On our first day in Athens we did a walking tour of the city, so today we decided to concentrate on three specific sites – the National Archaeological Museum, the Roman Agora, and the Acropolis Museum.

The Archaeological Museum was fascinating.  With so MUCH history accumulated in this city, it’s hard to imagine you could plant a tomato bush in your backyard without unearthing the ruins of Atlantis or the like.

Also, apparently Matt Groening was around in ancient Macedonia.

After a tasty lunch on a little street known as “souvlaki row,” we headed to the Roman Agora, where you can just wander about and poke things, which is a bit staggering to Americans used to the hands-off approach of museums and archaeological sites in this country.

At this point, the heat started getting to us again, so we headed to the Acropolis Museum.  They didn’t allow photography, so we don’t have any pictures from there, but it’s a stunning building.  It was built expressly to convince the British Museum to return the enormous hunk of the Parthenon they stole in the early 1800s.  To date, it hasn’t worked.

For our last trick, we hiked up yet ANOTHER hill in the Athens area, this one just south of the Acropolis.  The view from the top was again amazing.

Just to the right of the Parthenon, you can see the hill we hiked up at sunset on the first day.  For dinner, we walked down a long street just north of the Agora which is lined with outdoor tavernas.  Every restaurant in Athens has a tout whose job it is to stand outside and hassle you to stop and eat in their establishment.  It’s quite annoying.  We eventually settled on a restaurant that had an attractive sans-serif sign, and a less intrusive tout than most.

Good choice.  For twenty euros we got feta and spearmint dumplings in pomegranate sauce, salad with Mykonian cheese, chicken with figs, 12-hour-cooked pork with lime and basil cream, and a lovely chocolate mousse with mastiha.  And a view of the Parthenon.

Statistics:

• Modes of Transportation: Subway
• Percentage of Athens Subway Lines Used: 100%
• Number of Geocaches Found: 2
• Highest Altitude: 147 m
• Moose Deployed: 1