Month: May 2019

And so this leg draws to a close. We meet our companions for the next legs and the do’s/don’ts. Quick test ride of the bikes, remembering to stay on right and look over left shoulder (just like all the Athenians?).

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A trip up to the National Observatory, up as that’s a good place for observatories, which was strangely closed at 5pm, opening at 7. Thank the stars we had a plan b and ate instead. The route there and back is a good reminder of the melting pot of different nationals and cultures.

A fine start indeed.

Using the public transport is a good way to get the feel of a place. €4.50 for 24 hours travel on any public transport in Athens is a good deal. Google Maps is also extremely helpful, with health warnings, in making suggestions. So we got to the National Botanic Gardens in good time.

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A developing oasis is the best description. The insects in harmony with the wild spring flowers diverted our cameras. The tortoises munched then for lunch. Yes of course there is a native Greek tortoise, everyone knows that! The laid out gardens were more fun than anticipated: frogs bellowing for mates was the unexpected sound tapestry.

The local supermarket gave a very reasonable lunch, though not enough sustenance for the return bus journey. 45 minutes waiting for a bus that never showed. It may have, were we to have stood at the correct bus stop. We’ll never know.

To get our money’s worth, the Metro beckoned. The last time I was pickpocketed was on the Moscow Metro I mused before getting onto the bustling train. Maybe the thought heightened awareness : this time despite being ‘dipped’ nothing was taken. Then to read the messages online about the plague of pickpockets on the Athens Metro.

Other observations: Very few joggers. Most of the motor cyclists without helmets are male. The Greek script takes getting used to, pay more attention in school!

The photos are starting to add up, even with editing. They are useful memory joggers and hopefully show the diversity of this working city. Today, after rebuilding our bikes (a relatively smooth operation once we located them) we added some more walking miles taking in a view that put our wandering into perspective.

Aristotle’s Lyceum school ruins proudly sign themselves as one of the most important sites in the world. Some more big words to wrestle with (e.g. gymnasiarch) and a new sport (pankration). Despite its antiquity (pinned down to 648bc by what exactly?) it failed to make the cut for the modern Olympics in 1896. More lovely spring flowers: did these inspire the peripatetic wanderers as they pondered who would win the next bout?

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I can’t help but think Aristotle might be a little surprised we’re he to take in the view from Athen’s highest point. Buildings packed in as far as the eye can see and up seemingly impossible slopes too. These they pave with nice smooth stones to make for speedy descents.

Tea and coffee are the expensive offerings we indulge in: cakes are a lot cheaper.

Modern markets and antiquities was the order of today. The connection being that the Ancient Agora used to be a market and those skills transcend the ages.

The ancient ruins are mind boggling in scale and complexity: quite challenging to grasp and we ended up soaking up the atmosphere Vs trying to make sense of it all. Numerous poster boards didn’t help, written in a techno speak that will appeal to the purest. Mind you, some new words were learnt. First example why say “buried” when you can use inhumation, which makes sense of course with exhumation taking place in most of the burial sites. The boards speak with a clear certainly of who built what when and why from 500bc to today. Which makes me wonder when we argue about what when and why for contemporary history. What is clear is the sense of time as a scale to measure progress and legacy. Time to give back what Lord Elgin acquired: though they may not last as long as the latest renovation.

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The markets are great. Fish, meat and vegetables, the former two suitably chilled to suit modern hygiene. The butcher’s trade proudly showed their cleaving skills on massive wooden blocks. Vegetables compete for colour of the day: the fish are the brightest though. None compare with the intensity of the red poppy that illustrates the ruins in spring splendour.

The people are a fine mix, all welcoming and helpful and (to our shame) speak English. Their city looked great today from many angles as I suspect it has done through the ages.

There’s nothing like visiting a place to remind you how ignorant you are of both history and geography. So Greece was occupied by the Ottoman empire for 400 years, until it won independence in 1832, a fact carried in the parts of the skirts of the guards at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier (who gets about a bit, must beam between countries). And Athens, then a small touristy town of 7000 souls, only became Capital in 1834. Of course the city is named after Athena who won a tussle with Poseidon, the irony that it was with an olive tree as a symbol of peace seems lost.

Today it is the meeting place of cultures and architecture, from Greek and Roman ruins to the explosion of buildings in the early 20c driven by mass immigration of refugees. That’s 2million refugees.

And of course Olympic investment in 1896 and 2004. The latter created a new tram system, the former the Panathenaic stadium – rebuilding on the site of original ancient sports ground.

We’ve discovered an open top bus tour is an ideal way to get your bearing and to pick up useless facts. Like in 1896 the marathon was some 21 miles, changing over future years to today’s 26.2… The definitive change to accommodate the UK Royal family’s wish for it to start in Windsor Castle to the royal box in White City Stadium (1908).

I suspect not many private cars are yellow, or if they are they are cheap. All taxis are yellow.

Motor bikes zip around, including on the pavement, though most are very observant of traffic signs and polite, not much tooting.

Smoking is all too common though not much vaping. The Jehovah Witness lot just have bought a global lot for brochure trolleys: the same design here as at home is in use. Homeless people appear fewer.

So today was orientation, setting up the next few days mooching around exploring.