Booked into the Crown Plaza, which turned out to be rather new again. So again not to many people. But the worst was the interior. Now i am not spectaculary picky on that, but damn, who was their interior decorator? I swear, when i came on my floor, with the dark red and black colours splashed around and the neon accents, i thought i was in some kind of brothel instead of a hotel. Unfortunatly i was dissapointed to see that my room was empty :-)
August in Athens, it is warm, no it's hot, dry and dusty. But ... there are fewer cars, a lot more quiet that last time, since almost everyone is on holiday.
All expect the poor souls who where attending my class :-) Most of them left the last day with a ferry or airplane to one of the many islands, also for the Greek a much appreciated holiday destination.
The class was okay, a nice group, people generally where very interested. Would have love to give them the Part 2 as well, but i am occupied during that week already.
During the week i didn't venture out too much, but i did have a lovely evening in a area i hadn't visited yet (just east of the Plaka). After a walk uphill through the neighbourhoud, i found a nice looking terras where i had a beer (think it was called 'Daily' or something). Okay, i had two, but what do you want: it looked peacefull, the weather was fine (warm but i was in the shade), people seemed generally content, the waitress was a cute girl that smiled at me each time she passed by, i was reading a nice book ('Notes from a Small Island' by Bill Bryson): what more does one need?
The diner in a nearby restaurant was less memorable, not bad, but simply nothing special for the price you paid.
The last day, just before i took the bus to the airport, one of the participants, Stelios, took me for a special tour through the Plaka, we stopped at a few historical place that i hadn't visited before. See pictures below. The first is the entrance to the Roman Agora.
the second one is from the old Athens agora, yes i know it doesn't look as impressive, but it is a lot older you know, and the area is huge!
Anther thing that is so typical Greek: the churches. Greece is a very religious country. They are mostly orthodox christians and you will find loads of churches in Athens and i must admit some of them are really magnificent. I only include one picture here:
And this picture was a typical southern scene: these guys are loading an incredible amount of stuff in their van (they had a complete studio in there), blocking the road completely for like forever. After a while a guy on a motorbike, who couldn't pass either, stopped and started yelling. A typical mediteranean schouting contest issued, so instead of continuing loading up their stuff and getting out of there as soon as possible, they where just letting off steam. :-) Anyway, all in all we only waited there some 20 minutes :-)
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