Ordinary Athens

Not to think that Athens is only high-spirited Acropolis...
Ordinary streets are also quite pleasant part of Athens. About Piraeus I will speak in a separate writing, as it is another city, although much intertwined with Athens.
Such streets are heart of Athens, this one is in Zografou, one perpendicular to Alex. Papagou street there. I am always lost in this web of irregular streets in the hills, even when walking, and by car I do not even try.

This is typical street in the outer parts of Athens, this one being close to our street, in Agia Paraskevi. New buildings rising up in hundreds, really.

Station Halandri is one of the new stations, finished for the 2004 Games. A bit surrealistic, but ... I like it. In one of previous posts is the harph-like bridge near the Katehaki station, architects did a good job there, also.

And you all think I went here to Athens to do some science, yes? Well, my humbleness brought me to this :-D .

"Il uomo agriculturale" was a description in the church books for men of my family on Pag island in Adriatic in XIX ct. As we see, schools did not drive me far away, ha-ha.

Bicycle in Greece

Some month ago I bought a new vechicle. You remember my Adamsian (yellow, remember bulldozer in the beginning of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy"?) bicycle from Hsinchu? This one is also from Taiwan-Bulgarian assembling-and is RED, Bandierro-Rosso reddie ;-)
I did not want blue.

I tried it sunday uphill, somewhere below Pentelis, feels good! I found 30% steep road-and sure, did it both ways. I still have power :-) If I remember Taiwan 40 eur price...this one was 160 eur at the beginning, but salesman himself lowered to 140 eur.
Fair, I think.
Surrounding of Athens promise lots of joy on it-and many,many nice views, I am sure-Athens looks magnificent from above, it is a magic white of the concrete, with ancient red of roofs here and there. No roads visible, no green parts...only white and yellow and red. And blue, I will not repeat soliloquiums on the Greek magnificent light, read Miller and Durrell and these before and after, it is not possible to avoid mentioning it, if you are a poetical Terrestrian.

I am not,I am Alien from Mars,we know, ha-ha!

Tourism IN Athens

It is still on me to do my duty of presenting The Tour: Acropolis. It took some time, I know. ANd I will not say peans in the honour of it-it is magnificent, it is incredibly this-and-that, but there were others saying it better than me. Read Zbigniew Herbert, in some his poems and prose works it got the best description, in my humble opinion.

We actually started the year visiting Acropolis. It was a good choice, not too many people around. In general, winter is probably the best time for visiting Athens like tourist. I can imagine that climbing this hill may be hard work in the heats of summer here.

Here The Building. It IS amazing, maybe more because of the position than the building itself.

The most important place was not Parthenon, but this smaller building...Erechtheion. But this you can find in any guide book, I am not ciccerone! Caryatids, these beautiful maidens holding the portico, are really impressive, here in the top of the hill.

View to the south-notice the sea in the horizon-is magnificent.

Lykavittos Hill with the City below is one of the most frequently made pictures in Athens, I am sure, but I also had to do it!

Northern direction, more-less towards our regions...

Acropolis is before all fortified part of the city, in Parthenon was kept money from the taxes etc. Here fortification of the hill is well visible, it is impressive.
Below, in the park near the Ancient Agora you see the white shape of the temple of Haphaestus.

It is well preserved (renovated?) and here U can see how such temples looked when complete. I missed very much the possibility to enter at least one of these temples, just for the feeling of all these masses of stone around.

But with these millions of tourists wandering around it would not be possible. It is really incredible how much money Greece earns on each pile of stone they dig out!