On Saturday, while the rest of my family was exploring the market, Clare and I ventured to the Acropolis, which was conveniently located down the street from our apartment. We stopped at Hadrian's Arch on our way to the Acropolis.
Hadrian’s Arch was constructed in 131 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as part of a wall separating the old and new cities of Athens. On the side of the arch facing the Acropolis is the inscription, “This is Athens, the former city of Theseus” while the other side reads, “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus”. The 18 meters (59ft) gate was made of marble from nearby Mount Petelikon and decorated in the Corinthian order. Hadrian was known for his peaceful reign and for being an extensive builder. He was very fond of Greek learning and had traveled in Archaea. He also rebuilt the fortification wall around Athens which had been torn down by Sulla and changed the Acropolis into a fort which it had been before. Athens became somewhat of a second capital during Hadrian’s reign. You will find Hadrian’s arch at Amallias Avenue at the entrance of the site of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, just south of the National Gardens.
At the Acropolis, Clare and I both got in free, me because I am a student, and Clare because she's under 19. The view was absolutely incredible, even before we got to the very top. It took a half hour to get to the very top, because we had to keep stopping every five minutes. I stopped to take pictures, Clare stopped to re-tie her shoes.
At the top was the Parthenon, and I made Clare take a lot of obnoxious pictures in front of it. We weren't the only tourists there though. There was a guy who was attempting to take a jumping picture, attempts which resulted in him making a complete fool of himself by jumping up and down in front of everyone. I felt for the guy, especially because we discovered (through evesdropping) that he had only just met his camera woman, who clearly had no idea what she was doing or what he wanted. I almost offered to help, but it amused me to watch him jump around like a fool.
After we were done with the touristy pictures, we headed back down to the main area to find something to eat. On our way down, I saw a cluster of orange trees. By the way, there are orange trees in Athens. Whowouldathunkit?? For some reason I was totally fascinated by this, and wanted a picture of me picking an orange. Clare and I had a little photoshoot in front of the trees, just us joking around and being silly. I picked an orange and showed it off, but she went the next step and actually climbed the tree.
With our oranges in hand, we headed back to the market to get something to eat before we had to meet the rest of the fam. I had just gotten a new watch the day before, and I was entertaining Clare by constantly telling her the time in Dutch. She loved it. She loved it so much that she wanted me to tell her every five minutes. So of course I did. I also taught my whole family the Sinterklaas song, and one of the first Dutch songs we learned. They all loved them too.
We stopped in a little bakery for a quick snack, and ate our pastries outside. I got a pizza-type thing, and Clare got a chocolate croissant. We were looking at the pictures on Clare's camera when the bakery owner came outside, and warned us to keep our valuables in our bags. He said that there are people who will steal them right off the table. A few minutes later, a little girl and her younger sister came over to us, playing the accordion and singing in Greek. I knew they wanted money but I didn't have anything to give them, so I just shook my head politely and turned away, assuming they would get the hint and leave. Nope, Greek kids are stubborn, and the girls got really close to us, almost touching my arm, tapping on the table and singing in my ear. The bakery owner was still outside, and he tried to gently push the older girl away. While my head was turned, the younger girl grabbed my half-eaten sandwich off my plate, and ran away. I whipped around, completely shocked. The bakery owner admonished me, saying "I told you to not leave anything on the table." Well I'm sorry, but I didn't think that anyone would take my food off my plate! I wasn't angry, because that little girl needed the sandwich much more than I did. The owner was more upset than I was, and started yelling at the girls in Greek (the older girl was still by our table, playing the accordion and the younger girl was a few feet away, smirking at me as she ate my food). Clare and I decided to leave, to avoid causing more problems.
We met up with the rest of the fam, and got accosted by desperate restaurant owners, promising us a 10% discount if we ate in their restaurant. I had grilled octopus and my dad ordered moussaka. Alaza branched out, and got calamari instead of a hamburger. We split up after dinner, because I was on a quest for postcards (which I could not find, not because there weren't endless souvenir shops, but because I'm too picky and couldn't find ones that I liked) so my mom, Clare and I wandered around Athens for a bit, before getting hopelessly lost and almost eaten by vicious street cats. There was one street that was full of them, waiting along each side of the road, taunting unsuspecting tourists to walk through and become their next meal. We eventually got home, and spent the rest of the night packing and eating the rest of our leftovers. My flight was at 8:30 the next morning, so we had to leave the apartment at 6am. I got two hours of sleep that night, and I was able to sleep more on the plane back to Leuven.
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