Sunday, October 4, 2009
On Sundays, all the ancient sites are supposed to be free, so Sarah, Melanie and I set out to see what we could. We wanted to hit a few sites, but only ended up seeing Kirameikos cemetery and we were lucky to get in to that! We took the metro to get there and tried to follow the crazy, winding roads of Athens until we landed just outside the closed gate of the cemetery. We were bummed at first because it was all locked up and we had walked all over trying to find it. Fortunately, a man working there saw us and asked what we wanted. I asked if we could see the cemetery and he let us right in. So, we were the only three people there among the statues, grave stelai and columns and a church. As we explored, we kept thinking “I hope we don’t get locked in!” We didn’t and we felt pretty special for being let into the site after it was closed. The rest of the sites that we were interested in seeing today closed earlier than we expected, so we had a good time just walking around Athens before we spent the evening studying.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Today, Sara, Mel, and I decided to take a day trip to Napflio. We woke up, set out to find the bus station, and were on a bus to Napflio by 9:30. It took about 2 hours to get there. We read about a Venitian fortress in the city and so that was our first adventure. We climbed 805 stairs to the entrance of the fortress (we know…we counted). On the way up, the view was more beautiful every way you turned. We took tons of breaks just to take pictures and explore. Before making it to the top, we found a little area in a bit from the stairway—a perfect place to gaze at the city, blue gulf, and looming mountains that surrounded the area while we ate a picnic lunch. We finally made it to the top and had an adventure exploring the several bastions. It was incredible. I’m so glad we decided to go to Napflio! We pretended to each have our own bastion and we told each other stories about what each room was used for. We took tons of pictures and wore ourselves out climbing all over.
By the time we made it to the bottom of the mountain again, we were exhausted and went in search for authentic Italian gelato recommended by Rick Steves’ guidebook. Gelato hit the spot after all the hiking and hot sun of the afternoon. Wanting to make the most of our day trip, we went on another self-guided walking tour of the city lead by the Rick Steves ending at the beach for the sunset and a quick dip in the gulf before riding the bus back to Athens.
By the time we made it to the bottom of the mountain again, we were exhausted and went in search for authentic Italian gelato recommended by Rick Steves’ guidebook. Gelato hit the spot after all the hiking and hot sun of the afternoon. Wanting to make the most of our day trip, we went on another self-guided walking tour of the city lead by the Rick Steves ending at the beach for the sunset and a quick dip in the gulf before riding the bus back to Athens.
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