Sunday, 6.20: Sorry, the signal isn't that great atop the Acropolis.

Though there are many things to do and see outside of Athens, the city itself is also teeming with history and excitement. On Sunday mornings, the Monastiraki flea market is, supposedly, a thing to behold with people selling things from used DVDs to old coins to furniture to dial-up telephones. I've been wanting to go for a while now, but for a catnapper like myself, it's really hard to get up in the morning when you have no one to get up with you and no pressing appointments to get to.

Still reeling from our Delphi trip, Liz, Marj, Shivani and I decided to do a See-the-Sites-in-Athens day. So we hit the Monastiraki Flea Market early in the morning. Up and down the streets, vendors with their blankets and their vast amounts of....stuff.

Shoes, metal objects, clothes, nose hair trimmers; you name it, they probably have it. Because there were so many people pushing and shoving down the streets, I wasn't quite keen to stop and browse to my heart's content. Also, I have found, not unsurprisingly, that I am a lone shopper. I like to take my time (because I am so indecisive) and I don't like to hold other people back, so it's easier for me to shop if I go by myself. Antisocial much? Yeah....maybe.


3. Visit a flea market

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After exiting the flea market, we swung around and went to Kerameikos, an ancient cemetery in the heart of Athens. For those thinking about traveling here, you can get a 6 Euro combination ticket for the Acropolis, Kerameikos, Hadrian's Library, Temple of Zeus, the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, the Theater of Dionysis, and most of their respective museums. At Kerameikos, I later learned, there was the inner city, which was famous for its pottery and sculpture, and the outer city, which contained the cemetery. The museum featured carvings from the tombs of various people in the cemetery, as well pottery from the era. Also, there were statues, like this guy:

He's pretty darn epic.
Also, this guy:

Just kidding! He's not a statue! We found this tortoise dude in cemetery itself. Seems like there was a lot of vegetation for him to eat and little pools of water for him to cool down. Isn't he a cutie?

Kerameikos is not a big site. If you're fast and don't stop a lot, you can do it in about 15 minutes. Of course, we paused to take pictures and marvel at the fact that we could actually touch the rocks, so it took us a little under an hour to get through the whole thing. It was a lot greener and more flowery than I expected.

It is indeed our bullish friend back where he belongs! Fear not, thankfully, for the world, my magic powers have not yet manifested to the degree where I can move large objects long distances. This is merely a reproduction of the one seen earlier in the museum. I'm a fan of art conservation, especially of marble items that are being destroyed by the acid in the environment, so I am all for moving these statues indoors where they will be protected. But I am also a fan of reproducing the items so people can see what they were intended to look like. It gives the historical piece a bit of context, no?

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Onto the next ancient site! Chop, chop, now. We have a lot to cover in not a lot of time. Our next project was to revist Hadrian's Library, of which we had only seen the outside. From what I gathered, Hadrian had built this gigantic library that eventually got converted into a couple of churches, which is most of what survived and what you see when you go around the site. As with Kerameikos, the site itself is not very big, but History and Classics buffs can spend over two hours just staring at the ruins and imagining what went on 3000 years ago.

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Finally, we did what I should have done a month ago, the crowning glory of Athens: the Acropolis. There's not much to say about the Acropolis other than the fact that it's epic. If you're going to go, go in the late afternoon, around 5:30-6:00 because the crowds will have thinned and it will be cooler. Also, note that if you're meeting people on top of the Acropolis the cell phone signal is surprisingly shoddy. You'd think since it's so high....Oh well. It was truly wonderful to see the Parthenon without the mass of tourists crowding around it, and I got to complete another thing on my list.

Don't worry, I blew away from the marble, but it felt good to be a little rebellious. Also good that I got my friends to do it with me. :D

15. Blow bubbles at the Acropolis

More Acropolis sights:

-The Parthenon

The Erechtheum

Embracing Greece and the world and life

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What an epic end to an epic day.

BUT WAIT! As we were walking back, we inadvertently walked into flashing cameras and music. It was...A GREEK WEDDING! We stayed and clapped with them for awhile. Here's the blushing bride with her incredibly colorful bridesmaids. If you can't tell, she was really sparkly.

And thus,

16. Go to a Greek wedding

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Finally, we had a goodbye dinner for Emma, who was leaving back to New York for a job that was more suited to her interests and career path, as well as a birthday celebration for Elizabeth and Becca. Our one and only group picture, and Shivani's hidden by Walt who's looking the other way. Siigh.

That was a loong post that took too long to get up.

From Greece with love,

Angela