Opa! A Day in Athens

Hello from Athens. I had to run some errands today and make an important phone call so I didn’t have time to “do” Athens. Tom has never been to Athens and I have, so I took care of errands and Tom took the grand tour of the city. So—Tom will be our “guest blogger” today.
Here goes:
JoAnn has asked me to write the information for Athens so this is a new voice on the blog. I will try to maintain the high blog standards previously established.
After the many-headed, fire-breathing Asian mythical gods and the strict and solemn religious ceremonies of the Islamic countries, Greece (Athens) was a breath of fresh air. Not only is it a Christian country (Greek Orthodox), it is the birth of democracy and the home of first real appreciation of the amazing and sensual human body. Well, maybe not this human body, but human bodies in general. Unlike many cultures that forbid or restrained any display of the human body, Greece embraced the human form in their art, culture and religion. Gods such as Athena, Zeus, Apollo and Poseidon are just a few of the obvious examples of their respect of the human body.
The word for Athens is DAZZLING. Not only is it a beautiful city, it is easy to traverse and the people are very accommodating. Around every corner are interesting shops, romantic restaurants and quaint coffee shops. Not to mention ancient ruins. It is hard to comprehend all that has occurred here over the millennia.
Yes, there have been some recent problems with riots and even killings here in Athens. The citizens are terribly outraged because it seems that the country’s leaders have spent all the money and the government is broke. Wow, look out California and Arizona. We didn’t realize that was riot material. The demonstrations have calmed down in the last few days so the captain decided it was safe to proceed into the port at Piraeus. He said to avoid public assembly areas such as Syntagma or Constitution Square so of course, that was the first stop on the “hop and ride” schedule. Several buildings sported fresh bullet holes and the growing pile of flowers and memorials at the murder site of the three demonstrators was very impressive.
With only hours to explore this major historical city, we discovered a “hop and ride” double-decker bus that visited all of the major historical sites. The first site on everyone’s list is the Parthenon and Acropolis. Built to honor Athena, the goddess of wisdom, it sits high above the city and it is as impressive as the brochure proclaims. Scaffolding covers much of the site and it appears the ongoing reconstruction will be complete in a few thousand years. The nearby temple of Zeus is also impressive. Every hill seems to boast some outrageous temple or monument and after a while it almost gets overwhelming. Impressive, but overwhelming. So let’s head for the Plaka, or shopping center for great Greek food and outstanding people-watching. The outdoor cafes are charming, serve great things like tzatziki and mousaka and usually end with a shot of ouzo, which pretty much puts the finishing touch on a pretty great experience.
More important than the monuments (and the Plaka) are the culturally significant events that have occurred here. Socrates walked these streets, mulling over the mysteries of the universe. Alexander the Great, Pericles, and the Apostle Paul all left their mark on the city. The first Olympic Games were held here in 776 BC. After defeating the Persians at Marathon in 490BC, Pheidippes ran the 26 miles to Athens to announce the victory. He died shortly after the run but hey, he too left his mark. About the same time, the first democratic reforms were instituted and Democracy was born. Science, philosophy, drama, architecture and the very foundations of Western Civilization were established in this amazing city.
One day is not enough to even begin to explore Athens, much less the country of Greece. It’s one of those places that will always remain on our “We’d go there again” list.