Big City vs Small Village

We spent five days in Athens over my Birthday weekend. We went to five museums, ate five dinners and went to five archeological sites. We also went on some long walks. We were very loyal to our Rick Steve's Guide Book! His guided tours of the archeological sites and the museum were very good as were the walking tours. As we found out after we returned home, there are parts of Athens that are not safe to walk through. So it's not a bad thing that we stuck to Rick Steve's. I think Athens is having a very hard time. The economic crisis has caused a lot of people there to be living on the margins, Greeks and emigrants alike. But as usual the people were wonderful and we enjoyed being there very much. I was asked what I liked best. There were so many things that I liked that it is hard to choose, but I'll have to say the reconstructed Stoa of Atalos. It was rebuilt in 1950 to be exactly as it was when it was new, and in the same location at the ancient agora of Athens. It is the long colonnade building with two levels. It was used for shops, offices and a place for gathering, standing in the shade and leaning up against the columns. The columns were made smooth for the bottom 6 feet so that it would be comfortable to lean on them. I like to imagine what it would feel like to live at different times and places. The stoa gave me a chance to imagine! Then, what I liked least. The overwhelming graffiti, almost everywhere you look, to me is devastating. It is so destructive and depressing. Poor Athens.

We spent a wonderful day with our family in Athens, visiting, going to a festa and watching and participating in dancing, eating a wonderful dinner, and going on an excursion to the temple at Sounion  And eating more. Another nice thing that happened is that friends happened to going to Athens during the same time, so we had dinner with them one night, actually on my Birthday! They didn't know it was my Birthday, I told them later. So, for me it was a surprise birthday party, a surprise to spend it with friends.

Now the small village. We went on a walking tour of Vamos last weekend. It felt like we had come home after our excursion to Athens, back to the familiar sights of an old stone village. A wonderful meal, a tiny surprise dessert (actually two this time) and raki. In Athens we didn't always get the surprise dessert and raki, so it was good to get back to that tradition! We are definitely spoiled.

So many things about Athens I didn't mention. The market (all meat) was stunning. We went expecting a market like in Catania Sicily. That one had all kinds of food.  The one in Athens, at least the big indoor area was all meat, it was huge, huge, huge. You will see some pictures of it. And it was not static, I mean the butchering was not always finished so there were lots of meat cleavers and sounds of meat cleavers and ...... It was a lot of reality at one time. We ate lunch in a small restaurant there. But it was hard especially for me, I had the view of the market, Grier had the view of paintings and the kitchen with tasty smells.

We rode the night ferry there and back, that was fun too. We had our own cabin. I went straight from the ferry to work. Felt a little stunned, but made it through the day. Yikes this is getting long! Now for pictures.