Lunch in Athens

The final part of our tour of Athens was a drive by some of the significant buildings in the city.

First was the Parliament Building (or "Old Palace").

Not quite as "old" as much of the architecture we had seen so far, the Hellenic Parliament was built from 1836 to 1840. It was originally the palace home of the first king (Otto) after the Turkish occupation.

Next, we drove by the "Neoclassical Trilogy of Athens", which consists of three buildings located side-by-side. As we drove down the street, we first encountered the Academy of Athens.

The central pediment of the Academy of Athens depicts the birth of Athena, and Socrates and Plato are seated in front of the building.  (I have to pronounce Socrates "So-Crates" in my head, in homage to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.) Athena and Apollo stand high atop the pediments on either side of the entrance.

 

Just to the left of the Academy of Athens is the University of Athens.

 

Established in 1837, The University of Athens was the first university in the newly-established Greek state, the Balkans and the Mediterranean.  This building currently serves as the headquarters for the University of Athens.

The final part of the Neoclassical Trilogy of Athens is the National Library of Greece, immediately to the left of the University of Athens. 

The statue in the front is that of Panaghis Athanassiou Vallianos.  Yeah, I don't know who that is either, but he was apparently one of the benefactors of the building.

By the time our tour was complete, we were hungry, and we decided to walk through the Plaka and back to the same area where we had enjoyed dinner the evening before.

 

We just loved this area.  Isn't it quaint?  There are tavernas and cafes lining both sides of the staircase.

We chose one of the tavernas (or they chose us - those guys know how to bark and becon in you to their establishments) and were seated outside on our own little private patio.  Soon, we were brought a Greek salad, fresh pita, and wine. 

Mmmm.  Doesn't that look delicious and refreshing?  We learned on our vacation that a real Greek salad does not include any type of lettuce, and we really liked it that way.  Now, at home, we will only make or order a Greek salad the authentic way, without iceberg or Romaine.

For our main course, we shared the fresh fish.  I don't remember what type of fish this was, but it was delicious.  They fileted it right at our table.

    

We took our time and enjoyed our meal, and the ambiance, and the fact that we were in Athens, GREECE, y'all!

This was the view from our table.  You can see how some of the cafes provided pillows for patrons to sit on while enjoying coffee, a cocktail, or a dessert.  

After our lunch, we walked around the Plaka a little bit more, then ran an errand - we had to pick up a cell phone to use while in Greece. We had done our research and figured out that the most economical way to make and receive calls to/from Greek phone numbers would be to purchase a phone and sim card.  We went to the Cosmote store, stumbled through Greek/English communication, and were able to purchase an inexpensive flip-phone for 15 Euro, and a sim card for 5 Euro.  I believe there was an activation fee, but all-in, we were right at 26 Euro, which is approximately $34 U.S.

The minutes expired 30 days later, but we can take the phone with us for any future international travel and simply buy a sim card for use in that country. Awesome!

Next, it was time to claim our luggage from the bellman at our hotel and catch our arranged ride to the airport.  There, we would meet someone from Sailing Holidays, our tour group for the flotilla, and together we would wait for the arrival of the British Airways flight with all of the other members of our flotilla.

And from there, our sailing adventure would begin...