More on Athens (or lots of photos of rocks)

Now it's Sunday evening, and I leave for Rome tomorrow. Athens has been great. It's not a place you'd want to leave early, by any means.

I said I was going to take in the museums on Friday AM, didn't I. But it turned out to be such a lovely day, that I couldn't see spending it indoors. So I took in more of the Archaeological sites. (I love using big words like that, thank heaven for spell check). First I went to Keramikos, an ancient cemetery, but the descriptions made it seem more as another major portion of the original city.

Then on to the Ancient Agora. It was, long ago obviously, the center of business, culture and religion. Nearby was the Thission, or Temple of Hephaestus. Much like the Parthenon at the Acropolis, but somewhat smaller. It is more complete, however.

Those two took care of all the morning, and into the afternoon. Just enough time for a Mcd for lunch (Starbucks muffins for Bfst) and then on to the bus for a really nice drive along the Saronic Gulf coast to Sounio where the Temple of Poseidon is located. Beautiful views of the Aegean Sea and the Saronic Gulf. And the temple ain't half bad. Another multi pillar structure, again like, but smaller than the Parthenon Sounio is the southermost tip of this part of Greece.

Interesting story about the naming of the Aegean Sea, and for those of you who were with me in AU, this isn't a Coober Pedy story, it's as it was told to me. King Agea's son went to Crete to slay the minotaur. The king told him to change the black sails on his ship to white if he was successfull. If he wasn't, only his remains would return, under black sails. The son slayed the minotaur all right, but like most kids, forgot to do everything he was told. Didn't change the sails. So Dad saw the ship coming back with black sails, and was so grief stricken, he plunged into the sea. From a very high cliff. He didn't survive, but they named the sea after him, the Agean Sea.

So much for Friday, except to say I had dinner at---- The Hard Rock Cafe. An all-American day, as far as food went. Although I did order a Greek Mac for lunch, a big Mac on Pita Bread.

So on to Saturday. Took the metro to Pireaus to catch the ferry to Aegina. It was cloudy when I left, but not enough to cause me to take my umbrella or rain hat. Yeah, you guessed it. Nothing more on that subject, except to say that it didn't last all day, and wasn't too bad. I did have a hood on my jacket.

So now I've been to a Greek Isle. Eat your hearts out!!! This one is about the closest to the mainland, but still an isle. The city of Aegina seems to be primarily a fishing village, with, of course, an interest in tourism. The island is noted for it's pistachio nut crop, and I saw plenty of orchards that I assume were pistachios.

I first went to the Achaeological site near town. That was pretty interesting. They have isolated ruins from multiple civilizations beginning around 2500 BC forward through Roman times in the area. In addition to the ruins, some great views of other islands and a beach nearby.

From there I walked through town and out into what passes for the country, or suburbs, I'm not sure. Found some tide pools and looked them over, but no shells or other souvenirs. Then back through the residential area to the main part of town.

Saw a construction project under way. One guy shoveling cement and sand into a cement mixer. On the other side of it, a pile of wet cement had been dumped. The guy there was shoveling it into buckets for the bucket brigade. The bucket brigade hauled it into the building, I guess to pour a floor.

I discovered while on the island that there are at least two types of gyros. The first, in Athens, I sort of expected, meat, some veggies and sauce rolled into a pita bread, and eaten as a sandwich. That's what I ordered for lunch. What I got was a basket of bread, a plate with veggies topped with meat, sauce on the side, and french fries. When in Rome.....

While at lunch, I heard English being spoken. I'm always tuned to that. I think it's a result of traveling alone and not understanding the languages. Anyway, the group I heard it from was from Miami. Later, on the ferry returning to Pireaus, one of them sat in the seat next to me and we had a nice conversation about our trips.

On to today, my last day here. Sunny and windy enough that I decided a morning in the museum wasn't too bad an idea. And it wasn't. The National Archeological Museum was well worth it. That's an understatement. Being Sunday, everything I visited today was free. The museum had a display of pottery starting around 4000 BC, and moving forward into Roman times.

The statuary started around the 6th century BC and had exhibit rooms dedicated to nearly every century since up to maybe the 2nd or 3rd AD. Even my untrained eye could see some of the major differences. Those from the 6th BC weren't nearly as primitive as I had thought. One interesting point. Either the folks in the 6th BC knew something later folks forgot, or they didn't know something the rest did. Those in the 6th BC nearly all were smiling, while I didn't see a smile on anyone after that, except maybe Pan, and his was more a leer.

In the afternoon, I took in several more outdoor sites, which were still interesting, even with as many as I've seen. As I implied in the title, I've taken a lot of photos of rocks. And those ancients really did some fine work. Give me all the tools in Home Depot, a few more from Lowes thrown in, and I still couldn't match the workmanship they did with stone, bronze, and eventually iron age tools.

That's about it for the sights. I still keep on running into Aussies. Two were on the tour I took Wednesday, and they joined me again on Friday. At dinner, Thursday nite, I heard "Thank You"", so turned around and found an Australian lady eating in the booth behind me. So we talked for about half an hour. Those Aussies take long trips. Most Americans I talk to say "That Long?" when they hear about the length of my trip. The Aussies say ""Only that long?". Another one was in the hotel talking to the manager this morning when I left. You folks from Australia sure do get around!!!

A few more time-fillers. There are certainly a lot of motor scooters, motor bikes, ans small motor cycles in Greece. And they don't just drive on the streets, the sidewalks are prime real estate for them.

If you have free time to spend in Athens, have a cup of coffee or tea and just enjoy people watching in Syntagma Square.

In spite of my mistake in not bringing my umbrella on Saturday, I did several things right for this trip. I did bring the umbrella, and have used it, I rainproofed my rain hat, and I bought a pair of waterproof hiking boots as my main footwear for the trip. I remembered all too well the wet feet "Droughbuster Dick" had last year.

And with that thought, I think I'll sign off for now. Next stop, Rome.