Six Days in Athens & Istanbul 2012 - Post 1
So I don't think I mentioned it much here, if at all, but many months ago, Bri and I ponyed up for a short international vacation. Having watched way too many hours of Rick Steves on PBS (before the unfortunate switch over from WETA-Create to WETA-UK), we really struggled with where we most wanted to go. In the end, we worked backwards from where we could afford to go. There was a special offer from EuropeanDestinations for six nights in Athens and Istanbul which Bri was able to tweak to bring it within our budget (score!), with hotels we felt comfortable staying in (double score!), and flights out and back into Washington DC (triple score!). Part of the tweaking necessary to bring the trip within our budgetary constraints was to limit our nights in Athens to just one. We'd read innumerable travel reports which were less than complimentary of Athens, so we knew we wanted to stay as close to the old district as possible. Unfortunately, staying near the old district costs money, so we couldn't stay where we felt we'd most enjoy Athens most for very long and still keep our trip on budget. The compromise was one night in Athens (so we could say that we'd at least been to the city), with our flights coming in early and leaving late, so that we'd have the benefit of almost two full days there. We'd then have four nights in comparatively cheaper Istanbul. Once it was booked, there was nothing left to do...but freak out about the fact that we were traveling to places where I did not speak the languages at all :x
On Monday, September 17th, we headed out.
We had a longish layover in Montreal - 5 hours. Just long enough to be a pain, but not long enough to allow us any real opportunity to leave the airport and check out the town. Montreal was a superweird airport. We kept having to wait for them to open doors, or to send over personnel to process our paperwork at various windows..it was kind of bizarre. Bri passed the time reading, and occasionally brushing up on her greek and turkish pleasantries via Youtube.
Finally, we were in the air. It was an overnight flight. I didn't sleep much, as I really couldn't get comfortable. Bri, on the other hand, was a champion. She folded up in her two seats like a piece of oragami and was out like a light for most of the trip.
I settled for watching the in-flight movies (which were announced as something else, but totally ended up being Brave and Snow White & The Huntsman) with no audio, because there was no audio on our side of the plane. Canadians.
Finally...Greece!
Well, Europe anyway. Probably Greece because we landed shortly thereafter.
We followed this great internet citizen's directions and made it to our hotel quite easily. Our hotel, the Parthenon, was literally around the corner from the Acropolis Metro stop. Which was literally across the street from the Acropolis, and I can't believe we didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of the Acropolis first thing, but I don't think we even saw it/registered its presence until later.
We were quickly checked in by a super nice front desk clerk, who gave us the 411 on where to go and when it would be open, and how much it would cost in about 2 minutes. It was very impressive.
The hotel room was small, by US standards, but clean and comfy:
Man would I miss these Greek beds when we were in Istanbul!
The view was nothing special, despite our proximity to the Acropolis, but the room was quiet so no complaints. Also, I'm kind of a voyeur, so this presented some opportunity for people watching ;)
We arrived in Athens at 10:30 am local time on Tuesday September 18th. It was after noon by the time we got processed at the airport, grabbed the metro, and checked into our hotel. We decided to do a walk about and try to get our bearings. Not to mention some noms.
I don't think our hotel was technically in Plaka, which is the historic / old district of Athens. But it was literally just steps away from it, so we really got to feel like that's where we were staying. Plaka is all cobblestone streets and cosy buildings painted in pastels, with those fancy European balconies...and lots of souvenir shops!
Sure, it could use some upkeep, but it's the old district! And Greece is kind of in a financial crisis, don't know if you've heard.
After poo-pooing a bunch of places (Bri, not me), we had lunch at Zorba's. I think because they actually used the word 'vegetarian' on the menu, and it was off the main street and kinda tucked away, which won it ambiance points. We enjoyed limonatas, although Bri did it with particular panache.
Then she tackled the vegetarian plate...
I was super proud of her, because if you know rickenbacker, she can be a little, how do you say, particular about her food. But she gave the Greek vegetarian platter a good try, and liked it! Featured: zucchini fritters, seasoned fava beans, sauteed carrots, baked eggplant, sauteed greens, stuffed pepper, rice, potatoes, and some kind of lentil or split-pea mash with red onion. There's a good chance Bri had never before faced down a plate with so many different vegetables on it.
Meanwhile, I went for the baked feta appetizer, which was simple but absolutely delicious.
Just ask all the neighborhood cats that Bri brought running by letting them have at my crumbs.
Sure it's got some quaint old buildings, but why is Plaka considered the historic district you might ask? Because you're just walking along in Plaka, and out of nowhere, this happens:
These ruins are what's left of the Roman Agora, according to a couple of small placards we found at the site. (The Roman Agora is not to be confused with the larger Ancient Agora, or there will be HELL to pay.)
Plaka as a sprawling neighborhood/district wraps around the foothills of the Acropolis. You can see the Acropolis "hill" in the background of this shot of the Tower of the Seven Winds (notice the rocky outcrop behind the residential buildings).
Athens lives and works around and between the historic remnants of bygone eras (like most of the major cities of Europe, I guess). This train rambled by on tracks that cut right through a section of the Ancient Agora (alongside the restored Stoa of Attalos).
We continued walking, basically doing a casual loop. Here's Bri in Thission Square (where you start to get the sense you're on the edge of a dodgier side of town), with the Acropolis in the background.
Here's a somewhat bleached close-up for you of the north side (Erechtheion in the forefront, Parthenon in the background):
These shots really don't do any justice to how surreal and impressive it is to look up and see something like the Acropolis in person. It's just so big and...commanding, for lack of a better word.
On our way back around to the Acropolis and our hotel, we passed the Thission Cinema, which is apparently the world's greatest open air cinema. Sadly, we did not get to experience this wonder. They were showing Casablanca, I think. Or maybe it was a Woody Allen film? My memory fails me.
Down the street from the Thission Cinema, a little placard informs us that here once stood the Sanctuary of Zeus.
You just gotta take their word for it.
We decided to knock the Acropolis Museum off our to do list, since our time in Athens was limited. The Acropolis Museum is located just across a cobblestone walkway from the Acropolis Hill and is built atop - what else - ancient ruins. Literally!
The walk way leading up to the museum lets you see more of the structures still underneath.
The museum is full of statues and such. I am much more of a paintings girl, and while I can enjoy the odd sculpture, I really prefer that they be mostly intact. Word to the wise: very little in Athens is still intact. So the Acropolis Museum was kind of a snooze fest for me. Except for the interesting video they showed on the third floor about the Acropolis through the ages (Long story short: lots of people invaded and took it over and converted it to their religious purposes, only to lose it to successive invaders, and lots of people had the foresight to steal statutes from it while the getting was good).
I also appreciated these views from the second floor balcony:
I thought it was so neat that one could see the south side of the Acropolis proper reflected in the windows of the Acropolis Museum!
By the time we were done there, it was after 6:00pm, so we headed back to the hotel. After a power nap, we wrapped up a great first day with a late evening dinner with live music at another cafe in Plaka (not pictured!). The meal itself was not as good as our earlier one (Bri's options were pretty much limited to bread, olives, and cheese), but we enjoyed live music performed by some grizzled but sweet old greek guys who were straight out of central casting, I swear. And what the restaurant lacked in non-meaty entree options, it more than made up for with some great baklava, which Bri very much enjoyed. After dinner, we walked a bit more to enjoy the Acropolis, Hadrian's Arch, and the Temple of the Olympian Zeus - which are all lit up beautifully at night.
It was a nice, relaxing way to spend our only evening in Athens.
On Monday, September 17th, we headed out.
We had a longish layover in Montreal - 5 hours. Just long enough to be a pain, but not long enough to allow us any real opportunity to leave the airport and check out the town. Montreal was a superweird airport. We kept having to wait for them to open doors, or to send over personnel to process our paperwork at various windows..it was kind of bizarre. Bri passed the time reading, and occasionally brushing up on her greek and turkish pleasantries via Youtube.
Finally, we were in the air. It was an overnight flight. I didn't sleep much, as I really couldn't get comfortable. Bri, on the other hand, was a champion. She folded up in her two seats like a piece of oragami and was out like a light for most of the trip.
I settled for watching the in-flight movies (which were announced as something else, but totally ended up being Brave and Snow White & The Huntsman) with no audio, because there was no audio on our side of the plane. Canadians.
Finally...Greece!
Well, Europe anyway. Probably Greece because we landed shortly thereafter.
We followed this great internet citizen's directions and made it to our hotel quite easily. Our hotel, the Parthenon, was literally around the corner from the Acropolis Metro stop. Which was literally across the street from the Acropolis, and I can't believe we didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of the Acropolis first thing, but I don't think we even saw it/registered its presence until later.
We were quickly checked in by a super nice front desk clerk, who gave us the 411 on where to go and when it would be open, and how much it would cost in about 2 minutes. It was very impressive.
The hotel room was small, by US standards, but clean and comfy:
Man would I miss these Greek beds when we were in Istanbul!
The view was nothing special, despite our proximity to the Acropolis, but the room was quiet so no complaints. Also, I'm kind of a voyeur, so this presented some opportunity for people watching ;)
We arrived in Athens at 10:30 am local time on Tuesday September 18th. It was after noon by the time we got processed at the airport, grabbed the metro, and checked into our hotel. We decided to do a walk about and try to get our bearings. Not to mention some noms.
I don't think our hotel was technically in Plaka, which is the historic / old district of Athens. But it was literally just steps away from it, so we really got to feel like that's where we were staying. Plaka is all cobblestone streets and cosy buildings painted in pastels, with those fancy European balconies...and lots of souvenir shops!
Sure, it could use some upkeep, but it's the old district! And Greece is kind of in a financial crisis, don't know if you've heard.
After poo-pooing a bunch of places (Bri, not me), we had lunch at Zorba's. I think because they actually used the word 'vegetarian' on the menu, and it was off the main street and kinda tucked away, which won it ambiance points. We enjoyed limonatas, although Bri did it with particular panache.
Then she tackled the vegetarian plate...
I was super proud of her, because if you know rickenbacker, she can be a little, how do you say, particular about her food. But she gave the Greek vegetarian platter a good try, and liked it! Featured: zucchini fritters, seasoned fava beans, sauteed carrots, baked eggplant, sauteed greens, stuffed pepper, rice, potatoes, and some kind of lentil or split-pea mash with red onion. There's a good chance Bri had never before faced down a plate with so many different vegetables on it.
Meanwhile, I went for the baked feta appetizer, which was simple but absolutely delicious.
Just ask all the neighborhood cats that Bri brought running by letting them have at my crumbs.
Sure it's got some quaint old buildings, but why is Plaka considered the historic district you might ask? Because you're just walking along in Plaka, and out of nowhere, this happens:
These ruins are what's left of the Roman Agora, according to a couple of small placards we found at the site. (The Roman Agora is not to be confused with the larger Ancient Agora, or there will be HELL to pay.)
Plaka as a sprawling neighborhood/district wraps around the foothills of the Acropolis. You can see the Acropolis "hill" in the background of this shot of the Tower of the Seven Winds (notice the rocky outcrop behind the residential buildings).
Athens lives and works around and between the historic remnants of bygone eras (like most of the major cities of Europe, I guess). This train rambled by on tracks that cut right through a section of the Ancient Agora (alongside the restored Stoa of Attalos).
We continued walking, basically doing a casual loop. Here's Bri in Thission Square (where you start to get the sense you're on the edge of a dodgier side of town), with the Acropolis in the background.
Here's a somewhat bleached close-up for you of the north side (Erechtheion in the forefront, Parthenon in the background):
These shots really don't do any justice to how surreal and impressive it is to look up and see something like the Acropolis in person. It's just so big and...commanding, for lack of a better word.
On our way back around to the Acropolis and our hotel, we passed the Thission Cinema, which is apparently the world's greatest open air cinema. Sadly, we did not get to experience this wonder. They were showing Casablanca, I think. Or maybe it was a Woody Allen film? My memory fails me.
Down the street from the Thission Cinema, a little placard informs us that here once stood the Sanctuary of Zeus.
You just gotta take their word for it.
We decided to knock the Acropolis Museum off our to do list, since our time in Athens was limited. The Acropolis Museum is located just across a cobblestone walkway from the Acropolis Hill and is built atop - what else - ancient ruins. Literally!
The walk way leading up to the museum lets you see more of the structures still underneath.
The museum is full of statues and such. I am much more of a paintings girl, and while I can enjoy the odd sculpture, I really prefer that they be mostly intact. Word to the wise: very little in Athens is still intact. So the Acropolis Museum was kind of a snooze fest for me. Except for the interesting video they showed on the third floor about the Acropolis through the ages (Long story short: lots of people invaded and took it over and converted it to their religious purposes, only to lose it to successive invaders, and lots of people had the foresight to steal statutes from it while the getting was good).
I also appreciated these views from the second floor balcony:
I thought it was so neat that one could see the south side of the Acropolis proper reflected in the windows of the Acropolis Museum!
By the time we were done there, it was after 6:00pm, so we headed back to the hotel. After a power nap, we wrapped up a great first day with a late evening dinner with live music at another cafe in Plaka (not pictured!). The meal itself was not as good as our earlier one (Bri's options were pretty much limited to bread, olives, and cheese), but we enjoyed live music performed by some grizzled but sweet old greek guys who were straight out of central casting, I swear. And what the restaurant lacked in non-meaty entree options, it more than made up for with some great baklava, which Bri very much enjoyed. After dinner, we walked a bit more to enjoy the Acropolis, Hadrian's Arch, and the Temple of the Olympian Zeus - which are all lit up beautifully at night.
It was a nice, relaxing way to spend our only evening in Athens.