Athens in a day

I know, I know, it's been a long time again since I've blogged, but I'm generally inclined to blog about the spectacular trips I go on during weekends, where I take lots of pictures and eat lots of delicious food. So after spending the last two weekends in Athens, where everything has become ordinary to me and I don't think to take pictures of it because I see it every day I'm not as motivated to write. This is of course highly unfair to the city that I now call (at least temporarily) "home". I'm as bad as the international media, only posting pictures of the Acropolis and only talk of demonstrations when I talk about the city at all. And Athens really is so much more. So before I launch into tales of the wild adventures I had in the past week...I give you Athens.

I've had three people I love visit me: my friend Garrick who came during a week, my friend Melissa who came two weekends ago, and now my parents. By now, I feel like I could practically be a licensed tour guide, and have reached a level of efficiency and smart planning equal to my Disney-in-a-Day schedule. My parents marvelled at the fact that they had been here only 24 hours and had already seen at least 3 days worth of sights. So here's a rundown of my Virtual Guided Tour of Athens (very good price! 10 euro I'll show you all the best sites!):


First (of course) is the Acropolis, which is still as spectacular as the first time I saw it. But I have posted more than enough pictures of the Parthenon...so here's a view from stop #2, the Ancient Athenian Agora

(which you will get to by walking around the back side of the Acropolis hill through the main boulevard of the cute neighborhood of Thisseo, lined with cafes and small booths set up by handmade jewelry-and-things vendors).

The "agora" meaning, in its original form "gathering place," was the political, social, religious, and judicial center of Athens in Classical Greece. It was an important site from 500 BC until the first century AD.

Also has the best preserved Doric temple in Greece, 

the Hephaistion:

This was a water clock which measured out 3-hour periods (the amount of time each and every person at a trial had to speak)

 And a reconstruction of the main stoa:

Walk through the Athens Flea Market to Monastiraki Square

and drop in for a quick look at Hadrian's library...that's the great thing about Athens: everywhere you go you stumble upon ancient 'stuff'.

Then walk over to Syntagma Square...

and see the Parliament building...

Then head up Panepistimiou to see the grand buildings of the University of Athens, Academy of Athens, and the library (this boulevard has more of a "big city" feel than other parts of Athens)

 (and some interesting graffiti)

And on up to the National Archaeological Museum

which has an astounding number of Classical sculptures, vases, Mycenaen grave goods, and Minoan/Cycladic artifacts

If you have time, swing by the Temple of Olympian Zeus

(and it has a great view of the Acropolis)

Hit up the Acropolis Museum in Plaka at night, because it is one of the only (maybe THE only) site/museum/etc that doesn't close at 3 pm these days. And because it is beautiful at night...a truly awesome feat of Modern Greece, and one of the best museums I've ever been to (pictures to come, I promise!)

The Election as seen from halfway across the world

Last night I went to an election party hosted by Democrats Abroad, in the event room of a hotel in my neighborhood. It was 16 euro for a "real American buffet," "a variety of entertainment," and--obviously--coverage of the election. I can say without a doubt that it was worth every lepta.

The food was comfortingly American (caesar salad, hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken wings, onion rings, etc), made more authentic by the fact that it was all-you-can-eat. Oh America. I stuffed myself like it was Thanksgiving (which I won't get to enjoy this year, so I don't feel guilty).

The entertainment was much more than expected; when I first got there, the chairwoman of the organization, Yvette--a tall, imposing woman with a lot of energy--was giving a speech, and I was worried that it would be a night of political talk. But then she started belting out the National Anthem. And then she brought her band on stage. Turns out she's the lead singer of "SouLuv," a jazzy little band that proceeded to play popular American cover songs. With a political twist. Before one song, Yvette said, "This next one is for all of the Republicans...and Democrats...who just don't know how to act!" It was a Macy Gray song mashed up with O-Bam-A chanting. In a later song, "100 Days, 100 Nights," she managed to work in lines about Romney.

After SouLuv's rousing performance, there was a brief magic show performed by the best magician in Greece. And side, 1-on-1 magic shows with magicians throughout the night.

People watching would probably have been enough entertainment in itself (the demographic was a strange one...lots of old Greek men and women, random assortment of middle-aged expats, very few young people).

Looking over at the buffet at one point, I noticed that one woman had picked up the serving spoon for the "guacamole" (it's a crime to call it that, because it contained only a tiny proportion of avocado, but I'm guessing that's what it was supposed to be) and tasted it, as if she were tasting something that she were cooking. With the serving spoon. And then put it back into the dip.

My favorite moment, though, was watching a Deaf Greek man, who had propped up his smartphone against his wineglass and was Facetime-ing his daughter, using Greek sign language to describe the events on the TV screen of an election halfway across the world. All kinds of communication devices wrapped up in that.

All in all it was a surreal experience, made more so by the fact that the East coast polls didn't close until 2 AM and therefore the actual exciting happenings weren't until I was thoroughly delirious from lack of sleep; CNN's announcement projecting Obama as the winner was not until nearly 6:30 AM, and by this time I had drunk three cups of tea and a cup of coffee. Sitting in my living room at home and watching the newscasters playing around with their smartscreens, changing states red and blue and yellow and pulling up percentage breakdown after percentage breakdown and speculating (and then announcing) the future of the country is weird and unreal enough; sitting in a hotel in Athens, with a random assortment of 20 strangers, while the rest of the city (and country) slept, made it infinitely more so.


I'm really glad Obama won, if for no other reason than to see people's celebration dances. An old man, decked out in a full tux, jumped/motioned as if he was either spiking a football after making a touchdown, or really struggling to start a lawn mower, then proceeded to shake his tailfeathers and bust out any/all of his dance moves. Yvette started shrieking and shimmying and then chanting, "Yes we did. AGAIN."

Running around the Peloponnese, Day 6: Delphi

The last stop on our Panhellenic tour was Delphi, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus and most famous for its Oracle (the Pythia). It was also site of the second-largest athletic games, after Olympia.

(the gymnasium and palaestra)

 According to myth, Zeus released an eagle at the western edge of the world and another at the eastern edge of the world, and the point where they met was at this exact spot. This sculpture therefore marks Delphi as the "navel" of the Earth.

 A treasury of Athens, for the explicit purpose of bragging to other city-states

 Temple to Apollo

 The Pythian (Delphic) Games included musical and theatrical competitions...this is a Roman reconstruction of the theater and its acoustics are pathetic compared to Epidauros...

 The stadium

 (The Egyptians weren't the only ones with sphinxes)

Another important sculpture, the Charioteer of Delphi

I have for the most part left out descriptions of dinner, because most of them were not particularly noteworthy (because it is now the off-season, most of the towns we stayed at were mostly shut down and eating options were severely limited). However, dinner in Delphi was fantastic. I got the wild boar (slow roasted in a rich wine sauce with pearl onions and roasted garlic and juniper berries...and naturally served with french fries on the side), but also tasted "rooster soup" (not just ye olde chicken soup here) and veal with handmade pasta. A great way to end the trip!

Running around the Peloponnese, Day 5: Olympia

Day 5 was the much-awaited visit to Olympia!

It was especially exciting after having learned so much about Olympia in class, but it's an incredible site regardless of your knowledge.

My professor guided us as if we were ancient athletes preparing to compete in the Olympic games. He led us through the gymnasium (where athletes competing in the footraces and pentathlon would train for the month prior to the games) and the palaestra (where athletes competing in boxing, wrestling, and the no-rules-bloodbath pankration would train)

We passed into the sanctuary, which held the Temple of Hera (the oldest Greek temple), the Temple of Zeus, a shrine to Pelops (who the games were originally honoring) and...the Philippeion to King Phillip II of Macedonia.

This is of course blasphemy, because Phillip was certainly not a god and therefore did not belong in the sanctuary...but who was going to stop Phillip? He died before its completion, but his son--Alexander the Great--ensured that it was built...no one, it turns out, wanted to mess with him either. (Can you tell that I just had a midterm about the Panhellenic games??)

We continued down the path lined with 'zanes' (statues to Zeus bearing the names of those who cheated and were caught...a walk of shame situation), through the vault, and into the stadium:

We were challenged by one of the other CYA groups to a race, and proceeded in the true ancient Greek spirit. My professor carefully announced to all of the runners that "the endline is clearly visible" and left it at that. What he neglected to mention was that there was a Roman end line that's about 20 meters short of the proper Greek end line. Tragically (for those in the other class) and humorously (for those of us in the know), our competitors sprinted through the first end line and did little victory jumps as we dashed past them to the true end. Ancient Greek sportsmanship was all about unfair play as long as it was clever!

Here's the workshop of the great Greek sculptor Phidias (who constructed the ivory and gold statue of Zeus which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This workshop was later converted into a Roman basilica...as many things were):

And a hotel (because every great sporting events needs great accommodation)

And at the Olympia museum...the fantastic pediments of the Temple of Zeus:

Also saw Hermes and the Infant Dionysus by Praxiteles--which I do have a picture of but it is an insult to the artwork, does no justice whatsoever. Suffice it to say it was one of the most perfect sculptures I've ever seen.

Running around the Peloponnese, Day 4: Methoni Castle

This post is for my dear brother, because it was probably the first (and only) thing I've done in Greece that he would have enjoyed (other than eating):

Perhaps my favorite site was Methoni Castle, an awesome Venetian castle on the Ionian sea.

Things that made it awesome:

1) Winds so strong that they practically blew me over

2) I had the chance to scale actual castle walls

3) I was the only person in this castle after everyone else (or at least everyone within my sight) lost interest in playing in the castle. I contemplated ditching this whole "study abroad" thing and holing up in here for a while.

It was all mine...

Then we went to Pylos, had a little history lesson at the fort of Pylos about two major naval battles that happened at the port (one in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, one in the war for Greek independence from the Ottomans). Then we were given the option of checking out the tiny museum on underwater archaeology. We were given a tour through the one-room exhibit by the head archaeologist of the site, who showed us artifacts found in various ancient shipwrecks and then casually told us that 15 days ago he had discovered  the remains of an underwater city dating back 5000 years. Atlantis anyone? Also, if we had been a week later, we would have been able to see these remains by means of scuba diving or a glassbottom boat!

Then we went to Nestor's Palace, another Mycenaean settlement. (Not photogenic enough to warrant any pictures, especially because I was at this point concerned that my camera battery would die before we hit the big guns of Olympia and Delphi)