Athens
Today, we arrived in Piraeus, a major port town attached to, and directly linked to, the capital city of Greece, Athens.
We caught the shuttle bus from the port into Piraeus, and then jumped on the Metro into Athens, which only cost us €1.25 each. The journey only took about twenty minutes, and navigating our way around the underground station was painless and efficient.
In fact, we were so incredibly chuffed with ourselves at having found our way into Athens with such ease, that we hadn’t actually decided in advance what we were planning to do once we got there. Having been to Athens before, the only thing we knew for certain (I think) was that we knew we didn’t want to go up to the Acropolis.
One of the first places of antiquity we came across, located right next to the metro station, was Hadrian’s Library, which we paid €10 each to go in. It didn’t really feel like twenty euros worth, particularly since much of it can be viewed from the perimeter fence, and there really wasn’t a lot to see. But at least we felt we’d made a positive start to our visit.
Our next decision was to go to Ancient Agora, a large ancient city located at the base of the Acropolis where citizens of ancient Athens, and great thinkers of the day (Sophocles, Socrates, Protagoras, to name but three) would meet, bond and deliberate on the issues of the day.
Amongst the site’s many buildings, the temple of Hephaestus stands out as an indisputable highlight. It is, by all accounts, one of the best preserved temples of its type in Greece, built around the same time as the Parthenon to honour Hephaistos, the patron of metal workers and Athena Ergane, patroness of potters and crafts in general.
Another standout feature of the site is The Stoa of Attalos; a Hellenistic version of a mall. A huge, long building with lots of pillars, The stoa was destroyed in AD 267 by the invading Herulians, and restored in 1956 by the American School of Classical Studies with the financial support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. During excavations, they unearthed over 160,000 items dating from Neolithic times to the 19th century. It’s now an impressive museum.
On our way back to the Metro station we discovered a rather magnificent market, which we enjoyed meandering through.
Back in Piraeus, we waited for what turned out to be the last shuttle, at 5pm (the 4.30pm shuttle never turned up), with the all-aboard time being 5.30pm.
