Home again, home again

 

One last group shot on the balcony the day before going home

I am currently writing from the comfort of my own house, having successfully made the return journey last Tuesday. It was... a very long day of travel. Up at 5am (Greece time), plus almost 11 hours of flying (with a small layover in Heathrow), meant that it was a real struggle once we made it home to stay up long enough to try and regulate our bodies to Nova Scotia time (and remain both lucid and civil in the process).  But we did it!  Now, let's go back to the last couple of days in Athens, to try and clue up the last of the trip.

In Monastiraki Market

Sunday was our second-to-last day, but we also knew it was going to be the hottest day of the whole trip (with highs forecasted of 43 decrees C). We decided to head early for one last stroll through the Monastiraki market area (we'd been twice already, but had read that it is much different on Sundays, with loads of extra vendors setting up along side streets), followed by a trip to the Acropolis Museum (which would be a lovely air-conditioned respite as the day grew unbearably hot). 

Market scenes - I tried on some beautiful clothes at this shop, but didn't end up getting anything

Typical offerings

Hazel had to use the washroom, which was a nice excuse to grab some cold water and espresso at one of the many market cafés

Though we did end up buying a few last items, I have to say there was not much difference between Sunday Monastiraki and the other days we'd gone.  There were some tables selling antiques that had not been there before, but otherwise it was the same shops we had poked around previously.  My guess is that it was just too hot for Sunday business as usual, but of course I don't know that for sure.  I suggested we go in search of a guy we'd passed by on the very first day we'd been to Monastiraki (directly after having endured the Acropolis Trials), who was selling handmade paintings:

Mostly watercolours, I thought it would be so much nicer to have a handmade painting of iconic Greece-related scenes, rather than a postcard or some such.

Walking along the sidewalks, passing by loads of beautifully-painted buildings

Alas, after trudging through the now sun-soaked streets, we found that our painter had decided not to set up shop.  Again, my guess is that it was just too hot.  And it was also too hot for us. By the time we arrived at the end of our failed quest to buy a painting, morale was very low, and there were some tears and dizziness, and general heat-related unhappiness.  We found our way back to the metro, and rode it to the Acropolis museum stop, but when we saw the queue to get in there, there was a very quick and decisive vote in favour of calling it quits, and trying the museum the next day.

Waiting at the "Akropoli" stop after having ditched the museum

Hazel leans on Linden as our subway train pulls up

Monday was the last full day of the whole trip.  We had bought 24-hour transit tickets the morning before, so we made sure to get out of the house in time to use them before they expired.  No problem!  We walked to the Victoria Station as usual, cleared the gates, and rode the metro all the way to the Akropoli stop in order to have try number two at the Acropolis Museum.  However, when we tried to get through the exit gates, our tickets would not work.  They had, apparently, expired while we were in transit.  Does that not seem like a ridiculous flaw in the system?  There we were, trapped inside the metro, with no way to even purchase new tickets if we wanted to.  Clark tried getting the attention of someone who looked official at a booth on the other side, and also tried buzzing the intercom system, both to no avail.  "Let's just ride the tails of someone going though!" both Linden and I urged, but Clark was nervous (perhaps due to the signs everywhere stating that if you are caught with unvalidated tickets, you need to pay 60 times the price of the ticket as punishment).  So... we just wandered around the metro archeology exhibits for awhile, trying to look inconspicuous.

Luckily, the exhibits that are scattered throughout the subway system are actually quite interesting

Finally, Clark just went for it, and he was free! Me and the kids followed suit, and exited the metro, no problem - there were, as it turned out, no metro police lurking on the other side, waiting to pounce on us. But it did make for a tiny bit of illicit excitement to start the day.

There's the Acropolis in the background, which you walk by on your way to the museum

Heading to the front doors, this time with almost no queue.  Success!

The Acropolis Museum is new since I was last in Greece.  It sits at the base of the Acropolis proper, and is built over a site that they started excavating in 1997. 

They left this excavated piece of the city to wander through, and built transparent floors over top (houses, baths, latrines, sewer systems - VERY interesting to see!)

Of course, this old well (or well-like structure) has become a receptacle for people's wishing coins 

The museum proper was very pricy (it cost the same for our family as getting onto the Acropolis itself - 60 Euros), but it was incredibly well done. The first two floors have loads of Acropolis artifacts, plus a movie you can watch, gift shops and a restaurant and café, and other neat exhibits.  And then the top floor is built to be a replica (in size and shape) of the parthenon - complete with pillars,  and a full, wrap-around representation of the friezes and other statutes and artwork that would have originally adorned the outside.  (It is my understanding that some are original, and some are replicas - a mix of getting destroyed or "taken" to places like Britain). 

The Caryatids, close up and personal!

A view from the second floor, looking down at the first (where you were not allowed to take pictures)

A very cool lego exhibit, depicting the Acropolis

Check out the details!

I couldn't capture everything, but Elton John was performing at one of the theatres, Gandalf was riding in with a carriage... it was so much fun!

From the top floor  of the museum - here is a model the Parthenon

Statues and friezes, all to scale and positioned as they would have looked on the Parthenon

Even the pillars were placed in the same spots.  It was a pretty great concept for a museum exhibition

Having brunch at the nice (but expensive) museum restaurant. The placemats are an outline of the Parthenon structurally, looking from above

Trying to get a selfie with the actual Acropolis in the background.  It's quite something to have the museum built in a place with such fantastic views of the ruins themselves.

A slightly different vantage point

Taking a rest on some of the cool benches

It was too hot to walk back home from the metro station, so we managed to catch this bus, which took us almost to our doorstep. It was such a nice reprieve!

After returning home on Monday afternoon, we spent the rest of the day packing, tidying, and just generally readying ourselves for the day of travel that was ahead of us. It was, as I said at opening of this post, a very long day.  You can start to feel claustrophobic spending so many consecutive hours crammed into your tiny little airplane seat.  But the kids rocked it (Hazel was starting to lose it by the end of the last flight - it was, after all, past her bedtime by Greece standards - but one final lollypop saved the day with an hour left to go. Thank you, raspberry-flavoured Chupa Chups.)

On our very last flight of the trip! An almost 7 hour flight, but the last one, none-the-less. The boys were a few rows behind us. 

Check out those wind turbines in the ocean!  

And that, my friends, is the end of our epic European adventure.  It was quite a whirlwind! Now that we are on the other side, I would say that three weeks was about a week too long (with three kids, that is).  We could have gone home after our 2 weeks in Albania, and it would have been just about right.  This, of course, is coloured by the fact that we got to do so much less in Greece than I had envisioned.  If I had had any inkling of the heat wave and the incredible wildfires that were to await us, I would have absolutely steered clear.  

But it wasn't a total loss - the things we did manage to do were pretty cool, and even just navigating the metro on a daily basis was a fun adventure. Plus, we were lucky that the fires did not affect us directly - there were whole islands that were evacuated while we were there, and accounts that I've read of the experience were very harrowing. Plus - and this is the real kicker - nobody got sick the whole time we were away.  This absolutely blows my mind.  So much travel, so many queues and museums, public transit, escalator handles, and other enclosed spaces with tonnes of other people around; so many days in the super intense heat; one five-year-old who always seems to have her fingers in her mouth, and one 11 year old who obsessively touches every surface he can possibly touch, and somehow we all stayed healthy.  That is the biggest win of all. 

Now, all that's left is to beat the jet lag, which is, for some reason, so much worse on the return than it was on the way there.  I have literally been dragging myself through the last few days, willing myself not to mess everything up by napping. But I think we're starting to normalize. 

Thanks to everyone who came along for the trip virtually! Now that I've gotten back into the blogging swing of things, I really do plan to try and update pretty regularly - I'm sad to have big chunks of our lives from the last year and a half missing, so I'm going to try my hardest to make it a priority.  

From Albania to Athens

Hello from Athens!

I am currently writing from our very nice Airbnb in the heart of Athens, Greece. The title picture is from earlier today, when we ventured out in the morning. Our strategy since coming has been to try and pack as much in as we can until about lunch time, and then hightail it back to the comfort of the air conditioning for the rest of the afternoon. Athens is currently burning - both literally and figuratively. There are wildfires all around the perimeter of the city, and the temperatures have been cresting to 40 degrees C (over 100 F)  on most days. Ironic, perhaps, as Clark and I were just looking at pictures of the crazy flooding that is currently taking place back home, in Nova Scotia. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's go back in time, shall we? First, to our last days in Tirana, Albania.

Linden's hair after three straight days of saltwater beaches and no showers. 

After heading back to the city from our beach getaway, we had one full day left in Tirana. I chose to go back to the new market that was within walking distance of Faye and Derrick's. In part, I thought it would be fun to get some photos of all of the food and crafts and trinkets that we had seen for sale since we arrived, and I also wanted to buy a few souvenirs.

Dried fruit, grains and nuts

So many hand-painted ceramics! 

Of course, I couldn't resist buying a few little pieces before we left

Some of the rug-like textiles, plus magnets and little purses

Lots of tobacco on display

This guy was really excited to show me his honey, from his own hives. I asked if I could take his picture, then bought a little jar to leave with Faye and Derrick (sadly, honey is not one of the things we could take home with us). I'm pretty sure that the water bottles contain some of his home-made alcohol for sale.  I did not purchase any of that, though Derrick has, and we tried some. It was strong!

Olives and olive oils. Apparently, there are more olive trees and olives than there are willing people to harvest them. Certainly, we saw olive trees everywhere as we drove around the countryside

The fresh produce. You could buy whatever was in season everywhere - certainly, in markets such as this one, but also in the most unlikely roadside stands along the highway and side roads

An orange tree in full fruit

This is just one side of the gelato place right outside of Faye and Derrick's, which we frequented pretty much daily while in Tirana

Here we are, for one last group shot at the airport before hopping a flight to Athens. I asked Faye if she misses us, and she promised that she did, but that the calm and quiet was a nice change as well!

Goodbye, Albania...

(my airbus companions)

... and hello Greece!

We landed in Athens shortly after lunchtime on July 19th (three days ago).  We hired a van to take us from the airport right to our Airbnb, and happily turned on the AC and settled in for the rest of the day. We were all pretty tired from getting up early that morning, and pretty hot from - well, the heat. 

The teeny tiny mirrored elevator that only just fits the five of us (with no extra bags)

Another day, another angle (Looking up at the mirrored ceiling). It is a very cozy ride to and from the apartment!

One of the bedrooms. Hazel quickly tried to claim the top bunk, but was devastated when we told her she wasn't quite old enough to sleep in it yet.  That hasn't stopped her from climbing up and playing in it every chance she gets.

The afternoon/evening was spent watching Totoro on the nice big screen TV

The view from our balcony, looking right...

... and looking left

The next morning, we took our time getting up and ready to go, then decided to put only one item on the agenda: finding our way to the National Archeological Museum.  We could see from the map that it was within walking distance (about 25 minutes), and figured that was reasonable.  We didn't leave until about 10:15am, but by then it was already very hot.

A sign on the park we'd been planing on walking through: the gist is that they have shut the park down because of the fires and the extreme heat. So... no shady shortcut to the museum for us.

A statue to Athena in the park we couldn't enter.

Trying to stay in the shade as we walked. On a side note, I have no idea how people drive on these side streets.  Cars parked on both sides, with barely enough room to squeeze through

We made it!

The museum was big, with loads of interesting artifacts, with great explanations and descriptions to read as you went through.  Everyone was interested in making their way through, except... can you guess? Poor Hazel.  Museums and heat are NOT her jam.

I took so many pictures of the pottery, and obviously I won't post them all.  But check out the frying pan, up top!  Isn't that neat?  And I was taken with that bird as well.

Some of the iconic Cycladic figurines

This was pretty cute.  Hazel was interested in the museum for about 5 minutes while Juniper loaned her her phone to take pictures.

Zeus or Poseidon. The museum wasn't sure.

We had what turned out to be a really nice little lunch at the museum café. 

In the beautiful courtyard gardens just outside the café

This horse was one of the many amazing pieces that was found from the Antikythera shipwreck, dating from the first century BC (discovered by sponge divers in the early 1900s) 

Hazel, having completely given up on walking or looking at anything

Can you spot Linden in this shot, with Hazel on his back? She's pretty luck to have siblings that will cater to her whims

One group shot before leaving

I got Juniper and Linden to pose in front of some graffiti on the VERY hot walk home from the museum 

We found a little restaurant that evening just up the street from our apartment, serving all the classics. The owner managed to convey that they were very close to closing for the day (at 5:45pm!), but that we had time to order.  He was incredibly friendly, and the food was delicious. Everyone (except Hazel) even tried an olive! Clark ate 2, Juniper managed to choke hers down, and Linden promptly spat his out.  I (who thoroughly enjoy olives), ate the rest. 

The next day was Friday, and only forecasting a high of 38, so we decided this would be the day to try heading to the Acropolis. The plan was to be there for 8am, when it opened, to hopefully avoid the worst of both the crowds and the heat. Holy hell, I was NOT prepared for the experience we ended up having. We got there a little later than planned (8:25am), and by that point, the queue to get in was already longer than I could see the end of. It snaked all the way down the street and around the corner, and it was a full hour and a bit before we made our way to the front.

The line in front... 

... and behind. We'd already been in it for 30 minutes at this point

Neither Hazel nor Linden were in good spirits at this point, and dejectedly found some shade to sit in while we held their spots in line

I tried to raise spirits with lollypops, and while it seemed to work for Hazel, Linden couldn't even bring himself to smile for the photo.  Check out Clark's sweat patch already - and we hadn't even made it through the gates yet!

Our first view of the hilltop ruins from down below, once we finally made it through the gates.  It was about 9:45am at this point, and Hazel was done. We were told at the gate that there was no food or drinks allowed (other than water), and they made Hazel throw her half-eaten lollypop in the garbage before we went through. That was the end for her.

One small bit of shade on the way up

There were some neat ruins to see as you ascended the hill towards the Acropolis proper...

... but no one had the energy or desire to stand in the full sun and read the descriptive signs. 

By the time we got to the top of the hill, Hazel had started crying, and asking to "please go back home"...

... but even if we'd wanted to at that point, we were now stuck in our second crazy queue of the day

This was the bottleneck of people simultaneously trying to get up onto the Acropolis, and back down from the Acropolis.  It was INTENSE. No shade, people packed like sardines, being herded like sheep, and it was so. freaking. hot. This queue was almost another full hour.

Clark, Linden and Juniper, finally cresting the last staircase

We made it! That is, of course, the Parthenon in front of us

I'm not sure how I got this shot of the maidens without anyone in it, but I did

I wanted one group shot up at the top, but Hazel refused to even show her face.  It was way too much for her.

Oh - I got one picture of her!

This was where Clark almost fainted.  Also, Linden says he "fell asleep a little", so... maybe he did too?  

Juniper, the resident fainter of the family, was surprisingly fine! She and I went off to do a little extra exploring while the others drank water

And here we go, back down.  We didn't last long after all the trials and tribulations of making it up

I took this one because of the ancient "lego" blocks on top, which tickled Linden.

So. We did it - we made it to the Acropolis as planned.  But honest to goodness, it felt more like a... traumatic rite of passage than an amazing cultural experience.  And this is coming from someone who has been there before (albeit many years ago at this point), and had a pretty amazing experience the first time around. I think that likely this was a bit of an unusual state of affairs, due in large part to this crazy heat wave. They have been completely closing the Acropolis (and other historical sites around town) between 12pm and 5:30pm each day (ie, during the most extreme daily heat), so my guess is that we were there with WAY more people than would normally be trying to make their way up at 8:30am on a Friday.  We had planned to get combo tickets (which include the Acropolis as well as two other sites of your choice), but the woman selling tickets didn't understand, and we ended up with just Acropolis tickets in the end. Honestly, I think this worked out just fine. We would not have been up to more of that kind of sightseeing at this point (which is pretty sad, but it is what it is).

We found some gelato and sorbet after descending into the Monastiraki district, which went a long way to improving dispositions 

Temple of Hephaestus (sightseeing from outside the sites!)

Taking the metro is pretty cool!

Fully committed silliness

Pretty graffiti trains

The subway has pretty much been standing room only every time we've taken it, but at least it has AC.

So many stray cats

Another attempted family shot.  We'll get a good one eventually! (hopefully)

Climbing trees with ancient ruins in the background

A Byzantine church, with the temple of Hephaestus in the far left background. This was in the ancient Agora (again, photos taken from behind a fence - sightseeing from afar)

Another graffiti wall - this one made of stones. 

Many of the metro (subway) stops have little exhibits with ancient ruins that were found when digging the tunnels to put the subway system in. Which, of course, is kind of crazy, and pretty cool.  Very much like Rome, in that respect.  This was at the Monastiraki stop.

 OK, this is where I'll stop for now. We have two full days left in Athens, and then it's a very long day of traveling back home on Tuesday. I am, in part, very sad that this week in Greece will have ended up being nothing like I imagined when we added it to our Albania adventure. I had wanted to do so many things (including visiting some of the amazing Greek islands, and day-tripping to sites like the oracle of Delphi and the Temple of Poseidon, and sample so many amazing restaurants), but it has been almost impossible to even get us out for the mornings around the city, let alone any longer adventures.  We are a 20 minute walk from the closest metro station, and that is enough to severely limit what we're physically (and mentally) able to accomplish in a day. By the time we hit about 12pm or 1pm, everyone needs to get back to air conditioning  and change out of our completely soaked clothes, and drink water and rest. Plus... a five year old. Who can't take the heat. And hates museums and ruins.  But everyone is still healthy and in good spirits, so I will take that win. 

We might try for some more market-browsing and another museum or two before we go - we'll see! At the very least I'll write one more concluding post. I know it has been completely dreary and wet in Nova Scotia, but I have to say, everyone here will be happy to have a day or two (at least) without full blazing sun and 40 degree temperatures upon our return.