A Walk About Athens, Greece
Pláka District
September, 2018
Day 1
Arrival to Athens
Above Left: Our Hotel, Athos, which means Athena (Athens) in Greek.
Above Right: Mitropolis Street, as calm as it gets. This became our east-west reference and access street, it went from the Roman Agora at the west end to Stygmata Square at the east end.
Above Left: A big hotel went up around a very old church. The church is still active, we will visit it in a few days.
Above Right: We happened to catch a local religious parade that involved dressing in traditional attire.
Barbadimos Syntagma, Restaurant on Mitropoulos Street
Above Left: We dropped into a restaurant that seemed to have a lot of character. Our internal time clocks are askew from travel, it's probably 5 pm. This restaurant would end-up being our favorite restaurant. We ate inside, where it was a little warmer, but all of the smokers (locals) ate outside (we don't smoke). The beverage is Alpha Beer and it was the most common and reasonably priced beer and it was good and cold.
There overhead sign spelling of the Restaurant name is MPARMPADHMOS (in Greek, the combined leters of 'MP' are pronounced as a 'B', 'P' is pronounced as an 'R' in English, and 'H' is pronounced as an soft 'E' or soft 'I' sound), so the English pronunciation is 'Barbadimos'. I think that it is a person's last name. We will post a better picture of the outside in a later day
We recommend Barbadimos (Mparmpadhmos, in Greek), we returned 3 or 4 times.
Above Right: The back coffee, bar, and cook's area.
Above Left: Greek Salad, very typical, and no lettuce.
Above Right: Grilled Vegies with Greek Yogurt. We don't usually take many food pics, but it's day one in Greece!
Above: It's complicated, a lot of construction on top of previous constructions (Hellenistic Structure [Unknown] > Roman Pantheon [Hadrian] > Roman Fortress > Byzantine Basilica [Justinius] > 17th Century Church).
Above Left: Details of above constructions over different eras.
Above Right: Alley way - That's the north side of the Acropolis up on the hill ('acro' means Above, 'polis' means People, 'acropolis' means Citadel).
Above Left: Another church, it seems to be a Byzantine construction style.
Above Right: Roof of the same church, it needs some attention.
Above Left: Another Old Church. There is a Greek Joke that says that there is a Church for every 10 People. That is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens in the background.
Above Right: Greek Hornet, very attractive coloring.
Above Left: Syntagma Square, it is Ground Zero in Athens. Across the way is the Greek Parliament Building (French Design and formerly a Royal Palace of the King).
Above Right: Changing of the Guard - The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits at the base of the Parliament Building, it has a 24 hour Palace Guard. We just happend to catch the end of the Change. We will attend a Change of the Guard Ceremony in a few days and share the images.
Above Left: Looking east across Syntagma Square. The roof of the Underground Metro Station is in the foreground.
Above Right: This is the Ermou Street Mall (blocked from vehicle traffic), we visited it once and it was pleasant.
Above: The old Byzantine Church of Panagia Kapnikarea sits in a foot traffic only roundabout in a highly visited tourist area (on Ermou Street). We will walk by it with some frequency as it serves as a convenient reference point.
Above Left: Up on the Acropolis is the Erechtheion.
Above Right: A zoomed image of the Erechtheion, it is a Temple (combination) on the north side of the Acropolis which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. BTW, the other side of the Erechtheion is where the Porch of the Caryatids resides.
Above Left: Outdoor Restaurant across from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. It has a little plaza area that always has local teens (they were all good kids).
Above Right: The Old Basilica by the Metropolitan Cathedral has many symbols and icons, so much so that I could not help but think of Dan Brown (da Vinci Code).
Above: A Pen and Ink Drawing of the Old Basilica by the Metropolitan Cathedral. This drawing hung on the wall of our hotel's dining room.
