Greece | Part 1 ATHENS September 2015

We had a direct flight from Toronto to Athens on Sept 16.  10 hours in the air and 2 hours on the tarmac in Toronto while they downloaded an update to the GPS system.  A long time to be in a plane!

Day 1:  Athens, Titania Hotel

  We were greeted in Athens by Karen our guide and taken directly to our very nice hotel - The Titania.  We settled in, then went for a walk around the hotel.  Turn left and you are on the expensive shopping street and a 10 min walk to Syntagma or Constitution Square (seen by everyone on the news lately, but no crowds when we were there).  Norm had a meet and greet with his radio peeps.  The meeting room was on the top floor with a view of the Accropolis - Fantastic.  Then we had a great buffet welcome dinner in the hotel with delicious Greek food.  Wow, we're really here!

 In the evening we met up with a few people from our group and walked left out of the hotel to Omonia Square.  There was a rally  for the upcoming election and lots of police presence - I took a picture of a group of officers, but was asked to delete  it - yikes!   But all was good and we felt safe walking at night.

Beautiful Mosaic of Olive Tree on the elevator wall

Titania Hotel's Marble Lobby

View of the Parthenon from our group meeting room on the top floor of the hotel

We were right beside the National Library, University and a short walk to Constitution or Syntagma Square.

National Library

University of Athens

Closeup of the Pediment

Evzone Guard by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Parliament Building - Constitution or Syntagma Square

 Omonia Square at the end of a rally.

the Greek language is phonic, so sounding out my greek letters,
I think this sign says Cafeteria  Omonia Square

Day 2:   Athens City Tour  ( 29-30 degrees, sunny & hot!)

This morning we went on a tour of the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum.
It was an easy walk up to the acropolis, but it was hot and crowded.

An easy winding walk up to the top of the Acropolis

Once at the top, it was very crowded and hot

Ancient Greek Graffiti

A closeup of the pediment - theses statues are replicas - the originals are in museums.

The original pediment statues are in  museums

This is what the pediment would have looked like 2500 years ago.

Panathenaic Stadium - Entirely made of marble.  First constructed in 500BC and renovated for the first modern olympics in 1870  and then again for the 2004 Olympics.

After a a very hot day at the Acropolis and the Acropolis museum, we walked back to the Plaka for dinner.

The Plaka is a tourist area in the old centre of Athens.  It is filled with restaurants, gift and souvenir shops and has marble lined pedestrian streets (motor bikes use the streets too - they are everywhere, even on sidewalks -beware!).

Norm browsing in the Plaka.  Note the marble paved streets

Having dinner with some friends we met on the trip and a couple from Cairo, who joined our table.  Great food, great conversation, and a beautiful warm evening eating outdoors with no bugs!

We walked back to the hotel and had a nice view of Athens by night.

Day 3:  The Market and Anaforitika

We started the day with a great buffet that was included in our hotel- A large variety of hot and cold items.

Then off to the Athens Central Market for a quick look around.  It was very busy as it was a Saturday morning and was filled with local people shopping in the meat, fish and vegetable markets.  It was huge and took up a number of city blocks.

Seafood and fish building - Octopus, squid and sardines

Buckets of live snails were seen in a number of stalls.

Then off to explore Anafirotika - the quaint and picturesque little neighbourhood of narrow streets and clustered homes  just under the Acropolis. 

The path from the Plaka up to the Acropolis was narrow and winding- A great pace to get lost.  These were the stairs we came up and saw an incredible view.

The enchanting winding path through the neighbourhood.

Time for Lunch!  We had a nice greek salad for lunch in the shade of the Acropolis.

 After walking the winding, narrow and steep streets,  we cam out at the Plaka at a favourite little art gallery.  After having a wonderful talk with the artist, we purchased an urn that was a hand made replica of an original in one of the museums.  Dimitri makes the pottery and his wife Sofia does the painting.

SJS Designs Ceramic workshop & Gallery - handmade replicas

Here is our purchase!

Tonight was our last night in Athens, and we went to the rooftop outdoor dining room at our hotel.  We had Sea Bass and Salmon - both very good, and the atmosphere was incredible.  We got there at sunset and the views were fantastic.