Greece - Land of Yogurt and Honey Donuts -- Day 1

Ten Days in Greece

My long travel affair with Europe has strangely never washed me up on the sun-soaked Hellenic shores. Until now. What a trip this was.. so I pray you'll excuse me if I take it one day at a time to relish my ten full days in Greece. How far can one travel in ten days? We were about challenge the boundaries of conventional wisdom there.

We landed in Athens on Good Friday. It was quite magical to be in Greece to celebrate the Orthodox Easter, the country's largest national celebration. However, it also meant odd closing times for tourist sites, total closing for some restaurants and stores, infrequent ferry times for island hopping, etc. But there's nothing that beats the soaking-in-local-culture feeling that festival-travelling brings.

A quick early-morning rendezvous with my travel buddy Dawn at the Athens airport, and we were on our way. Our hotel was in the Plaka area, in the shadow of the Acropolis. We were so taken with the view from the roof-top.

The Acropolis!

The New Acropolis Museum - right next to our hotel

The view of Plaka from the rooftop
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

We headed out quickly to begin exploring. I like going on the Lonely Planet's walking tours because it gives you a 101-class on the city. Also, it makes you feel a little less aimless, and in some cities, it almost becomes like an Amazing-Race style treasure hunt for hidden streets and unknown sights. So off we went on the Lonely Planet-guided walking tour.

First stop was Plaka, the old Turkish quarter, better known as Tourist Central. Still, we couldn't resist.  The little trinket shops, tourist-trap restaurants screaming souvlaki, once-glamorous buildings, all nestled by the walls of the Acropolis.

Photo Credit: Dawn LX

That's what I meant by once-glamorous buildings. 

I am strangely drawn to the beauty of windows, balconies, and doors.

 It is Greece after all, and it wasn't long before we ran into some ancient ruins, right in the heart of Plaka. The Lysikrates monument was established in 334-333 BC, commemorating a victory in a choral festival.  According to the guidebook, it is the earliest monument using Corinthian columns. It sits on the ancient "Street of the Tripods", where winners of ancient dramatic and choral contests dedicated their tripod trophies to Dionysos, the Greek God of wine. Accordingly, the carvings on this monument features Dionysos' struggle with pirates, whom he turned into dolphins.

The Lysikrates Choregic Monument

History made us hungry, so the gluttons gourmands in us just could not say no when we passed one of Athens' ubiquitous bakeries.

These were breads baked specially for Easter, with a red hard-boiled egg in the middle. Both the egg and the colour red  are symbols of life in Greek culture.

We passed churches of all shapes and sizes, including the large Athens Cathedral (the facade was covered with scaffolding, unfortunately) which dwarfed the little 12th century Church of Agios Eleftherios.

Athens Cathedral

Church of Agios Eleftherios

This tiny, Byzantine era Church was a beautiful relic but it was also a functioning church that was just as busy getting ready for the Good Friday/Easter celebrations. Almost every church we walked into that day had a funeral bier garlanded with hundreds of flowers, which symbolize the tomb of Christ. Later that night, these biers were lifted in funeral processions around the city. 

Candles inside Agios Eleftherios
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

The Bier of Christ inside Agios Eleftherios
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Back in the bright sunshine, we continued our wander towards the Syntagma area, where we had our sights on a specific restaurant that came highly recommended on travel websites. 

Busy pedestrian street leading up to the main shopping street Ermou
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Decorated candles for Easter

Lunch at Doris restaurant! It's a cafeteria style restaurant, which got busier and busier and we got closer to lunchtime.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Our first Greek salad with fresh tomatoes, amazing olive oil, and yes, feta cheese. YUM.

Roasted Tomato and Peppers stuffed with spiced rice.

 The highlight of lunch - Greek donuts! And the really really nice owner gave it to us on the house. Did I mention we LOVED this restaurant?  Photo Credit: Dawn LX

I liked it with lots of honey. 

Um. We finished it all. 

Refuelled, we continued our little walk... and ran into more food. Indeed. To be fair, we had been reading about Ariston bakery in various guidebook and restaurant recommendations, so we had to stop. There are Rules to being a tourist, you know. 

Ariston bakery

We showed restraint by bringing this back to our room for a late-night snack. This Pumpkin Pie was out-of-this-world good. 

Choices, choices. 

 We had unknowingly stumbled unto Chocolate Street (Karageorgi Servias), where we found rows upon rows of stores selling chocolate and nuts. Like bees to honey, they say....

These were THE BEST PISTACHIOS in the world. 

In time for the Easter Celebrations

 If you'll believe it, we walked away from that street with only our Ariston bakery pies and a few bags of nuts. Now that's what we call self-control! We will confess to returning to this street and in particular this nut store a few more times later. 

While ooh-ing and aahing the candy, nuts, and dried fruit, Dawn struck up a conversation with a Greek man who gave us excellent recommendations for the best baklava in the city, and where to go to see the Good Friday processions (Plaka, Roman Agora) that night. We were honestly surprised and delighted by the friendliness of this Greek and many of his other countrymen we were to meet in the next 10 days.

We finally made it to Plateia Syntagma (Constitution Square), the centre of the city. [Incidentally, this is where the riots took place a few weeks after we left Greece.] The Parliament building dominates one end of the square, with major hotels and the Syntagma metro station surrounding other parts of the square. It was such a hive of activity - people lazing by the fountain, people rushing to the metros, tourists gawking, etc. 

Syntagma Square

The Parliament Building

Luxury Hotels overlooking the square

We had to cross underground to get to Parliament, and found the Syntagma Metro station studded with relics that were found during the digging. It's just amazing to think about the layers of history that lay under our feet.

Wine Amphorae dating from the end of the 2nd C/beginning of the 1st C BCE. All in the metro station.

Parliament

The Parliament House was built between 1836 - 1842 as the Royal Palace. It only became the seat of the Greek Parliament in 1935. We were just in time to catch the changing of the guard in front of the Parliament House - which happens on the hour. The ceremony took place in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

These Presidential Guards are called evzones, dressed in the attire of the klephts (mountain fighters who fought against the Ottomans during the time Greece was occupied by the Ottoman empire)

Gotta love those shoes. 

A quick wander through the Botanic Gardens, and we found ourselves at the Panathenaic Stadium, built in the 4th century BCE for athletic contests. The stadium was restored in 1895 in time to host the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and was used as one of the sites for sporting events during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Built with 85,100,000 Metric tons (93,810,000 US tons) of marble, the stadium has a seating capacity of 60,000. 

Next stop was Hadrian's Arch - a monument erected by Emperor Hadrian in 132 AD/CE and was thought to be a sort of triumphal arch marking the division between the Roman city and the ancient city. 

Hadrian's Arch

Note Acropolis through the arch

Behind the arch was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which we did not enter because it was almost closing time (refer to earlier comment about odd closing times because of the Easter celebrations). Still we got a pretty good view of it from Hadrian's Arch. 

The Temple of Olympian Zeus is apparently the largest temple in Greece. Work began in 6th C BCE, and was only completed in 131 AD/CE by Hadrian - a total of 700 years. 

The temple had 104 17-metre high Corinthian columns, of which only 15 remain.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

With the sun setting, we scurried back to our hotel to get more layers (it gets cold at night), and to find a good place to plant ourselves for the Good Friday processions. The first order of business, find a church we could actually get into.

Um, not that one.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Not that one either
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

This plan is not working.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Locals hanging out in the yard with candles.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

So we gave up, bought a cheap candle off a street vendor and hung out in courtyards, mingling with the crowds. Thanks to Dawn with her marvelous night shots. Also, go to Dawn's blog on this event.

Selling Candles
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

Very excited to get our candle lit
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

The Endless Procession winding through the narrow allies of Plaka.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

The meeting of two processions. This was kind of where we gave up... too many people.
Photo Credit: Dawn LX

We wandered back to the hotel, passing Plaka streets that were even more atmospheric at night, ending it with one long, last look at the Acropolis before bed.