Descent of Speed

Athens is an interesting place. There are thousand year old ruins, and 500 year old churches. Yet it seems like the rest of the buildings were built 50 years ago. It isn’t that everything else is modern, just not old (and not even in a relative sense) and they look pretty much the same. Unlike most European cities there is no old town. I guess they just kept rebuilding.

Friday I visited most of the outdoor ruins including the Acropolis. There used to be a museum on top of the hill, but as of June they opened the New Acropolis Museum down the hill. Until the end of the year entry is only a single Euro. The museum is large, but doesn’t have a ton of exhibits. It is worth going to. The top floor of the museum is devoted to the frieze from the Parthenon (or what is left of it in Greece.)

Saturday I headed out to the beach. Most of the beach is private, or at least you have to pay to use it. I crashed on a nice public beach for the day. For lunch I found a place called Goodys, which is a fast food place.  I decided to check out the hamburger. The menu said it was a Greek burger. While the burger tasted good, it had a strange cheese on it. I don’t think it was blue cheese, but it had similar consistency.

Sunday I hit a couple of museums. The Byzantine museum was pretty nice, but relatively small. I think it is going through some renovations. The National Archeological Museum is enormous. Unfortunately it seems to have three things, clay vases, marble sculptures, and some Bronze Age stuff. That is a bit of an understatement, but really how many marble busts can you look at? I did enjoy the museum, for example they had a small exhibit on clay toys. I just wish there was a bit more of that, and less of the endless rooms of clay jars.

There are a lot of pedestrian only streets. One, near my hotel is a shopping district. But the best ones are at the bottom of the Sacred Rock. In the evening there are busters and others out selling their wares. There are plenty of restaurants with an amazing view of the Acropolis. I recommend having dinner at night, with a view of the Acropolis, at least once.

My hotel, the Attalos, is a fairly inexpensive hotel. It claims it is a class “C” hotel. And yet it has the coolest amenity, a rooftop bar. It has a perfect view of the Acropolis. I can’t see any other rooftop bars, although I know there are a few on the other side of the hill. The rooftop bar alone almost makes the stay worth it. Throw in a decent location, and nice rooms, it is definitely a winner.

The bar is closing, time for me to finish my soda and head out.