Sep 2008

Sunday evening, after a day in of reading and homework, I decided to go out by myself (which I seem to be doing a lot of lately) and find the Athens cemetery. I’ve read about the cemetery and its wonderful sculpture and had wanted to find it for a while. It actually isn’t that far from my apartment. Finding it wasn’t hard, but finding the entrance took a few wrong turns. Those wrong turns brought me some interesting finds in both cats and graffiti. Graffiti first. Finally something that was not a random word scrawled on a wall. I still have to figure out what Buns, Subs, crew mean. That’s for another day though.

Sunday I found this sad little clown. He almost looks like a charcoal drawing. I think I would like to see him in color.

Further up this wrong turn, I found the fish. It would be neat in color too.

But best of all were these two mural-like pieces. It was color I wanted, it was color I got. I assume the same artist did them since the style is so similar and they all include elements of water. Either that or it was a copycat artist. None the less, I liked them. Especially the teddy bear holding the sickle and hammer. Interesting message behind it I’m sure. Considering the communist party is active in this country I wonder.

I also discovered several cats on my walk. I first ran into this friendly orange fellow. He was soaking up all the attention he could get. In fact, he would not stay still enough for me to get a really good photo of him!

While taking in the big graffiti wall I noticed some small cats peeking out from the brush at me. Since they were in a little fenced area and looked rather well taken care of I have to assume they were not strays. They were quick to check me out and I prayed they wouldn't try to follow me across the street. They didn't.

As I walked back toward the cemetery, hoping to find the entrance, I noticed a group of cats eating out of some large bowls. As I approached slowly and bent to take a photo I noticed a woman also approaching. I said hello in Greek and she spoke something back to me. I told her I didn’t speak much Greek and then she told me she was Austrian. She said the cats weren’t hers but she feeds them. I was told it was mostly foreigners who feed the cats here. I thanked her for feeding them. Maybe I’ll run into her again and can chat. It was clear that she loved cats, even if it was just spaghetti they were getting.

Handsome is as handsome does!!

I finally found the entrance to the cemetery. What a cemetery it is! I did not get to do a great deal of exploring because 1) it was raining and 2) I was afraid of getting locked in since it was getting close to sunset. But I did get to see a few of the wonderful sculptures. I promise one day I will go back and explore every path, every monument, and every crypt! I understand it is not unusual to see people having a picnic in there! I’m not sure I’ll go that far though. Merlina Mercouri, a famous Greek actress is buried within, but I did not see her grave. I will have to find it as well as the grave of Heinrich Schleiman and the famous “Sleeping Girl” statue.

Entrance to the cemetery.....yes it was raining

Church just inside the cemetery gates...this photo was taken from up on the hill outside the cemetery.

Some of the sculptures.....

This one struck me as particularly humorous, although I'm not sure it was meant to be....

As I left the cemetery, in the rain, I discovered this beautiful little girl running to a dry place. I’ll leave you with that, and save my Anafiotika walk for another day.

Yasus!

It's another cool, overcast, breezy day here in the city of Athens. It is quite a contrast from the oppressive heat we had the first week I was here. I like it. It makes for better sleeping. I also don't like to sweat. I do need to buy warm clothes because I did not bring any with me. I'll save that for a weekday afternoon I suppose since most shops aside from tourist traps are closed on Sundays here. I may go for a walk later, after I've studied some more Greek. I'm stuck on one question I have to answer in a complete sentence. Foreign languages make my head spin sometimes. Just think, Linda Blair in Athens. That's me.

The real purpose of this post, however, was to let you know that I did my research and thanks to my moderate knowledge of birds I identified the bird from the Temple of Poseidon.

It is a Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca). I knew it looked like a partridge, or pheasant, and I was right!

Not much else to add today. I just wanted to tell you about the bird just to show you I am doing something besides finding all the weird sites in Athens.

Adio!

Shopping in Athens can be an interesting experience to say the least. I’m guessing the economy here must not be as bad as in the US? People seem to be doing a lot of shopping. The stores on a Saturday afternoon are as crowded as Christmas in the US. It’s shoulder-to-shoulder people at the check out. Then again I was amazed at those who were just window-shopping. You would think people had never seen shoes before!

Walking down Ermou in Syntagma Square brings some interesting sites. I already showed you the interesting lingerie displays in a previous entry. I thought these Christmas caroler wannabes (well, they reminded me of Christmas carolers) mannequins fit the bill for interesting though. Love the day-glo hair.

You can find all sorts of food to eat. Cafés, McDonalds, Everest….and street vendors such as those selling delicious baked goods. I have to find out what these are called, but the varieties were tomato and cheese, chocolate, and cheese. If I hadn’t just eaten a chocolate croissant, which was delightful I might add, I certainly would have indulged in one of these.

Roasted corn seems to be popular as well. I might just give it a try one day.

Shopping is as varied as it gets here. From the 3 Euro clothing store to Sephora, you can find it in Syntagma.

Walk a bit further and you end up in the flea market. Wow, two trips to the flea market in one week. I’m showing my true colors aren’t I? But Samantha wanted to check it out and I had nothing better to do, so why not? Besides, you find some interesting items at the flea market. Like a totally naked Dopey doll. Yes, Dopey the Dwarf is sans his typical oversized green tunic. Pitiful isn’t it?

Interesting replicas of some Nazi daggers.

Sam found this sword and was just drooling over it, until she asked the price. A mere 500 Euros is what the vendor wanted. I’m not entirely sure I’d have such a pricey item just lying there without much security. Maybe it isn’t worth all that much and he just thought he would take some naïve Americans. Didn’t work.

Gotta love the phallic obsession here. Phallic bottle openers. What will they think of next? Goes well with the nice little Satyr statue. I keep wondering for whom back home this would make a nice gift? Any takers?

Philosophers and Sinatra…a natural combination?

We finally escaped the masses of Monastiraki and made it back to Syntagma. On the way he walked by the Stoa of Attilus in the Ancient Agora. King Attalos of Pergamon who ruled from 159-138 BCE originally founded it. It burnt in 267 CE and was reconstructed in the 1950’s using the original foundation and ancient materials and now houses a museum.

Back toward Syntagma we happened upon the cathedral of Mitropoli. With the cornerstone laid in 1812 it took another 20 years to complete. It appeared to be under restoration, so I wasn’t able to get any good full view photos. When I have more time I certainly want to go explore it a bit closer. It is open to the public but we opted not to go inside.

It was just another typical day of walking around Plaka, Monistiraki, and Syntagma. Sam and I finished it off by sitting in a little café in Plaiteia Varnarva and having coffee drinks. We had a challenge given to us when we first came here to sit in a café and out last a group of Greeks. We did it! We outlasted two groups. Does that mean we are catching on to the Greek spirit? I hope so.

Oh…what would an entry be without a few felines? Some of them are not being very cooperative, but this little black one was so sweet. I want to take them all home.

Temple of Poseidon

I was really wowed today. Wowed like I would have expected to be by the Parthenon. I guess maybe Poseidon is my god? Today we took a trip down to Lavrio to visit the Technology Culture Park, and then on to Sounio to visit the Temple of Poseidon. The Technology Culture Park focused mainly on the mining culture in the area. It was neat to see, but our guide was difficult to hear because we had such a large group. I honestly can’t say I learned much there because of that. So I’ll skip on by and go on to Sounio. Sounio is located at the southern most tip of the mainland. The drive from Lavrio to Sounio gave us some great views of the sea and finally some real green foliage. So far most of the foliage has been a rather drab, dusty, sage green. Not that I don’t like olive trees, but the brighter green was a welcome sight. We arrived at the Temple and thankfully the temperatures were cooler than expected. It was quite breezy as well. The Temple was built in 444 BCE. It sits high on a promontory that juts out into the sea. It is said that the temple was the first thing that mariners would glinting in the sun when sailing toward the land. I do have to say it is quite an amazing site sitting up there above it all.

I think I did go a bit overboard, taking photos at every angle, going for the monumental look (it wasn’t hard), finding the best light. I just love this part of being here though. This is really why I’m here.

It’s dramatic.

The columns of the Temple of Poseidon are of the Doric order. The columns have only 16 flutings instead of the usual 20, which has helped with erosion over the years.

But time, weather, and humans all play a role in the eroding of these great monuments. Most of Greeks monuments are roped off from the public. Sad but necessary. It wasn’t the case in 1810 when Lord Byron visited this temple. He carved his name on one of the ante and it remains there today.
There is Lord Byron’s graffiti. Second block up from the bottom, The lighter area just above the seam.

Ok, here it is a bit closer. You can make out the name Byron if you look closely.

Unfortunately many others followed Byron’s example. I’m sure people would still be doing it if it weren’t roped off from human contact.

The views from up on the hill were quite spectacular. I have heard mention of the “Greek light.” The light is differnet, making things look extraordinary. I think today I understood.

Simply beautiful.

While walking around the temple I kept hearing some sort of bird calling. Then I saw it. In the temple at first and later on the ground around it. I’m not quite sure what kind of bird it is. If anyone has an idea let me know. It looks almost related to the partridge? I’m not sure and I’m too lazy to research it right now. It was a beautiful bird none the less.

We left the Temple of Poseidon and headed down to the beach to find some lunch, swim, walk around, do whatever. I had the fava, along with a Greek salad. The fava is amazing, sort of like lentil soup, even down to putting the lemon on it. I have to learn to make the fava. I could almost eat it daily!

Other than lunch and chatting I didn’t do much on the beach. It was a bit cool for a swim in my opinion. Besides, my second towel was stolen when we were on Kea and I haven’t replaced it. I didn’t bring a change of clothes and did not want to ride back to Athens wet. So I just took a few photos and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

One of the Greek language teachers, Apostolos, brought his niece on the trip today. She was simply adorable. He said she loved to take photos and she was pretty interested in my camera. You can tell she is quite the camera ham here!

No cats today, but I did decide to finally photograph a dog. I prefer cats in my camera lens though. I haven’t seen many cats at the sites though.

Now the sad part is I’m doing laundry on a Friday night. Some others went to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. I opted not to go. I’m kind of glad I didn’t because guess what? It’s raining in Athens again.

I've learned one thing today. If rain is in the forecast, even if it is sunny, take a raincoat and umbrella. Because you never know when the sky will open up in Athens. It's been a school week as usual here. Not much interesting to report actually. Tomorrow, on the other hand, there is a trip to the Lavrio technology park and then on to Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. I think it will be a good day trip. I promise photos!

Tonight the center did a movie night for those who were interested. We watched Pote tin Kyriaki (Never on a Sunday) with Melina Mercouri, one of Greece's most famous actresses from the 50's and 60's. It was a fun film and gave us a bit of a look at an older Athens and Piraeus. If you ever get a chance to rent it and watch it do. I don't think you will be disappointed. We weren't. Unfortunately it started to rain about 20 minutes before the movie ended, hence my warning about umbrellas and raincoats. Needless to say my 10 minute walk home got me a little wet. But I'm home, dry, and ready to hit the sack so I can get up and maybe go to the laiki in the morning before we leave on our day trip. Did I tell you I'm loving these three day weekends?