Day 7 – Cultured Athens

Athens

Sunday, 22 September 2013

Skyped our daughter first thing this morning Athens time but afternoon in Sydney. Then breakfast in our apartment before heading out.

We caught the metro to Victoria station for the National Archeological Museum. 

We viewed the prehistory, sculpture, terracotta figurines and the temporary Antikythera Shipwreck exhibition. We spent a pleasant couple of hours here broken by a morning tea break of coffee and chocolate donut and ham and cheese roll in the building’s enclosed courtyard. There are many well known sculptures here including the bronze statue of Poseidon and the youth on the horse and lovely small pieces of terracotta. There was an extensive collection of steles or funeral monuments from the Keramikos cemetery. The shipwreck exhibition had many interesting finds recovered through underwater research with Jacques Cousteau, would you believe, in the 70s.

Next stop was the Benaki museum which houses an extensive private collection endowed by the Benaki family. We went to the main neoclassical building which was in fact once a residence. It’s a beautiful building inside and out, painted white with a well maintained garden. 

The museum’s terrace restaurant is certainly a destination for Sunday lunch for locals or for Greek coffee or a Cappuccino frappe as we had!

The collection extends over 4 floors and is interspersed with items for sale that are either reproductions or based on original designs. These sale pieces are distinguished from originals because they’re displayed on orange squares or positioned on orange plinths or even suspended from orange string – tastefully done for discerning purveyors of culture! There’s an extensive shop located in two rooms on the ground floor. 

The central atrium even has a display of ties that can be purchased and other merchandise such as bags and T-shirts are suspended beside stairwells.

More walking towards the Roman Agora but found that it closes at 3pm on Sundays. We had a late afternoon snack at a local taverna which included a Greek beer and a mixed plate of creamy cheese, wedges of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, salami and bread.

Then back to our apartment for a rest before dinner at 9.00pm at Strofi’s restaurant. So we dressed up and walked through the still busy Plaka area which was now atmospherically suffused in soft lights.

Strofi’s terrace is the place to dine if you want a night time view of the the lit up Acropolis. On a warm night the plastic blinds would be rolled up to an unobscured view. Unfortunately for us, last night was windy and a little cool so our view was a little obscured with plastic! Our meal was nice without being inspiring but made enjoyable with a delicious bottle of Greek sauvignon blanc. We dined on fried squid, rocket salad, stuffed tomatoes, lamb and potatoes, smoked cheese, Greek yoghurt and Greek coffee. Sitting next to us on another table for two, were an American couple Sarah and Mike from Michigan, who had just arrived in Greece. We found that we had much in common (he was a dermatologist would you believe) and shared some pleasant conversations.

Then a lovely stroll through now quietened streets back to our apartment.

			Statue ofPoseidon  [Map]
	Another lovely Nike [Map]		Bronze youth on a horse [Map]
	Statue of Athena the Virgin [Map]
	Display of Cycladic figurines at Benaki [Map]
	Roman Agora [Map]		View of Acropolis from Strofi’s [Map]
	Dinner at Strofi’s [Map]

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