Athens

On the Airplane

I've finally come to it. I've gotten to writing out my Grecian experiences. I took so many pictures that it took me forever to get them all edited. I don't know how accurately I can recount our adventures since they were so wonderful but I will try anyway.

The view from our hotel room.

We left Collonges just after 8:00 in the morning on Thursday. It was Armistice Day in France and so we didn't have any school until Monday. We finally arrived at the airport - almost two hours later. It took us a while since we stopped at the ATM on the way down the hill causing us to miss the bus and wait 15 minutes for the next one. We rode the bus to the tram, took the tram to the train station and then took the train to the airport. It's very complicated using public transport but fortunately Switzerland has one of the best public transportation systems in all of Europe.
We made it to the airport and checked in before going through security and finding our gate. We only had to wait for a few minutes before the boarding calls started. Our flight was quite uneventful, Lyol slept for most of the flight. In case you don't know, Lyol is Danae's 22 month old son and the two of them were my lovely travel companions. We arrived in Greece and stepped out of the airport into wonderfully delightful warm weather. We traipsed across the road and through a little causeway to the subway station. After finding our tickets and getting on the right line we rode the metro to the square where our hotel was.

He had the deal's better end

After checking into our most splendid hotel, we decided to go out and find some supper to eat but after talking to the front desk we decided to check out the hotel restaurant which turned out to be a very splendid idea after all. The food was absolutely delicious. I've never had a better Greek Salad and Stuffed Mushrooms in my life. The hotel was absolutely splendid. Our room was beautiful and very comfortable. After the tiny little bathrooms at Collonges the spacious bathroom in our room was wonderful. It was complete with full size mirror, shower and separate bath. The beds were that soft plushy kind that just makes you want to stay for a long time. Outside our window we had a view over the city of Athens to the Acropolis and the Pantheon.

Walking up the Acropolis

The next morning we got up and decided to go see the Acropolis. Unfortunately, shortly after we got off the metro it started raining. We decided to check out the Acropolis museum first in hopes that the rain would slow down. The museum was quite a splendid building. Before you even got in the door you saw part of the archaeological findings. There were huge glass panels in the floor leading up to the door, and underneath was an ongoing archaeological dig. In the middle, under a roof that extended from the building, there was a railing that surrounded an opening in the floor where you could stand and watch the workers digging and moving dirt.

Lyol in his puddle.

The Pantheon

After looking at the ceramics and sculptures in the museum, we sat on a bunch of cubes outside and ate the food that we had picked up at a supermarket earlier. Lyol went running off and fell in a puddle, but thankfully there was a change of clothes for him in the backpack. By this time it had stopped raining and so we headed up the acropolis to find the Pantheon. We wandered through a grove and up a pathway that led us to the gate into the Pantheon. It was very pretty, lined with olive trees and little bushes. We finally made it up to the top. Lyol promptly wanted to get out and splash around in the puddles which we helped him do after taking off his sweater and rolling up his pants. We probably took fewer pictures of the Pantheon and more of Lyol but it was so much fun to watch him splashing around in the puddles. Just about the time we were done a downpour started. We quickly scooped up Lyol and wrapped him in my coat so that he wouldn't get a chill and then made for the metro and a dry pair of clothes. After an exhausting day, Lyol fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and got a good long nap while my arms got a good stretching.

Our room service meal

That evening, being a bit tired we ordered room service and got quite the meal. It was fabulous. The next morning dawned bright and sunny, and with it our day in the ancient city of Corinth. Since it was Sabbath, we had decided to go see Ancient Corinth, where the Apostle Paul spent time with Aquila and Priscilla, the tent makers and he preached to the people there. We went in search of the Bema, where Paul had stood to preach. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. We found the bus that took us to the bus station without any trouble. After a bit of a wait we boarded the bus that would take us to Corinth. It was a wonderfully comfortable bus that was relatively empty. We had the whole back of the bus to ourselves - which was good because it gave Lyol space to play without bothering the other passengers.

Finding the bus stop

We arrived in the modern city of Corinth - Korinthos in Greek - and then had to figure out how to get to Ancient Corinth. We asked around and finally found the bus stop to get to the ancient city. The bus ride was only about ten minutes - if that, and then we found ourselves at a piddly little bench with a tiny little tin roof over it. We decided to wander down the road in hopes of finding something to look at. Fortunately, it led us to the ruins of Ancient Corinth. Unfortunately, we arrived at about 2:40 and the ruins closed at 3:00. On the plus side, since we're students in the European Union we didn't have to pay for our tickets.

The Bema

We quickly wandered through the ruins, taking pictures and looking for the Bema. We found the Bema and took pictures in front of it before the guy who worked at the ruins told us it was time to leave. To get to the exit we had to walk down the ancient, marble, Roman road. After that we walked through a couple shops to see the pottery and then wandered down a little road. It led us to the outside of the ruins where we actually had a vantage point over the whole ruins and got some lovely pictures.

Our Omelette - and Lyol

After that, thirst hit us and we stopped at a restaurant to get a drink. We ended up getting food too since it looked so delicious. We ate our fill and then headed off in search of the bus stop again. We found the bus stop and waited there for a bit, not knowing when the bus would come. It started to downpour, so we huddled under the little roof trying not to get wet. We came to the consensus that we would wait until five o'clock and then head back and ask if the bus was coming. The second my watch turned five o'clock we dashed back towards the little bundle of shops, trying to find someone who could tell us when the bus comes. Come to find out, there were no more busses running that day so we decided to take a taxi. He delivered us right to the Corinth bus station where we got on a bus and headed back to Athens.

Entrance to the Flea Market

Quite fortunately, the bus stopped right in Metaxourghio square - right by our hotel. It was very lovely since we didn't have to take another bus to get back to our hotel. We spent the evening relaxing in the hotel - after getting quite dry again. I even managed to get myself a massage in the hotel's spa.

We decided, on sunday, to check out the Athens Flea Market that started in Monastiraki Square. We rode the metro from Metaxourghio to Omonia and then walked down the street to Monastiraki. That street was supposed to have a fruit and meat market on it. We didn't find much of a market. There was a couple of stands with some nuts and a bit of dried food and a stand with fruit but I wouldn't really call it a whole market. We stopped in at a pet store but unfortunately Lyol was sleeping in the backback so we decided to come back to it later.

One of the many jewelry stores

We arrived at Monastiraki Square and found quite a lovely sight indeed. There were a couple of little churches at the corners of the square and little shops surrounding it. In the square there were people selling little things that most tourists really don't need, and a couple of stands with little snacks and fruits etc. We found a guy that was selling little coconut sticks that were simply delicious. I got myself one before we headed off into the Flea Market. The market stretched out from Monastiraki Square, down one of the side streets. It was lined with shops selling all kinds of tourist trinkets or clothes or any number of other things. The most fascinating things were the jewelry shops. They didn't just sell pieces of jewelry. Instead, they were lined up and down with little bins that had all varieties of little beads and things to make jewelry with. The walls had hooks on them with different types of strings and ribbons hanging down from them. I could have spent all day and all my money in those stores if I had had the time. They put my artistic heart into jumping for joy.

Waiting for our food

Finally, we headed on down the street, checking out the little stores and seeing what there was to see. After spending and hour or two in the market we headed off in search of food. We had read about a vegetarian restaurant in my guide book that was relatively close to the market and so we went in that direction. We found the corner where the restaurant was supposed to be, but unfortunately the restaurant was no longer there. No matter though, it was quite a quaint little street lined with little restaurants and places where we could eat. I don't know that I would actually call it a street. It was a long staircase, interspersed with little landings and lined with restaurants up and down. We chose one of the restaurants and had a lovely meal of stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms. It was pretty good I must say.

The green line

After our meal, we headed back towards Monastiraki Square where we tried to get on the metro back to Metaxourghio. After some riding back and forth on the metro, we discovered that the section between Monastiraki and the red line (which we needed to get to Metaxourghio) was under construction at the time. We decided to walk from there and headed back up the street that we had started on. We tried to stop past the pet store again since Lyol was now awake but unfortunately it had closed already. Instead we headed back to the hotel for another night of relaxing and fun.

Our high speed boat to Aegina

Monday dawned and with it our adventure to one of the Greek islands. We wanted to go to Santorini to see the classic white architecture with blue domed roofs but unfortunately it was a seven hour ferry ride to get there. Instead we decided to go to Aegina which was more like an hour ferry ride. We got on the metro and rode it all the way to Athens Port - Piraeus. We found a place to buy tickets and after a couple of wrong turns, found our boat - a high speed boat to Aegina town on the island.

The little church on the dock

We hopped off the boat when it docked at Aegina and looked both ways, deciding where to go next. We really didn't have much of a plan on what to do so we were going as the spirit moved. We headed down to the end of the dock where there was a tiny little white church. After that we headed back to the warf where we decided to find something to eat. We had just finished commenting that we wanted some smoothies when we found a little shop that had a sign advertising gourmet smoothies. We got a couple and some pieces of pizza and promptly decided that they were the most delicious things that we had had in a very very long time.

Yummy

On the carriage ride

Scrumptious meal over, we headed down the street trying to find a way to the temple. We found the bus but it was an hour before it left and we would have had only fifteen minutes to see the temple before the last bus left to come back to the city. It was either that or three minutes. When the lady told us, I heard three and Danae heard fifteen, and so we're not quite sure what it was. It didn't matter as we didn't actually end up going to the temple. We found a guy that had a horse and a carriage that gave us a ride around the city of Aegina, pointing out different things and telling us about the island. From the carriage we saw a little playground and some restaurants that had octopi hanging out front. When the carriage ride was done we decided to head back up the road to check out the playground, via the octopi of course. We thought the octopi hanging out front of the restaurants were quite unique indeed. We took pictures and then continued on to the playground.

Walking the pier

It turned out that the playground was perhaps the most exciting part of the island. We played for a bit on the different things before I worked my way around the fence and into the Mediterranean Sea. It wasn't warm but it wasn't too cold either. Of course, Lyol saw me in the water and decided that he wanted in too. This time, we were ahead of our game and just stripped Lyol of his clothes and let him splash around in the water until he got cold. Just outside the playground there was a little pier that was very beautiful against the background of mountains and the sun streaming through the clouds. We spent the next little bit taking pictures on the pier and of the sea.

Sunset from our ferry

Finally done, we headed back toward the pier. Before getting our tickets, we stopped by the smoothie shop and got some ice cream and then headed to the line of ticket booths. We looked at all the prices and the times and then bought tickets for the next boat to Athens. Fortunately, it was a big boat with several decks with different views of the ocean around us. We got a beautiful view of the sun setting over the water as the boat crossed over to the port of Piraeus, in Athens. We arrived in port just after the sun went down and took the metro back to our hotel, after stopping at Monastiraki Square to see it in the dark. It was quite wonderful to see the square all lit up at night with the Acropolis rising up behind it. Of course, I bought a couple more coconut sticks as a last huzzah in Greece.

Eating supper

  

That evening we concentrated on relaxing for our last night in Greece. We decided to check out the restaurant across the street from our hotel. We had thought about going there when we first got to Greece but we hadn't and so we decided to go there Monday night. It was a quaint little restaurant. I got spaghetti that was absolutely wonderful. I think the spaghetti in Greece was better than the pasta in Italy, which is quite ironic indeed. After our very active meal, as all meals are with Lyol around, we headed back to our room and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Me and the guards (look closely at his shoes)

Tuesday morning dawned way too soon. Our flight left at three something in the afternoon and so we spent the morning packing up our stuff and then checked out of the hotel at noon. We rode the metro to Omonia Square, the business district, and got off for a bit to see the changing of the guard. I have to say, the guards looked quite funny indeed. I quite enjoyed the giant pom-pom's that were on their shoes. We spent some time playing with the pigeons in the square before we got to see the changing of the guard ceremony. I guess I should mention what the guards were guarding. It was the tomb of the unknown soldier, although the tomb itself wasn't as impressive as the guards.

All our stuff (that we carried up the mountain)

After the guards had changed, we hopped back onto the Metro and rode it to the Airport where we finally had to board our airplane and head back to Collonges. A couple of hours later we landed in Geneva and hopped on the train that took us to the Metro, that took us to the bus, which took us to the border. From there we had to walk up the hill. It was quite the trek indeed. We had to carry all our stuff up with us. Danae had her carry-on strapped to her front with Lyol in his backpack on her back. I had my carryon on the front with our checked bag on the back. Just across the border we stopped in at the U-Express, the grocery store, to get some things we needed before starting our trek. Although it was quite cool, I broke a sweat climbing the hill. I should clarify that - by hill, I mean mountain. Big mountain. Real mountain. I'm sure I lost several pounds just walking up the hill carry about 60 pounds on my back. It was quite the exercise.

Well, that is all- for my Grecian adventure anyway.

Enjoy
-E

Ampitheatre on the Acropolis

Apparently they're a delicacy (They're Octopi)

After our Carriage Ride

Before getting all wet

The view of the Acropolis from Monastiraki Square at night

Playin' on the playground

Fishing boat at the Docks in Aegina Town