Days 9 & 10: The Best-Laid Plans...

Monday morning I awoke feeling better and ready to tackle the Acropolis. The weather was grey and wet, so we decided to start with the Acropolis Museum, because I had heard it put the ruins in context, and because we hoped the sun would come out for pictures in the afternoon. Also, we hadn't purchased timed entry tickets in advance, and the morning slots were sold out. So there was that. 

The Acropolis Museum opened in 2009, after Dear Husband's previous visit. While the Acropolis opens at 8am, the museum opens at 9am. Either way, you want to come early or late to beat most of the crowds, including schoolchildren on field trips. Below left, looking down at the excavation site below the museum, which has many glass floors as well as walls to integrate it with its surroundings. Below right: poster of a partial statue of Athena you're not allowed to take pictures of in the museum.

The museum is well done, with lots of space to walk around the exhibits, explanations in Greek and English, and a few videos. Not enough signs in the places where you're not allowed to take photos, however, such as the hall where they show how the buildings and statues might have been painted. And we did find the layout slightly confusing. The ticket agent offered neither audio headsets nor a paper map, and we couldn't get the wifi to work on our phones until we ate lunch in the restaurant, so we mostly made our way around what looked interesting.

Diorama of the Holy Hill during the 5th century BCE. Far left is the ceremonial entrance gate, left of center is a statue of Athena, in the middle is the completed Parthenon, and behind it is the Erechtheion, a combination of temples and gravesites for Athens' mythical kings.

Diorama of the hilltop and south slope during Roman era. On the left is the Odeon of Herodes (a covered theater), and on the right is the open-air theater of Dionysus. In between is a long stoa used for storing props. That they were able to create a level floor for it is a minor architectural marvel on the hillside. Behind it is the Temple of Asklepius, which was founded in 418-419 BCE by Telemachos Acharneas. Patients slept outside on the porch and hoped the god or his daughter, Hygiea, would visit them in their dreams and cure them. The Romans expanded the temple due to demand. It was later converted to worship space for Christianity in the 500s CE.

Above left, Asklepius. Above right: dancers.

DH's illegal photo of a display of pigments for painting. It's kind of wild the patterns they're uncovering, such as a bright plaid for Persian warriors made out of primary colors. We learned about "the archaic smile" on older statues, while the classical ones had stoic expressions but more movement in their posture, with the weight of the body supported on one leg in a "contrapposto" style.

Above left: two of the five remaining caryatids. These are the real ones, cleaned and on display in the museum; there are six made out of "artificial stone" outside on the Erechtheion. The sixth original Lord Elgin stole, and it's in the British Museum in London. Above right: view of the Parthenon from the third floor of the museum, over the shoulder of one of the original statues, which is perfectly carved from front AND back, although when placed on the building, the back would never have been visible!

Above: model of the pediment showing Athena and Poseidon fighting over the city. Below: model of the birth of Athena from Zeus's forehead, which Hephaestus split open with his ax.

After looking at everything we wanted to inside, we went outside to the excavation site, which is only partially open. The signs explain which foundations were baths, or houses of various sizes, whose individual rooms however struck me as small. I'm always impressed by the heating and plumbing.

After about 2.5 hours of looking, we re-entered the museum to take the restaurant elevator up for lunch with a view of the Parthenon. Actually, they don't offer hot lunch until 12pm, but we were able to get sandwiches on some truly delicious bread, and I tried a homemade lemonade with mastic, which is a taste that takes some getting used to. It's also less bitter once the ice melts a little.

After a long slow lunch, it was finally time to wait in line--in the sun! where did that come from?--to enter the Acropolis. We applied our sunscreen and hats and started up the south slope. Luckily this entrance, which sees fewer crowds than the north-slope entrance, was closer to our hotel (and the museum).

The crowds were manageable until we merged with those from the upper entrance, and we all tried to climb the stairs through the partially reconstructed ceremonial gates, while some people stopped to pose for photographs, and other people ignored the multiple signs "DO NOT TOUCH THE MARBLE."

Obligatory photograph of the clinician-historian in front of what's left / reconstructed of the Asklepion.

Above: Stage-level view of Dionysius's theater. Below: View of the Odeion from above, its roof gone but the arched windows marking it as definitively Roman.

Above: crowds at the gate. I wondered what ancient Greeks would think of tourists coming from around the world to walk all over their holy site. Below: the Parthenon, or what's left of it, after an explosion in 1687. The Turks were storing gunpowder in it, and the Venetians fired a mortar anyway, killing about 300 people who were sheltering there, as well as severely damaging the building and local homes.

The Parthenon served as a central site to worship Athena for about 1,000 years, until the 400s CE, when it was closed (too pagan) and remodeled into a church. In the late 1400s, it was turned into a mosque.

Side view of the Erechtheion, with Athena's olive tree, the gift the Athenians chose over Poseidon's salt water spring.

Above left: my itinerary and bingo card got wet and torn in my bag. I staged this photo with what I thought would be my final tally without re-reading the text at the top. Only after taking a nap but before hopping in the hot tub on our balcony did I check my email and discover that we had missed our deluxe couples massage appointment at one of the city's many Turkish hammams at 1 o'clock. Having made the appointment 3 months earlier, I had gotten our Monday and Tuesday mixed up in my head: we were supposed to do the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments and massage on Monday, because the museum is closed on Tuesdays, but the Acropolis is basically always open. Unfortunately, DH didn't read the schedule (it's nice not to have to worry about the details), and the hammam hadn't sent a reminder email or called (I later found out they didn't have my phone number to call when we didn't show, although at first they lied and said they had tried to reach me). They were of course fully booked, so we had our soak, but neither of us was in a particularly good mood for our much-anticipated "fancy dinner" at the Diogenes Restaurant, and I suspect our waiter thought we were breaking up or something. The guy at the hammam promised to call if they had a last-minute cancellation, but I knew it wouldn't happen. I could have looked for a last-minute spot elsewhere, because money is just money and we had come all this way, but we decided the universe was telling us enough was enough, so we spent our last day of vacation lounging around the hotel trying to get the spotty internet to work, and eating up our snacks and leftovers before a looong day of travel back to the United States on Wednesday.

Days 7 & 8: The Greek Kitchen and the Ancient Agora

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast in our hotel and took a bus in the rain (despite not having tickets--apparently you can't pay onboard in Athens, as we were expected to do on Santorini) to central Plaka. There we joined a cooking class with The Greek Kitchen. Our classmates were a family of four from Brisbane, Australia, a couple from Texas, a mother-daughter duo from the UK, a securities lawyer from D.C. who desperately needed a break from work, and a young woman from Nuremberg who is working in Athens for a couple of months on an up-coming beer festival. 

Our instructor, Vasia, gave us a tour of the nearby partially covered open-air food market. She told us about the offal soup Greeks eat at midnight after Holy Saturday services to break their Lenten fast of no animal products (Orthodox Easter is May 5 this year), and a different one made of cow stomach and feet that's supposed to help a hangover. (She recommended continuing to drink instead!) Then it was on to the fish market and how to tell when a fish is fresh. Finally, we went through the fruit and olive stalls. After class, Dear Husband and I circled back to pick up some apples and oranges for the rest of our trip.

SO MANY OLIVES!

We took turns chopping ingredients for things like tzatziki and making individual dishes. We learned how to roll both dolmades (rice +/- ground beef in grape leaves) and spanakopita. There was an eggplant dish, and dessert was an orange "pie" with torn phyllo dough that had the texture of a British pudding. Along the way, Vasia told jokes and played music, and we chatted amongst ourselves. 

Finally, lunch! Everything tasted delicious. 10/10, can recommend, had a lot of fun. After that we walked over to Monastiraki Square and the Ancient Agora (below). There's a small museum with objects from graves, and then a focus on the buildings that occupied the place over the centuries.

View of the Ancient Agora from the mount of Hephaestus's Temple, with the reconstructed stoa that holds the museum.

Left: ceramic boots found in women's graves. Right: a machine for determining who had jury duty. Below: obligatory red and black pottery.

I looked cute in the sunshine.

Above: Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, unfortunately closed for renovations. Below: The temple to Hephaestus (patron of fire, metal-working, and pottery) mostly survives. From 700-1800s it was a church to Saint George. Otto I was declared the first Greek King after independence from the Ottoman Empire there in 1833. It was used as a museum 1834-1934, and then it became an archaeological site.

DH really wanted to visit the Aeropagus (Mars Hill), where Paul preached to the Athenians. Due to fencing around the various site, it was a looong uphill walk. Unlike the Acropolis nextdoor, the hill is free to clamber up for the breathtaking views of the city.

By the time we had walked back to our hotel, I was nauseous and pre-syncopal, and I eventually developed full-blown food poisoning. It's unclear whether the culprit was the Indian curry for dinner the previous night or the eggplant dish for lunch. Nevertheless, an uncomfortable night for both of us. Sunday morning we did get dressed and go to St. Paul's Anglican church, but I only made it partway through the service before having to leave and lie down on a bench outside. The congregants kindly checked on me and offered water, but mostly I wanted to walk back to the hotel (slowly), take a nap, and nibble on crackers/sip on water. We scrapped our lunch and dinner plans, as well as a visit the Benacki Museum of Islamic Art. (I made do with their virtual tour.) With any luck, we'll still get to ride the funicular up to Lycabettus Hill before we leave.

Days 5 & 6: The Olympic Flame and the Athens National Garden

Due to high winds, our caldera boat tour was in fact cancelled, so Thursday we stuck around our apartment. After a late morning, we finally left shortly before noon to eat lunch at a nearby restaurant that had an enclosed second-floor dining room. We got "the best seat in the house" at Mama Thira, watching the clouds make shadows over the blue waves rolling inexorably toward the shore and the ferries coming and going. It was incredibly meditative. Dear Husband had an excellent beef stew, and I ordered dolmades and a seafood salad. Our waiter even brought some raki (or tsikoudia) at the end of the meal as an aperitif. It's the kind of stuff that will put hair on your chest!

Then DH worked on a choir project and I sat in on the patio in the sun but with my hair covered because of the strong wind, reading a history of food in World War II. Eventually we broke for gelato and then made the 15-minute walk up to Imerovigli, where we took photos from the high point at St. Nikolaus Holy Convent. 

At home there was a cold dinner, and then we hiked the other direction into Fira to get the souvenirs we wanted before coming home to pack. I am rather proud of the fact that just under 100 Euros of groceries yielded us 4 breakfast, 3 dinners, 1 lunch, and a LOT of extra cherry tomatoes--oops. Part of me wanted to be frugal, part wanted to eat what and when we wanted instead of whatever the restaurant kitchen sent out, and partly cooking for ourselves let us enjoy the gorgeous view from our Air BnB patio. I'll share the recipe I came up with to use the famous Santorini tomato paste (since the tomato jam looked watery and unappetizing). If we had rented a car, for sure we would have visited the Tomato Industrial Museum on the other side of the island.

Santorini Sandwiches: Cut a crusty roll in half, butter generously, and toast the tops in a pan. Spread a layer of tomato paste, then thinly sliced cucumber, next 2 pieces of white cheese, and finally 2-3 slices of prosciutto or salami. Enjoy with veggies, leftover dolmades, a glass of wine, etc.

The photobomber apologized for "ruining" the shot; I told him he made it perfect, very genius loci.

Friday morning was the big day: the running of the Olympic torch on Santorini starting in the main square of Firostefani, right where we were staying! We stood on a wall to see over the tourists and Greeks who had turned out to take photos and cheer. There was even a class of schoolchildren with construction paper torches. The flame was transferred from one of six carrying containers to the sleek silver torch. I haven't been able to find out the name of the athlete who carried it. She had an honor detail of buff bodyguards in white track suits with sunglasses and earpieces--their job was presumably to hold back the crowds on the sides of the narrow walkway, and to run interference with the hikers who insisted on using the path anyway.

After that, Dear Husband and I went back to our room and passed the time until our airport pickup by starting the Nanoblocks figure I got him of a grand piano. These are like Legos except smaller and were recommended by the New York Times columnist who also recommended my neck pillow and reminded me we needed new European plug converters.

Once in Athens, we took a very crowded Metro for an hour into Syntagma Square. I wanted to walk to our hotel through the National Garden. (The Wikipedia article encapsulates a strange episode in post-WWI Greek history involving a pet monkey biting the king and a war with Turkey.)

What you can't see is the extremely popular χελώνα (turtle) everyone is taking pictures of. 

There's even a small zoo with water fowl and billy goats (?!). After walking in an entire circle due to the non-linear pathways, we gave up and just took the noisy sidewalk alongside. Here's Hadrian's Arch we passed on the way to our hotel.

When we had finished the tiny piano and were ready to leave the hotel for dinner, we discovered that DH's sports coat had gone missing, so we retraced our steps through the drizzling rain, thankfully finding it draped over a bush on our way back.

Dinner was at an Indian restaurant that apparently just (re)opened for the season. It was a little off the beaten path, and perhaps we should have heeded multiple clues that things were "off"...