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:
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).
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).
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