Athens, Greece
Our cruise ends, but we continue our journey with a day of sightseeing in Athens, the capital of Greece and the birthplace of democracy. We visit the Acropolis and other ruins, shop a famous flea market, and enjoy two meals of outstanding Greek cuisine.
We awoke to a dim, gray morning as the Viking Sky carefully approached the port city of Piraeus, our gateway to Athens and our final stop on the cruise. More than 900 passengers prepared to disembark at once — bags packed, accounts settled, connecting transportation arranged. We took a taxi for the 25-minute ride to our hotel, comfortingly named Home and Poetry, where we were able to stow our bags for the day. Then we headed out to explore the Greek capital.
I enjoy a good history lesson, but one is scarcely required when it comes to ancient Athens. It is known as the birthplace of democracy and the cradle of Western civilization — a powerful and influential city-state whose prolific creative and intellectual output defined an era of human civilization.
The geographically overt epicenter of that civilization was the Acropolis of Athens, a grand citadel containing a collection of architecturally magnificent temples and monuments atop a 150-foot rocky outcrop right in the center of the city.
We began our ascent of the Acropolis, passing ruins of smaller temples and other buildings, before stopping at the beautiful Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an amphitheater constructed in 161 AD. It seated 5,000 and once had a roof made of Lebanese cedar before it (and much more) was destroyed by the invading Heruli, a Germanic tribe that had pushed through the Balkans before sacking Athens in 267 AD.
We continued up toward the entrance and walked into the Acropolis through the Propylaea (“gate building”), the last in a series of gatehouses built on the citadel when it was constructed between 437 BC and 432 BC.
That same year, construction finished on one of the most iconic buildings in the Western world, the Parthenon. Its imposing frame — originally 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns — can be seen for miles, yet it also included some of the finest decorative sculptures of the era. But its fascination for so many of us is its role in the development of democratic ideas, with lively, well-attended debates between philosophers like Aristotle and Plato.
Standing on this high point overlooking Athens and staring at this monument to human ingenuity so filled with history and ideas was exhilarating, an out-of-body experience. It seemed impossible that I could be standing there.
Modern, metropolitan Athens — with a population of 3.1 million — extends to the horizon in most directions from the Acropolis. Poking through the tumult is Mount Lycabettus (“the one that is walked by wolves”). According to myth, the goddess Athena created it when she dropped a limestone mountain on her way to provide materials for the creation of the Acropolis.
Aside from the Parthenon, the most arresting structure on the Acropolis is the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated primarily to Athena. Completed in 406 BC, its asymmetrical shape was unusual in Greek classical architecture. Along its south wall is The Porch of Maidens, a series of six female figures sculpted as column supports, adding a sense of gentle grace to the site.
We exited back through the west side of the Acropolis at Beulé Gate, built in the 3rd century AD as a defensive wall. The gate’s heavy stones came almost entirely from the wreckage of an older structure on the Acropolis, the Choragic Monument of Nikias.
We made our way down a small path toward a collection of other ruins from ancient Greece and Rome, pausing for a fine view of the Temple of Hephaestus and the Ancient Agora of Athens, a public gathering place filled with monuments.
We stopped at the Roman Forum of Athens, the Roman equivalent of the Ancient Greek Agora, built between 19 BC and 11 BC. Today, its ruins of columns, gates, and an octagonal tower lie directly adjacent to tourist shops and private homes.
The impressive and accessible finds between shops continued with Hadrian’s Library, built in 132 AD in the style of a Roman Forum. It contained texts in rolls of papyrus, along with reading rooms and lecture spaces. The library was significantly damaged just 135 years after its construction during the invasion of the Heruli.
We mixed in a bit of shopping on our way to the Stoa of Attalos, a reconstructed 20th-century version of a building originally commissioned by King Attalos II of Pergamon, who ruled between 159 BC and 138 BC. It sits at the edge of the Ancient Agora, its stoa (covered walkways) providing an ideal backdrop for private conversations and public gatherings.
Lunch at Efcharis
We took a break from history at Efcharis, a restaurant whose name comes from the ancient Greek word “eúkharis,” which means “attractive, enticing, charming.” Those adjectives were a perfect fit for our lunch experience. We ordered far too many olives to get started, then had some classic chicken and lamb souvlaki with tzatziki and Greek beer. Everything was perfect, and it sparked Marianne’s recent love for souvlaki. I am certain this had nothing to do with our fabulously coiffed waiter, who had quite a bit of “eúkharis” going for him as well.
Temple of Hephaestus
A light drizzle began to fall as we made our way to the Temple of Hephaestus, perched on a hilltop overlooking the Ancient Agora. Built in 415 BC in the Doric style (fluted or grooved columns, smaller at the bottom than the top, no base or pedestal), the marble temple was decorated with bas-relief friezes. It was dedicated to Hephaestus, the very busy god of of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture, and volcanoes. (Vulcan was his Roman counterpart.) The temple has been well-preserved, due to being used as a Christian Church from around 700 right up until 1834.
Monastiraki
The rain began to let up a bit as we approached Monastiraki Square, a wide public space in modern life and the center of the shopping action in Athens. The Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa, dating back to the 10th century and possibly earlier, resides in a corner of the square, while the famous Monastiraki Flea Market fans out via narrow passageways in several directions.
At one end of the market road is the 19th-century Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. Right next to it sits the much tinier Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Gorgoepikoos and Saint Eleutherius, built in the early 13th century on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Eileithyia — goddess of childbirth and midwifery, and the daughter of Zeus and Hera.
Brettos
Our reward for a day of walking and historical contemplation was a visit to Brettos, a bar in the attractive Plaka district that uses its incredible varieties of liqueur (amaretto, limoncello, kumquat, kiwi, rose, cocoa, mango, and two dozen more) as a central component of its interior decoration. The music, the cocktails, the ambience — all were a soothing way to end the day.
To Kafeneio
We went to dinner that night at To Kafaneio, also in the Plaka district. Just across from the restaurant is the Holy Church of Saint Nicholas Rangavas, built in the 11th century and restored as recently as the 1970s.
To Kafeneio (“coffee house”) is a homey spot serving Greek comfort food. The house specialty is the meatballs in tomato sauce, made with minced meat, fresh mint, lemon, and farm-raised eggs. We met our friends Roberta and Keith at the restaurant and had the meatballs, plus a variety of other meat dishes in rich and delicious sauces.
On our walk back to our hotel, we came across an all-star display of gelato. But dinner had been more than enough, and we bravely resisted. It had been a big day in a big city, and we had an early morning ahead for the next leg of our journey.