Friday 11 October 2013

Out and about in Athens

Note to self, if you arrive somewhere late in the evening, make sure you have either eaten or have food to eat. Last night was not a stellar example of looking after myself. I must eat or I get grumpy, a fact of life for me. When it's at night, I don't sleep well. So this morning I woke up after hoovering anything vaguely edible during the night, and headed out and about.

First stop breakfast. A yummy omelet with cheese and tomato and an espresso. Not a bad one either. I managed to knock over my water with my giant bag, sigh. The lovely waiter got me a new glass and helped me clean up. I'm not sure they had ever seen anyone devour food like I did, without taking a breath.

I wandered up the pedestrian street and found some peaches to buy and eat on the way. People were helpful and I found my way past some ancient wonders up the acropolis. There were not too many people in the square where I ate, they were all up top. Throngs of them. The 12 euro we all paid must go a long way to helping this massive restoration project.

The day warmed up and I enjoyed my wander around, catching snippets from the various tour groups. There were many different languages spoken, even some Aussie and New Zealandish. I took plenty of photos and got a bit excited when I found that my card reader fitted in the adapter I bought with my iPod. That's as far as I got, it seems that there is a problem with the compatibility.

I miss my Mac, would love to add photos here but alas, it may only be word for a while. I did take a pic on this thing so will see if I can make it look okay enough to upload. I'm a bit fussy about that. I arrived back at the apartment for my afternoon siesta and got some time relaxing in the sun, with my book, overlooking the city. It's a tough life.

I have booked a trip out to the islands tomorrow so have an early start. I wandered out to find the meeting place and discovered what down town Athens was all about. Cafes, mad traffic, people purposefully shopping while others take photos of all they see, blankets with good for sale line the footpath, men chatting to each other. Antiques. There are treats around every corner, surprising old buildings with the commerce of today around them, leaving space for the heritage of this place.

There are many similarities with Istanbul here, hardly surprising given their shared histories. One of my favourite books, Bird Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres is set in a small village in Turkey and  tells a very human story with engaging characters alongside the historical and political events that have shaped these two nations. A read I highly recommend.

PS Please forgive the many mistakes in this post. I'm still learning to drive the iPad and haven't yet learned how to scroll through long posts to proof read. I actually wrote this last night totally seething with frustration as I tried to reread and add bits. Maybe I can't do that so need to write shorter ones? Well I would if I could post photos. It seems I can't even do that from ones I took with the iPad, sigh. 

2 comments:

Sandy Millar said...

Glad to see you're learning how to drive the new technology - can't wait to see the photos when you can load them.

Jule's Short Story said...

A little frustrating but the I'm not the most patient of people! I now know how you felt without a computer, except I still have the Internet. The photos will be a nice surprise when I finally get to them :)