Athens - or rocks, ruins, and baklava galore!

These past weekends have taken me in many directions from my "home" in Granada to cities I used to mark with a tack on a map in my bedroom as "some day" destinations.  Two weeks ago I traveled to one of these pinpoints, and also as far away from home as I have ever been when I arrived in Athens, Greece.  My good friend, Brittany, and I are fortunate to have our friend, Harper, studying history in Athens for the fall semester and so we lucked out with a place to stay in good company for our five-day trip.  Again the traveling was intensive but enjoyable as I made friends with an Argentine man who shared his knowledge of Grecian history with me for the flight over the Mediterranean and allowed me to get in the last of my Spanish practice before landing and being thrown into survival-Greek phrases (which ultimately ended in gestures, smiles, and English as a last resort).

Our first night in Athens was a calm one, involving climbing out a 4th story kitchen window and climbing up a winding staircase to get a good view of the distant Acropolis, followed by walking to the foreign-students' favorite wine seller (and very likely ex-mafia), George, to buy a bottle of wine for dinner (which took some 30 minutes as buying wine from George involves having a sit down conversation, wine tasting, grappas shots, baklava, and probably dinner as well if we hadn't told him we had already made dinner plans). 

The following morning was a walk through history in which we visited the Temple of Zeus in down town Athens and then meandered through the streets of Plaka, or old Athens, trying to find the entrance to the Acropolis.  If there's one thing I can say I found difficult with Greece, it's directions...and not because they're in Greek...but simply because there are rarely any signs telling you where to go.   We often found ourselves on the backside of sites we wanted to visit, and we were never the only ones who were a little lost.  However, there was never a problem with asking directions, instead we found it was a great way to meet people, such as other lost tourists, locals out for a stroll, or merchants eager to guess where you're from - we often were mistake for French or Spanish (hooray!).
When we finally made it to the Acropolis we were swept away by the splendor of the Parthenon and surrounding temples, still standing from 500 BC.  My personal favorite was the Caryatids or female sculpted pillars that held up the roof to a porch of the Erechthion.  My friend told me that when the British invaded Athens they stole many of the best pieces of artwork from the Acropolis and the town below, including one of these beautiful stone women.  Apparently, that night, the people of Greece could hear the other stone "sisters" crying from Acropolis top, lamenting over their loss.  Being on top of the Acropolis, I also was just swept away by the view.  Athens is easily not considered to be a classically beautiful European city in comparison to those like Paris, Rome, Venice, etc... but from above I find it to be breathtaking.  Looking out over the roof tops all you see is white, like an pale ocean apart from the sea leaking into every crevice of the surrounding mountains that run from coast, which then runs in the opposite direction under the splatter of clouds and sunlight that light up the harbor and the waters beyond. (you can sigh now, the dreamy description is over...but seriously...you'd feel the same way with such an awesome view).  So how do you wrap up such an amazing day in Greece? Baklava. We most definitely hit up the bakery near Harper's house and enjoyed a very unhealthy but satisfying dinner of baklava tasters (I couldn't not provide you with a photo of these delectable treats).

Our next two days in Athens continued with the history lessons as we visited the expansive, if not a bit exhausting, National Archeological Museum, in which we saw amazing statues of the Greek gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Pan, etc... as well as theater masks, busts of famous warriors, pieces of ancient temples, and anything else you could probably think of for Greek history.  I was worn out mentally by the time we finished...but I may have had some help of feeling a little "off" due to us buying our first (and last) cup of strong Greek coffee before going in the museum.  I'm still getting used to coffee, I admit, but this was by far the strangest, sludgiest coffee I've ever tasted.  However, I pulled myself together and made it through the rest of the day while visiting the New Acropolis Museum.  I really enjoyed this museum for its layout - placed parallel to the Parthenon just at the base of the Acropolis - as you could look at the pieces of the Parthenon set in their appropriate places as if they were actually on the original building, and then you could look out the windows of the museum, as the walls were windows from floor to ceiling, and have an even better idea of how the mighty temple used to look.  The museum also had windows in the floors to look down at the archeological digs going on below. 

Our final day in Athens was a day of exploration as Harper, Brittany and I climbed a hill adjacent to the Acropolis called Filopoppos, which was filled with many historical sites, monuments, and of course plenty of great views of the city.  Brittany and I were waiting patiently throughout the day to see if the weather would clear up, as unfortunately it was a rather cloudy and rainy weekend, and we had hoped to take a trip out of the city to the Temple of Poseidon - a temple on the coast that used to be the last sign of human civilization for the Athenian sailors before heading out to sea - but in the end we decided to stay close with the weather looking doubtful and instead explored the streets of Athens, met plenty of friendly locals, and took in our last day peacefully.  We had to call it a night early, in order to leave by 4:30 AM to catch our flight, but not before watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with Harper to wrap up the weekend "in style," which of course would also include climbing out that kitchen window one more time... 

Underneath the Temple of Zeus

Amphitheater at the bottom of the Acropolis that still holds concerts and plays for the public

Brittany and Harper on the climb to the top of the Acropolis with Mount Philopappos in the background.  Notice Harper only has one shoe on, as she broke her shoe climbing the rock to take this photo...which meant we had to climb back down the hill, buy a cheap pair of flip flops, and climb up the Acropolis again : )

At the entrance to the Acropolis

The Parthenon!

Resting from our climb and looking out over Athens.  Although it is hard to see in this photo, the mountains recede to the right to the coast line and the Aegean Sea beyond - beautiful!

Beautiful Athens - a white sea of houses under Grecian clouds (yes, they're very distinct)

The beautiful caryatids (I believe these are only models of the real ones that stand in the New Acropolis Museum)

With my travel partner, Brittany, looking out from the Acropolis

On our way down, we climbed a rather slippery rock and snapped a few more shots of the ever-impressive Acropolis

Ágora (the original ancient city below the Acropolis) and the Temple of Hephaistos

Dinner: Baklava, chocolate cake, and George's wine (we ate healthy food as well)

National Archeological Museum - Zeus...or Poseidon? (They don't know either)

Horse and young jockey - and the photo on the cover of my Athens travel book...in Spanish : )

The some-what modest, Aphrodite

The Mask of Agememmnon (leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War...however this funeral mask was dated back 300 years before his time...if my very basic Greek history is at all correct...)

Atop Mount Philopappos with great company and a great view