One of our‘hop offs’ from our tourist bus was at the National Garden where John did a fine recreation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 'The Birds' by offering pigeons crackers. In the shade, it was lovely and cool so I stuck to those bits. The park has numerous statues scattered throughout. There is also a small petting zoo with chickens, ducks, geese, goats, bunnies, etc. Please note my exquisite picture of the king of the roost. Smell of hot chicken manure predominates but this will not be the worst thing I was to smell today. That pleasure was yet to come.
Our start to the day had been a short walk of 5 minutes to Omonia Square where our bus was more than 20 minutes late. The rival bus came along while we were waiting and she encouraged us to report them to the tourist police at local 171 as it was not good enough. Advised that we ask for our money back. We debated but decided that Athens traffic was horrific and he did have to take this huge bus through it. We decided that it was likely not fair to the driver so we left well enough alone.
We got to the Acropolis about 11 AM and it was already very hot. Unlike the last time I saw it when you could not get near anything, the place was nearly vacant. At a guess, I would say there were about 500 people at the top but considering the size of the Acropolis and the fact that this is high season when numbers should be in the thousands, this number is minuscule. The numbers are far less than we experienced at Pompeii and Knossos.
The marble on the path and stairs are still incredibly slick and steep. I am surprised that some has not taken a horrible fall on the stairs into the main area. Restoration continues with additions still being made. Pictures were posted of the site in 1909, 1929 and 2006 and you can see the differences. John’s father had seen the Acropolis during WWII and he had talked of his experience and the beauty of the place. That and the fact that you can see it lit up every night, he was somewhat disappointed when facing the actual site. As for me, it is the 2nd time I have seen it and, while it did not have the same impact that it did the first time, I still am amazed by the beauty and skill needed to build this in about 500 BC.
We spent about 2 hours looking at the buildings, admiring the views of the Theatre of Dionysius, the city and port of Piraeus as well as taking a pile of pictures.
We stopped at the refreshment stand and got two drinks for 9 Euros (way too much but I would have paid twice that to cool me down). I should mention that there was a water fountain with 2 of 4 spiggots working and, while the water was tepid, it was such a relief to wash hands and get some water.
Back on the bus to stop at the Central Market which apparently is open 24/7 offering a huge variety of food in a manner that most North Americans would not find pleasing. There is section which is only meats with goats and lambs hanging on hooks and butchers hacking bits off for sale. Another section was all about fish and boy did it smell. This was about 4 PM so the fish had all been sold and the vendors were cleaning up but it must have been 90 to 100 degrees today and hot fish is disgusting. These two sections are in two different buildings and each is about a block long each. We then headed into the fruit and veggie section. While the smell was more tolerable and they did have cherries for sale (which I do love) I was not tempted to buy anything. I guess my experience in North American has me too sanitized as I could see the rotting food matter on the floor, flies and garbage and it was not appealing in the lest.
Tomorrow the Plaka and the Agora.
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