Sometime during the night Michael packed his bags and did a moonlight flit. Only his towel and a box of cookies gave testament to his ever being there. He probably flew home to America, his best recourse in view of his out-and-out uselessness. Frenchie also packed his bags and moved out leaving Cat Stevens lookalike Zorba the Junkie to keep lonely vigil on the dimly lit dormitory.
After the usual breakfast we sauntered down to Syntagma Square for coffee in the sun. Several Chinese tourists were feverishly photographing each other with the backdrop of the central fountain. We read about British domination of the American music industry and toyed with the idea of becoming pop stars ourselves!
We moved on to explore St George's Church on the high point at Likavitos (as written in my log). Mount Lycabettus, also known as Lycabettos, Lykabettos or Lykavittos is a Cretaceous limestone hill which is 300 meters (908 feet) above sea level. Its summit is the highest point in Athens and pine trees cover its base. The name also refers to the residential neighbourhood immediately below the east of the hill. The hill is a tourist destination and on its two peaks are the 19th century Chapel of St. George, a theatre, and a restaurant.
We walked easily up the winding stepped slope passing hundreds of policemen who appeared to be on a day out. The summit of the hill gave us a superb view of the sprawl of white buildings of Athens which spread away in every direction. A huge Greek national flag rolled lazily in the gentle breeze as we settled down for a coffee in an open-air café with a superb panoramic view.
Back at ground level we visited the War Museum on Vassilissis Sofias Avenue. The Athens War Museum established on July 18, 1975, is the museum of the Greek Armed Forces. Its purpose is the exhibition of weapon artifacts and the relevant research in the history of war. It covers the history of war in all ages, but offered little to hold our attention, especially as all the information boards were written in Greek.
We gave the newspaper kiosks the once over as we made our way back to view Hadrian’s which was probably built to celebrate the adventus (arrival) of the Roman emperor Hadrian and to honour him for his many benefactions to the city, on the occasion of the dedication of the nearby temple complex in 131 or 132 AD.
The Arch of Hadrian, most commonly known in Greek as Hadrian's Gate, is a monumental gateway resembling, in some respects, a Roman triumphal arch. It spanned an ancient road from the centre of Athens, Greece, to the complex of structures on the eastern side of the city that included the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus, is a former colossal temple at the centre of the Athens. It was dedicated to "Olympian" Zeus, a name originating from his position as head of the Olympian gods.
Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD, some 638 years after the project had begun. During the Roman period the temple, which included 104 colossal columns, was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.
The temple's glory was short-lived, as it fell into disuse after being pillaged during a barbarian invasion in 267 AD, just about a century after its completion. It was probably never repaired and was reduced to ruins thereafter. In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, it was extensively quarried for building materials to supply building projects elsewhere in the city. Despite that, a substantial part of the temple remains today, notably sixteen of the original gigantic columns, and it continues to be part of a very important archaeological site of Greece.
For some reason the Temple, a collection of pillars, had a 30 Drachma entrance fee, but was closed at the present. We were now tired of trudging around sightseeing and after briefly watching a few half-hearted young athletes at the colossal Athens Stadium, we returned to the hostel for a siesta at 16:00 hrs.
We had the dormitory to ourselves, so we utilised our Walkman’s with the speakers after a brief snooze. Zorba the Junkie returned, presumably from a Cat Stevens lookalike job, and climbed straight into bed so we vacated and wandered the cold night streets of Athens.
“The boys” were out in force, engines gunning and tyres squealing. Most of the were on Honda 50 step-throughs but the real “kiddies” were in cars and seemed hellbent on eradicating the elderly. We saw one old boy struck by a young pup with a carload of cronies, but luckily it didn’t seem too serious. The old boy had a limp, but his wits were about him, and he soon had plenty of witnesses to verify that the upstart was speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road in an attempt to overtake a van.
We ended up in the Alex Burger for a coffee before returning to the hostel via a supermarket. We sat in the hall and tucked into bread rolls stuffed with luncheon meat and washed down with milk as a Greek bird dithered about before moving into the bathroom on a long-term basis at 22:30 hrs.
Zorba the Junkie went out on a nocturnal mission, so we moved back into the dormitory. I listened to Siouxsie and The Banshees Greatest Hits through headphones on my Walkman before going to sleep.
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