Well we're almost there

7/3/11

Ventured off to Keramikos this morning with various pit stops at kiosks and shops for touristy kitsch. We went to Hadrian's Gate and Temple of Zeus first, then up Adrianou to Monastary Square, where we detoured into the flea market, which was fun and full of odd things like old coins and plates and medals from Word Wars. We stopped by a pastry shop where we got pastries -- some sort of cheese-filled thing that Annie took an immediate liking to and a chives & dill thing for me that was greasy but infuriatingly delicious, which we ate as we meandered our way to Keramikos.

It was after one by the time we got back to our hostels to break. We, joined by Patricia, headed over to the Acropolis Museum around the corner but, alas, the museum does not allow photography, so we finished at around two and a half hours and returned to our rooms. Along the way Annie picked up another cheese pastry and I an apple filled croissant-like thing, so when we got back we had something to go with the remnant of Greek TV dinner.

Sadly, at this point we learned that the trip to Delphi was not meant to be and so decided to do the gardens and the National Archaeological Museum tomorrow instead.

So every single site that I mentioned since arriving at Athens? With the exception of the Acropolis Museum, all the other sites, including access to their museums, were included in that joint ticket that we got. And we got to visit all of them. It rounded out to 1 euro per site, with its museum, and yes, it's a lot of walking, but it's amazing. Then there's "amazing", as Annie pointed out, of the type where you are staying at a place where you'd turn a corner and there's an ancient ruin of some kind. The metro there was very nice and the stations like a series of mini-museums. The Acropolis Museum's first floor has flooring material that is see-through, where you can see the ruin-excavation in progress below that will one day be open to the public. Annie said that Rome had the same "problem" with building things, where you dig down and --lo and behold -- you find more Rome.

...I can't quite process that it's the weekend already. Sleeeeep.