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Postcards: Athens and the Acropolis (GR)

I felt a little guilty for treating Athens as a stop-and-go point. This immense and sprawling city was the gateaway to our island escapades, and oh escaping Athens we did. We hopped on a ferry out to Naxos a mere few hours after arrival at the airport, and we’ve set aside only our last day to sightsee the city because, well, we had an early flight the next morning. What I had not predicted was the delay in our overnight ferry back to Athens.

Athens

Athens

As our allocated 24 hours dwindled to about 20 hours, and our very weary bodies refusing to cooperate fully after sitting and waiting cluelessly at the port in Santorini in the middle of the night, we managed to tough it out for 7 hours under the stifling Athenian afternoon sun. We then crashed out. As I didn’t pay enough attention to the information board that I was supposed to be reading, I don’t have much to tell, just pictures to share.

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

Athens

We pretty much stayed within the historic centre of Athens without venturing too far away from the Acropolis. We also ventured into the oldest continuously inhabited area – Plaka – but found it rather sad that many businesses were shut despite it being a Saturday, a day we expected this central neighbourhood to be bustling. Same goes with other streets nearby where many shop fronts were shuttered. The only place we saw that was rather lively remained around Monastiraki, catering largely to the tourism industry.

It made a sobering reminder that Greece is a country in economic crisis, even if it wasn’t obvious when we were island-hopping and surrounded by relative luxury (particularly in Santorini). We caught a demonstration going down the main street Athinas that very same afternoon. There was a lot of anger among the demonstrators all dressed in black, as if this was a big funeral. For the sake of everyone who’s fighting to survive the crisis, I truly wish recovery will come soon. The people we’ve met had been welcoming, friendly and helpful, and they certainly deserve better.

Athens and the Acropolis: full photoset on Flickr

 

All posts in this series:
Greece: Postcards: Sunset in Oia
Greece: Chóra, Hora or Náxos Town? | Flickr Photoset
Greece: The Venetian Museum of Náxos | Flickr Photoset
Greece: An afternoon walk from Firá to Oia | Flickr Photoset
Greece: Caldera, volcano and hot spring | Flickr Photoset
Greece: Island time(table), Santorini edition
Greece: Postcards: Blue in Oia
Greece: Postcards: The idyllic village of Oia | Flickr Photoset
Greece: Just keep swimmin’, just keep swimmin’
Greece: Touring southern Santorini | Flickr Photoset
Greece: Postcards: Athens and the Acropolis | Flickr Photoset



Category: 101 Goals, Europe, Greece, Travel

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

2 scribbles & notes

  1. med says:

    Makes u wonder…great civilization historically but struggling to survive in the ‘modern’ world? like egypt…hmmmmm

    • Lil says:

      at least greece is in better state than egypt right now. a bit sad really, with all the going-ons politically and economically at the moment.

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