Greatest Hits of the
day: National Museum of
Archeology - Big rain - Up the St. George’s Hill - Dinner at Plaka Roof Top
Restaurant - More Hotel Roof Top views.
7,000 years of
history: The earliest
settlements in Athens date back to 3,800 BC. The Minoans made this fertile
region their home. They came from Crete where it is believed that civilization
goes as far back as 128,000 BC. Someone else liked it too and ran them off,
this happens over and over again until now. Who will conquer the region next? I
wonder. The National Archeological Museum takes you through the ages. When
early Europeans were pounding rocks, the ancient Athenians were creating art
and contemplating the universe. Almost everything we now know about architecture,
they had already figured out. When modern Athens was expanding the underground
Metro they discovered ancient water aqueducts that tapped mountain springs,
bringing water to the city and providing the water needed for a large ceramic
manufacturing plants. I wonder who paid the taxes for that infrastructure?
Humans are an industrious bunch.
A Deluge: The weather has been picture perfect with a
capital “P.” Today the sky opened up into a downpour punctuated by rolling
thunder. Gladly, we were inside the museum and could wait out the majority of
the storm. We taxied back to the hotel where I even got to do some blogging
once I figured out how to log on to the internet…When the rain stopped we
headed out to:
The Highest Spot: It took a while to figure out, but we took the
Metro to Evangelismo Station near the hospital and located the stairs to the
funicular that runs up Lycabettus Hill to the Church of St. George. We got our
work out in on those stairs…then took a funicular to the tippy-top. There is a
high-class restaurant up there with a panoramic view of the city and the
prettiest waiter yet. He needs to be discovered by somebody! Tall, dark, green
eyes, dimples and a muscular build – Magnum P.I. It was hard not to stare. Oh
yes, the food was pricey, but delicious and the drinks were nice too. If you go
there, you have to go to the WC (toilet). Not kidding, they have the coolest
hand-washing basin ever. I took pictures. Words can’t describe it.
Plaka Rooftop
Restaurant: Am I sounding like a
broken record about the rooftop dining experience? This one was spectacular.
Not the food, the view. The wine was, well, young…The food was OK, but there
was a live Grecian duo on electric piano and mandolin. It was relaxing and the
sunset was amazing.
Hotel Rooftop: This time we ran into a couple of guys from an
island we have never heard of located in the north Atlantic between Scotland
and Greenland. They were both drunk out of their minds and wanted to buy us
drinks and talk about poetry. Weird. Pat was forward enough to ask them to be
seated and leave us alone…great gal. Tomorrow we travel to Istanbul. I can’t
wait.
