Sorry, it's harsh I know, but it really is a crap city. It's insanely polluted. There is shit and piss all over. Trash is everywhere. It's covered with crap graffiti. The parks are fenced off and/or in ruins. Athens' sidewalks and crosswalks are for parking (and sometimes driving), but clearly not for walking. Cars and motorbikes have no regard for human life. It's ugly, dirty, nasty, crowded and chaotic and not in a charming way. But it is also Athens, so of course there's quite a bit more appeal to the city then it's current sad state. You know having the Acropolis, the agros, and all of those other incredible ancient Greek and Roman ruins all over town certainly helps counter all that negative. And a few areas do have a lot of character. The white washed Anafiotika neighborhood built illegally on the side of the Acropolis is really something, as is the market and a couple other neighborhoods that we saw more in the middle of town. Plus the gyros and souvlaki are cheap, ubiquitous and delicious. The metro is pretty decent. So it's not all bad, and apparently many aspects (such as pollution and traffic) are far better than they were a decade or two ago. But obviously the financial crisis that Greece is in makes the current city experience much worse, since there's less money going into city services and maintenance. So I don't mean to kick them while they're down, but my statement still stands: crap city.
But let's look at the good. The Acropolis didn't disappoint. The ancient Greek ruins sit up on a large plateau overlooking the rest of the city. The ruins are so impressive and the views so stunning that its hard to stay focused on any one aspect too long. Ohh look at those ruins there...oh man that view....whoa the Parthenon...it's amazing...Oh damn that view!...Whoa what is on top of that mountain out there?...look at those statues!...ohh those people have selfie sticks, get the camera!...wait is that the Temple of Athena?...oh that dog has a puffy tail!
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| The Acropolis |
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| The Parthenon...still under construction |
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| Erechtheum |
And that is just the top of the Acropolis. Here is one of my favorite sights on the South Slope, the ancient (6th century BCE) Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus:
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| Seats of honor |
And here's the newer (161 CE) theater: Odeon of Herodes Atticus:
Maybe a few more ruins? The Ancient Agora:
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| so many ancient things in this picture |
Temple of Olympian Zeus:
One more. This is the Kerameikos, an ancient burial ground with some burials that date all of the way back to the 12th century BCE.
And here are a few slightly more contemporary highlights of Athens:
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| The memorable changing of the guard at the Greek Parliament |
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| The peaceful/beautiful Anafiotika neighborhood |
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| Some actually good street art |
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| Pittaki Street - it lights up at night, though we unfortunately didn't get to see it |
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Nafplio: The anti-Athens
After all that smog, chaos and excrement we were ready to escape Athens for a bit. And we chose the perfect place (during December at least): Nafplio, a Peloponnesian coastal city about two hours outside of Athens. That clean coastal air! The calmness! The walkability! We went there at a great time during their off season, so it wasn't as expensive, crowded or touristed out as I'm sure it would have been a few months prior, but for us it was our much needed anti-Athens and we loved every minute of it. Here are a view sights from Nafplio:
Bourtzi, a Venetian castle built in 1473 on an island, just off the Nafplio coast:
The Nafplian coast:
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| note the abandoned coastal hotel to the right and the fortress up above |
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| Abandoned hotel on the beach |
And the main highlight: Palamidi, a huge Venetian fortress built in 1714 on a hill above Nafplio:
Not far from Nafplio are some very important ancient Greek ruins. This first one we went to was Mycenae, which is ancient ancient Greece, like 15th to 12th century BCE ancient...that's a thousand years before Plato. Incredible seeing something so old.
We then headed out to see the far newer Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus and the ruins of the town of Epidaurus, which are merely from the 4th century BCE.
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| ruins of Epidaurus |
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| the Epidaurus Stadium |
Thus ended our time in Greece. We had a great time and saw some amazing sights, but unfortunately spent too much time in Athens. When we go back (oh and we will go back one day) we'd love to see some of the islands, more of the coast and maybe some of the northern part of the country.
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more of our Athens pictures
more from Nafplio and surrounding
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