Day 110...Acropolis Now - 14th October

Alot of people that we have met on our travels have said that there is bugger all to do in Athens. And they're right. Sprawling, polluted - Athens is a far cry from the romantic vision of the old days.
We had breakky at the hostel, which was nice and cheap. On the way to the Acropoils we visited Hadrians Arch. Set among rubble next to a busy road, it was far from inspiring, but its so cool to see the guy everywhere!!! (Remember, he was the guy that built hadrians wall up in England, fencing the dastardly scots out! Then we saw him again in Rome, when he did the renovations to the Pantheon!) The arch was seen as a dividing point between ancient athens and the modern Roman Athens.

From there, we headed up to the Acropolis (we could see it lit up near our hostel last night). The Acropolis is set up high on a hill and overlooks all of modern, sprawling Athens. Turning up there caused two reactions. I was delighted to be there, after reading and hearing about it for so long. However it was disappointing as it was like Delos - rubble. Its been an ancient ruin for so long, that it has been able to be plundered, blown up and scattered for centuries. We'd stand there and see a plaque that read "Temple of Zeus" and look up - and see nothing but a patch of dirt! Not even foundations! There was lots of scattered rubble. There were some statues and some broken writing pieces in spots, but it was not the best of what we have seen on this trip (man, don't I sound spoilt?) We did a quick walk through the smaller sites, past the arena (which you ca 't go into) and then up to the Parthenon. And got totally shocked!

The Parthenon was the largest Doric temple in Greece and is an international icon. BUT they have torn the whole thing down and are rebuilding! Its "restoration" as the previous restoration attempts have actually hurt it, and it may fall down. So its good in a way that it won't collapse. But now its not really the same thing anymore is it? So when we were there, it was half built again. Weird. The whole thing was covered in scaffolding, which is keeping with our theme 'scaffolding round the world' (remember to hum russel crowes 'fight round the world' from south park when you read this ). What a travesty!

The museum was pretty cool and well explained, unlike the other countries we've been to. But the site itself? Most things were smashed or ruined, so we left and headed for ancient angora. Angora was a meeting place in ancient times - Socrates hung out and spun his shit here. It was hard to picture a great man like him here, and now here we were in our Diesel shoes and jeans mucking around. It was pretty cool though, and there was one temple in pretty good nick. There wre some giant statues at one point as well.
In all, we finished up quicker that we thought so headed through Monastiraki back to Plaka. Monastiraki had a few ok looking cafes, and lots of cheap markets. We weren't induced to stay, and got some gyros in Plaka for lunch. Got really pissed off when we spent 7 euro each on a 'plate' of gyros (which ended up being 1 each) when you can get a takeaway one for 1.60 euro! what a rip job! However, i was entertained by a 'Frankencat' which was begging for scraps. It had been through the wars, with big scars down its head and body, and looked like it had een pieced together again. There were touts everywhere too.

We headed back to the hostel as we had seen enough, and did some itnernet work. In the evening we walked up a winding hill to a great little taverna that's been around forver and a day. Many famous stars from the olden days have eaten here. We had a really lovely last night in Greece. We ate on the balcony, having olives, a litre wine and feta cheese type things (the waiter helped us pick everything). Ate lamb, moussaka and I had some great fun feeding the kittens that kept scuttling over to me whenever the waiters weren't looking. haha! Nathan had the best dessert he's had the whole trip! (I am aghast too - what about Ben and Jerry's?) I made him have it too, so its a lucky thing. It was a Baklava, which is like a pastry soaked in honey and filled with a nut type filling. After a lovely evening we headed home to our beds, and strange roomie.