047 – Athens - 3000 Years in 3 Days

Despite the jet lag, we were all smiles on our first morning in Athens,

With a fresh outlook on the day.

After getting a little sustenance under our belts, 

 We were ready to delve into the “Cradle of Western Civilzation”.

And what better place to start, than the top? So off to the Acropolis we climbed.

The views were unbelievable.

I’d like to say that we gleaned a wealth of knowledge on the beginnings of democracy and modern civilization on our self-guided tour. Although, with two small children, one small tour book and a couple pamphlets, time and resources available for synthesizing information were minimal.  The tour went a little something like this…

“Hey that's cool, what's that?”

“It’s a theatre, it says in the book that it was - CIEL! Don’t climb on that…”

“A,B,C,D, EL-EM-EN-O-PEE!”

“Hey did you know that the Parthenon was built in – Oooh maaan, Ciel just did a face plant, where’s blankie?"

"I waaaant my daaaaaddy!"

"You’d better carry her, too"

 “What’s that?”

“I don’t know there’s a signboard, but it’s back there, we better keep moving before we anger the gods and that sippy cup she downed two hours ago comes back to haunt us.”

If your wondering what Taz was doing this whole time, the answer is nothing. True to his nickname, LM (Low Maintenance), the kid hasn’t done a damn thing since we got here, he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep, he doesn’t poop, he doesn’t fuss.

The only thing he has done is get his mother all up in arms… 

…but as any baby son knows, that’s never very hard. 

I'm sure he'll sort himself out...just in time for the next time zone change.

Meanwhile, his sister, HM, has been true to form.

“I need my blankie and soothie, I’m going to sit in the stroller for a rest…"

"...I don’t want to sit in the stroller I want to run, I don’t need blankie and soothie”

“Can I have a snack please…”

“…I don’t want anymore snack, you finish it, daddy”

 “I’m going to have a nap in the stroller…I don’t need a nap can I get out of the stroller, please?”

 Despite the challenges, we’ve still become quite accomplished relic hunters, managing to tour not only the Acropolis, but the Agora,

Roman Baths, 

 And the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

 It takes a little imagination to extrapolate the ruins to the 104-column behemoth of antiquity, but impressive nonetheless.

The weather has been beautiful, but we could always find a shady place to take a load off.

 As you may recall from our previous travels, we have frequently found ourselves embroiled in (or fleeing) much turmoil, both political and environmental.   Not surprisingly, Athens was no different.  Days 2 and 3 of our stay were marked by a general strike and many protests.  We narrowly escaped being trampled by this oncoming crowd,

 Before seeking safe haven on the pedestrian streets of the Plaka District.

After that we made it a point to get on the good side with law enforcement types.

 Ciel did her usual shmooozing and offered to help out.

They put her on the front lines.

After two days of dragging our largely-compliant two-year-old to see crumbly, old buildings we decided to reward her on day three with an activity that was a little more age-appropriate.  A determined Britt did some internet research and identified a “Balloons: Children’s Play Paradise” with an honest and true bouncy castle a mere 2 km from our condo.   Check out the webpage.

Awesome, eh? Who’s excited?!

Well, Ciel sure was.

She talked about the bouncy castle at dinner, at bath time,  during pre-bedtime pee, at bedtime, during post-bedtime-procrastination pee, after falling out of bed in the middle of the night and in the morning at breakfast…she was excited.

Well, you can imagine her demeanour when we arrived at the address to find this…

…Not so bouncy.

After a brief moment, when Britt almost broke into tears at Ciel’s innocent inquiry, 

“Mummy, why’s ther’ no bouncy castle?”,

We regrouped, and fortunately found a suitable alternative in the eyes of a toddler, an afternoon touring local playgrounds.

 

Even Mummy’s spirits were lifted.

 And we couldn’t hold Tasman back from the action.

Aside from the first night, we made all our meals at home and were quite proud to delve into Greek culinary culture.  As a personal challenge, we attempted to craft as many meals as we could out of the same five ingredients (olives, feta, tomatoes, cucumber, pita); gyros, Mediterranean omelet with pita,  Greek salad, Greek stir-fry with cucumber salad…you get the picture.  We managed to make it to dinner on day three before we branched out and picked up some saganaki and local sausage.

O-PA!

Of course, all the salt-laden feasts necessitated a sampling of local wares to quench our palates.

(Hopefully, that appeases the requests from the Dionysians in our readership.)

That just about wraps up Athens, tomorrow, barring any riotous mobs or natural disasters, we’re off to Crete to settle in for a relaxing 3-week stint… I’m sure the trip will be a breeze…