Our Itinerary:
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Athens, Greece (with a side trip to Delphi)
The ferry from Iraklio, Crete docked in Piraeus
(the main port for Athens) at E3 on time,
and we walked the fifteen minutes to the
metro station opposite gate E5, where we
hopped a train for Omonia Square (€0.80),
the Athens neighborhood of our hotel for
the next three nights.
The Baby Grand Hotel
 The Baby Grand, a block south of Omonia Square
on Athinas, is well situated and well appointed.
This side of Omonia Square appears safe and
heavily trafficked during the day and night,
and there are excellent bus and metro connections
at Omonia. Our room was tastefully decorated
in a modern style and was only (€110
per night, without breakfast). Service was
courteous and efficient.
The Baby Grand Hotel's entrance is in the
corner of the building, with a hallway leading
past the restaurant to elevators and stairs
to the second floor reception. Our room wasn't
ready, so we left our luggage (at the only
real hotel baggage checkroom of our trip)
and set out to explore the ancient sights.
Acropolis and the Parthenon
 A fifteen minute walk down Athinas and past
the fish, meat, vegetable and fruit markets
brought us to the area of the Ancient Agora
and the foothills of the Acropolis. We proceeded
up the moderately inclined path to the entrance
to the Acropolis (€12, with stubs for
several other sights: the Ancient Agora,
the Theater of Dionysos, the Roman Agora,
the Kerameikos, and the Temple of Olympian
Zeus) in the hope of beating the hordes of
tourists that we expected to arrive later
in the morning.
On the way up, we passed the Odeon of Herodes
Atticus (which is still used as an outdoor
theater).
There are five sights on top
of the Acropolis:
- the Propylaia - the main entrance to the
Acropolis, the towering Propylaia cannot
help but impress the visitor
- the Temple of Athena Nike (deconstructed
and being refurbished off site)
- the Parthenon - the main building on the
Acropolis. The Parthenon is undergoing repairs,
but you can walk around the outside of the
building and observe the craftsmen fitting
the pieces (also spread around the building)
back together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
 the Erechtheion with the Porch of the Caryatids
- the statues are copies, with
some of the
originals in the museum
- the museum - worth a visit for the Korai
statues, several original Parthenon friezes,
and the original statues from the Porch of
Caryatids.
On our way down, we circled around to the
pathway back up, past the Odeon of Herodes
Atticus, and took the south exit to see the
Theater of Dionysos.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
After descending to street level, we grabbed
a quick sandwich at a street cafe across from
the new Acropolis Museum, which is still
under construction. When it opens, it will
contain a full size model of the Parthenon.
After lunch, we proceeded past Hadrian's
Arch and to the site of the Temple of Olympian
Zeus (prepaid as a part of the Acropolis
ticket). Even less exists of this temple
from Roman times than the Parthenon, but
its sheer size and setting in an open field
make it awe inspiring. From there, we walked
the short distance to the Panathenaic Stadium,
which was rebuilt in the late 1800's and
used for the first modern Olympics and the
2004 Olympics. We then headed back by tram
and metro to Omonia to check in to our hotel
and refresh ourselves.
Ancient Agorae of Greeks and Romans
  After a brief nap, we walked back to the
Ancient Agora (prepaid as a part of the Acropolis
ticket), where we explored the restored Stoa
of Attalos (now a museum) and the Temple
of Hephaestus. Entrance fee to the Agora
is included in the Acropolis ticket.
We then proceeded to the neighboring Roman
Agora (prepaid as a part of the Acropolis
ticket), where we found the Tower of Winds,
the remains of a Roman bath, and Hadrian's
Library being reconstructed.
Dinner at Archeon Gefsis
For dinner, we followed the Lonely Planet's
suggestion and headed to Archeon Gefsis,
where the theme is eating as the ancient
Greeks did. The restaurant was about fifteen
minutes from Omonia Square and in a more
deserted and seedier neighborhood. Once more
we were disappointed. True to the description,
the waitstaff was dressed in old costumes
and there were no forks, but there was little
else to lend an air of authenticity to the
theme on than a menu peppered with quotes
making passing references to the food. The
food was overpriced and mediocre in quality
and service lacking, again an apparent result
of having been picked by the guidebooks a
few years ago.
A Day trip to Delphi
 Many companies offer bus trips to Delphi,
the home of the ancient Greek oracle, but
we couldn't see paying the high prices they
wanted. So, the next morning we hopped on
the Red Line metro at Omonia Square for a
four stop ride to Kato Patissia and a ten
minute walk to the Liosion Bus Station (see our description from our first time there), where we caught the 10:30 public (KTEL)
intercity bus to Delphi (€11.80). Like
the bus to Agios Constantinos, this bus headed
northeast from Athens along the main highway
and past desert terrain for about two hours
before turning off to cut westward into the
mountains. It made a fifteen minute rest
stop in Livadia before arriving at the bus
station in Delphi at about 2:00. We booked
a return on the 6 p.m. bus at the bus station
and then set out for the museum, a fifteen
minute walk back (towards Athens) through
the present-day town of Delphi. It's worthwhile
to pause at the local tourism office (located
towards the end of the lower road), which
has a model of the main site as it once was;
you may also want to return here (as we did)
after visiting the site since you'll have
a better feel for where you've been and the
model will give you a better feel for what
you saw. A number restaurants, bars, and
gift shops that cater to weary tourists line
the street and help to explain why the bus
doesn't simply drop passengers off at the
museum on its way into town. We continued
downhill to the museum, where there is a
foodstand with outdoor tables and chairs
just to the right of the entrance, but we
instead choose a comfortable section of low
wall and picnicked on a sandwich we had brought
from the Athens bus station.
The Delphi Museum (€9, including the
local sites) houses a wide assortment of
recovered treasurers from the  Delphi site, perhaps the most famous being
the Bronze Charioteer (see photo on the right).
After about an hour of studying the museum's
collection, we proceeded outside along the
sidewalk to the site. The ruins are in three
groupings: the site of the oracle (with the
temple of Apollo, a theater, and stadium),
a Roman bathhouse down and across the road,
and the Temple of Athena farther beyond it.
The site of the oracle is on a steep mountainside
and requires fair stamina to make it all
the way to the stadium at the top, a point
from which the views of the site and the
valley below are quite rewarding. Despite
it's high location, however, the temperature
was little different from anywhere else we
had been, so skip packing the extra sweater.
 The site is a cluttered collection of foundations,
the largest being that of the Temple of Apollo
(see photo on the left), and a few reconstructed
buildings. The clutter reflects the desire
of different groups to squeeze their treasury
or temple into the sacred site. Signs mark
the various structures along the path ("the
Sacred Way") to help you understand
the rubble you are looking at. If you can,
follow the path at least to the top of the
theater, and, if time and energy permit,
on up to the stadium.
We turned left after descending from the
site and walked the road towards Athens,
the foundations of a Roman bathhouse, and
the Temple of Athena. We cut through the
bathhouse to  reach the temple but were not able to get
closer than an overlook point
(pictured to
the right).
Worn out from hiking up and down the hills,
we headed back to Athens, got off the bus
when it stopped at Kato Patissia (the last
stop before the bus station -- it's not clearly
marked so ask the driver to let you know
when you reach it), grabbed a sandwich from
Everest's in Omonia Square, and bedded down
for the night.
Changing of the Guard and the National Museum
Our final objectives on our last full day
in Athens (and Greece) were to see the Changing
of the Guard, have lunch at the restaurant
that Lonely Planet picked as offering the
best souvlaki, visit the museum, and take
a picture of the Acropolis at night.
 We walked from the hotel to the Parliament
(munching on a sesame ring for breakfast)
to view the 11 a.m. Changing of the Guard,
a ceremony that lasted about five minutes
and consisted of a five soldiers in dress
costumes slowly stepping in unison using
an almost comical gait, banging of rifle
butts and slapping of feet against the marble
covered plaza, and observed by a few dozen
tourists. We then visited the nearby gardens
for thirty minutes or lounging on a park
bench before heading to Thanasis near Monastriki
for one of their "famous kabob-style
souvlaki," which we found to be nothing
special in taste and several chunks of which
were noticeably undercooked.
 After a short layover back at the hotel,
we pressed on to the National Archaeological
Museum (€7). With nearly 60 rooms that
display the progression of art from its primitive
prehistoric forms through Roman times, the
museum can be extremely informative -- if
you are not overwhelmed. Descriptions are
in both Greek and real English, which was
a pleasant surprise. The centerpiece is the
golden Mask of Agememnon (pictured on the
left) in the center of the museum. Other
notables are artifacts from Ancient Akritiri
on Santorini (second floor) and an extensive
collection of tombstones from the Athens
cemetery.
We finished our list by snapping
a few shots
of the Acropolis while walking
to and from
Palia Taverna tou Psara, in the
foothills
below the Acropolis, where we
enjoyed excellent
service, a nice but viewless
table on a terrace
overlooking the street, and a
pleasant dinner.
Trip to the Airport and on to Home
The next morning, to avoid the hassle of
connections, we decided to take the metro
from Omonia to Syntagma Square and transfer
to the airport train (a one way ticket is
€6, €10 for two people, and good
on all forms of transportation for 90 minutes).
The first train we caught at Syntagma did
not go all the way to the airport, so we
waited twenty minutes at Duokissis Plakentias
(the last stop for the other trains) for
the airport train (making the whole trip
in just over an hour). On this last leg,
we saw the "ticket police" come
around and catch two groups of tourists without
the special airport ticket. They were forgiving
and only collected from them the proper fare,
but the posted signs indicated that they
could have charged a fine of up to €50.
The train station at the airport is directly
across from the terminal building (up two
escalators and across the road) and so allows
fast access to the check-in area.
Our departure was delayed an hour by air
traffic control, and so we arrived at JFK
an hour late, tired from the extended day,
delighted by the trip, but happy to be home
again. |
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