So some of you may have heard of the political elections going on in Greece right now! Yeah, we sure have! They are totally awesome! ....not.
Our plan today was to get up early and go visit the Acropolis - the one thing we knew we wanted to see first - after grabbing breakfast at a bakery around the corner from our hotel. We both got these awesome pastries with a flaky crust and this creamy cheese filling inside! So good!
So after our tummies were full of Greek treats, we hiked up the hill to get to the Acropolis! We even passed by the Roman Agora!
The site was used in sort of the same way a Roman Forum would work and to see it all just out in the open amidst houses and shops was really cool! It also was so empty, which was nice for taking pics and walking around it! We later found out why no one was out though... You see, once we finally reached the entrance to the Acropolis (which was actually really easy and quick to find) we couldn't get in because "all historical sites and most of the museums were closed". Why? Because of the elections...
Awesome.
However, we had met a girl from Calgary, Canada on the way up (she just flew in last night and was leaving tonight on a ferry for the islands) and she was definitely more bummed than we were since she only had today to visit. Luckily we still have a few more mornings until Sabrina leaves! But we were still kind of sad.
It was also kind of funny - there was this reporter outside the gate who asked us three to do an interview talking about if the closure disrupted our plans....well duh buddy.
But we each got our 3 minutes of fame and afterwards we all climbed to the top of a little hill right next to the entrance and got some pretty cool shots of the city as we tried to think of what in the world we were gonna do instead...
...the Temple of Hephaestus!
...the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos
...so close, yet so far!!
...can just glimpse what I think is the Temple of Athena Nike!
So, after sitting on the rocks for a bit, wondering what to do this early in the morning when nothing was open, we decided to go back to the hotel and do some Google-ing!
But not before we also just happened to pass by the actual Roman Forum of Athens where we saw the Tower of the Winds and some surrounding ruins (again, all from outside the gates), but it was pretty neat even just looking in!
And when we got back to the hotel and started searching the web, we actually found something else to do! Turns out the Acropolis Museum is privately-owned and was open!
It was actually pretty easy to get to, and totally worth it! Even the front entrance had clear walkways (kind of funky...) that you could look through and down on the ancient ruins of Makrygianni!
Although I couldn't take pics inside the museum itself, the whole building basically was dedicated to the Acropolis and thus had all the old statues that once adorned the various temples there, all the relief-sculptures that lined the Parthenon, some models of the other buildings, and even a video on the history of the famous site!
Overall, it was really cool and I felt I had a better understanding of what I didn't get to see today - so hopefully it'll make tomorrow (when it WILL be open!) all the more exciting!
...view of the Parthenon from the Museum windows...
Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch - I got this delicious turn-over thing filled with cheese, tomatoes, peppers, and ham while Sabrina grabbed a spinach-filled pastry!
Then, as we were sitting on a stoop eating, this old man and his little Greek mother walk up and he starts telling us how his mother thinks we are so beautiful and we should get husbands soon because they make life wonderful! He then kissed her on the cheek, saying he adored her, and then told us to make hand gestures so he could say to her that we thought she looked 60 when "really, she is 91!" They were so cute and so sweet! I wanted to kiss her on the cheek myself!
Eventually we moved on and walked over to grab some 'italian gelato' just to see if it was different from what we were used to...and gotta say it was pretty delicious itself.
So, with gelato in hand, we trekked off to find more sights to fill our empty afternoon with!
Luckily the map I bought has tons of things to see and we ended up coming to this really cool, huge stadium which turned out to be the Panathinaiko Stadium - the reconstructed stadium built on the ancient Greek remains that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896!!
...the entire stadium is made entirely out of marble!
...seats made especially for the King and Queen of Greece!
...we are such good spectators.
...see how at the end it curves in slightly? This was done on purpose to ensure everyone got a good view of the track!
...side tunnel in which young Athenian girls would come to dance around a fire naked and hope for a good husband...evidently it was a place known for it's mystical powers!
Than heavens Sabrina didn't decide to re-live the history...
...interactive media area with videos on past Olympics, history behind the symbols and traditions, etc.
...they also had a whole room dedicated to housing old torches, photos and posters from past Olympic Games!!
...me remembering the torch I held at school when we lived in Australia!
...Chariots of Fire, anyone???
...the very first Olympic Poster!
....oh yeah.....
Go Sabrina!
Victory!! lol...
So after sweating it out on the track....literally....we then sauntered over to the other side of the street, through a nice, big park where we got hit on by some chubby Greek guy...ugh....and then turned the corner and voila! There was the Temple of Olympian Zeus (from 6th century BC) as well as Hadrian's Arch (from around 131 AD)! Even though, again, we couldn't actually go into see the Temple up close, it was very cool from our position and the Arch, well, you could walk right underneath it! Crazy awesome!
...pillar that collapsed around the 1850s...so sad!
...and I'm sweating....
After that awesome surprise, we then weaved our way back home, seeing a few more ruins along the way but mainly through fences so I'll wait until tomorrow when I can post pics of what we can actually go into this time!
But eventually we just got tired and very hot and decided to grab a cold drink - where we saw this guy...
So CUTE!!!!!!!! and actually I've discovered there are cats EVERYWHERE here! Makes me miss my own kitties...
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to cool off before dinner.
We then just happened to watch Disney's Hercules...shocker, right?...and then finally we decided to head back out into the streets to find some food!
And find we did! We got some yummy pastichio (which my cuz Colleen suggested while chatting with her last night), as well as a yummy Greek salad and some thick slices of bread with oil!
Sabrina also tried some Mythos beer and then at the end our waitress brought out some 'on the house' greek yoghurt with honey! So awesome!
But not so awesome was seeing close to a dozen policemen on our short walk back home...just chilling on the street corners...I guess waiting to see how this election pans out....
So we are nicely holed up in our apartment tonight and sounds pretty quiet outside, but we're desperately hoping the sights are open tomorrow and all is well in Greece!
We'll see how it goes!
αντίο!
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