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| The trip - Athens |
| Sunday, March 11, 2012 |
Contd from - The trip - prelude
The flight to Athens was a long ten hours. BSK was not fussy at all. She would stand in the arm rest in the middle and want to look behind all the time. One of us ate while the other took care of BSK. When BSK slept we would take turns holding her and each of us even managed to watch a movie. I saw "I dont know how she does it". Quite apt! Its true there are guys waiting to pounce on opportunities that women with family cannot take. And it is also true that once we make ourselves invaluable, folks would work around your schedule. I liked that concept, but Sara Jessica Parker was irritating.
We reached Athens at 9:30AM local time. I prayed we dont lose our bags like the last time we were in Europe. Since it was a straight flight it was highly improbably, we happily picked our bags in a trolly and headed out towards exit. It took us about 25mins from landing to exiting, including clearing immigration and baggage claim, quickest exit following an international flight I would say. Nicos was our taxi guy, he waited for us with a name plate at the exit. Nicos was probably in his early 40s, a portly guy, with a friendly smile we warmed up to him right away. As a side note, after exploring renting cars to booking bus tours to using public transport, we decided to take the expensive option of a private taxi and I would say it worked out best for us with everything in consideration. We were so tired and just wanted to get to the hotel and having someone waiting for us to make us feel taken care of felt good. We were so happy to get all our bags that we forgot our stroller at the baggage claim. DH ran in and Nicos went in to help him out, while I waited in the taxi with BSK and the luggage. I took in the city whatever was visible, wondering if it was safe, it very much was. The weather was absolutely gorgeous.
DH and Nicos came out with the stroller in a few minutes, and we were off to the Hotel at the Plaka. Nicos gave a brief tour of Athens on the drive. Greece is 70% mountains, I found it to be very similar to California. Athens is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. What a beautiful location! DH and I were excited about Greece for all the history, but we were in for a geographically exciting treat too! It took us 30 minutes to get to the hotel, once we got into Athens, traffic seemed a bit bad. DH and I decided no way we could have managed to drive there. We stayed at Hotel Herodian, it was located very close to the Acropolis Museum. Nicos helped with the luggage, the valet at the hotel helped with the luggage, everything was smoothly taken care of, precisely what I wanted and we checked in to our room.
We decided to take it easy this day. We freshened up and walked over to Plaka to grab some lunch. Acropolis is the first main attraction in Athens and the rock stood up majestically in the center of the city. Plaka is a shopping/dining area close to Acropolis. Acropolis means Edge of the city. And its a small rocky hill around which Athens buzzes. One thing that excited us about Greece was the fact that it has a history that goes way back. To stand there and imagine the stories of the kings from many many ages ago in BC, it is grass itching. Add to that the many myths and the many mythological creatures and Gods blurring the line between fact and myth. I was told to be wary of pick pockets. We saw many peddlers and beggars. Smoking was legal everywhere looked like and practically everyone was smoking, and every place reeked of it. We picked a random place to eat, had crepes and Greek coffee. We were slightly jetlagged, BSK was sleeping mostly.
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| Crepes and coffee |
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| Old fashioned streets |
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| Pretty homes |
We decided to head up Acropolis. We very much liked the fact that there were not many tourists around. We were able to see the city in its true color. And we didnt have many long lines to wait in too, which would have been difficult with BSK's moods. We had a map. But like any unplanned old city, it proved useless. We saw some stairs leading up somewhere and we thought that must be it, and started walking up. We saw some totally pretty homes, old fashioned, surrounded by lovely plants and trees all on the slope of the rock. The homes and pathways were pained in white and looked very rustic. We were the only ones walking. We saw the big fence surrounding the Acropolis and thought we were close and walked around the fence, but somehow we were lost. Apparently we were in some residential neighbourhood and were moving away from the Acropolis entrance. We saw stray cats and dogs, very much like in India but apparently these were safe and dont attack. A resident later pointed us in the right way and we got to the entrance of Acropolis.
As I said, Acropolis was on a rock, it was quite barren. We got the tickets, no line and headed in. We saw the Theater of Herod Atticus first. It was built in the AD by Romans. A little further up we saw the Theater of Dionysious. There were many Licensed Guides looking for tourists to render their services. We didnt get any. We walked further up to the Propylaea. Propylaea is the entrance to Acropolis. It looked massive. There was the Nike temple on one side. Nike is the Goddess of Victory in Greek Mythology. We were to come across many such terms that we commonly use nowadays that have relevence in the Greek mythology and Greece in general.
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| Theater of Herod Atticus |
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| Parthenon |
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| Erecthion |
As we entered, the Parthenon was the first monument that gaped at us in its entirety. It was in ruins mostly. We were to see what a grand structure it was later when we visited the Acropolis Museum. There was reconstruction work happening on all the monuments. Parthenon was built in 400BC by Pericles for the Goddess of Athena. To the left was Erectheon. This building had some sculpture work still intact. According to the mythology here is were Poseidon and Athena had a contest over who will be the patron of the city. Athena won and hence the name Athens. Poseidon is another Greek God, God of the Seas.
We walked around the Parthenon to the other side, the view of Parthenon from this side was much better without reconstruction equipments visible. Below was Athens spread out. Buildings and buildings and buildings all over. We could see the Temple of Zeus on one end. On the other side was Mt Lycabettos. It was quite hot, and with all the walking, and sleeplessness, we were a bit tired. We walked around for a bit, taking pictures, doing some people watching. DH was wearing BSK, so I was talking all the pictures.
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| Temple of Zeus |
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| Athens |
We climbed down and explored the streets. The streets looked like they were from ancient ages. Narrow, cobbled streets. We stopped for some coffee at the Plaka. I think I had filter coffee and it was totally awesome. I had soo much coffee during the entire trip, I loved the coffee too. Simple filter coffee tasted so out of the world. BSK was very playful, in a good mood, having had her sleep, while we were tired and jetlagged. We got lost again and asked someone the way to the Acropolis Museum. A lady who was returning from work said she was going that way and asked us to follow her. The people in general seemed to be very friendly and helpful. I did not see any sign of strain because of the bail out and the crisis that Greece is in.
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| BSK at Plaka |
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| Coffee at Plaka |
We visited the Acropolis Museum next which was open until late because it was a Friday. Many sculptures and remains from Acropolis which were still ebing worked on were here. The Parthenon is a geometric marvel, too advanced for the years in which it was built apparently. We also saw remains of the ancient city under the museum. Quite eerie. We sat down for a short documentary on the fifth floor. With the jetlag that was enough to push us into desperate sleep mode. We decided we should head back and order room service for dinner and call it a night.
We had a dinner that was too oily and too tangy for our taste. Packed a bag for an overnight stay the next night, fed and changed BSK and tried to sleep. BSK slept until 2AM and woke up and started playing like it was mid day. DH and I took turns to put her to sleep. I wouldnt say it was too bad. But really without DH's help it would not have been possible. BSK took 4 days to get over jetlag. Fifth night she slept 8 hours in the night, 9 to 5. She got over jetlag faster than I did. Does that say something? |
posted by SK @ 5:34 PM  |
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| 5 Comments: |
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How nice! How perfectly wonderful that you took a trip? That too to Greece. Love BSK's photo - she has a beautiful smile - seems to radiate from her heart. Love how babies do that right? Laugh whole-heartedly, smile without holding back. We forget so much as we learn (read age)!
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Cool trip! Cute BSK! Now I want to go to Greece!
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Saumya, Thanks! :--) Yes babies smiles are soooooooo cute. :--))
Yaadayaada , you should totally go to greece! :--)
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Reminds me of my trip to Athens!! We enjoyed reading Greek letters, with all their alphas, deltas, gammas..
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Shoba, Yes I remember your trip post too!! :--))
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How nice! How perfectly wonderful that you took a trip? That too to Greece. Love BSK's photo - she has a beautiful smile - seems to radiate from her heart. Love how babies do that right? Laugh whole-heartedly, smile without holding back. We forget so much as we learn (read age)!