Athenian treasures

Ultimately, visitors come to this city to view the incredible, masterful architecture of the Acropolis. This is our day for it.

It is also the last day of splendid warmth -- temps are in the low 70sF (up to maybe 23, or 24C). Perfect weather for us! I'd say it's luck, but Athens in spring is frequently this pleasant. Fact is, when Ed and I were here last, it was January and a little cool, but still beautiful. So, weather in Greece rocks in three of the four seasons. (Summer is miserable. Never try to climb up the Acropolis hill in July or August!)

(good morning! --  from our balcony...)

(sunrise, reflected on the Acropolis...)

We eat breakfast again upstairs, and this time outside. 

Yes, the view is to die for, but honestly, even without it, the delicate breeze, the sparrows flitting in and out, the tulips on the tables -- it's all beautiful and reminds me that we are coming upon the season of farmette breakfasts on the porch. How good is that!

At 10 o'clock we have a meetup with my chosen helper for exploring the older sights and history of the city. I dont remember how I found these people (the group calls itself Alternative Athens), but they offer a mythology tour, with a guide for you and your family who will spend some time stoking your interest in Greek history and mythology. Could you imagine a more perfect match for Snowdrop, who loves these great myths that guided daily life here more than 2700 years ago?

Our guide, Maria, is perfect. She has been leading walking tours through ancient Athens for some half dozen years. Before that, she was an archeologist. Her knowledge of history is, unsurprisingly, incredible.

SAs we leave our hotel, she starts us off with an introduction to the twelve Gods of Greek mythology. Snowdrop isn't shy about answering questions -- she knows these stories inside out and after a few minutes of this Maria has to ask -- wait, how old are you anyway? 

I have to say, the four hour walk today, which focused on the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis and the Agora, was stamina wise challenging. Lots of territory, many hills, lots of history. I thought, after the third hour,  that perhaps it was heading to be too much for Snowdrop, but in fact, she never complained and toward the end, when I proposed cutting it a little shorter, she insisted on doing the full run, all the way to the top of the last hill where the Temple of Hephaestus stands tall and beautiful.

Snowdrop also loves to be my pinpoint person for photos, which is grand for me, not only because she's my travel companion and granddaughter, but, too, because it adds perspective to all that I put up here, on Ocean. 

It's hard to describe this fantastic walk that we took through an Athens of (more or less) 600 B.C.E. Maria is like the good friend you want to have on an Athenian odyssey. She speaks with a passion and she knows her stuff. My head is swimming with thoughts and historical detail. I'm sure Snowdrop's is too. We are humbled, grateful, excited, tired, and so very full of Greece! 

Let me post some photos. I think they give the flavor to this magnificent day.

(In the garden of the Temple of Zeus)

(the Temple, with such an incredible history!)

From here, we make our way to the Acropolis. It's a bit of a hike (but a good one, in that we see a slice of Athenian life...)

...and certainly quite the climb.

(up the scraggy hill, where the poppies grow...)

(from higher elevations, the views are tremendous!)

(Up, to the Temple of Athena Nike...)

(Up past theaters and musical venues of Ancient Greece...)

(Until finally we come to the Acropolis proper... and here, she is enthralled! So close, so enormous, so beautiful!)

[Me, I'm on the phone with the credit card company... Weird charges are popping up despite the fact that I put a block on it. Time to just tear up that card number.]

Once on the Acropolis plateau, we take our time discovering the beauty of the place.

(the Erechtheion, dedicated to Athena...)

And of course, the most magnificent of them all -- the Parthenon, shot here by Snowdrop who wants to include me in the photo gallery.

(Snowdrop makes friends by the Parthenon with an Acropolis cat.)

And now we descend, passing wildflowers, feeling maybe a little hungry.

Maria hands us some sesame sticks to muck on. I was sure Snowdrop would turn them down. She does not.

One final sight: the ancient Agora: the place where everyone "hung out" and bought their goods and opined on all things important and generally moved this baby democracy forward.

At one end, we have the Temple of Hephaestus.

Maria asks if we are too tired to get up close and personal to it. Snowdrop wants to push on. And we do.

And where there's a hill, there's a view.

(Our joint photo of the day, taken by Maria...)

(And here's Maria, explaining something to Snowdrop, who was very dusty after this adventure!)

[Maria also explained how she named her son after the dad's father, as traditionally done in Greece, which started the ball rolling for Snowdrop: what would she, her brothers, and her cousins be named were we to follow the same rules?]

At the other end of the Agora is the Stoa of Atticus -- call it a shopping mall of Athens long ago.

(flowers -- always a welcome sign of the warm season ahead of us)

After reading a beautiful excerpt about all that Ancient Greece has taught us about democracy, about life, Maria leaves us here and we slowly make our way back in the direction of our hotel.

(Snowdrop pauses to study the map of mythology Maria had given her)

We stop for lunch at one of the many, many restaurants that line the Agora. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice: it stood out in that it looked modern and I thought perhaps it would have a novel twist on some of Greek favorites, but in the end Snowdrop ordered pancakes and I ordered shakshuka, which I suppose is geographically close to Greece, maybe. It's all fine, and the outdoor seating is lovely, and the view onto the Agora is fabulous, but if we were looking for something very Greek, this was not it.

And now we rest, right?

Wrong. Snowdrop wants another hour at the pool and so I reserved our time for late this afternoon. Of course, I must swim with her.

Back upstairs, she's with her tablet, I pack a little and work a tiny bit on photos. I need to get to bed before midnight today!  

And now we are off to dinner. Just seven minutes away, down one street, up another, twist over the stairs, and you are there, at Psaras.

It turns out to be one of my favorite meals in Athens. All along, I'd been worried about introducing Snowdrop to Greek food, but lately, I found a stress free way to do this, one that works well for both of us: if there is pasta on the menu, I order it for her. But for me, I pick two appetizers and one main that I think she might like. And the deal is that she tries them all. Tonight I picked grilled veggies and fried calamari for the first course. She ate my pepper with relish and loved, absolutely loved the ever so delicately fried calamari. 

Then came her pasta and my Greek lamb chops. They were exquisite and out of the five (they are thin here), she left me with only one and that's because I insisted.

It was a glorious finale to our Athens adventure.

We ended the evening at our usual ice cream place. Chocolate for the girl...

Fig for me. Because, you know, it's Greece, and there are figs here...

With so much love...