USD-->QR-->TRY-->EU-->TRY-->EU-->QR...?!?

At some point along the way, we emptied purses and pockets and found US dollars, Qatari Riyale, Turkish Lira, and Euros. When dealing with conversion from one currency to another, we can play along...but the four conversions was too much. At some point, you go into a shop, the proprietor tells you how much, and you just pitifully hold out a wad of cash and tell them to take what they need. Who needs muggers?

The comforting part is that you have no idea how much you spent until you get home and look at your bank statement...and by then, it's too late.

Athens: The Metpo

The taxis in Athens were on strike until literally the day we were returning to Qatar.  Needless to say, we were thankful that a reliable, relatively easy, and as-far-as-we-could-tell relatively safe mass transit was available.  The name of it, like everything else, is written in Greek letters as μετρό.  Often, the Greek letters are spelled in all caps, which looks like METPO.  The "r" sound (rho) looks like a P. So when Jack laughed and pointed out that those crazy Greeks called their trains a "met-po," we started calling it just that.

Having been on other metro trains, this one was very similar except with the sparser availability of English.  So when something happened...let's say, for example...a stop being closed on one side because an archeological dig had commenced (which it did), we were extra grateful to the wonderful people of Athens for (in English) being friendly and eager to help.  All we would have to do is look confused and we'd have five different people offering assistance.  Really fabulous people. 

By about the third day, we figured out that (1) Jack and Hank rode for 1/2 price, (2) Hannah rode free, and (3) buying a 24-hour ticket is much cheaper (around $1 per person?) than being doofus Americans and buying a new ticket every time you wanted to go some where...

We love the Metpo!

Athens: God's Cafe, Run by St. George & Hannah's Boyfriends

Literally, on our first walk away from the apartment, we passed by this restaurant. One of the gentlemen greeted us and we promised to come back for a meal. Then we proceeded to eat EVERY meal here for three days (not counting when we just ate ice cream for dinner)...then again coming back from Mykonos on our way to the cruise...then again returning from the cruise on the way to the airport.

It's called "God's Restaurant," and we had a lot of fun saying things like "Okay, it's time to go to God."  Or Jack would yell, "My God this is delicious!" and feel like he had gotten away with something.  Apparently, it's been on "Lonely Planet" but we need to go in search of that episode.

This is Saint George, the owner.  He looked much like Einstein, and we all loved him.

This is Iannous, who flirted relentlessly with Hannah and brought John very large mugs of cold Mythos beer.

This is the table that we sat at...on all five of our visits.

This is heaven: stuffed vine (grape) leaves in avgolemono (egg/lemon) sauce...No, not Mexican but Greek.  We're going to try to learn to make this.

This is mild cheese-stuffed pastry with black sesame and honey, served as an appetizer.

This is "Rustic" salad--a thick piece of wheat bread with tomato, feta, olives, and vinaigrette.

 Greek salad.

Fresh cooked beets with sliced raw garlic and drizzled with vinaigrette.

The kids actually got rather immune to me yelling "FOOD PORN!" and yanking out my camera.

Athens: Plaka

 The Plaka is the shopping and restaurant area close to the Acropolis and is one of the oldest parts of the city.  The streets are very narrow and so often closed off to traffic.   Yes, this would be the ubber-tourist part of Athens, but we really enjoyed wandering through it.  Much shopping was done here...to the point that extra suitcases had to be purchased.

And then there would be some gorgeous building tucked away among the shops...like this Byzantine-era church.

 Hannah with some of her prizes: Greek shirt and cat purse.

 Jack with prizes: Hat (like Dad's) and owl necklace.

Hank just mainly wanted ice cream and internet access.  He would typically eat two of these soft-serve cones in each visit.  Thankfully, he also let me buy him a shirt with basic Greek sayings on the front.  Then, when I needed a refresher I could turn around and yell, "Come here boy and let me read what you got!"

Ever heard the saying "It's all Greek to me?" in reference to something not understood? 
Apparently the Greeks say, "It's all Chinese to me."

Athens: Theater of Dionysus

Last major stop was the Theater of Dionysus (link to wikipedia). This was a huge and famous place, able to sit 14,000-17,000 people and where famous figures like Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes stages plays. The accoustics were so good that you could hear a spoken voice from the stage all the way up in the nose-bleed section. We would see something even more amazing later, but we'll get back to that.

View from the side of the stage.  Up the hill is the base of the rock upon which the Acropolis is built.

Some of the sculptural work from the front.  

One of the premium seats down front, including a drink holder large enough to hold Grandfather's 64 oz. Big Gulp tumbler.

Refurbishing the monument of Thrasyllos, which sits at the front of a cave that was used during times of persecution by Christians as a church.  This was not open to the public.

The "sidewalk" (peripatos) leading from the theater past the temples and around to the Acropolis's entrance.

Remains of the Stoa of Eumenes on the left and the Ionian and Doric Stoa on the right, walking away from the theater and towards the entrance to the Acropolis.

Remains of statuary from the theater and surrounding buildings (like the Stoa).

This is how I look when I'm so mad that I'm about to explode.

And Now, A Brief Pause for Kid Photos

Day two in Athens.

John found this supremely cool book that has photos of the ruins but then with plastic overlays illustrating what the original buildings probably looked like. Along with the photos are a couple of paragraphs about each building. We were on our way to Dionysus's theater, so we thought the kids would like to know where they were going...you can see they're excited to learn more...

Athens: Temple of Zeus

Now we're at the Temple of Zeus.  It took over 600 years to build (building was on-again, off-again), and again, Hadrian was the one who finally got-er-dun.  What remains today is 15 of the original 104 columns, and they are huge.  I can't imagine the scale of the whole building.  Sunset was on the way, which made for some nice lighting.  The Temple is also surrounded by a large open park plus some other smaller ruins under the tree-lined edges.  It was pleasant and quiet (and free to enter, if you showed your tickets from the Acropolis!).

Hannah thinking that this would make a nice-sized Barbie palace just for her. No boys allowed...except her father.

Athens: Arch of Hadrian

A little ways out from the Acropolis, back at street level, we walked towards the Temple of Zeus and, in doing so, passed by the Arch of Hadrian. Hadrian was a busy dude, building cities, public baths, and a big wall across Scotland to keep those crazy people up north. Here's a wikipedia entry about the Athens Arch.

One side reads, "ΑΙΔ' ΕIΣΙΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ" (This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus), and other side (facing the Olympeion) reads, "ΑΙΔ' ΕIΣΙΝ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΟΥΧI ΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΠΟΛΙΣ" (This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus).  I copied/pasted that from Wikipedia...

Some architectural details...and a superb blue sky that we often stopped just to enjoy.  Cause in some places the sky is more of a yellowish color.

This is the view roughly from the Arch...not precisely, but close.

Athens: Acropolis Museum

Rather than leave all the cool statues and pots and stuff up on the hill in the Acropolis, Athens built a separate Museum just down the hill. As they were preparing to build the museum, they found an ancient city on the site. So they continued uncovering the city but then built the museum on risers above the archeological site. The effect is really cool...as you walk up to the entrance, you see the remains of ancient Greece below you.

Then, as you climb to the second and third floors of the museum, additional glass floorings mean you're looking down up to four levels.  Despite being a terrible thing for my vertigo, the effect was amazing--it echoed the layers of civilization that have been accumulating here for more than 3,000 years.

The owl representing wisdom.  He's also on some of the Euro coins we got in Greece.  And John got a pair of cufflinks, and Jack and I got necklace pendants of this one.

View from the museum.

We couldn't take any photos inside, so this is the best we can do. The museum was filled with incredible statuary and other artifacts.  The Greeks did a lot of fascinating animal/human combinations, like 1/2 man, 1/2 lion.  My personal favorite was a huge ancient statue of Athena wearing a warrior coat trimmed in live snakes.  Here's a picture someone else took: