Athens, Greece Part 2

Sunday

After a stunning day of blue skies and sunshine the day before, we were greeted on Easter Sunday by the hazy, smoggy skies that Athens is renowned for. We had decided to visit some of the sights we had seen from our bus window the day before. After a well earned sleep in, we bought breakfast from a cafe on the way to the train station (so much better than the hotel breakfast of the day before).

First stop was Constitution Square. Apparently this is a very popular spot for Athenians to hang out, especially since its face lift for the 2004 Olynpics. There are a few cafes and restaurants around the edge of the square and one side of the square is lined with huge (and rather expensive looking) luxury hotels! Across the road are the Parliament buildings, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front. There were two guards marching (rather oddly) back and forth in front of the building, which kept the swarm of tourists, ourselves included, amused for a while!

We then walked a few blocks to the nearby university and library. The old university building is only used for graduation ceremonies these days. It is a beautiful building with pillars at the front, carvings of Greek gods above the main entrance and larger statues of Plato and Socrates in front of the building. The library, next to the university, is equally beautiful, with two winding staircases leading up to the entrance.

Athens was much more alive on Sunday than previous days, as it seemed that many more Greeks were out and about in their Sunday best, many carrying rosary beads. However, most of the shops were closed on Sunday - not so good for the tourists! We thought we had earned a coffee so we stopped at what turned out to be the finest cafe in Athens - very large and very posh. Tim had a hot chocolate, which was pretty much just melted chocolate, thick and extremely rich. Yum! Megan, after discovering that Greek coffee is NOT served with milk, had an espresso, also very rich. We would definitely go back.

As most of the shops were closed, we made our way through the maze of city streets towards Plaka for some lunch, stopping in at two Greek Orthodox churches on the way (one being the 11th century Kapnikarea Church in the centre of Athens). Both were small and very dark inside - basically no natural light inside! Rather than having a central point like an alter, there are pictures of various saints all around the walls. The Greek people walk around the church and pray in front of each picture and then kiss the picture before moving on to the next. Very interesting.

On Sunday evening we flew from Athens to Santorini in the Greek Islands. Apart from a very bumpy landing, all went smoothly. We checked in to our accommodation (which was very nice) and grabbed some dinner (yes, Tim had pork gyros again) before calling it a day.

Plazia
Kotzia

They do love
their flags

Plaka

Parliament
Buildings

Parliament
Guard

Old

University

Zeus and co

Library -
Megan on the
balcony

Kapnikarea
Church