Day of the Holy Spirit and West Attica

Monday

Today was some holiday so my random wanderings of Athens were much more crowded than usual. It was fun to see Athenian youth out and about, but as always there were also mobs of tourists especially because some Athenians took advantage of the long weekend and travelled. Fushia and I explored the neighborhood of Gazi, located west of the center of the city. Gazi is the former home of The Athens Gasworks (The Gazi Factory), which ceased operation in the 1980s. Since then, they have repaired and restored the buildings and turned Gazi into a fun neighborhood lined with parks, cafe, restaurants and bars The main building that belonged to the factory, The Technopolis, now hosts outdoor concerts. Walking around, we saw lots of Greek 20-somethings playing backgammon and hanging out in cafes; we hope to go back some time this week to see a show!

The Technopolis

Sculpture at The Technopolis

Close up

We wandered around Psirri and Plaka a bit before settling down at the Aegli cafe in the National Gardens and having an afternoon snack worthy of Dave and Christina's Saturday cheat day.

Waffles

Today

Our first stop was Eleusis, where various myths related to Demeter and Persephone occured. (Google it for details.) We wandered around the site, saw the (supposed) Gates to Hell, the well at which Demeter mourned the loss of Persephone to the underworld as well as some other remains. There was a museum on site that held some interesting statues and pottery.

Gates to The Underworld

Woman column

Next we traveled for about an hour into the mountains and hiked up to a Gypsy Castle where we sat overlooking West Attica and ate lunch. Apparently there were rattlesnakes and scorpions on site, but everyone came out alive. The view was pretty but a lot of the farmland is turning brown and dying due to the immense heat. Luckily, however, it wasn't too hot today--there was some wind and cloud cover which was much appreciated. On site we learned a bit about the ecology and fauna of Attica.

On top of the castle

View

Next we drove to Porto Germano where we hiked up to another castle and an old Byzantine church. Then we walked down to a beautiful stone beach in a cove where we played for a bit. The water was crystal clear and I loved being seaside as well as surrounded by mountains.

Beach at Porto Germano

Photo of the Day

My photoshop trial just ran out :(
I haven't been editing too much but I like to on occasion and there were some photos from today that I wanted to play with, but oh well. I'm attempting to install a different trial version but it currently says there are 8 hours remaining. For now, subpar photos.

Moss on marble

Lesson of the Day
Stone beaches are surprisingly comfortable and in fact much more enjoyable than sand beaches because you and everything you have on/with you doesn't get completely covered in sand.

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 95
Archaeological sites visited: 9
Archaeological museums visited: 6 in Greece, 1 in Italy
Castles climbed: 2
Photos taken: 3136

Tomorrow

The city of Athens on strike so it's questionable what we will and will not be able to do. We are supposed to visit the Agora but if that doesn't work I think we are going to walk up Lykkavetus Hill for an excellent view of Athens.

Tomorrow evening I hope to go to a traditional Greek dance performance at the Dora Stratou Theater, but that depends on how many people are actually on strike and what is open.