We flew in the afternoon, and landed in Athens after dark. We grabbed the train from the airport to the town center and zipped into town, and found our hotel. It was getting late, so I put Brooks to bed while Eric went hunting for a take-away dinner for us.
One of the things that we've learned as a traveling family is that it's really easy to "miss" on the accommodations part of the vacation planning. Eric has never messed up our flights or trains, and rental cars are pretty straight forward, but when booking a hotel there are so many factors that can vary pretty wildly, even in same travel guide book. Let's just say that I "undershot" on our Athens reservations by quite a lot. We were looking for central, safe, and affordable, and we got that. But it left quite a lot to be desired in terms of comfort and we felt it that first night. Eric brought back a yummy meal of gyros, chicken kebabs, hummus and pitta, and greek salad. We ate a picnic on the bed - silently in the dark - and wished for a balcony or even a bathroom large enough to spread towels down to sit on. (The bath was tiny. I couldn't turn around in the shower. It was 12" x 12" - literally.) After making up the bed (they had one sheet on the bed and provided another folded flat sheet - perhaps a top sheet is optional for some guests!?), we found some smokey blankets in the closet and slept as well as we could to the sounds of our neighbors coughing and rolling over in the night. Not my favorite hotel choice, especially given the amount of time we ended up in that room over the next few days, but we survived...
The next morning after breakfast, we hiked up to the Acropolis by way of the Theater of Dionysos. After Theater History 101, 2, & 3 at Auburn, I was really pumped to see this! Built around 335 BC, this open-air theater could hold 17,000 people and the acoustics were so well-designed that everyone could hear! I love it that this was our first stop in Athens! :) Check out the original floor... I so wanted to tap dance.
The stage would have been on the left, set in front of the half-circle stadium seats. Did you spot the marble arm-chair above? That was for the priest of the Temple of Dionysos. Perhaps Brooks and Eric were a bit confused as to why I loved this site so much. I launched into a lecture on the importance of Greek theater and of the proscenium arch and how it was derived from that very stage in front of us... Below, Eric and Brooks sat as I soaked it all in, while the tippy top of the Parthenon is peeking out over the edge of the Acropolis on the top left of the photo.
At the top of the Acropolis, the point of it all - the Parthenon. We walked all the way around it trying to make our eyes find some of the magical architectural details. My overwhelming feeling was that of sadness - it felt wrong that London has all the best bits of this amazing monument (the Elgin Marbles) locked up in the British Museum. I also felt pride, that the only full scale replica of this amazingly beautiful building is in Nashville, my home town!
From the top of the Acropolis, we could see down into another ancient theater - the Roman Theatre of Herodes Atticus. This one was closed to visitors because it's been rebuilt and is actually being used for concerts and such...
From the top of the Acropolis down to the Ancient Agora, with the chaos and massiveness of modern Athens spreading out beyond it...
Dada and Brooks check out the Parthenon.
Mama and Brooks admire the view from the Acropolis walls.
I think we might have a budding Archeologist in the family...
After a long, hot visit, chasing Brooks and wandering about looking at the other temples and gates and monuments, we were pleased to discover that there was a random water fountain on the top of that mountain. You know the ones, the tall square boxes covered in stainless steel and gray vinyl that were in every elementary school in the US in the 1980's? It was just standing there by itself in a corner of ruins not too far from the Erechtheion. We were happy to fill our water bottles with cold water before the descent!
After naptime and lunch - a second, silent dark meal in the "comfort" of our hotel room - Brooks was well-rested and in rare form, so we ventured out that afternoon to the National Archeaological Museum. This place was incredible - one of the world's best museums, truly, and we didn't have enough time to see even one whole floor. The most impressive parts to me where the gold artifacts from Mycenae - most of them from burial hordes.
Brooks was feeling particularly loving at the museum, and wanted to make sure that Dada got his fair share of the kisses... He made lots of "fwends" among the young Greek female docents, too.
The Greeks were amazing sculptors. Eric and Brooks make a pretty good model for this guy! :)
That night after the museum kicked us out, we wandered through the Plaka district below the Acropolis looking for a specific recommended restaurant. After circling a small area for what felt like an hour, I decided that I could happily eat my shoe if they'd just give me a chair and a glass of water, so we gave up on the one we were looking for and chose another restaurant. Brooks had a great time that night! They give him his own grown-up chair and stacked the seat 6 inches higher with extra placements so he could reach his plate. The staff were great and rushed our order even though they were very busy. We ended up exhausted but pleased with our night.
One of our adventures on this trip was dealing with the surprisingly fickle tummy health of our toddler. Here is Brooks happy and chatting and eating breakfast at our hotel on the second morning.
And here he is 15 minutes later, after throwing up all his breakfast, and then promptly asking for more juice. He looks fine, no? We were thoroughly puzzled. By the way, I think this view was one of the reasons this hotel got a 3-star listing. The rooftop balcony looked out over the Acropolis and we got to enjoy this view every morning with our coffee.
After changing clothes and debating our itinerary for the day, we decided to press on, knowing that we might have to turn back if he felt puny. (Eric wondered aloud if any baby backpacks come with a built-in vomit guard. Hmmm...) We started our touring at the Roman Agora and Hadrian's Library, both built around the first century BC and now almost entirely ruined. Like the forum in Rome, the Agora was a central marketplace, with temples and other important buildings close by. Brooks and his Dada played a fantastic game of Hide N Seek in the ruins...
Several churches had been built on that site and I loved seeing pieces of the original tile floors, all exposed to the elements but still beautifully pigmented. There were actually archeologists there when we visited, working on one of the still standing ancient church archways. It was a bit strange to me to see big piles of important looking ancient stuff just hanging out on the ground in what looked like an abandoned park. I guess the funds just aren't available to do the restoration or research on it that they've planned, so they're just holding onto everything for later.
Brooks met a new animal friend and learned a new word - TURTLE! There were huge turtles climbing all over the rocks and ruins.
Leaving there we got a picnic lunch and then headed over to the Ancient Agora, built in the 6th century BC. This was the focal point of all of life in Ancient Greece - social, political, cultural, religious, commercial, administrative, and judicial. Socrates hung out here discussing philosophy. In the Agora Museum, we saw some pretty fascinating stuff. Below were some pieces from a voting system called ostracism. Designed to protect the democratic government, it was the ancient Greek's method of removing potential threats. Each voter would scratch or paint the name of the man he thought "most undesirable" on these little discs. When a quorum of 6000 voters was reached, the "candidate" with the most votes against him would be obliged to withdraw from Athens for 10 years. Can you imagine?! They were playing "Survivor" in Ancient Greece! If you click on the picture, you can still read some of the unpopular folks' names.
This was realy interesting as well. A jury selection system ... the slots held the individual bronze identification tickets of citizens who were eligible for jury duty. A funnel was used to pour tiny black and white bronze balls into a tube at the top. When a randomly dropped ball emerged into a row, it accepted or rejected that row of potential jurors for service that day. Every court had one of these boxes outside... cool, huh?
Eric was really proud of himself for pointing out to me a case that had the following items - a trivet, a cake plate and two double boilers!! Some of these items he was unfamiliar with when we married, so I was quite proud of him for recognizing the ancient Greek versions! :)
Brooks and this docent got to be fast friends while he ran around the porch of the Stoa of Attalos which housed the museum. The Greeks love kids!
The Stoa of Attalos was completely reconstructed in the 1950s and is a beautiful accurate representation of Greek architecture at its best.
This Stadium was original built in the 4 century BC for athletic contests and it hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Brooks and Dada enjoyed some wrestling, and I almost thought Brooks had pinned him, but Dada quickly got the upper hand!
Our last night in Athens, we finally found the illusive restaurant in Plaka. It was a yummy as we'd hoped and because we got there at a reasonable dinner hour, we all left happy and not dragging out feet to our beds! :) Brooks particularly liked the glasses at this place. They weren't quite as big as his head, but they were close.
That night, after Brooks was tucked into bed, Eric and I snuck up to the rooftop terrace and had a drink overlooking the flood-lit Acropolis. It was a gorgeous view and a beautiful night.
The Little did NOT want to get up the next morning, all cozy and snug in his Peapod tent but we had an early flight so we were up before dawn. (by the way, for those who travel with little people - this is the BEST INVENTION EVER! Google it! When we need to bring his bed along, it saves us - on international flights esp, now that the airlines are getting more stringent about weight restrictions. The ONLY thing I would change would be a locking mechanism for the zipper, so he can't let himself out at night. We fix this by using a key ring which does the job. I can't recommend this piece of gear highly enough!)
Once again, I've gotten too long-winded. More on Santorini to come!
2 comments:
This is very interesting in light of the recent events there.
Certainly it's fortunate your trip preceded these protests.
So beautiful. Great photos and accounts.
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