A weekend in the birthplace of democracy

After beginning my morning (following a sleepless night on airport benches) with a view across the Alps, I landed in Paris still early enough to make it to lab in time. I'd just returned from a long overdue weekend to one of my top must-see destinations: Athens.

From Friday's sunset over the clouds as I departed France to Monday morning's wake-up view across the Alps, I found myself staring out my airplane windows in awe unabated by the regular flying I've been doing these past few years.

For all us history nerds, Athens is a Mecca. After a much needed early and full night of sleep on Friday, I bee-lined for the National Archeological Museum. (I have now checked off such museums in Greece, Italy (Naples), and Turkey (Istanbul), all of which house some mind blowing historical artifacts and are totally worth the visit.) To my delight, upon approaching the register for my museum admission, I was treated to an extra surprise: European students get in for free! And so my Museum Challenge continued, even from the other side of the continent.

The National Archeological Museum houses collections from the 7th millennium BC through the 5th century AD and the quality in which many of the artifacts are preserved is impressive. I loved checking out all the artifacts that illustrated the different ways people lived. A particular highlight for me was an expo on the discoveries from an uncovered shipwreck headed from ancient Greece to a colony in present-day Italy. Many partially buried objects had been half-preserved (where buried in the sea floor), half-chewed apart by the exposure to sea life over a couple millennia. And, as is the case with many European museums, the lax security left me realizing that nothing was stopping me from reaching out and running my fingers along many works of art that were thousands of years old. (Then again, I'm amused that this should strike me as exciting: Many of these sculptures were hanging around far from museum curators for millennia before societies finally began appreciating that they should be properly preserved and displayed as untouchable in museum galleries.)

Some highlights from the National Archeological Museum in Athens

The visit was a delightful breath of fresh air and a great way to get into my weekend destination before meeting up with Fernando and his new Russian top model friend, Elena, for an afternoon stroll through the city. I couldn't get enough out of my last weekend of summer: while Paris hit freezing temperatures, I strolled around the city in a summer dress.

Sunday morning I again awoke deliciously well-rested, something my regular lab and life schedule hasn't permitted me much lately. With hardly contained enthusiasm, I awaited my friends so that we might all visit the Acropolis. It was at about this time that I happily learned about Oxi Day, which happened to be the very Sunday of our visit. Oxi means "no" in Greek, and Oxi Day commemorates the day in 1940 that the Greek prime minister flatly told the Axis Powers that they were not welcome to occupy strategic territories in Greece, thus throwing Greece into WWII. What Oxi Day meant for us was that all museums and national monuments, including the Acropolis, were free and open to the public for the day. (Another +1 for my Museum Challenge taken out of French borders for the weekend!)

The Parthenon and generally the acropolis with Fernando, Debora, and Robin. In the lower right you see the view of Acropolis at night from the rooftop café of my hostel where I spent my last evening in Athens.

No trip abroad is complete without some exploration into the local cuisine and café culture. Though I'm not the biggest fan of kebab, especially as I've been going mostly vegetarian lately, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole wheat mild Greek cheese pastries (tiropitas) and spinach pies (spinakopitas). I got hooked most, however, on Greek yogurts. Whether fresh or frozen, I was downing these more than once a day with a variety of toppings from cinnamon baked apples to rose preserves to raspberries and brownies to fresh pineapple and orange blossom honey. Just thinking of it leaves my mouth watering. And no culinary review is complete without mentioning the Greek appreciation for coffee and café culture. Presumably given the Mediterranean climate, iced coffees appear to be all the rage and a wide selection are offered in most cafés. On late Sunday afternoon I found a particularly spot to stop for a read and a sampling of the popular cappuccino freddo, or iced cappuccino (with a generous helping of cream): Café Plaka, Τριπόδων 1 (Φλέσσα), Αθήνα (that last part in Greek is the address in case you're ever in town). The quaint café with neat small tables, couches, arm chairs, original art work, big bay windows, and even a fireplace is definitely worth the visit for anyone who loves a café with some atmosphere for a coffee and a mid-afternoon reading break.

Cheese pastries, spinach pies, iced cappuccino, and of course, Greek yogurt all combined for a delicious weekend.

I was continually delighted through the weekend to see an alphabet in action that I'd only ever known in two to three letter referring to frats/sororities (gender-selective social groups on American college campuses). Particularly striking were the moments when such a starkly foriegn language was contrasted with such familiar images like this ad:

I love the juxtaposition of such a foreign alphabet against an ad that takes me home.

Despite everything I've heard to the contrary given Greece's current economic and political state, I found the city to be an excellent tourist destination. The locals were friendly and helpful, stopping me to ask if I needed directions as soon as I started looking lost. While I wasn't out looking for them, I didn't find myself running across any protests nor did I ever feel in danger. And of course, when it comes to tourist sites, Athens is timeless.

And to sign off on the blog post, I'll leave you with my new favorite Greek vocabulary word:
Φιλακια = filakia = kisses
(Clearly I've been spending too much time in Europe: over here we always sign off notes to friends with some variant of "kisses" which always sounds better until you try to translate into English and it just gets awkward.)