Once we arrived in Athens and deplaned and trained and subwayed and took a couple wrong turns finding Marble House, our hotel, it was time for lunch. Luckily, our subway stop, Sygrou-Fix, was at the end of a street filled with restaurants. We decided on Kalamaki Bar, and it was a wise decision. I had the Kalamaki Salad.
Kalamaki Special Pita and Spicy Cheese Spread.
Grilled Pork Skewer and Grilled Mushrooms.
All very good and under 30 euros.
After lunch we walked to the Acropolis promenade and took a stroll. First Parthenon sighting!
The peaceful promenade on a Thursday afternoon. It would not look so desolate on subsequent visits.
Up the hill towards the Acropolis gave a great view of the city and Lycabettus Hill.
An overcast day, but I was still struck by the Athen's sprawl. Buildings in every direction until they hit mountains or sea.
This might be my photo most representative of Athens. Random barbed wire and a beautiful background. As a visitor, you choose whether to focus on the foreground or the background.
A quiet street in Plaka. This could be Vienna.
And right around the corner...you never know what you'll find in Athens. It was exciting.
We stumbled on a political protest and quickly moved on.
Monastiraki Square was my favorite people watching in the city. Everyone comes to hang out here, young and old.
Acropolis in the background.
Right next to Monastiraki Square is Hadrian's Library. Athens is much like Rome in that you stumble across ancient ruins without even trying.
All the different textures in the wall.
Want to walk all over some 2000 year old mosaics? Go to Athens! Note to Athens: cordon that shit off!
Another angle of Monastiraki Square.
Tower of the Winds.
Hubs photographing God light falling just beyond the Roman Agora.
His better shot.
Doorway of the Medrise.
There is street art EVERYWHERE in Athens. It's a little out of control. Mainly because most of it just looks like sloppy graffiti to me. But I'm including my favorite pieces. Starting with a Pixies fan.
A civil graffiti scuffle starting with an apologetic tagger. Is it better that he/she showed remorse, but still defaced the previous creation? I'm thinking no. Props for the forgiveness from the previous tagger.
A typical alley in Athens.
Madame Elephant says talk to the hand.
It had been a long day so we decided to take in a movie at Cine Paris, a rooftop theater in the shadow of the Acropolis. Very cool. We watched Maleficent. One of my earliest memories is seeing Sleeping Beauty at the theater and becoming slightly obsessed with dragons. I may or may not have a tattoo. Anyways, it was fun to come full Aurora circle in Athens. And it only sprinkled on us for a few minutes, but the staff were amazing and gave us complimentary umbrellas.
