sense that its not so much a car that is changing hands but a parking spot.
The hostel clerk suggested a restaurant which was 'good and cheap'. It was in an atmospheric street under a flood lit church. The menu wasn't in english which is always a good sign. They didn't have the Mousaka I asked for but the waiter suggested Stuffed Aubergine which was drowned in olive oil.
A night out in Athens is busy. There are people and cars everywhere. I figured they must be going somewhere but where that is I never found out. First we looked for a place near the hostel that LP and others had recommended for live music but may or may not have existed. After walking around for an hour we (two Yanks and another Aussie) failed to randomly stumble across anything. So against my better instincts we went to an Irish Bar. We stayed for a drink and figured we would ask people in the bar where a good place for a drink was. But it seems Greeks will go out of their way to be as little help as possible. Further to this a lot of Guys and girls are the 'wear sunglasses indoors and at night' type, too cool to speak to the likes of me. So in the end we bought dirt cheap beers from a kiosk on the side of the road and sat on some tables in front of a closed cafe until the early hours.
Delphi is a three hour bus ride from Athens. When we got there (me and Aussie girl from last night) the site was open for just another hour. Ii was worth it for two reasons. neither of which was the site itself.
1. It got me out of Athens for the day.
2. The bus trip through a valley which led all the way to the ocean was brilliant. Some of the villages we passed through were stunning, perched on the the side of the mountains with views all the way down a valley to the Gulf of Corintha. The raod through the villages in some cases was single lane which with the coach traffic coming either way resulted in a good half hour of that three hour trip reversing and edging forward reversing and edging forward ....
Like a lot of Archealogical sites the legend inspires more than what you see in front of you.
I had a day to kill so went to the national gardens for a bit of a look around. I bought a ferry ticket to Hania (Crete) that left at nine that evening. Sat in a cafe much longer than my souvlaki justified wathcing what was going on in the street which turned out to be a lot of shady looking men standing around watching what was going on in the street.
I caught the train out to Pireaus which if possible looked shadier than the place I was staying. It was pretty cool to see all the ferries lined up including the biggest of them all, 'El Veniraus' which I was going on. There was an hour and a half wait for the boat to set off most of which was spent watching them back the countless semi trailers on to the back of the boat and the people at the dock who seemed oblivious to the fact that they were about to be run over.
The ferry was like a hotel complete with lounges, bars, disco, internet (7 euro per hour) and choice of accomodation. Being as cheap as I am my choice of accomodation was spot on the floor.
Athens is surprisingly average to look at. If I couldn't see ***** at the end of the street the view from my hostel balcony would almost be indistinguishable from that of my hotel in downtown Dubai. Ancient ruins aside the building with the most character I have seen is the unoccupied dilapidated thing across the road. Of course as you get closer to the Acropolis and other touristy bits the buildings get a little nicer but someone with a sense of humour has covered every wall in sight with graffiti.
I woke early to try and get up there before anyone else. Mission accomplished. The first thing that really catches your attention is the scaffolding skills of the ancient Greeks. I consider myself blessed to see them like this before the scaffolding comes down like it already has at Ephesus in Turkey or Palmyra in Syria. Fortunately the Parthenon retains most of its scaffolding but the Erechtheion looks naked without it. But seriously folks you don't where to look. Rocks covered in chicken wire or the urban sprawl of Athens covered in a thick layer of smog. With the coach loads of tourists that now covered the site its easy to feel a sucker for the scam that is Europe, you were sold a cliche that only really exists on Post cards and in Guidebooks.
On the bright side you can see all of Athens' other archaeological sites, the Monuments of Filopapros, Temple of Hephaestus and he Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus is in a large field almost at the foot of the Acropolis. The view of the Parthenon is partly obscured by the angle but at least you can barely see the scaffolding. There are only fifteen columns remaining of the Temple but they offer something of a surreal calming effect as they stand in the middle of a field with the sounds of modern Athens and the flock of tourists that moves to all corners of the field grazing on the view from every conceivable angle.
The Roman Stadium, the site of the first Olympic games has been restored and looks quite modern. It is closed and largely vacant until a bus full of Italians walks up to the gate, takes a photo, turns around, takes a photo of the Acropolis and then disappears back on to their bus thirty seconds later. So quick that the Postcard touts have barely enough time to get up off their chairs and they have to assail them as they get back on the bus.
Ancient Agora is a collection of old stones at the north eastern base of the Acropolis that with some guess work and pattern recognition you could almost imagine that it was once the focal point of life in ancient Athens. The Temple of Hephaestus is the most complete temple in Athens tat isn't covered in scaffolding.
Filopappos Hill has the best view of the Acropolis and the city in all directions. If you squint your eyes or take photos out of focus you could almost pretend the scaffolding wasn't there. In direct contrast to where I was staying the area below Filopappos looked like somewhere you might actually want to live. The streets were clean and every cafe was full of old men playing backgammon or dominoes.
Something I have noticed is that must be no parking restrictions in Athens at all. Every inch of pavement had a car on it and every car was covered in a layer of dust. It some instances it was easier to remember your way around by where specific cars were parked rather than using street signs. When you buy a car you sense that its not so much a car that is changing hands but a parking spot.
The hostel clerk suggested a restaurant which was 'good and cheap'. It was in an atmospheric street under a flood lit church. The menu wasn't in english which is always a good sign. They didn't have the Mousaka I asked for but the waiter suggested Stuffed Aubergine which was drowned in olive oil.
A night out in Athens is busy. There are people and cars everywhere. I figured they must be going somewhere but where that is I never found out. First we looked for a place near the hostel that LP and others had recommended for live music but may or may not have existed. After walking around for an hour we (two Yanks and another Aussie) failed to randomly stumble across anything. So against my better instincts we went to an Irish Bar. We stayed for a drink and figured we would ask people in the bar where a good place for a drink was. But it seems Greeks will go out of their way to be as little help as possible. Further to this a lot of Guys and girls are the 'wear sunglasses indoors and at night' type, too cool to speak to the likes of me. So in the end we bought dirt cheap beers from a kiosk on the side of the road and sat on some tables in front of a closed cafe until the early hours.
Delphi is a three hour bus ride from Athens. When we got there (me and Aussie girl from last night) the site was open for just another hour. Ii was worth it for two reasons. neither of which was the site itself.
1. It got me out of Athens for the day.
2. The bus trip through a valley which led all the way to the ocean was brilliant. Some of the villages we passed through were stunning, perched on the the side of the mountains with views all the way down a valley to the Gulf of Corintha. The raod through the villages in some cases was single lane which with the coach traffic coming either way resulted in a good half hour of that three hour trip reversing and edging forward reversing and edging forward ....
Like a lot of Archealogical sites the legend inspires more than what you see in front of you.
I had a day to kill so went to the national gardens for a bit of a look around. I bought a ferry ticket to Hania (Crete) that left at nine that evening. Sat in a cafe much longer than my souvlaki justified wathcing what was going on in the street which turned out to be a lot of shady looking men standing around watching what was going on in the street.
I caught the train out to Pireaus which if possible looked shadier than the place I was staying. It was pretty cool to see all the ferries lined up including the biggest of them all, 'El Veniraus' which I was going on. There was an hour and a half wait for the boat to set off most of which was spent watching them back the countless semi trailers on to the back of the boat and the people at the dock who seemed oblivious to the fact that they were about to be run over.
The ferry was like a hotel complete with lounges, bars, disco, internet (7 euro per hour) and choice of accomodation. Being as cheap as I am my choice of accomodation was spot on the floor.
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