Athens Part 2

Vicki and I debated whether we should visit the Acropolis as we had both done that before. We decided to visit the Acropolis Museum instead as it was relatively new. Many of the artifacts from the Acropolis and it's surrounds are housed in the museum. Some of the exhibits are a mix of the original and plaster casts of the original held somewhere else e.g. half the head is marble and half the head is plaster. I suppose you visit London or whereever to see the reverse mix. 

An area of the museum I enjoyed was the basement. During construction they uncovered an ancient neighborhood, which they incorporated into the visit. This is a common theme across the old world where subsequent developments are just built over the top of the existing ones.

In the afternoon we visited the national park. Like Rome, Athens is an open museum of sorts. You are surrounded by remnants of early human activity.

These postcards may be survivors from the 80s.

Some of the old stuff lying around is still in use

Subjects of Athena 

Our final full day in Athens was sunny and warm so we decided to head to the beach area. We had a bit of a false start as we chose the wrong metro station. After wading through litter in an industrial area never shown to tourists, and crossing major arterial routes we arrived in an upmarket Marina full of expensive looking boats. We walked along the coastline for some time. The beaches in Athens are nice, something you probably wouldn't visit here expecting. Most of the visitors seemed like locals. Eventually we transferred home via Piraeus on a modern electric tram and a worn out metro train. 

Marinas make for good photos 

One of the beaches

First Retsina on tour. I've been looking out for it but you need to recognise the Greek spelling. It was hiding in plain site at our hotel 

Some sad news from home today. Technology makes the world seem small but you can still feel a long way from home.