Friday, 7 October 2016

Day 28 - Athens & The Acropolis.

Day 28 - 07 October 2016

And here we are. The last day of my holiday. Tomorrow afternoon I fly to Istanbul and in the evening off to Johannesburg. I'll be home in Port Elizabeth at 12:20 on Sunday afternoon.
Back to today. As I write this, there's a thunderstorm raging outside. It's been raining for about an hour and a half now and it's so cool in my room. I have the windows wide open and the sound of the rain is fantastic. I have a theory about the rain. It's Friday so Zeus and the boys went out drinking. When he got home, Hera started nagging. They had an argument and now he's drunkenly throwing his thunderbolts around.
Anyway, my alarm went off at 07:00 as usual, but I didn't get up. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Also a little sick. My throats is sore and the nose is runny. I eventually got up after eight and got ready to tackle the Acropolis and it's surrounds. When I got to the entrance of the acropolis at about 09:00, there were hundreds of people waiting to get in.
That's the price you pay for being lazy and not getting up at seven in order to be there at eight when the gates open. I bought the €30.00 ticket as it was for 7 sites. I was so excited to be there, but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed when I saw the Parthenon.
I know that the restoration is crucial to correct the mistakes of the previous attempts, but all the scaffolding and cranes just diminishes the overall impact of that magnificent building. Also, there are set pathways that you have to walk along and some of them are just too far from the actual buildings. however, it is still an awesome sight. I think I was a little spoilt by the temples at Bassae, Nemea and Aphia where you get much closer. In spite of everything, I did enjoy it and I was really pleased to be there. it was one of the main reasons to come to Greece after all. After the Acropolis, I walked around the north slope and the south slope. I then went to the ancient agora with its magnificent stoa
and The Temple of Hephaestus,

built in 419BC and still exists today virtually unchanged. 2  435 years old and still standing. Went to the Roman Agora which housed the Tower of the Winds.
The Tower of the Winds or the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes is an octagonal Pentelic marble clock tower in the Roman Agora that functioned as a horological or timepiece and features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane. It opened to the public earlier this year for the first time in 200 years. Wasn't that lucky for me! I then walked to the Library of Hadrian which had a rather good Nike in its little museum.
By that stage I needed to eat so I had a tuna baguette and a really sweet custard tart with a cappuccino latte. Daylight robbery at €10.40. It was really expensive but very tasty.
Lastly I went to the Olympieion with its ruin of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.
Of the 104 columns, only 15 remain standing and one lies fallen where it stood. It must have been magnificent in its day. It took 638 years to complete and remained in use for only 135 years.
I was done. Went back to the hotel for a rest and then went out again for coffee. Back to the hotel again and showered and off to dinner. I went to el Greco again. The owner recommended gigantes and pastitio. I had that and it was so good. The portions were way too large but I managed. As I was having my coffee, 4 Iranian tourists walked in. They were offered lamb! I thought, bloody hell, If I knew that lamb was available, I would have had that. Once I'm done, I'm off to bed.
This is my flight plan for tomorrow:

TK1850
Saturday, 
8 Oct 16
P
Eleftherios Venizelos Intl Arpt, Athens
Ataturk Arpt, Istanbul, Terminal I
15:35
17:05
Reconfirmed flight


30K
TK162
Saturday, 
8 Oct 16
P
Ataturk Arpt, Istanbul, Terminal I
O R Tambo International Arpt, Johannesburg, Terminal A
21:05
05:55#
Reconfirmed flight


30K
SA405
Sunday, 
9 Oct 16
S
O R Tambo International Arpt, Johannesburg, Terminal B
Port Elizabeth Airport, Port Elizabeth
10:45
12:20
Reconfirmed flight


30K

And on Monday it's back to work.

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