During the early days of February, it was decided that I would be presenting my research on the ReVeaLD platform in one of the project meetings to be held in the first week of March in Athens. This presented me with my first opportunity to ever set foot in mainland Europe, and what better way than to debut with Greece. I was always told stories about how my grandfather had visited Athens during his European tour back in the 70s, and my high school social sciences lessons about the great ancient heritage of Athens portrayed in the Parthenon and other architectural wonders at the Athenian Acropolis, had created an everlasting impact on my mind – hence earning Athens a place on my travel bucket-list.
After the early hustle over completing the visa formalities, and making some finishing touches to the platform and my presentation, I finally was able to get some time off to plan a precise travel itinerary. Apparently my project meeting was scheduled on the first two days of the week, and as I did not have much time after the end of the meeting, so I decided to head over during the weekend and had exactly one day (Sunday) to cover the maximum tourist attractions. Searching for some inspirational blogs (well, the initial search was discouraging as you were bound to get sidetracked and most of them just ended discussing on how it is logically impossible to do so) I stumbled across an extremely detailed travelogue, outlining the must-see tourist attractions. Plotting these locations on a Google Map and taking a print-out for the same I was able to finally formulate the shortest closed-loop path (The Geeky Me did not have a GPS powered Smartphone – so this was the only way) which would allow me to cover all the destinations in under 8 hours – starting and ending from my hotel of stay (Airotel Stratos Vassilikos).
Beginning my journey, I had a transit at the Frankfurt International Airport, where I ran into my housemate and DERI colleague, who had his own separate meeting during the same time in Athens. We apparently had the same flight from Frankfurt to Athens, and he wanted to visit the Flea Market of Athens, something which is open only on Sunday and is quite famous apparently. The idea seemed lucrative, but considering the facts that I was not a much of a shopping enthusiast, and I had a precise travel plan starting from eight in the morning, I decided to drop the idea. As it is, there is so much to do in Athens, and it is somewhat impossible to accomplish everything in a day.
I started my day, with a really heavy breakfast (Well, being my first time in Europe and a proper stay in a five-star hotel, I was easily overwhelmed) – with lots of optional vegetarian alternatives (something which I initially feared). The weather was somewhat horrible, too windy and drizzling, which reminded me of Galway – well I did not have the liberty to complain. I waited for the early morning bus, but it was literally difficult to get the exact stop (everything was in Greek). Also, it was beneficial for me that I had the map printed out, as it was easy to pin point the places I wished to visit to the local passengers. I had decided to skip the Panathenaic Stadium (partly because it was just a reconstructed copy of its ancient counterpart), but I unfortunately missed out on the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch, because the bus took me directly to the outskirts of Acropoli. The first deviations to the extremely detailed sketched out travel path !!
I started out from the base of the Acropoli Hill, and luckily the entrance was free (which I realized later it was always free on Sunday !!) The way up the hill all the way to the Parthenon, was one tricky effort towards hill climbing, with the added complications caused due to the winds (and the light fog). Nevertheless it was extremely fun, and I finally was able to jump back to the intended travel path witnessing some of the amputated statues (top-left), the Theatre of Dionysus and The Odeon of Herodes Atticus (top-right). One could easily come across cute and plump animals on the way up the Acropoli hill (upper-middle-left), leaving you to wonder what do they really get to eat on such a height (You may think it is the Greek Feta Cheese – something that did get me fat after 4 days of stay). Also you could witness the beautiful Athens city in the backdrop the higher you went up the hill. It looked like a sea of red and white, and I was able to get a glimpse of the attractions I had missed before.
The top of the Acropolis reminded me of my visit to the Cliffs of Moher two years back, the extreme winds making it difficult to actually stand for a longer period at one place. It was good that I had fashioned to carry around a jacket with me, as the temperatures dropped miraculously up there. However, once on the top, the miraculous, shell-shocking, awe-inspiring view, made you forget all about the shortcomings of the sun. Perched on the top, were the two distinct attraction – Parthenon and Erechtheion, and somehow the foggy weather made the view altogether more majestic. The Parthenon was reinforced with bamboos and cranes, due to the ongoing construction since 40 years – the acid rains (tragic history) had somewhat ruined the outer exterior of some of the marble pillars (upper-middle-right). The Erechtheion was marvelous in its own splendid way, with six draped female figures sculpted in a way to shoulder the weight of the entire porch roof (lower-middle-left). There was something genuinely magnificent and sad about that. Once down the hill, I got misguided once again seeing some kids climbing a huge rock protruding out of the ground like a small mound. Apparently the view standing there was quite great (lower-middle-right), it reminded me of the city of Naboo in Star Wars – it was worth getting a few scratches climbing up.
Down the hill, I came across the Ancient Agora of Athens, which might have been the Greek parliament of the ancient times. Located on the right side of the Agora was the lesser known Temple of Hephaestus, which was much better preserved than the Parthenon, and I was able to get some really scenic shots (lower-middle-large). Located on the left side was the Stoa of Attalos, which housed the famous Agora Museum. On the outside were headless statues of Homer, Illiad, and other Greek Gods and Goddesses, which were too many to remember. On the inside were the beautiful exhibits of pottery, currencies and tools of ancient Athens. It was already 4pm when I got out of the Museum, and I decided to call it a day, as I would be having a 10 hour meeting the next day. I jumped over to a nearby cafe and had a delicious Cheese Toast with a Cappucino, as it was the only vegetarian option on the standard menu. Apparently, I realized later, I could have ordered a vegetarian sandwich of sorts, but the waitress was a bit too Greek to understand the common tongue.
I started my way back to my hotel, taking a glimpse of the Parliament House from the outside, and that was when I lost my way from the Google Map. Instead of heading to the Subway Station, I made a wrong turn and entered a street – it literally seemed like the darker Knockturn Alley to the Diagon Alley of Harry Potter, due to the cheap content they were selling off the street, and those who stood purchasing them. This was a moment which made me seem so out of place, and it was when I decided, to jump boat, and ordered a cab back to my hotel.
The next day, after the long meeting we decided to go to one of the local restaurants to enjoy the Greek Cuisine. With the extra helping of the Greek Feta Cheese in almost everything, the food was extremely delicious, even from the vegetarian’s perspective – it was great to have something that was not oil-rich, pizzas or the traditional Pasta (Spaghetti and Penne). They served a Fava-bean dip as an appetizer with Bread, traditionally called Bessara, which was like Hummus in appearance, but tasted much better and apparently more proteinaceous. On the rest of the menu, was the Greek Feta Salad, Spinach-Cheese Pie, Ravioli, Mushroom Risotto and Pasta (which could have been Sacchettoni or Farfalle). On the side were occasional offerings of Rakia, the alcoholic beverage of the Balkans.
On my final day, I had the privilege to once again visit the Acropoli (unfortunately not free this time), with some of the research partners. Thankfully the sun shone in full glory on that day, and I was able to get a better view of the Athens city from the top (bottom-left). I managed to purchase a small memorabilia from the local market – a stone frame with the Parthenon sculpted on the top, as a remembrance for the trip. We ended the day with going to the Hilton Roof-top Galaxy Bar (something I had missed from the original inspirational travelogue). It was a bit expensive, but the view of the sun setting over the Parthenon, and the night lights erupting over the Athens city (an Instrumental ‘Look how the stars shine for you’ – ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay playing in the background), more than made up for that (bottom-right). It was like the perfect fairy tail ending to my first trip in Europe.