Delphi

I was up early today - even before my hotel's buffet breakfast - for a guided one-day tour to Delphi.  The ruins at Delphi are in a beautiful setting in the mountains about 2 hours' drive northwest of Athens.  We were the only tour group there, which was also very nice.  The museum has some amazing artifacts in it, such as a Sphinx statue and a nearly complete bronze statute of a charioteer (I think that's how they spelled it).

The bus was about 1/2 full, and I met a few people from across the world - Malaysia, India, Slovenia, and Brazil, for example.  There was only one other American (who is currently living in Leeds).

However, I am not a huge fan of guided tours.  There is little else to see en route, although the guide tried to make the trip more interesting with information on Greek mythology and other tidbits.  The coffee shop for our morning stop was absurdly expensive (nearly as much as yesterday's lunch), and the afternoon stop was pointless - 15 minutes at a shop in a village.

Still, I'm glad I went, as the trip would have taken forever by public bus.

Here are some photos:

 Temple of Apollo

Slightly confused blogger in front of the theater

Our second tour guide

Treasury of Athens and other monuments / ruins

 

Sightseeing in Athens (Part 1)

I had the day off from teaching today, so I wanted to explore the area a bit.  The choice of what to do was a bit challenging.  I've spent the week largely re-visiting sites I've seen on previous visits - Acropolis, Agora, Kerameikos, Temple of Zeus, etc.  I did manage to do something new on Friday - did a self-guided audio tour of the "original" Olympic stadium (i.e. for the first modern Olympics).

For today (Saturday), I wanted to do something new (even the Olympic stadium wasn't really new - we'd seen it from the outside during our 2007 trip).  I didn't want an all-day trip because I knew I'd be tired from teaching 4 hours a night all week.

After much deliberation in the guidebook and on-line, I decided to tour Eleusis.  See Wikipedia for more information.  Anyway, the site was fascinating and nearly deserted.  It took a bit of time to get there via public transit (2 subway lines and a 30+ minute bus ride), but I put my weekly metro / bus pass to good use!

Here, hopefully, are a couple of pictures:

Random artifacts lying around

Lunch was a slight adventure.  The ruins are in a Elefsina, best known for being the location of Greece's main oil refineries.  Most of the places near the site were cafes or bars, and many other places were closed.  After a while, I was getting pretty hungry.  So I went back to a place that looked like a casual restaurant (Greek version of a diner, really).  Despite being empty, it was open and the woman who greeted me spoke good English.  So I got a hearty plate of salad, fries, pork and chicken  (spit-roasted), pita, and tzatziki.  With a Mythos to drink, it was 8.50, much cheaper than in Athens (and probably better, too).

Now, I'm resting in my hotel room before doing a little work (grading homework).
 

Greetings from Athens

Yep, that's correct.  I figured the best way to feel better about Ireland's economy was to go somewhere even worse - Greece.  No, actually I am teaching an economics class in English (joint program between a Greek university and an American one).  I've done this a couple of times before.

Also, I really like Athens.  I've only been here between October and December, when the weather is quite nice.  This trip, for example, the weather has been in the 50s and 60s.  It has been sunny every day but one, and it only rained for a couple of hours (mainly during lunch, conveniently).

Poor Athens had been treated very poorly in the press.  It is generally a very safe city.  When the demonstrations occur, they occur in the same place.  So, it's pretty easy to avoid.  The only struggle is if a strike results in stuff being closed (museums, monuments, public transportation, etc.).  But the city has plenty of nice parks and gardens, and the strikes rarely last more than one day.

For example, there was a demonstration today, and I didn't even notice (aside from a couple of metro stops being closed).

Today, I toured the old olympic stadium (a pic from my phone):

When the Olympics were about sports, not commercialization

Not sure how many more posts I'll have from Athens, as all the Google Blogger instructions are in Greek, so I'm not sure if I'm choosing "edit", "delete", etc.  I'd expect this kind of behavior from a Microsoft product, but c'mon Google!

By the way, the only down side to this trip is that I'm away from my family (my ladies).  I'm just not that big a fan of traveling alone, especially for this long (12 days).

Ok, let's see if I can add another picture or two (from previous trips with the family - I re-visited these places on this trip, too; and I'm having technical difficulties with the camera).

Atop the Acropolis

Kerameikos