Rick Steves Athens & The Heart of Greece
Αθήνα
Return to Athens Day 13
Hard to believe, but it is the last full day of our tour; today we head back to Athens on an early morning ferry, the Flying Cat 5.
Sneaking a peak out the door of the ferry, I get one last glimpse of Hydra. It was the perfect 1st Greek island to visit, I'm so glad it was included in this tour of Greece!
The ferry takes about two hours to go from Hydra to Pireaus, the port near Athens. You could do this trip to Hydra as a day trip, but staying overnight is much better!
The bus is waiting for us at the port, and we are whisked away to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the largest archaeological museum in Greece. Being here at the end of the tour is like a final review of everywhere we've been for the past 12 days, with art collections from 7000 BC to 500 AD.
But first, a cup of coffee - it's the Greek way, right?! The museum's cafe has this mosaic floor from the 2nd century AD of the Gorgon's Head with her hair of snakes. You can't help but wonder long long it took to lay every one of those tiny perfectly placed pieces!
The National Archaeological Museum collection is organized in chronological order. It's a wonderful way to put into perspective the different stages of Greek sculpture:
Archaic - (700-480 BC) rigid statues, facing forward, frozen smile on face
Severe - (480-460 BC) more realistic, balanced statues, no smiles
Classical - (460-323 BC) realistic statues of idealized beauty , balance between movement and stillness (encompasses the Golden Age 450-400 BC)
Hellenistic - (323-30 BC) realistic statues, showing emotion, statues unbalanced
After the museum tour we headed to the hotel, Acropolis Select, the same hotel we started at, which made it nice and comfortable. Ron and I waited nearly an hour for our room to be ready, since another group was checking in at the same time and all rooms had not been thoroughly cleaned (Covid regulations - good and bad).
Since we got in late, we decided to head up to our favorite hotel hangout, the roof top restaurant, for a drink and snack.
We shared a piece of Portokalopita (why are we always sharing food?!) It's a very traditional dessert in Greece, often served to guests. And it's delicious! Portokali is Greek for oranges and Pita means pie, so you have Orange Pie!
Definitely something I can make when I get home...
Our last group meal was just down the street from our hotel; the Mani Mani Restaurant, (ΜΑΝΗΜΑΝΗ), the menu inspired by the cuisine of the Mani region of Greece (we were there!) Conversations with tour members on this last night together seriously limited my photos, which is ok; I did manage to get this one, showing some happy faces! And just now, looking at it, I see the beautiful mural of a Mani village on the wall of the restaurant... wow, we really did have some amazing experiences on our tour!
You could say I was slightly distracted at our dinner tonight because I had a surprise, something I wanted to share with my tour members. Over the course of the tour I had been writing a poem about our time in Greece! So, before dinner, I got up and read it aloud.
Now, I've never done this before, and I'm not a poet, but I just felt like I wanted to give something back, in return for everything we received by being on this tour. It was a fantastic two weeks that I'll never forget.
It's all so very Greek!
An original poem by Debbie - Greece 2022
The first evening of our tour
vaccine records in hand,
we met a Greek god named Apostolos
to guide us thru a magical land.
"Kalimera, so good to see you"
greeting us every morning,
Our repeated questions, he never found boring.
How to teach ancient history
5000 years
could be such a chore,
He shared his country with us, his daily life,
Please, tell us more!
Greece!
Not the musical, but Greek dancers a must,
with gyros, souvlaki, tzatziki, we were stuffed!
Good food, so much food,
We ate every bite.
To leave any on the plate just wouldn't be right!
Greek coffee, such small little cups!
and the ouzo so strong;
to get us all drunk
it wouldn't take long
Greece!
One big hill to climb
we found out with every town.
Panoramic views, sunrises,
hill top fortresses abound
Steps, many steps, so very many steps
up up up,
down
down
down...
Greece!
Our love has deepened
with everything that we learned.
Efharisto, Apostolos
for teaching us!
May your future hold many blessings
and may we all, to Greece, one day return!
Athens Day 14
The last day of the tour! Oh, if we could just keep going...
We have an early flight this morning, but I wish that we had scheduled a few more days here after the tour to enjoy Greece a little longer (I need to keep this is mind for the next tour we take!)
Thinking back on the past 13 days of our tour, I keep going back to this line from the poem Ithaca:
"fervently wish your journey may be long,
full of adventures and with much to learn"
We learned so much on this tour of Greece, it was a journey; every day brought us closer to the meaning of being "Greek"; we have so much in common and wouldn't be who we are today without them.
The End... until next time!
Thank you (Efharisto!) for visiting my scrapbook, I hope it was enjoyable and entertaining!!
Happy Travels!