The Acropolis

On Tuesday, June 5th, the group walked to the entrance to the Acropolis, the "High City" that was the religious center of the ancient Athenians.  There we saw the military guard march down to their truck, then met our local guide, Faye, an archaeologist with connections to the University of Minnesota.  We looked down on the Theater of Dionysus (where the great Greek tragedies and comedies were premiered back in the fifth century B.C.), and the later, Roman-era musical theater, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, where open-air concerts are now held.  Then we walked up through the Propylaea ("Fore-Gate") past the Temple of Nike ("Victory").

After being shown the Parthenon (the great Temple of Athena) and the Erectheon, with its Caryatids (columns in the shape of women), we were given time to wander around on our own.

Afterwards, we met again below and walked to the Acropolis Museum, a big, wonderful space built in 2009, after our last visit to Athens.  Its interior was designed to be the size and shape of the Parthenon, so as to show off to advantage that temple's friezes, if the British ever give them back (we saw the Parthenon or Elgin Marbles in the British Museum two years ago).  Unfortunately, I misunderstood a sign that said "No Photography" (it only meant that you couldn't take pictures on part of the ground floor) and left my camera inside my daypack in the cloakroom.

We had the rest of the day to ourselves.  Mary Joy and I ate lunch at the museum restaurant (okay), then wandered through the Plaka and Monastiraki neighborhoods, visiting some churches old and new, including the 19th-century Orthodox Cathedral.  We went to the Agora, which we didn't find impressive, though some others in our group went to the museum in the restored Stoa of Attalos and found that fascinating.

We met Kate, one of our group, in the Agora, and from there we went together around the Acropolis to Filopappos Hill, which we climbed for some good views.  Then we found our way back down to the hotel, having completed our circumnavigation of the Acropolis.

We wanted to eat dinner just up the street, at the highly-recommended Mani Mani, but they were completely full, so we went back to Dio Dekares i Oka, where we had a delightful dinner while watching in awe as the hostess/waitress went at lightning speed from showing patrons the various dishes to taking their orders to settling their accounts, over the whole busy restaurant.  It took our breath away, but was never frantic.

To Athens

On Monday June 4th, we took a taxi to the airport and caught a short (35 minutes in the air) Olympic flight to Athens.  We took the Metro into town and, following the directions sent to us by Rick Steves Tours, walked a few blocks to our hotel, the Acropolis Select.  On the way, Mary Joy was surprised to see, in a restaurant window, a whole lamb turning on a spit.

For lunch, we relied on recommendations from TripAdvisor and a YouTube foodie and went to a nearby restaurant, Dio Dekares i Oka.  There we were given a tour of the day's specials, sitting in a row of pans, from which we chose.  TripAdvisor and YouTube were right.

At 6:00 we met our tourmates and guide, a young Athenian named Danae, for our Rick Steves "Athens and the Heart of Greece in 14 Days" tour.  There were 22 of us in all: 17 women and 5 men, all American.  Eleven (six from California alone) were from the West; five from the Northeast; four from the Midwest; two from the Southeast.  I would guess that four were older than 70 and three were younger than 40, so the age range skewed a lot lower than our Overseas Adventure Travel tours..

After introducing ourselves and getting the preliminary information out of the way, we all walked up the hill to a restaurant (I forget its name), where we had an okay meal, in view of the Acropolis, while the standard Greek bouzouki-guitar duo (they were very good) played, sometimes along with a female vocalist.

A Quiet Sunday in Chania

On Sunday, June 3rd, we went to get a bougatsa for breakfast at the bougatsa place that both Lonely Planet and Tatiana had recommended, Bougatsa tou Iordanis.  While we were there, lots of people came in for their Sunday morning takeout order.  A bougatsa is a lot of cheese cooked in very thin phyllo dough.  You can then sprinkle it with sugar and/or cinnamon.  It was fine, but too much cheese for our taste. 

Then we went to the 10 o'clock mass at the Catholic cathedral.  Afterwards, we walked out the breakwater to the lighthouse.

For lunch, we went looking for a particular restaurant, but not finding it, we took our chances with Semiramis, and were pleasantly surprised.

That evening, we had a reservation for Thalassino Ageri, and walked all the way there, east of town, on the seashore amid the abandoned tannery buildings.  We had, as our main course, two small fish, a red snapper and a red mullet.  We enjoyed it all very much, eating out by the water as the sun set on our last day in Crete.