Hydra

I have fond memories of visiting Hydra as a child. We took a boat out to visit the island, soak up some sun, and cool off our toes in the water.

There are no cars, bicycles, or motorcycles on hydra and it is hilly, so if you want to get around, they offer donkeys.

For lunch we had some kebabs in pitas and fried zucchini balls. The star of lunch was the fries, which came with feta and oregano. It's really the best way to eat fries. Even better than truffle aoli. I don't have a lot of food porn photos. Usually I was just too hungry or too forgetful to take photos of what I was eating.

When I was a kid we used to get huge muffins on Hydra. I didn't find a bakery with muffins, but I did get a great piece of cinnamon cake. We saved the cake and ate it down by the water.

Athens: Photo Shoot

We climbed up the tallest hill in Athens to take these photos.

Here is the original family photo we were sort of trying to replicate.

Athens: National Archaeological Museum

On a drizzly day we walked all the way to the National Archaeological Museum and tested our museum tolerance while hiding out from the rain.

I especially like looking at the jewelry in the museums. The earrings were so delicate and finely detailed.

This statue was part of a special exhibit showing things that were found in a shipwreck. The exhibit included many sculptures, glassware, a couch, and a very interesting contraption with lots of gears and dials. Experts think that the contraption is some sort of celestial calculator/computer. No other machine like it has ever been found.

This was my favorite sculpture in the museum. It depicts Aphrodite about to smack Pan with her sandal while Eros watches.

Athens: New Acropolis Museum and Random Photos

After our visit to the Acropolis rock we walked to the new Acropolis Museum.  The old one was tiny, and as I remember it, didn't have very much inside. The new one is very large and houses a lot of the original sculptures and stuff from the Acropolis. No photos were allowed inside, but I took a few outside.

Ross was worried that the museum was going to be nothing but pottery--which is all we could really see right as we walked in. We are both non-fans of pottery. Instead the museum has a lot more to offer. It had great sculptures and an entire area talking about how the sculptures were originally colored, the different minerals used to color the marble, and exactly how that was done. They even had an exhibit on how marble is sculpted out to replicate a model.

The best part of the museum was how the third floor is basically set up as the Parthenon. Original and replica metopes--high relief sculptural scenes are displayed overhead just as they are/were on the Parthenon--sets on the outer wall and inner wall. Displayed below are drawings done in the 1600s or something of what the metopes looked like back then. The pediment (end triangles) sculptures are also displayed. Some jerky Duke (of Elgin) took a bunch of the pediment sculptures from the Parthenon (and a bunch of other sculptures from the Acropolis) and transported them to England.  He then sold them to the British government, who still displays them at the British Museum. Greece wants them back, but England refuses.

Oh, there was also a video showing how they are using lasers and some sort of solution to clean the marble. It is a very fast process. Amazing. Reminded me of when I got my teeth whitened.

They have excavated around the new museum, revealing an ancient neighborhood. They are working on making it an exhibit that visitors can walk through.  There were areas we could look out over and areas with clear tiles (with lots of dots) so we could look down over the excavation site.

So in this photo we are looking down on an ancient living room mosaic.

I really liked the Tower of the Winds and took a lot of photos of it. It was once used as a kind of sun-dial. There is a rod sticking out of each side and lines carved into the sides.

Bougainvillea (I call it boogie) was everywhere in Greece.  It covered the front of our hotel. I saw purple, hot pink, light pink, peach, and white plants. I actually saw some red flowered plants at the State Fair last weekend. I need to get me a boogie plant.

I can't remember whose temple this is, but it looks cool.

I have to have my milk, even when I'm travelling, and in Greece I had Fage brand. I also had Fage brand yoghurt, both the total kind and another kind.  I prefer the total like I get here at home. The yoghurt was more expensive in Greece than it is here (I know it is made in NY here, but still) at 1,10+ € each.

On an unrelated note--we asked Kostas, our host, (more on him later) how Greeks say gyro. He said "ghee-roh," which is how my mom and I have always said it. So there. No jai-roh, no guy-roh, no yeee-roh.  He actually laughed at yee-roh.

Photo of some little yellow flowers on the side of a rock.

Athens: The Acropolis

So our first day in Athens we decided to climb the rock of the Acropolis.  We took the long way around to the entrance and I was worn out before we even really started.  It was a nice, sunny, warm day, in stark contrast to our days in Florence.

This is the Erechtheion with a view of the Porch of the Caryatids.  The ones shown are replicas. We got to see the originals in the Acropolis museum.

This shot shows the olive tree that was planted to commemorate the olive tree that Athena first planted in a competition against Poseidon.

The Parthenon. It is under reconstruction/restoration and parts are being filled in with new marble.

This shows the Theatre of Herodes Atticus. I think it is great that the theater is still in use. When we were there the sound guys were setting up for some sort of performance.

Here we are in front of the Parthenon.

View from the Propylaia (entrance/exit).