Athens: Tuesday 20th October

Today is our last full day in Athens before we head off to Rhodes. We decided to head out of the tourist areas to the Psyrri district, a gentrified area in the old part of Athens which, up until the early 1990's, had quite a dangerous reputation. Nowadays it is a good place to come and see everyday life, with people going about their daily business.

Our first stop was the Central Market - a hectic, noisy market where the locals go to do their shopping. We first walked through the meat market, where carcasses and animal parts you didn't even know were edible are hanging from hooks all around you, and the floor is wet and bloody - not somewhere that you want to be wearing cream trousers like I was! It really smelt so we were glad to get out of there and on to the more civilised part of the market!

Anything you want - this man probably has it!

A lot of Athens is covered in graffiti but we saw the more artistic graffiti in this area.

We then visited the Ancient Agora which is situated below the slopes of the Acropolis. During ancient times the Agora was the centre of political and public life for Athenians - everything from law courts, state prisons, shops, schools, theatres and even the city mint was found here. Although many of the buildings were little more than a pile of stones (to put it bluntly!) there were a couple of ruins that were more intact and gave you an idea of what the agora used to be like.

Stoa of Attalos

Temple of Hephaestus

We also went into the Agora museum which housed statues and relics that were over 2500 years old!

The weather has been very humid today, and we really felt it at the ancient agora and walking back to our hotel so we were glad to get back in to our airconditioned room to cool off!

This evening we went to a restaurant that was down one of the small streets near our hotel. The restaurant was nothing to look at but had rave reviews on Trip Advisor so we thought we would give it a go! It was definitely our best meal in Athens - we shared Moussaka, fried baby squid and stuffed pepper and tomato and it was delicious!! And we shared a half litre of wine which was only 3.50 euros - the wine is so cheap here!

We have really loved our time in Athens - you don't feel like you are in a big city, there are lots of areas to explore and the food has been delicious! And the people that we have met have been so friendly - whether it be the staff in the shops and restaurants, or people stopping you in the street to help with directions.

 

Posted with Blogsy