Athens

I spent five days in Athens, and this post sort of sums it up. During my first yet brief visit to Athens in 2000 I visited most of the tourist sites, so this time I was free to just absorb the local culture and simply to hang out and see what interesting things I could find in the nooks and crannies of this ancient city.





















While the new Acropolis Museum contains a decent collection, the building itself was the highlight for me. An impressive work.









One day I explored the fascinating Anafiotika, a tiny neighborhood right next to the Acropolis, which contains the oldest residential structures in Athens. Beautiful whitewashed Cyclades Island-style architecture. Some of the streets were so narrow that I literally had to turn sideways to make it through.












There is some civil unrest in Greece, but not to the extent that the world media would have you believe. I took these photos around the very epicenter of the demonstration activity. I was there on a slow day.















This is me at my favorite gyros place... amazingly flavorful and tasty authentic Greek comfort food. The gyro was so delicious I was dumbfounded. It's a tiny neighborhood place in the outskirts of Athens, and the name of the place is only in Greek, the minuscule menu is only in Greek, and they only speak Greek there. I'm pretty sure I was the only non-Greek person present. It's also very inexpensive (a gyro is only €2). This is the real deal. This place is not listed on Trip Advisor and is not profiled in any tourbook.



Some Greek street art I came across.






I discovered a reasonably good artisanal gelato place, all made by hand in small batches daily by a chef, but it was seriously overpriced (€6 for a medium cup is ridiculous). It wasn't nearly as empty as I make it seem in the photos. I usually make my photos when I can get a clear shot. The design of the place was pretty cool.

Location:Greece