Our Greek brancher (aforementioned nutty roommate) must have returned in the night and he squealed and ranted in his sleep as we slipped out to the neighbouring store to get our breakfast. Crisps, chocolate and milk were quickly consumed before we set off on a day of sight-seeing.
Passing through the National Garden we were distracted by an open-air music rendition. Despite a howling gale a middle-aged crooner was singing his heart out as we settled down for a coffee on the chairs opposite the stage.
The waiter in a penguin suit (black dinner jacket and bow tie) served us with 2 Nescafés and gave us cause to doubt our ears when he reckoned the bill at an extortionate 344 Drachma. We didn’t even have this sum between us so a bally-hoo ensued, from which we retreated coffee-less but with our funds intact.
We navigated to the Acropolis using our city map, pausing along the way to indulge in a coffee which didn’t require a mortgage! The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.
The climb to the ruins was short and effortless and admission was surprisingly free. The crisp weather with blue skies made it ideal for photography and many people were taking advantage of this. Girls and boys alike struck up glamour poses in front of the imposing columns. George posed in his recently acquired round sunglasses and new leather coat.
Parthenon, temple that dominates the hill of the Acropolis at Athens. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena Parthenos (“Athena the Virgin”).
The temple is generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order, the simplest of the three Classical Greek architectural orders. The temple's great size and lavish use of white marble was intended to show off the city's power and wealth at the height of its empire.
We sat on the steps and watched the tourists against the extensive backdrop of the city, which seemed to spread to the horizon in every direction. The only break amongst the buildings were the isolated afforested islands of high ground, usually topped with a monument or telecommunications facility. We looked down on 2 impressive ruins of amphitheatres.
Built at the base of the Acropolis, the ancient amphitheatre of Herodeion, also known as the Odeon of Herodus Atticus is a semi-circular amphitheatre with an impressively wide 1,250 feet radius and has a seating capacity of more than 6,000 people. The original wall of the stage stood three storeys high and was decorated with marbles and ceramic pieces while today it stands in ruins. A cedar-wooden roof covered the theatre in the ancient times.
We went on to discover little of interest in the “Municipal and Cultural Centre of Athens”, which was housed in an 1836 neoclassical building which started life as the Municipal Hospital and moved rapidly on to the more attractive pastime of sipping coffee at a sunlit pavement café on Sintagma (Syntagma) Square.
We discussed “old flames” (previous girlfriends) and passed a pleasant hour before trying to track down somebody to pay for our drinks. We should have done a runner, but our honesty prevailed.
Despite the time of day, the moon was visible above the parliament building where busts and statues peered out between the orange trees. The site was occupied originally by the house of the Athenian magnate and politician, Alexandros Kontostavlos. After Athens became the capital of Greece in 1833, King Otto selected it as temporary residence, pending the construction of the Royal Palace (which houses Parliament currently).
We made our way back, dodging the lethal yellow trolley buses that seemed to ignore traffic signals in their hunt for unwary pedestrians to mow down. These were run by I.L.P.A.P. (Electric Buses of Athens & Piraeus Area) which was a public Greek company, part of the general Athens Mass Transit System, responsible for the operation of the trolleybuses network.
We searched for an open supermarket, but apart from the newsagent kiosks and old boys selling hot chestnuts, only florists and off-licence (alcoholic liquor) cum cheese shops were open.
We managed to rustle up some filled bread rolls with cheese spread which we ate in the lean-to which served as a Common Room. We had initially gone into the dormitory, but the Greek no-hoper was still in bed, and a new addition, a French bloke, had joined him in dreamland so we left them in peace.
We returned to the dormitory at 18:00 hrs. and inadvertently awoke Zorba the Junkie by switching on the light. George set off to (accidently) vandalise the bathroom while the Temporary Warden got himself into a tizzy (In a nervous, confused, agitated, or excited state.) because Zorba had invited one of his mates, who was not a guest, into the hostel.
I read for a while and George donned his headphones and bellowed along to his Walkman until 19:30 hrs. when we took to the streets of Athens again. Despite it being Sunday night, gangs of youths were out kicking their heels while they awaited something to happen, and several shops were still open.
We settled at the external tables of Thomas Burger café on Imitou with a pink plastic cup of nasty coffee. Cars raced along bumper to bumper so that they could cross the road junctions (which were devoid of any road markings) without giving way to perpendicular flowing traffic.
We went for a short wander before retiring with a cheap bottle of rosé plonk (wine) which cost us 48 Drachma (about 30 pence Sterling). We perused “Which Bike?” and discussed candidates for a future overland machine.
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