When we left the Acropolis and Mars Hill at the end of Part 1, we walked downhill toward the street where we believed we could catch the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) Bus. We were quite proud of ourselves when we found it – and, most importantly, a “WC” or Water Closet in a nearby parking lot. We bought tickets for the day (the bus, not the WC), boarded, and began our trip around the city of Athens. 

We passed the National Parliament, Library, the archeological site of the temple of Zeus – King of all of the Greek gods, and eventually got off at the Olympic Stadium. While the Olympics had their beginnings in Olympia (see the earlier Olympia post), you may recall that they were stopped in 393 A.D.  

In 330 B.C. a stadium was built in Athens as a simple racecourse. It was later rebuilt in marble, and abandoned about 600 years after it was built. In 1869 it was excavated and used for 25 years before being renovated in time for the first Olympics in nearly 1500 years, the birth of the “modern Olympics” in 1896. It is the last stop in Greece for the Olympic flame, relit each Olympics in Olympia. From here, it is handed off in a ceremony to the host nation.

Returning to our bus stop, we reboarded and traveled past other sites until we reached Monastiraki Square. It is a central meeting point in Athens – and I think everyone decided that the beautiful weather and a Saturday were the perfect combination for a meet-up! You can see the Acropolis overlooking the city behind the square.

You can find almost anything along the many pedestrian streets including restaurants, designer fashions, souvenir shops, musical instruments, traditional Greek clothing, and nearly anything else for which you could shop.

And, it is home to the Monastiraki Flea Market!

But before the market we found a likely looking place for lunch.  It was a very pleasant day if you were sitting in the shade, so we sat at a table under an umbrella by the entrance where we could catch the breeze and people watch.

Lunch was wonderful; a shared, huge baked potato with sour cream with deliciousness mixed in, a chicken souvlaki each wrapped in pita bread (we were told they were small and the price indicated that might be so – but that was definitely not accurate), and a shared appetizer that became dessert – feta cheese fried in some kind of crispy coating and drenched in honey. Paradise!!  When the waiter came for us to pay the check he commented on the leftover potato. We told him, “there was so much food!”  “This is Greece!”, he said in his Greek accent, “Big portions!”.  

If you had the time, knowledge, and means, you could spend days wandering the flea market, bargaining for everything from Turkish carpets to telephones – both old and new. I kind of missed the pushy Turks of Istanbul as it was difficult to get anyone to look at you, much less speak.  It seemed odd for a flea market anywhere, and doesn’t make for comfortable bargaining when all you get is a blank stare. But we enjoyed looking at the “treasures” of Athens, and finally reboarded the HOHO Bus to ride around to the side of Athens closest to the port. (I don’t know what happened, but I can’t seem to find any pictures of the Flea Market! Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh.)

We got off the HOHO Bus at the temple of Zeus, flagged a cab driver who spoke no English and used the calculator on his phone to show me the price to the port. He asked for less than I offered, so we took it!  Unfortunately, he dropped us at the wrong terminal, and although the ship was literally within rock throwing distance, they would not let us through. Some ladies who were manning (womaning?) check-in for another terminal took pity on us and literally jumped in front of a cab dropping people off and negotiated a 5 Euro ride to the correct terminal for our ship. Bless her!!

We arrived back at the ship eight hours after we left, and just in time to pack our bags for departure the next morning and clean up for our final dinner on board. 

“Packing our bags” sounds so simple. I’ve said before how we pack as little as possible, wash things out along the way, and try to buy small souvenirs or gifts for folks back home.  If we were just going aboard the ship and back with little handling of bags we could pack more and have some variation in what we wear. But when we know we be traveling on trains and buses and have to haul our luggage in and out, we minimize. It’s fairly easy to just stand one outfit in the corner to air while you wash another outfit and wear the third. You can even mix and match by wearing the pants longer between washings than the shirts.

The next day we were flying Ryan Air to Bologna, Italy, and knew that exceeding the size and/or weight limits of the pre-paid bags would cost us greatly. So we planned ahead, packed carefully – and left a couple of disposable items behind to give us more space. It worked and we arrived in Bologna with all bags and items intact and no extra charges.

For dinner that night we ate in the main dining room. Many of the desserts look far better than they taste, but I really like strudel and they were having apple that night! Only problem was, they were also having Baked Alaska. The only night for each of those desserts, so of course the choice was easy, order both! (It doesn’t mean you have to eat all of both of them!)

This has been a terrific trip that has taken us to places I never thought of going – or never thought I would go. I am grateful for the opportunities, and that you share them with us. Tomorrow we disembark and fly back to Italy.

We’ll see you there!!

By : ramblealong