We arrived in Athens and had booked to see the New Acropolis Museum plus sights along the way which supposedly allowed for “photographic opportunities”. I don’t know why but I assumed this would mean a stop at Parliament to see the guards with pom-poms and even, if we were lucky, the changing of the guards. Not so although we did see 2 guards being escorted back to barracks. I should have taken a photo from the bus but I still thought we’d be stopping.
We drove from the port through areas that seemed to be stuck in a 1980s time zone, some buildings gutted and many in a state of disrepair. The traffic was crazy and it appeared that few motor scooters stuck to their lane. BTW, motorbike helmets look to be by choice.
Our guide was very keen to show us the many stadiums (mostly new) and we had a lecture on the various basketball and football stars (or hero’s as she liked to call them) who obviously played for her teams.
I would love to say I took the above photo but the traffic was so chaotic that I couldn’t get a decent shot.
We stopped in the Makrygianni district which is where the New Acropolis Museum is situated. It is described as a “hip and happening” area (so me, right?).
We walked through Plaka, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Athens and right at the foot of the Acropolis hill.
This led to the museum which was the star attraction.
The museum is built over ruins of an ancient neighbourhood and they, very cleverly, installed thick glass floors so you can see the ruins when you walk around the ground floor. There was a subterranean walkway which brought you feet from the ruins and I was looking forward to that however we weren’t given the opportunity to go there and so I missed taking some interesting photos.
Once inside the museum the tour began and, I have to say, the museum is absolutely amazing. The Parthenon has been totally stripped and everything is now in this museum, including the 6 statues that were at the entrance of the Parthenon.
We could have stayed in the museum all day but only had a couple of hours before we were moved on to the shopping district of Plaka.
I was always told never to wear spots and stripes. I can see why
On the way back to Plaka we passed Athena and a friend.
We wandered through Plaka and ended up in a cafe (8 Euro for a soft drink) where we waited for the rest of the group.
There were quite a number of tours of the city ranging from walking tours to electric bike tours to Segway tours, electric scooters and private cars. We came across the following collection of electric bikes and motor scooters, this one using some high tech security measures – a brick and 2 witches cones.
We bid farewell to Athens.
Tomorrow we go to Olympia.
C
Rhudimentary 