ATHENS!

As is typical for an expat job, our contract included one paid trip home "or to an equivalent destination."  Home didn't actually sound very appealing-- our house is only partly furnished, our water is turned off, our cars are not registered or insured--and it would just be surreal to be there again for such a short time.  Our family is scattered across the US-- which state would we visit?  Add in the fact that we are only in Europe for a year--we'll be home soon enough-- and we decided to opt for "equivalent destination" and go someplace other than the US.  So for Christmas we planned a flying trip-- to Athens, Greece then on to Rome, Italy before returning to Sweden.  The kids knew we were going to Italy, but we saved the Greece part as a Christmas morning surprise.

Since this trip involved several flights and lots of public transportation, we decided to travel Amazing Race style--everyone packed and carried their own carry-on luggage.  We didn't check any bags.  It worked out great and I think we'll always do this when we fly.  The kids really liked having responsibility for their own things and not having to dig through everyone else's clothes to find theirs. 

We left Kristianstad early the morning of December 26th.  We parked our car at the train station and didn't use another car until we returned a week later. We had an hour and a half train ride to the airport in Copenhagen and then a three hour flight to Athens.

Flying into Athens was fun. It was sunny and we had a great view of the land and sea below us.  Lots of mountains, big cities and blue water.  In some ways it reminded us of flying into Utah-- the mountains were drier and browner than the hills of Virginia.

The sign is very typical.  It was weird seeing Greek writing.  We are so used to those being symbols for math or fraternity houses.  You forget they are still used as the alphabet in a modern language.  Luckily most everything was English and Greek or we would have been lost! We couldn't even try to sound out the Greek.

A 30 minute metro ride and short walk later and we'd checked into our hotel near the Plaka in Athens. We were disappointed to find the weather just as cold as what we'd left in Sweden that morning.  Sweden was unseasonably warm and Greece was unseasonably cold.  But at least it was sunny and it didn't get dark at 3 pm.  :-)



Street near our hotel

  Athens was a little daunting at first.  It is a crazy and somewhat chaotic mix of old and new. Lots of grafitti.  Very strange mix of well-kept and delapidated--sometimes in one building.  The bottom would be a nice store. The top floor would look like it was about to fall over. But the city grew on us the longer we were there. 

Lots of grafiti and parts of buildings that looked abandoned

Guns and knives for sale at a little roadside stand??

Athens is the most unique city we've encountered yet.  A lot of Europe-- Sweden, Germany, France-- look quite similar to each other in architecture and climate.  Greece was different. Mediterranean architecture and then the olive trees and orange trees everywhere were fun to see. We teased the kids that they could just pick oranges and olives for lunch. 


Ripe olives



Groves of Olive Trees



Orange trees outside a church

Then there were the ruins-- spectacular and many more than we expected. As you walked down the street, it seemed there was always something interesting to see.

Architecture of Athens

There were tiny old churches all over the place.  They were often no bigger than a shack or small home.

A beautiful church that was open to visitors.  We loved the mosaics and how colorful all the decoration was.

 December 26th is a holiday in Greece so all the sites were closed.  We spent the afternoon just wandering the city a little and getting our bearings.  We checked out some of the archeological sites through the fences.  We learned that most of the ruins were literally crawling with cats. Being cat-lovers, the kids thought this was great. The only disappointment was that none were friendly enough to pet.


Hadrian's Library-- check out all the cats on the shelves on the left.

 Not being dog-lovers, we were less thrilled to find that dogs also roamed the city and sites freely.  Some had collars. Others did not.  Happily they seemed indifferent to people so they didn't cause us any trouble other than almost tripping over a few that were sleeping in unexpected places.No one seemed to mind all of these wandering creatures. 

No, he's not dead.  Just sleeping in front of the theater.

Cool columns--I forget where

After buying some gyros for dinner from a busy roadside stand and some WAY too sweet pastries from a bakery, we decided we were cold and tired and called it a night.  We did go up on the roof of the hotel for a look at the view of the Acropolis.  No view from our room this time.  We looked right out at-- the wall of another building about 3 feet away.  It did make for a quiet room.  We stayed at the Cecil Hotel and were quite happy with it-- two connected bedrooms and a bathroom.  Our only complaint was that we had a hard time keeping it warm enough.  It seemed the heating/cooling unit was designed more for cooling.  :-)

View of the Acropolis from the roof of our hotel

The hotel lobby was tiny-- just barely room for a desk, stairs and tiny elevator.  Each time we came in the clerk opened the elevator door for us and each time we passed.  No one wanted to squish into the tiny cage.

The little cage in the center is the elevator.

After a nice hotel breakfast, we were ready to hit the sites.  Happily the wind had died down and it was a much nicer day.  You can buy an admission ticket at most of the archeology sites that provides admission to all the sites.  And it was very reasonable-- only 12 Euros each. Plus kids under 18 were free! We stopped at the first site we came to, Hadrian's Library, and bought our tickets there.  This was our type of touristing.  The sites were outdoors and very uncrowded and you were free to really roam around the sites.The kids hate it when things are fenced off to keep them at a distance.

Hadrian's Library

Hadrian's Library

There were just piles and piles of pieces of marble and other stone stacked around the sites. Things that it seemed should be in a museum-- but there is just so much of it!  I started to understand the instructions I'd read on the US State Department site that it is illegal to take any rocks out of Greece!

We loved the remnants of mosaic floors that somehow have survived through thousands of years.

You look at the scattered ruins and try to imagine all the buildings that at one time filled the area.

Looking up towards the Acropolis



After Hadrian's Library we decided we better make the climb to the Acropolis while everyone was fresh.  A fellow tourist asked if we knew how to get up there.  She said she'd asked one of the ticket takers at the library site and his answer had been "Go up!" That was actually pretty accurate.  We just wound through the streets heading upwards until we found this gate.

Starting the climb

 It was a shorter, easier walk than it looked like it would be.  That might be partly because there were cool things to see on the way up.

Ruins on the slope of the acropolis

We spotted the Temple of Hephaestus off in the distance and knew we'd have to go find it later.

The Acropolis was definitely the busiest tourist spot in Athens, but it still wasn't terribly crowded.  I wouldn't want to be up there in the summer.  Even on a cold winter day, being on the rock reflected the sun and made it warmer than anywhere else in town. There are a number of temples up on the top of the Acropolis.  The combination of buildings and the view out over Athens were all amazing.

The Erechtheion

The Parthenon itself is in a constant state of restoration.  The cranes and such were a bit distracting. T was disappointed that you couldn't get closer to the buildings.

Looking out over Athens.  You can see the Temple of Olympeian Zeus in the green space in the distance.

G found a gap in the wall that he took this picture through.

Walking back down from the Acropolis-- on the other side.  A good view of the wall that runs all along it (we aren't sure how old that wall is-- not as old as the temples) and ruins scattered everywhere.

Looking down on the Theater of Herodes Atticus on the slope of the Acropolis.  It has been partially restored and we read that they perform plays there.

Front of the Theater of Herodes Atticus

Farther down the slope, there is an older theater, the Theatre of Dionysus, which is one of the oldest in Athens. You could walk around that one and sit on the seats that still remain.

Sculptures along the stage of the Theatre of Dionysus

We saw a number of these at various sites-- vending machines FULL of water bottles.  It made us glad we were visiting in December not July!

After the Acropolis, we decided it was time to refuel before we looked at more things.  Store and restaraunt owners in Greece are quite funny.  They stand in the street and try to coax you into their businesses.  They aren't overwhelming or annoying like the souvenier vendors that follow you around and won't take no for an answer.  They are just very friendly and hospitable-- "Would you like to come in and eat? Here is our menu. We'd be happy to give you free dessert" etc.  We let ourselves be led inside to a table at a restaraunt and had a nice big Greek meal for lunch. 

Lots of outdoor seating at restaraunts-- with little flame heaters for the December weather.

Rested and full, we headed over to the Ancient Agora-- a huge area of ruins ranging from stray rocks and outlines of foundations to a few fairly complete buildings.

The kids' least favorite sign. :-)

The Temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved ancient temple in Athens.  It was very cool to see and helped us visualize what the others looked like once upon a time.

The Stora has been reconstructed and is a museum.  The porch was amazingly huge. 

 Then we visited the Roman Agora-- where the market area moved to when the ancient agora became too crowded. It was interesting to see how through the ages the materials and buildings were reused and built over.  It wasn't until the last few hundred years that people wanted to start excavating and preserving the ancient buildings.   There would be walls with chunks or marble column used as blocks and newer buildings that used an ancient ruin for one wall.

Roman Forum

Tower of the Winds-- an ancient weather station and city clock. You could see the etchings on the side that function as a sun clock.

A mosque

Old urns-- and as always, cats. :-)

 We also visited the Kerameikos--an ancient cemetary. It was interesting to see some of the things they used as grave monuments.

How would you like this as your tombstone?

At this point, our feet and legs were done.  We found throughout this trip that we ran out of physical energy before we ran out of time.  We went back to our hotel room and used the great internet to watch a documentary on the history of ancient Athens.  :-) Then the next morning, it was time for trains and planes again as we headed to Rome. We were really glad we decided to include Greece in this trip.  It was amazing and ended up being everyone's favorite part of the whole trip.

I feel like this was inadequate to capture the experience-- there was just so much! If you are a glutton for punishment, you'll have to come sometime and see the hundreds of pictures I didn't post. :-)