Athens in late October

We arrived in Athens October 23, 2013, and found that, like Rome, the weather this time of year is perfect, about 22-23 C (72-74F).    More perfect perhaps because the humidity is about half that of Rome.  Also Athens has that beautiful Parthenon on the Acropolis, which goes really well with blue skies.

and museums with beautiful gold funereal trinkets

and statues dating back to 3300BC (had to read that number 5 times to be sure) that must have influenced Brancusi.

No surprise that Athens has many amazing world treasures, and it's wonderful to see them..  In it's current state, though, it is struggling. A few merchants told us they are working long hours and struggling to pay their taxes. Many storefronts are closed and covered with graffiti, especially in the neighborhoods.  People don't look happy, don't smile at strangers, don't defer to old ladies with heavy bags on the metro, many of the sidewalks are cracked and broken.  We couldn't read Greek and most of the signs are only in Greek letters so we couldn't tell where the bus was going without a smart phone (thank goodness we have Google-Boy).  It's a new experience to see words and feel completely illiterate.

Upon arrival, we taxied to our home exchange.  Yioanna and Chris had planned to be in our SF home at about the same time, but Chris' military job was moved to a remote island, they had to move their household and couldn't leave the country.  Nonetheless their extra apartment in Athens was available to us. Their friend, Ala, was there to let us into the apartment. Yioanna, a ceramicist, had made personal coffee cups for us, left wine and snacks, and asked Ala to bring in two tasty dinners.  The apartment is small, but larger than most hotel rooms, and with plenty of closet and drawer storage (not always the case in a home exchange) we felt very comfortable.  She also located the nearest Wind store for the much needed Greek SIM card and emailed a Google map for our walk there.

Danice had brought from Rome a serious chest cold, which brother Fig had brought in from Paris.   Fortunately emailing our San Francisco doctor, she took all preventative measures to keep her bronchials open and eventually got antibiotics and prednisone from the local pharmacist to keep feared pneumonia in abeyance.  Two weeks later, the night before we left Athens, Paul started coming down with the tenacious virus.   (We have now brought it back to the US.)

There was a large park across the street from our apartment which included the Athens Court House.  That meant the multitude of coffee bars and a wonderful Taverna

with Mama in the kitchen were all within a block of the apartments to serve the lawyers and their clients, BUT they closed before dinner and on weekends.

So next morning we got our Wind SIM card, and our weekly transit pass (a terrific bargain at 14 Euro), then had a very good home cooked lunch at the local Taverna and brought in food.  Ready to go!

Our next day we walked a long way down to the center of Athens to two major squares, Omonia and Syntagma. The walk took us through a lovely park, a not so lovely neighborhood - buildings not very well maintained ugly graffiti marking the many closed stores - and a neighborhood with lots of cafes, book stores, record stores, and many young people. At Syntagma Square we found a great bookstore, Public, that has a section of English Language books. We had drinks in the huge square then found a bus home for a light dinner.  Danice had begun to notice various large dogs without apparent owners lying around Athens on the sidewalks, on their side, heads down.  It was warmish but not hot; it seemed as though even the doggies were depressed.

Saturday we covered a lot of neighborhoods looking for a Farmers Market. Instead we found local produce stores and a bakery, and a great place for a Souvlaki lunch. Unlike California and Italy, it was difficult to find good fruits here; we haven't figured out why that is.  Then we bussed to a big garden behind the Parliament Building for a beautiful walk, heading home up a long major street lined with nice stores and large public buildings, most covered at ground level in graffiti - very sad to see.  At a very spiffy donut /ice cream shop

we tried a couple of their specialties. The chocolate ice cream was terrific with some special South American spice.  As the sun set, we walked back to the area with cafes and young people, but not many were out. The Cafe owner of "Ginger Ale"

from New York told us she wanted to save up and sell out to get back to the US, but with "the crisis" she can do neither and is stuck here with two kids in bad schools. She also told us why there were so many bar/cafes in Athens. Since the Greek financial crisis and the large failure of small businesses noted above, rents are cheap and it is relatively inexpensive to set up a bar/cafe. She also implied because it is a cash business it is easy for people to hide their receipts.

We wanted to wait til Danice felt really good to do the whole Acropolis.  Finally on Sunday, the bronchials had opened up so she could take deep breaths and climb long hills, so we set out.  A ticket to the Parthenon and other nearby attractions was for four days, so we were enthused.  We arrived at 8:30AM, just ahead of the tour buses.  The golden stone buildings looked great against the pure blue sky in the sparkling morning light.

We left after a few hours to eat lunch, planning to return about 4:00 PM to see the horizontal sunlight on the Parthenon.  Starving, we found a shaded restaurant on a crowded touristy street (not yet knowing where else to go) and had some mediocre Greek food.  Apparently always crowded when the ships are in; we need to learn to check the shipping schedule before visiting such major sites.

Back to the Parthenon later that afternoon, the sunlight on its west face was radiant.  But we were told our tickets were good for only one entry. So we climbed a small rocky hill with great views full of young people to watch the Parthenon to our east or the sunset to our west.

Then down into Plaka with narrow cobbled streets filled with coffee houses for the delicious drink everyone seemed to order, Cappucino Freddo.  (Italian food words are such a comfort; we can read and understand them.)

Yes, we are the oldest people in these coffee shops.  No one ever tells us why that is.

In the Plaka area we had some nice dusk views of more ruins.

And the view of the Acropolis lighted at night was pretty great.

Another day a visit to the Archaeological Museum was spectacular.

So many beautiful works of art. Here are some we really liked.

Very sexy Aphrodite

There were modern pieces placed throughout the museum

On another day, due to the continuing warm weather, we came back to Plaka to buy two very light cotton shirts for Paul and a linen one for Danice from a young Romanian woman.  No price tags, but she offered $5 off for cash.  Danice tried to become a bargainer, asking for another discount for multiple items, but she sweetly said she was sorry that was all she could give. A very smart, sociable young woman who works long hours 7 days/week and it's hard for her family, but she feels lucky to have work.  When asked, she recommended a wonderful fish restaurant back up the hill, Parrus.  Beautiful trees, breeze, old houses, good waiters who could tell us what was in each dish, and great food.  We went back on Danice's Birthday, but she thought she couldn't drink wine while taking antibiotics, so not quite as much fun for her.

We also came back another day for Paul to fully explore the old Greek Agora while Danice listened to her book in the shade.

One of the most intact Greek temples. Paul really loved this temple. The excessive number of pictures he took can attest to this.

It was strange how much he liked the stone carvings. In the Agora, unlike other sites, one can actually touch the pieces. Paul's sentimental side came out as he tried to imagine the stone masons carving these lovely designs and what there lives were like some 2500 years ago.

And another day to Hadrian's Arch and This Temple to Zeus. There were six rows of 20 of these giant columns. Must have been quite the place.

 In the back ground you can barely see the Acropolis with the Parthenon.

Yioanna suggested we take the metro north to a pleasant suburb Kiffisia.  Politicians and wealthy people build interesting homes here with Bauhaus influence,

 there is a beautiful public garden or two, and shopping streets lined with high-end shops.

 First thing we noticed, the dogs looked happier here and held their heads up. The people smiled and chatted; no one looked depressed.  It seems money makes a difference, especially to those who don't have enough.  (Never shying from stating the obvious.)  We succumbed and bought high end, deliciously rich pastries and brought them to a cafe to eat a bit with espresso.

The rest we brought home to eat over the next couple of days.

Another day we took the metro south to the Port of Pireaus, then a short bus-ride across to the beautiful bay of Mikrolimano,

 where we chose from many large empty seaside restaurants a nice Mom and Pop place. The restaurant was right on the water with a great view, and the kitchen was across the road.  When Danice ordered a fresh Sole that was 65E/KG and asked how big it would be, Mom took her across the street and into the kitchen to pick her fish, before she weighed it.  Wish we could do this everywhere.

Finally Danice passed Paul's wellness test to qualify for a trip to the island of Hydra, which will be covered in a separate posting.  That left us one day thereafter to re-visit favorite spots in Athens, back to Public to get Paul a page-turner mystery book for the plane home, farewell to Athens' sleeping dogs - still lying, and finally Wednesday November 6, time to fly home.
We were out in the streets before sunrise for our 6:30 flight, rain predicted and really strong gusting winds in our faces,  pulling luggage over cobbled streets to the nearby Taxi stand.  Our worst fear, that no Taxi would be waiting at 3:30AM, keys locked inside the apartment, was thankfully unrealized.  A solitary taxi driver was dozing at the stand and happy to get the fare to the airport. The downpour waited til we were near the airport......gotta love that weather!

Twenty (don't think about it, just live through it) hours later we touched down at beautiful SFO.  After seven weeks away, so happy to be home.  We ordered good Chinese food delivered and watched the final two episodes of Breaking Bad, which gave Danice crazy dreams.   Paul still has a long queue of recorded television dramas, so our work is cut out for us.