The Athenian Acropolis

Just before 4 am, coming back from the bar with our new communist friends, we were SO hungry because we hadn't eaten dinner. Our amazing host Cristina offered to cook some pasta and meat for us, putting already cooked noodles and pieces of beef into a frying pan and heating them up.
MMmmmm. No description needed.

Out late from our night with the communists, we slept until almost noon - and it was great.
No air conditioning in the apartment made for a hot and humid night, even with the fan on high, but such is life in Greece.
But now, what should we do with our day?
We decided to start with the Acropolis. Well, first lunch, then the Acropolis.
Petros lives in a great part of the city, just a short walk from a major metro station. We walked down towards the metro looking for restaurants on our way, and we found a great place.
It was an alley with four or five different Greek restaurants, tables set inside and out. We sat down just inside the open doors of one of the restaurants, right under a vent. Greece was hot - so different from France where we were in scarves, jackets and jeans.
We had the most delicious Greek meal! Wonderful Greek salad, pita bread hot off the grill, gyros pork, and fresh bread. So good.
And we were going to need the energy for our treacherous hike up to the Parthenon, at the very top of the Acropolis.

The entire Acropolis is huge. I just never expected it to be made up of so many different structures at that elevation. Wow.

We walked by ancient amphitheatres where plays were put on by the Greeks. Seats, sets and stages carved from stone. And they were just huge.

We continued climbing, enjoying the incredible view overlooking Athens as we went. We made it to the top platform where the Nike Athena Temple (I think it´s called) stands next to the Parthenon and another monument built for a Greek god. (Maybe Zeus?)

Unfortunately most of the information available for tourists was about the restoration and rebuilding of the structures themselves, not about the history of the monuments.

We strolled around for awhile, slipping on the rock beneath us (possibly marble) and admiring the kind of labor that must have been put into these buildings.

Just imagine carrying stone after stone up the side of this hill to be pieced together in order to create these amazing temples. And then there is the careful precision with which each stone must be sculpted. And these structures, or at least their remains, still stand today.

Coming back down, we saw a stand with frozen lemonade and could not resist. Those monopolizers draw in all the scorching little suckers descending from the Acropolis in the middle of the summer, so they can charge as much as they want .

We totally gave in and jumped on the bandwagon (strawberry mixed with lemonade), and then sat there and watched all the other little suckers after us as they were draw to the stand like mosquitoes to a lightbulb.

The vendor told us to be careful with our drinks. Why? Brain freeze.

Ha ha. We chuckled, but he told us, ¨No, I´m serious.¨

Oh.

I can hear the PSA now - ¨Parents, talk to your kids about brain freeze. They´ll listen.¨

Well, we were careful nonetheless, and those frozen lemonades were some of the best drinks we´ve ever tasted. Ever. It was just that hot.

Leslie and I wander around Athens for a bit, looking in little shops here and there. We head back towards Petros´s apartment, but he´s not there, so we try to reach him on his cell phone to ask if he wants to meet us for dinner. He says that he´s actually still at the hospital and plans to be there until 11 or so that night.
We tell him that we´ll see him back at his place, and we sit down to spend some time in an internet cafe.
And then we grab dinner at the same place we ate lunch. No joke, we really did it. Lunch was delicious, the restaurant was nearby, and the atmosphere was great.