Travel

Friday, 15 April 2022

The week after Easter is the only week off I have from teaching until July (the semester at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology began at the end of February), so I decided I should take the opportunity to go somewhere. There are direct flights between Wroclaw and Athens on Mondays and Fridays, so I could go for either 3 days or 6 days exlcuding travel. I chose 6.

Wroclaw Airport no longer requires a COVID test for fully-vaccinated passengers, and I went through check-in and security extremely quickly.

I did have a bit of trouble getting from the Athens airport to my AirBnB: after getting on the wrong bus (I had actually printed out directions beforehand, but apparently there are several “Airport to Piraeus” busses, I took one that does not go near the AirBnB), I realized my mistake and thanks to Google Maps was able to figure out when to get off of my wrong bus and how to take a train to where I needed to go. Unfortanately, said train was “3 minutes away” for 10 straight minutes. Eventually, I did arrive safely.

Although I was tired from my (unexpectedly long) trip, I wanted to check in with my family's Seder in DC. My apartment is quite small and not good for hosting, so I had decided to leave Friday rather than deal with trying to host dinner there or deal with regret over not hosting a Seder. But I love Passover Seders, so I'm glad I was able to drop in on this one.

Saturday, 16 April 2022

A small park near by AirBnB.

The previous picture was misleading as to the beauty of the area near my AirBnB. There are multiple open dumpsters and grifittied walls. The room itself is quite nice though (except for the bathtub—more on that later). Here's a photo of the apartment:

The breakfast places near my AirBnB mostly serve pastries and coffee (such shops are seemingly everywhere in Athens), but since I don't drink coffee and am trying to at least somewhat observe Passover (no bread), that's not idea. Towards the center of the city there are more diverse restaurants.

I like to wear this shirt (“Life is good. Explore.”) when I travel. This photo was taken from the rooftop of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. It’s a bit hard to see, but that’s the Parthenon in the background (upper right). Here's a zoomed-in photo:

Many of the installations from the National Museum of Contemporary Art are very “out there”, but this one is realtively straightforward: the hanging photographs each show dividing lines of various kinds—geographical, political, social—from arond world (including Ireland, Ethiopia, and the West Bank), and the text on the floor explains each one.

Sunday, 17 April 2022

It rained the whole day Sunday, so I stayed in my AirBnB, reading and working and watching TV. Apparently Greek Netflix includes Friends, which Polish Netflix does not.

On Saturday I had picked up food from a grocery store and made charoset (traditional Passover mix of nuts and fruits and wine) and hard-boiled eggs that night, so I was able to eat on Sunday without leaving the apartment.

The one thing I am not pleased about with my AirBnB is its bath/shower. The place was advertised as having a bathtub, but in the photos the curtain was closed. Now I know why: the tub is very small—I cannot even extend my legs in it—and moreover it has a step (or maybe it's supposed to be a seat?) in it. So when using it as a shower one's feet cannot be more than 6 inches (15 cm) apart unless one showers in a Captain Morgan pose. It's really a strange design.

Monday, 18 April 2022

I began Monday at the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, where a guide explained the workings of the world's oldest mechanical clock and calendar, which was at the Tower of Winds in 300 BCE. Afterwards, I went to the Tower of Winds—or what's left of them—myself! If you look just to the left of the bottom pot in the museum photo, you can see a model of the original Tower with its two columns at the entrance. Those are exactly the partial columns that are behind me on the right photo.

For those curious about the mechanical clock, here is the short version: water dripping at a constant rate moves a bucket down throughout the day, with tick marks at different heights showing the time. Once it's full the the bucket automatically empties, and as it moves back upward it clicks a gear with 365 teeth. This slightly rotates a cylinder that acts as a calendar, also showing the length of the daylight hours at that time of year.

Some more ruins near the Tower of Winds. The Roman Agora (Forum) is also nearby, but it was just starting to rain when I took the photo above, so I decided to skip the Agora for today.

It only rained for a couple hours, so I went back out again Monday night. Here we have Hadrian's Arch, which separates the original Greek city of Athens from newer Roman section. By “newer”, I mean around 100 CE.

Tuesday, 19 April 2022

The only part of this trip that I planned/booked in advance was a day cruise leaving from Piraeus and going to the islands of Agistri, Metopi (on some days they do Moni instead), and Aegina.

We had 20 people on the boat, which I think was a good number: plenty of conversations if desired but not too crowded. The maximum for this particular trip is 40, which they probably hit every day in summer.

On Agistri, we biked around the edge of the island (which is where all the people are—the middle is entirely forrest).

A view of Agistri from a spot we got to by mostly biking and then a bit of hiking. The water is exceptionally clear by the shore and very bright blue further out.

I don't generally think I look good without a shirt on, but I must say I rather like this picture! This is off the the coast of Metopi, where we stopped for swimming and lunch. (Metopi itself is a very small island with just one building on it.) The water was very cold, but after the first minute it was nice.

Lunch on the boat was pretty nice. Mostly I drank tea and wine, but the Greek beer looked better for the photo. Also, feta cheese is noticeable better in Greece. I usually don't like feta, but here it's pretty good.

The final stop was Aegina, which is considered to have the best pistachios in the world. Shops sell the nuts themselves but also p. butter, p. pesto, p. ice cream, and more. The free samples they gave succeeded in getting to buy some because everything I tasted was absurdly delicious.

Since the trip included lunch on the boat, I did not go to any of the many beach restaurants. They do look nice, though. (Most do have actual tables, too.)

On the trip back to port. This is not me, but I was doing the same thing a few minutes before I took this photo.

Our ship left from the lower port at Piraeus. The upper port is much bigger and is where you find the floating-city type of cruise ships. I had planned to stay near Piraeus till dark and get some nice sunset pictures, but it was getting very cloudy again, so I gave up on that idea. Still, it was a really great day.

Wednesday, 20 April 2022

I started the day at the National Archaeological Museum. Most of the pottery found on mainland Greece is in fragments. The complete vases here are from graves in Cyprus.

Personally, find the Linear B tablets more fascinating than most of the pottery (there is some impressive pottery, though).

With reconstructed art, I often wonder how much is certain and how much is guesswork. In this case the plaque on the pictured statue states that they don't know whether the right hand with the cup is actually part of this statue.

Similary, the colored panel (you can see the full thing in the previous photo) is an artist's assumption of the colors used in the painted stele next to it. The black paint eventually turned the stone lighter, so we know the cup and all the outlines are correct.

Statues from the 600s BCE are always sitting, standing completely straight, or have one foot slightly forward. By the 400s, some statues are much more dynamic, and even the standing ones are noticably more detailed.

The Antikythira Mechanism is sometimes described as “the world's oldest computer”. It was an amazingly complex and compact gear system used to model the solar system. All known fragments are kept at the National Archaeological Museum; they were recovered from a shipwreck (sank 100s BCE, found 1900 CE), hence the deteriored condition. There are also many modern replicas, both here and at other museums.

The newest exhibit at the Nat'l Archaeological Museum is titled “Hadrian and Athens: Conversing in an Ideal World”. It has dozens of busts or heads arranged to suggest conversations taking place between various historical figures. The five in the middle are (L to R) Metrodos, Polemon, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Herodes Atticus.

The Field of Areos is one of the largest green areas in central Athens. Vendor tents (mostly clothing and nicknkacks) line the walkthough through the center of the park, with trampolines and other kid-focused activities at certain spots. There are also plenty of quiet nooks surrounded by just trees and plants.

The Central Municipal Athens Market has tons of produce, seafood, and meats. Trigger warning: the next photo has lots of dead animals.

More of the the Central Municipal Athens Market. I've seen plenty of fish markets and meat markets before, but I don't think any of them have had so many hanging sheep with the their bloddy skinless heads still attached.

I finally got around the Acropolis itself. This is the view from just outside the ticketed area (south-east entrance).

The area immediately around the Acropolis includes several smaller ruins, some originally from there (such as the Sanctuary of Asklepios, pictured) and some that have been moved next to the Acropolis to make restoration and study easier.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus could hold 6,000 people. In the 100s BCE it had a wooden roof, but that was burned in 267 CE. In the 1960s, the marble seats and sairs were reconstructed so that the area can be used for performances again.

I took this photo on the way down the Acropolis. On the way up, you enter from the right edge of this photo. Because of the high wall, I didn't realize how close I was to top as I was until I rounded the corner and saw those huge columns in the center.

Those columns are part of the Propylaia. From this angle you can see that the Propylaia is really three connected buildings. Construction began in 437 BCE, but because of the start of the Peloponnesian War (Athens v. Sparta), construction ended in 432 BCE with the two side buildings incomplete. The middle building was used as art gallery in the 100s CE.

After walking through the center of the Propylaia, you finally see the Parthenon itself on the right and the Erechtheion on the left. From around 456 BCE to 465 CE (over 1000 years), there was an enormous statue of Athena in between them, but it was then moved to Constantinople and in 1203 was destroyed during a riot.

That's me. And that's the Parthenon. 😁

A view of Athens from the top of the Acropolis. On the right is the at the top of the hill is the Philopappos Monument.

And now a view of the Acropolis from below (south-west). At the top, the Propylaia is on the left. Behind me is the hill with the Philopappos Monument at the top.

The wooded area around Philopappos includes the so-called “Prison of Socrates”. Although its original use is unknown, it was probably never a prison at all. During WWII, many artifacts from the Acropolis were brought here and safeguarded, with the walls sealed.

Today, the artifacts from the Acropolis are in the dedicated Acroplis Museum. I decided to skip this museum in favor of dinner, but I did walk around the outside. The museum is built over ruins from the Roman / early Byzantine era, with several openings and glass floors.

I finally had some Greek mousaka, which has eggplant, potatoes (or sometimes zucchini or nothing instead), and minced lamb. By the way, restaurants in Greece give free water. Poland does not, which still annoys me sometimes. Also, it bears repeating that feta cheese in Athens is so much better than in any other place I've been.

Thursday, 21 April 2022

Technically I went back to work today. Politechnika is only closed for the first half of the week, but it happens that all my classes this semester are Monday-Wednesday, so I'm in Athens for the whole week. Since I'll be flying tomorrow, I moved my usual Friday office hours to today. Thus I stayed near the apartment untill afternoon.

The spot 2 minutes' walk from my AirBnB where I went for brunch. Side note: Greece still uses plastic straws. I literally cannot remember the last time I saw a plastic straw before this week.

I also started collecting my things from around the apartment in order to pack later tonight. This is the kitchen in my AirBnB apartment. It is small but perfectly fine for one person.

After finishing work for the day, I headed south for some beach time. This is at Paralia Agios Kosmas.

The metro and bus system in the center of Athens (and in Piraeus, for the short time I was there) has been very good, but whenever I've gone far south of Athens there have been major delays or out-of-service routes. Getting to Paralia Agios Kosmas and then moving from there to Glyfada Beach both took longer than I and Google expected.

Some reading with my feet in the water by Glyfada Beach. I only stayed in this exact spot for a few minutes because, as you can see, the occasional large wave would splash the book.

I was hoping to see a nice sunset from Glyfada Beach, but again the weather did not cooperate. Directly above me the skies were perfectly clear. In fact the only clouds in the sky were over where the sun was.

The suburb of Glyfada just after sunset.

Syntagma Square at night, with the Hellenic Parliament in the background.

The entrance to the area with the Tower of Winds is much more impressive at night, but you cannot enter, and the tower itself is not lit up.

The metro station near the Acropolis has 3D reproductions of the Parthenon's north frieze lining the wall. (The Syntagma station has a showcase of artifacts that were unearthed during the construction of the metro station itself.)

Friday, 22 April 2022

I ended Passover a few hours early in order to get some koulouri—circular sesame bread—on my final day in Greece. These small vendors are ubiquitous in Athens.

Some of the metro stations connect to train stations, and train stations usually have large lockers. I stored my luggage here for the day after checking out of my AirBnB.

Aside from the “standing in the same spot as...” feeling, I would say that there is really not much to the site of the Lyceum of Aristotle. But I was there.

One of the passengers on my day-cruise said they really liked the Museum of Cycladic Art, so I made sure to visit. While the Archaeological Museum also had several examples of Cycladic art, the signage at the dedicated museum was often more informative.

Both the Cycladic and the Archaeological Museum had several of these “violin-shaped figurines”. We know they are meant to model females because some have clear pubic markings. Some are just unmarked violin shapes.

These animal-shaped pottery pieces from 1700-1600s BCE are kind of adorable.

Most of the Museum of Cycladic Art is in darkened rooms, with only the artifacts and plaques illuminated.

Non-sequitur: there are a lot of stray/feral cats in Greece. It's not just Athens: I saw several on the island of Agistri, and according to Google there are “community cat” populations all over Greece.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens, in front of the Hellenic Parliament. The writing consists of two quotes from History of the Peloponnesian War and the names of several battles from the 1900s in which Greek soldiers died.

I spent most of the rest of the day at the National Garden, which is right next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, across from Syntagma square.

There are some landmarks within the National Gardens, including this pond with a huge number of turtles.

There is a small zoo within the National Gardens too.

The view from the steps of Zappeion Hall, which was built in the 1880s for the first modern Olympic games (today it is a conference center)

I had read online that the extensive work being done on the Temple of Olympian Zeus make it not worth visiting up close at the moment. So I took this photo from outside the gates, and that seemed good enough.

Time to go. 😢

Cinnabon is not Greek, but I've never seen it in Poland, and I'm on my immediately-post-Passover kick. So that's my treat for myself while I compose this final travel blog entry. I hope you enjoyed following along!