Acropolis Now
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2010
1
24
58
Trip End
Nov 13, 2010
Athens, Attica, Greece
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Whilst in transit, I wasn't feeling too keen about going to Greece. I was probably mostly grumpy about our post-midnight flight out of BKK, but I had a pretty fuzzy picture of what modern Greek culture was like, and most of what I'd heard about Athens was not very flattering. After a bit of a nap and a few hours wandering the city, though, I've concluded that Athens is a lovely city and Greek people are pretty great! We're tempted to linger in Greece longer than we initially planned.
Based on reports of Athens, I expected a traffic-clogged, loud, dirty, chaotic mess of a place. I can actually enjoy places like that, but, well, Athens is not that at all. Maybe the 2004 Olympics have really changed the city a lot, but I'm struck by how laid-back and peaceful it is here. It's a joy to walk around, the transport works well, and I have yet to witness the reputed horrible traffic and crazy driving.
The food has been really nice, too. I've never been a particular fan of Greek food as available in the US...I've liked some of it well enough, but I don't know if I've ever felt moved to suggest it. What we've had here has been pretty delicious. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, good cheese, great cheap bakeries.
In short: pleasantly surprised.
As sights go, Athens is of course best known for having piles of old rocks. As clearly stated in paragraph III.197.4(a) of the International Tourism Code, all tourists are required to visit such piles of old rocks, whenever present. Athens makes that convenient to do by packaging the main sights into a single 'Acropolis Pass' ticket. 12 Euros get you in to the Acropolis itself as well as six other, smaller ancient sites. Our first stop was, of course, the Acropolis, along with every other tourist in the entire universe. I knew the Acropolis was a big rock with a bunch of ruins on top of it, but I was surprised by just how big of a rock it is. It looms over the city in an impressive and attractive fashion; props to the ancients for choosing a picturesque location.
Across all of the ancient sites, there was one common thread: employees watching vigilantly, every minute and everywhere, for signs that somebody might be enjoying himself. If they suspect that enjoyment or relaxation is occurring or is about to occur, they will wave and yell and make a scene until you stop it. This happened several times when somebody sat down on a shady rock. Another time when a girl took off her sandal in a museum. I had a run-in with the Fun Police when Sheila made me stand behind a headless statue in order to take the requisite photo. "No standing behind the statues!" This level of anal-retentiveness seems pointless, and seems counter to the otherwise friendly and relaxed nature of Greek people. It's a bit mystifying. Maybe there's an 'enjoyment' surcharge that we didn't pay? I'm just glad I didn't have any desire to dance in front of a monument.
At Sheila's request, we went to the Jewelry Museum, which is normally 5 Euros but is free after 3pm on Wednesdays, when we went. It was worth free; it is perhaps not worth 5 Euros. We also went to the National Archeological Museum. You can imagine that there's lots of archaeology in Greece, and the results of all that hunting have been dumped in one building. Museums like this tend to put me in a daze pretty quickly, and it occurred to me (years late, really) that I'm interested in the conclusions drawn and narratives built out of the hard work that archeologists do...understanding how civilizations have developed and died out and progressed throughout the centuries, what they did, how they lived. This sort of information can often be found at museums, but it could just as well be read on Wikipedia from the comfort of home; seeing the 2035th example of Mycenaean pottery doesn't add much to my enjoyment or understanding. None of this is meant to knock the Archeological Museum, which has an impressive collection; it just means I should probably be more selective in choosing museums to attend.
We're leaving Athens tomorrow for the islands. First stop: Milos.
Comments
I'm really surprised about the "Fun Police." I always thought of Greece as a fun-loving country. Of course everything I know about Greece I learned from the "Mamma Mia" movie.