In complete contrast to the day before, this morning had us making our way up the hill to the Acropolis at 7:30 am! We went to the entrance on the Plaka side and arrived with about ten minutes to spare before the opening time of 8 am. This is when we learned that water cost 3 euros up there. There are fountains inside though so luckily we didn’t waste that money!
There was probably about two dozen people waiting at the gate but no one was lined up. We figured there was no harm in standing right at the gate and as such we were the first people through! It was like running through the gates at Disney World! Or rather not really since it was just the four of us and no one else was coming in. We booted it quite quickly up the steps and through the Propylaia so that we could take as many pictures as possible before the crowds of people who were surely behind us arrived.
Eventually we realised that nobody was coming – we had the entire Acropolis to ourselves for a blissful TWENTY THREE MINUTES! We have no idea what took everyone so long but we definitely weren’t complaining! We were even early enough to see the soldiers marching away after the flag raising. Really can’t stress enough the importance of arriving right a 8 am if you are in control of your travel schedule. Also it pays to have your ticket already bought from one of the other sites that is included since it looked like the ticket office only opened at 8 am as well.
We spent about another hour taking it all in. Today has definitely been the hottest day yet. By 10 am when we were making our way out of the area, it was positively steaming hot!
No better way to cool down than with a frapé overlooking the Roman Forum and Acropolis! By the way, we all agreed that we were glad we did the Acropolis Museum first and then the site. Everything was so much clearer and meant so much more than had we just wandered up the hill with not a lot of background information.
Next on our list was to visit the Roman Forum and Ancient Agora. The Agora was quite cool with the Stoa of Attalos and the Temple of Hephaestus being highlights.
Clearly we never learn our lesson because next we went on a mission to Gazi to find a restaurant that Eleni and Vagelis recommended! It was a bit of a walk (past Keramikos Cemetery) but soooooo worth it! The restaurant is called Butcher Shop and is on Persefonis just off Pireos. We were the first to arrive for lunch and were treated like royalty! We have really noticed how the Greeks are just so amazingly nice and friendly!
As the name implies, this restaurant is famous for its meat! Never ones to pass up a challenge, we ordered the Butchers Platter (5 different meats – ground, sausage, pork chop, another pork, another ground meat), the Cheese Platter (4 types of cheese – from Naxos, Crete, and not sure of the others!), a green salad with pomegranates, tzatziki, and a few rounds of a delicious Greek beer made from 5 cereals. Another feast!! The waiter kept plying us with the Crete liqueur to help us get through all the food!!
Truly a wonderful meal so we have to thank our official Athens food experts, Vagelis and Eleni for the recommendation!
Needless to say we took a taxi to the hotel and went straight into siesta mode!
Tonight’s sunset activity brought us to the top of Lykavitos Hill. Javi will never forgive me since we walked to the funicular from the hotel….what I didn’t realise is that it was quite the uphill climb to the funicular! Oops! It took us almost 40 minutes! We paid our 7 euros each for the round trip ride and found ourselves gazing at the Athenian views in no time at all.
The hill was completely different to how I imagined it. Where the funicular takes you is basically all restaurant and cafe with a look out area (smallish). Javi found a spot he liked but Carlos and I ventured down a bit to a more open and less crowded area. It was a very peaceful way to usher in the night!
Still full from lunch, we indulged in frozen yogurts for dinner! Nice!
And now that’s it for Athens! We have Thursday morning to have a bit of a wander but by noon we will be heading for Piraeus and our Holland America home away from home! I can definitely say that Athens is GREAT! Even though this was my third time here (but the previous times were 16 and 12 years ago!) I truly only now can say that I have a good beat on the city and more substantial memories!!! I’ll be back!