Judith's blog

Geoff writes: last day in Athens, with a mid-afternoon flight.  Another cold and cloudy day. We spent an hour or two at the Roman forum, part of our 12 euro ticket which got us into five separate sites, including the Acropolis. It’s great value – each time you go somewhere, they rip off a section of the ticket, so you can’t use it again. We got to the forum, which was open, but the ticket office was empty, so we managed to sneak in without losing part of our ticket – the last part, in fact, so we thought we could later revisit another site (the Agora) we had had to rush around on Thursday, given the daft closing times they have here of 3pm.

The forum was good – big, reasonably well preserved, and, that early in the morning, empty. It was also freezing, so we decided to use the ticket to go back to the Agora, and the indoor museum there. We went to the ticket office to hand in our ticket, to the guy who ignored us for a while, before telling us it was free on Sundays. So much for sneaking into the forum. Still, we went in and did see all the things we missed on Thursday.

Then a wander around the flea market for an hour or two, lunch, and the bus back to the airport. We took the bus rather than the metro because we wanted to see the outskirts of the city. Predictably, like most modern cities, and most roads to airports, they were very drab and uninspiring.

We really liked Athens. The weather wasn’t disastrous, it only really rained on one day. The archaelogical sites are great, as is the city itself, which is really lively, interesting, and not threatening (at least, not in the central areas). And the people were really friendly. The only downside (apart from the weather, and that was just bad luck, it’s not normally like that) was the incredible amount of graffiti (though in terms of litter, the city was very clean in the centre); and the very early closing times of the archaelogical sites and museums. Oh, and not being able to flush toilet paper away, but having to put it in a wastepaper bin instead…

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

Today was a cold, grey windy day. But mostly it was cold. I didn’t feel well in the night, but I was damned if it was going to ruin my holiday, so dragged myself out anyway. We decided to got to the tourist information to check out buses and if anything was happening today, but despite the sign saying it should be open, it was closed – we seem to have that kind of effect on tourist information offices. So first destination today was the cemetery. It’s a bit left field for a tourist site, but apparently, it’s like a sculpture park.

Unfortunately we didn’t get there, as we got distracted by the stadium. You can see into it, but have to pay to go round it, and it’s just a modern oblong amphitheatre, so it seemed a bit pointless handing over the readies. By this time we were too far from the cemetery, so we walked towards Lycabettus Hill. I’ve been looking forward to taking the cable car/funicular railway (depending on which translation you read) up the hill since we got here.  The closer we got the worse I felt. I wasn’t up to map reading and Geoff found us to roughly where the map said the funicular was, but we could only find a path up, nothing else. We started the walk up, but I had to stop a few times with pain and then vomiting. What we didn’t ever find was any evidence of a funicular. Anywhere. We assumed they must have dismantled it until we read it was actually underground, in a channel under the surface of the hill. If there are no views it seems pointless, especially if the walk up is pretty easy anyway!

It was freezing on top, so we just carried on down the other side and then walked through the districts of Neopolis and Exarchia. The latter is the anarchist/bohemian quarter and we wandered around looking at shops and the amazing graffiti on the walls. Athens has little litter, but a lot of graffiti, most of it just pure vandalism, but in Exarchia there are some real artists at work. We ended our stroll at Omonia Square, where our original hotel was. It is dodgy and we’re so glad we changed hotels.

By the time we were back in our area I was frozen and although feeling much better, I wanted to have a snooze, so we went back to the hotel. We set  off out at 6pm to have more of a walk and find dinner. On our first night here we ate in the square just a couple of hundred meters from our hotel in the centre of Plaka, but were royally ripped off. The tout that persuaded us to go in promised us free drinks and dessert, but the food was atrocious and they charged us for water we didn’t order (same price as wine), bread, service charge, etc. Touts are in front of pretty much every restaurant and they get very wearing.  We were determined to find somewhere more off the beaten track to eat and started walking down the main shopping road towards Monastiraki district. At the bottom of the street there was a group of young people with signs (in Greek and English) saying ‘Free Hugs’. They waved them at us, but in true British fashion, we just walked by and then stopped to check out what was happening. I assumed they were some sort of religious nutters, but they didn’t actually engage people in chat, they literally just hugged anyone who felt like it. One of the guys came over to us, so we asked him why they were doing this. He looked at me in a puzzled way and said: “Because we like hugging!” So Geoff and I both got a lovely big hug from a lovely young man. We walked away smiling, thinking what a wonderful way it was to bring some random happiness to people.

We wandered around the closing flea market again and tried to find a tout free restaurant, when we came across our hugging friends for a second time. After a quick hug we asked them where to eat and got some excellent tips, so we thanked everyone with a big hug. What nice people the Greeks are!

The restaurant was a proper local place – just what we wanted on our last evening. And then off to a bar (again, no touts), which offered cheap beer. But the amazing thing was that they had a covered roof terrace with views of both the Acropolis and the Temple of Hephaestus, so you could sit in the warm with these amazing vistas. It was really cool. We were the only ones in there until eight lads from Imperial College CivSoc turned up. We were hoping this meant Civil Society, but realised it was civil engineering and once they were on their second round, we headed off. Interesting day and lovely evening…

See photos of today.

1 Comment »

We’ve been struggling to find a decent forecast while here, so I decided just to go with the synoptic. Despite all the crappy wherever-you-are forecasts saying it was going to pour today, I insisted that it would be fine. Cloudy, but fine. To my immense relief, I was right.

We set the alarm for 7.30am (which is actually 6.30am real time for us) and got to the Acropolis for 8.40am. We sauntered up via the longer southerly route, past the Theatre of Dionysus. They still have some of the original seating – not just the standard stone tiers, but actual stone seats, with names on them. Once we got up to the hill, we realised what a great plan it was to go early. It wasn’t too busy and you could point at land marks without stabbing someone in the eye (unlike last time I was there in July 1988). As we walked back to the site entrance a wave of visitors came flooding towards us.

We decided to walk across to the Philopappou hill to see the momuments and the views of the Acropolis. I managed to get us successfully up the hill, but then got distracted by views and got us hopelessly lost getting down the other side. Let’s just say we went off the beaten tourist track… through hedges, over fences and up and down some very minor paths. We eventually did make it to Kerameikos, site of the ancient walls, gates and cemetery of the city. It was a really interesting place, but we would have made more of it if we hadn’t missed the introductory information in the rush to get to a sunny bench to stuff our faces with delicious spinach pastries for lunch. Once again we were turfed out of the place by 2.45pm, having not seen it all.

We ambled back towards the hotel via a sunny beer in the square, had a rest and then headed out to see the changing of the guards at the parliament. If I described the soldiers as ‘ministry of silly walks’, they were just dilettantes – this lot are the real inspiration for John Cleese. And Monty Python was actually a pale imitation of the real thing. See here for just a snap shot of the whole malarky. It is very bizarre – partly that people will join something which forces them to act like that – but also, whoever thought up the silly walks in the first place, must have been really, really strange.  

Next up was the Acropolis Museum, the only archeological thing open in the evening. It’s purpose built and really well done. The building is on an excavation site, and the floors are made of glass, so you can see the dig happening live. Most impressively, the building is a similar size to the Parthenon on the Acropolis, and they have displayed the friezes, metopes and pediments as they would have been seen in-situ. And the building is high enough to get an amazing night-time illuminated view of the Acropolis while you walk around.

And yesterday, I thought the sleeping dogs were just coincindence, but they’re everywhere. I have no idea what they get up to at night, but they seem to need more sleep than cats. Everywhere you look there’s a sleeping dog!

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »

Seems we are the only guests in the hotel. We started with a breakfast that seemed to be served on a child’s toy dinner set. Everything in miniature. Very cute.  Somehow I managed to get my cheese to vault  into my coffee and it was a good job I managed to fish it out quick, or I would have had coffee fondue.

We headed straight to the tourist info, where the very charming woman gave us great guidebooks and on asking what to do in Athens in the rain, said museums would be a good bet. What she didn’t mention was the fact that all the museums and sites shut at 3pm. Had we known, we would not have ambled around, but headed straight to the National Archeological museum, which was on my must-do list. The amble around took us to the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, when it started to rain a bit more heavily. On leaving the site it abated a bit, so we walked through the national gardens and came across an army unit practicing marching. They have a very strange march here, more ministry of funny walks than German goose stepping. They were a bit uncoordinated as a group too. I would have loved to have seen someone turn on a ghetto blaster and play Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’ alongside them and see what happened.

On the way to the metro station, we actually managed to walk up to the parliament (the line of riot police has gone) and see the traditionally dressed guards, complete with bobble shoes, tights and tassle hat. Like the British palace guards, they have to stand completely still, not smile and certainly not talk to anyone. I’m sure they recruit them straight off the Ramblas in Barcelona, and if not, that’s where they probably go to when they retire from the army, to become living statues. We got on the metro and changed after one stop (as recommended by the lovely tourist info woman), only to find that the line we were trying to use (and the station we needed to get off at) has been closed for improvements since last August. She forgot to mention that. Once above ground, the buses were being delayed by some sort of street party, so we gave up and decided to go to the party and just forget the museum.

There was a band playing, people dancing in the street and another group of people joining a long queue onto a raised area above the square. We had a look around the market (lots of skinned sheep’s heads, pigs feet and fish) and then found a place to have gyros (a type of kebab). We were lucky, just as we sat down the rain intensified and after 10 minutes even the band had to make a run for it. Above us the queue steadily got longer, despite people getting drenched, but marshals were letting a few people at a time progress. Once a  TV crew arrived we couldn’t contain our nosiness any longer and went to see what was going on. To our surprise and shock, it was a soup kitchen, giving out hot meals and wine. But it wasn’t just homeless people in the queue, it was just ordinary citizens. I hope that if it becomes the norm that countries in Europe need soup kitchens to feed their people, that these are set up in financial districts so that the w/bankers can see what they have done to people. Not that I think they give a shit – they’re too busy counting this year’s bonuses.

By this time it was 1pm, and we decided that if we’re going to see most of what we want to before 3pm each day, we need actually go into some archaeological sites. The Library of Hadrian was the first, followed by the site of the Agora, which was the public meeting place in both ancient Greek and Roman times. The site contains the Temple of Hephaestus, claimed to be the best preserved temple in the Greek world. The whole site is fascinating. Once it started raining heavily again we went into the on-site museum which was organised chronologically from 700 BC to the Roman era and beyond. Most of the exhibits are from burial chambers, so intact. We saw not only jars, vases and jewellery, but every day items like a child’s potty from 350 BC, mobile cooking devices and a grill. Clever people the ancient Greeks and Romans. Unfortunately, we were turfed out of the museum at 2.40pm, so they could clear the site and close up at 3pm.

The area we were in contained the Athens flea market, which is actually mostly a funky shopping area, quite like the  Brighton Lanes. We ended up in what seemed like the biggest bead shop ever. It had every kind of jewellery accessory imaginable and the most amazing collection of carabiners – shaped as cars, hearts, candles – you name it. I wouldn’t have risked my life hanging off any one of them though. They also had the biggest collection of hair grips, key rings and bracelets. The other shop we ended up in was a carnival/fancy dress shop, where we amused each other trying out crazy sunglasses. A bit more ambling and but it started pouring in earnest and we headed back to the hotel before dinner. Having looked at a forecast, this might turn out to be our worst weather holiday ever. Oh dear…

See photos of today.

1 Comment »

We got up reasonably early and looked at the internet for some directions to the hotel in Athens and spotted some of the comments about the area. People mentioned ‘slum’, ‘scary’ and ‘unsuitable for walking around in the evening’. A bit of further investigation had us cancel the hotel and re-book in a nicer and more central part. In fact, just round the corner from Parliament.

Our plane was only slightly delayed and we got to Athens airport without a hitch. We were about to go to the bus stop when we found out that the strike was a public worker strike – so no busses or metro trains. Our only option getting to the city centre was a 40 euro taxi ride. It made sense to us to try and find some people to share with, but finding people proved more difficult. In the end we shared with a Chinese couple who, when I spoke English to them, asked me if I spoke Spanish. A bit bizarre.

We got into a nice plush Merc and sped off to Athens. The taxi driver spoke excellent English and our new Chinese friend said to us (in Spanish) ‘Let’s talk Spanish, so he doesn’t know what we say’. We agreed and 5 minutes later the taxi driver explained to the Chinese couple in very good Spanish how to get to their hotel. He has a Peruvian girlfriend. His English is so good because he had an attractive teacher. It was the only classes he paid attention in!

He was really nice and went to the trouble of phoning our hotel, whilst punching in details into the satnav (all this while still on the motorway), to make sure he could get us there. He also got onto the radio to other taxi drivers to check if it was actually possible to get to our hotel – the demonstration which accompanied the strike was in front of parliament, so the roads would probably be closed. We got through in the end, but as soon as we saw the riot police, protesters and burning pyres, our driver panicked. Apparently, if you’re in a skoda taxi you’re ok, but a Merc will often be attacked by anti-crisis protesters. We offered to get out and walk, but we wouldn’t hear of it. He got us to our hotel, but checked with his colleagues by radio – the Chinese couple would not be able to get to their hotel, all the roads were blocked. He advised them to eat something and in two or three hours take a taxi. They are staying in the area we had been planning to and he was most insitent that they take a taxi. So glad we changed our location!

So after dumping our stuff we decided to have a walk around and see what all the demo was about – from a distance. It was all basically over, and the fire brigade had extinguished the fires, but seeing about 300 or 400 riot police, in full battle gear, lining the streets was a bit intimidating. Seeing many of them still in gas masks should have given us a clue… shortly after our eyes started watering from the residual gas in the air. I wanted to take some pictures but a stern look and headshake from one of the cops with mace spray and a machine gun had me meekly returning the camera to my pocket. You see a brief video and news report here.

Since the excitement was basically over, we ambled through the Plaka district and had dinner. Now an early night to be ready for a full day of tourism tomorrow.

1 Comment »

Another strong wind forecast for today. Winds of 25m/s (90km/h) in the mountains and 35m/s (125m/s) at the two extremes of the country. At the central coast (and possibly Santa Brigida) they were giving SE, light and variable. It seems a bit weird to me that you could have howling winds coming down from the mountains that just peter out when they hit the lower slopes, but hey, what do I know? In the end, it was cloudy with massive wave bars, so it really didn’t inspire us to even try to fly.

We also have some stuff to do before we depart tomorrow on our spontaneous trip to Athens. We were busy discussing what to take when Geoff got an email to inform us of a planned strike at Greek airports tomorrow. At the moment our flight is delayed (bonus – means we can get up at 8am, rather than 6am), but it means that we could be stuck at the airport for a while. We could be like those people you see on telly at Heathrow airport when BA decides to strike. Either way, it will be an adventure.

Just after mid-day we got a text from my parents, who were on their way back from their trip from Ireland, asking us if we fancied going out for lunch. Since we won’t see them again until next week (and haven’t actually seen them properly since before the conference), we gladly accepted their offer and got to try out La Veranda in Olot for the first time. Lovely building and nice dinner!

No comments yet - please add one »

The weather today looked a bit messy. Clear in the morning and then clouding over, then clearing again in the evening. Snow/rain only in the west of the country (Catalonia, that is). To be fair, I hadn’t looked at the synoptic charts, and in retospect, if I had done, I would have seen the big warm front passing through and dismissed the forecast.

With the wind increasing, I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk and instead of using our passes to go skiing at Nuria, we decided to get a free ride in the mountain train and then walk back down. It’s a stiff walk with a 700m height difference, so a bit like walking down Snowdon via the Pyg path.

We had work to do this morning, but left the house in what seemed like a summer’s day. Blue, little cumulus popping off and warm. The satnav said we would only just make it to the train in Queralbs, so Geoff put his foot down and we got there with 8 minutes to spare. Nuria is only accessible by rack and pinion railway – no cars up there. There has been a religious building of some sort since the 6th century, but now there is a horrible grey concrete block there. Completely not in keeping with its surroundings and not in the local style at all. The sun had completely gone at this point with high cloud coming in, but it wasn’t clagged in. We had a quick coffee and then set off down the path. The first way marker said it was 2 hours 25 minutes to Queralbs, so we decided to amble. I had assumed that most of the snow on the path would either have melted or have been turned to slush by walkers over the weekend, but I was very wrong. What wasn’t snow had been trodden to ice and we were both glad I had brought my walking sticks. We took one each and needed them when slipping along the narrow icy paths with big drops next to us.

The snow line also went a lot lower than I thought, so we walked down very slowly. We had been walking about an hour when we spotted the next distance marker, which said Queralbs 2 hours 25 minutes. Ok… A good way along, we stopped for a picnic and realised that it was 16.20pm and the cloud was dropping down the mountain sides. Time to get a move on! The distance markers kept giving us ridiculous walking times, which seemed to randomly make our destination seem just round the corner or unreachably far away. Forty-five minutes from Queralbs it started spitting and we really started walking seriously. We got there to find most of the bars and restaurants closed but one open to serve us a well deserved beer after 4 hours of walking.

We got to the car and it was pissing down and continued to do so all the way to Castellfollit. Thanks for the heads up, Meteocat!

See photos of today.

No comments yet - please add one »