Sorry about the last email. The internet "cafe" was a small room on the fourth floor, and the heat was unbelievable.
Since our last communique, we have been dazzled by Athens. We spent the evening after emailing out in the Plaka district, which is the old part of Athens. Old means the only populated area at the time of Greek independence. Most of the buildings are Turkish in design, and the entire district surrounds the ruins of the Greek and Roman agoras, shaded by the heights of the Acropolis.
The area is covered with tavernas and touristy shops, but Colleen and I love that stuff. We spent the evening dining and walking. It was nice to relax and take in the local culture of ripping off tourists...
Yesterday morning we woke up and took the subway to the National Archaeological Museum. So many things there that blew us away (I think Colleen took 45 minutes of video, so be ready). The highlight, of course, was the supposed Agamemnon Death Mask which Schliemann uncovered excavating ancient Mycenae.
Oh yeah, we also saw the famous bronze statue of Poseidon hurling his trident, and some statuettes from (they estimate) 6000 BC. I mean, it is impossible to do this entire museum. There is just too much to process in too little time. We were lucky because the Greeks were celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin (their second-largest holiday) yesterday, so the museum was free, and there weren't many tour groups running around. I had heard some serious horror stories about the crowds.
After lunch back in Plaka, we went shopping some more and found ourselves (go figure) with more souveniers from our trip. Seriously, we found some really cool stuff.
As our last night in Athens came to a close, we retired to the rooftop bar of our hotel and sat in virtual silence, sipping our Mythos (beer) and staring at our unobstructed views of the Acropolis lit up. It was a fitting way to end our visit.
This morning, we waved farewell to Athens and boarded a hydrofoil for Aegina. We had breakfast down at the dock, and Colleen's trip to McDonald's yielded only a hamburger and french fries. They had run out of eggs, so that was all she could get.
We checked into our hotel and headed for the small, rocky beach that surrounds the hotel grounds. The place is actually quite nice. We are staying in a bungalow complex, and we have a nice, comfortable room that is very close to the beach. We both got too much sun already. I'm blaming the camel hair loofah they used on me at the Turkish bath for removing what little tan I had a couple days ago.
We have now made our way to the main port town of Aegina, and we are ready to head off to dinner.
We hope all is well back in the States.
Paul and Colleen
Back to home page