Plaka by foot

Onbboard the ship now, heading to Milos. So, while waiting to get ready for dinner, I thought I’d write a bit more about Athens. Not sure when I’ll get to upload this, however. Internet service is slow and costly. Such is life on the harsh Aegean Sea.

Anyhow, after the Acropolis, we headed down to the Agora (the Greek market). It’s where Socrates spent his days in rational debate (clearly he was not a member of Congress), and, according to one guide book, Western philosophy (which is still pretty good, even if it is passe with many) and politics were born.

The Agora is also home to the Theseion, which is the best-preserved ancient temple in Greece. Built in the 5th BC, it has interesting friezes – one featuring Hercules (pre-Disney), and the other showing Centaurs battling it out (Let’s get ready to rumble!). The day was getting warm, so we stopped by Monstiraki Square and had some milkshakes (the girls), Coca Cola Lite (Carol), or Perrier (me).

From there, it was a short walk to the Roman Forum, which includes the 1st Century BC Tower of the Winds, an early version of the Weather Channel (albeit no radar map, alas). From there we traipsed back to the other side of the Acropolis (up hill, and hot – good times!). It is fun getting semi-lost in the Plaka neighborhood. The good news, since it is August, there are not many cars on the streets, so they were semi-pedestrian alleyways.

The girls weren’t as struck by the idea that wandering in generally the right direction is fun. I’ve always had a good sense of direction (except in Vegas – can’t figure that city’s layout out), and eventually we got where we were going – the New Acropolis Museum (another good name for a rock band). Built by the Greeks as a way to get the Elgin Marbles returned by the Brits, it’s a VERY impressive museum that is free for the kids, and only one Euro per adult.The Museum is well worth the price of admission. Beautiful pottery, sculptures, and other art recovered from the Acropolis grounds.

The Brits have so far declined to return the stuff they took from the Acropolis and now have in the British Museum. The Brits wouldn’t do it because they claimed the treasures would be damaged. So, the new museum was constructed – start of the art, and just opened this June.Now, the Greeks have space for those treasures, with plaster casts and signs indicating that the originals are at the British Museum. Except the signs say "BM", which I wonder if it is a scatological reference shot from the Greeks for the Brits.

Sorry Brits, even though I’m an Anglophile, your time with those treasures is running short – time to give them back.After an hour (which isn’t enough time, but the Iron Tourist knew the Iron Tourist fam was hungry, plus a time sched), we bid adieu to the Museum (see the Acropolis first, before the heat of the day, then hit the air conditioned museum). We headed in the general direction of the restaurants of Plaka.

We were hoping to find a restaurant named Psaras, which our friends Lisa Guide and John Passacantando recommended to us.Note to Athens tourist bureau – one map just of Plaka would be a Zeus-send. We wandered around, and then I said – well, either it is up this street (actually stairs carved into the hill) or we’ll just go somewhere else. I was right – it was Psaras restaurant.We ate outside – very pretty setting, with purple flowers streaming everywhere. The food, when it eventually got to us, was good.

They didn’t have sardines as Lisa promised, but I had lamb in a ceramic pot, and tried Alfa beer (Mythos beer yesterday). Two types of Greek beer tried, although the best selling beers appear to be Heineken and Amstel Light.The problem was that it took more than half hour to get our food. Big groups who got there after us were served before us. I think the service is impressive (not like Italy), but there was a clear breakdown in the kitchen on our food. As an apology, after lunch, they gave us a free plate of watermelon and honeydew melon. Note to businesses – when you screw up, acknowledging it with some tangible apology goes a LONG way. So, I did appreciate their apology. I’d still recommend the restaurant.