A city can also be relaxing

Today is our second – and sadly, our last – day in Athens. Today will be quite different from yesterday; we won’t spend so much time in museums, but we will spend more time outdoors, enjoying other activities that the city offers.

Our first of the day: the central market of Athens. The market would be a nice break from ruins and it would also be the perfect place to buy kalamata olives for our Greek salad we are having tonight.

Getting to central Athens is again an easy journey. We have taken the tram all the way to the centre and then the metro to Omonio, the closest station to the market.

We first visit the meat section.

We skip the normal butchers which sell the usual stuff we get in the UK: steaks, chickens, burgers, etc. . We move on to the ones which sell unusual and – to me – rather  disturbing body parts.

So, anyone for large pork feet?

A beef stomach. The way this has been displayed reminds me of one of my scarves.

Pork intestines. They look like nice handcrafted candles.

A pork tongue, a bit phallic. What would I be thinking of?

This post is getting kinkier. Guess what these ones are?

Charming sheep. After what the poor animals have gone through and still smiling!

I am not a meat eater, the smell of meat makes me nauseous. But I must admit that everything looks incredibly healthy and clean.

We move on to my favourite section: the fish market.

The smell of fish is really intense and it wakes up my appetite.

Here we have beautifully displayed salmon fillets.

Any ideas of what the name of this fish is? I have not seen it before. I am sure they are delicious barbequed.

Again, everything looks so healthy and fresh. Look at this meaty piece of monkfish.

Mmmn, mini-octopus. Would not they be nice simply fried in flour and drizzled with a bit of lemon?

One of our favourite fishes: raw tuna. Only €3.50 a kilo? Shame we don’t have a proper freezer bag to put it so that we can have it tonight with our Greek salad!

The ambience here is crazy. Fishermen and butchers are shouting out – presumably prices – to the public. It is like being in the stock market.

We cross the road to see the fruit and vegetable markets. It is much quieter here. They sell pretty much all Mediterranean products.

We find our olives. Now we have a problem, too much choice! We go for the normal olives you put in a Greek salad.

Ok, enough of food. It is only 12.00 and we are feeling quite hungry. But before we break for lunch, we shall fit in some ruins.

We head off to the Keramikos, a burial settlement. It is not very interesting; dilapidated tombs and sculptures symbolising immortality and wealth. Only rich people used to be buried in such imposing graves.

We go through it pretty quickly. Since we left the food market, we can’t stop thinking about lunch.

We are not sure what this bull is to do with death and religiosity. Perhaps, it was used to scare people from looting graves.

The last photo of graves.

On our way out, there is an orthodox church. This is the typical architecture of these type of churches, the plan being in the form of a crucifix with its dome in the middle.

We head off for lunch. Today we are attempting again to have the Gyros pitta, a typical Greek snack consisting of chicken or pork, fries, tomatoes, lettuce and tzatziki, all wrapped up in roasted pitta bread. We got a bit lost in translation yesterday and ordered something different.

We find a place five minutes from the burial, packed with tourists but also locals, all having Gyros. So we don’t look any further.

We both went for the chicken.

We know what a proper Gyros pitta looks like so we got it right this time!

Gary doesn’t look very happy about it. Perhaps, he wants to have two!

Lunch has all gone. It was good and although small, still quite filling. We now need a bit of exercise. We head off to climb the highest hill of Athens.

On our way, we come across a student protest. Our guide pointed out that due to the financial difficulties, the Greeks were always on strike. This is the first time we have seen one.

Perhaps a little more studying might get them a job, not sure protesting looks so good on the CV! GDR

I am impressed about the ambience in Athens. It doesn’t feel like a big city. You can certainly breath some sort of calmness and relaxation. There is not much traffic. People don’t rush around, most of them are comfortable, sitting in coffee shops, making the most of the sun.

The city is quite clean and free of pollution. I have heard they had a big traffic problem a few years ago. It seems they have dealt with it pretty effectively.

Wandering around the streets is like wandering around a garden. There are trees planted everywhere.

Even on balconies.

The gardens here are left to grow wild. I quite like them. To make a nice garden we don’t need to intervene by applying fancy designs and introducing foreign flora. Autochthonous nature can also be beautiful.

Orange blossom is at its fullest now. The scent invades the city. It is fresh, floral, fragrant.

We eventually get to the bottom of the hill. Ready to climb? It should only take 20 minutes.

Although it is a short walk – 20 minutes uphill – , they have put out benches all the way up for people to rest.

Guess what we find as soon as we reach the top, yeap! a taverna. Greeks love them. Cities and towns have lots of them, and they are always packed. This country may be bankrupt but what the hell!

Like Italy, Greece is also a very religious country. Anywhere seems to be a good place to build a church.

The views of the city from here are excellent.

The city looks quite dense from here. Interestingly, you don’t get that feeling when walking around its streets.

The sea has such big impact on big cities. It brings them freshness, colour, clean air, life…

I could stay here for hours.

The last site of the day, and we have to go, it is included in our ticket: the theatre of Dionysos, it is just outside the Acropolis.

We find a path that goes around the Acropolis. On the way, they have put up sign boards telling you the story of each piece of rocks, as well as a piece of mythology.

Now this is brilliant, they have gone to great lengths to make this place accessible, accessible to people in wheelchairs.

First we have this stair platform lift…

Which takes you to this amazing construction lift, so precarious, hugging the cliff edge, like some fairground attraction.

I am not sure that wheelchairs could even get to this point, the terrain is so uneven, but at the top it is even worse. Only suitable for 4×4 wheelchairs I think, but the sentiment is correct. I wonder when it was last used? GDR

And then we have the museum, we didn’t go in, a little bit of ruin overload had set in.

I seem to remember this was at one time an international competition that was never realised.

Not sure why, maybe cost.

Interesting structure that spans across more ruins.

Not sure about the building. What are all those doors for? Seems a bit obese, A missed opportunity maybe. GDR

Time to get back home and say good-bye to Athens. We are now heading north, towards Delphi, the last ruins we will see in Greece.

SM