Our second full day was pool based fun and relaxing. Emily managed to nab one of those beds with shades that was by the pool so I was happy in the shade, but it was very windy. It was so great to be in the pool, looking out at the city and all the history as I was relaxing. In the evening we proceeded into the old town in full view of the Acropolis and took in some Greek fables. Four Greek lads took on eight Grecian myths in one hour and acted their little hearts out in English for the discerning tourist. It was very camp and informative. Look how majestic it was.
Next day was the biggy. We actually got to go onto the Acropolis and wander amongst the ancient monuments. A guided tour in English of the Acropolis, Parthenon and the Parthenon museum. It’s stunning to see ancient history so up close and personal. See us looking cute, checking out old monuments. Now there’s a big discussion about the Parthenon marbles that are currently held in the British Museum and whether we should give them back. Even before going and witnessing the fitness, I was for giving them back. Now that I’ve seen it’s majesty and been to the museum, a place purposefully built to hold those marbles, we definitely should give the bloody things back. They’re not our culture and not our right to keep. And the Greeks will take immense care of their own cultural artifacts.
Sunday came round hard and fast and hit me in the face with some lukewarm water. Literally. We went to a Hamam. It was brutal. We had to lay on hot marble sacrifice tables for half an hour, then our own personal masseuse came in, got us all soapy, bit of a massage and a facial and every now and then would chuck lukewarm water over us. Then onto a sixty minute Swedish massage, where I was essentially assaulted by a very lovely lady. She was very sweet. And don’t get me wrong, I like a tough massage, better to get all the tension out. It was a lot of fun, the people were fantastic and they provided us with great snacks.
Monday was meant to be a day of relaxation by the pool, but after looking at the weather forecast and realising it was going to rain! in the morning, we wandered up a different avenue. And so off to the National Archaeology Museum in the city. We sauntered around and soaked up the culture and artifacts. Fascinating. And then back into the old town to find the souvenir shops we wanted to spend some money in and then a brief hustle to our meeting point for our food tour. This would be the third tour we went on during the trip and the other two tours we kinda kept to ourselves, but this one was more wandering around and sitting down and eating so we got a bit more involved with the group. They were fascinating. We met the only English speaking Christian vicar currently living in Algeria. Now I’m not a religious man, but this gent from Manchester was very intriguing and good at answering our probing questions without making it into a sermon. Really interesting guy. And we spoke to a couple from Arkansas, USA. Arkansas is a southern state and MAGA country with over 60% of the voters voting for he who I can’t be fucked to name in the last election. A very sweet couple (they thought we were twenty five!) and they looked a lot younger than they were. Proud people, proud of their family and their traditions and yet not overbearing. Now I wasn’t going to go anywhere near politics, but Emily had to ask, so we had a very careful chat about differing political opinions in the States and about the monarchy in the UK and sport and how small British cars are. Also I took the mickey out of the Canadian couple because on the Saturday just before our Red Roses beat the Canadian ladies at the Rugby World Cup in the final. Perfect.
One last picture to finish us off. Look at this badass. This is what Athens is all about, this is why the Acropolis is what it is and why the Parthenon exists and who the bloody city is named after. Athena. Goddess of war, wisdom and arts and crafts. Tucked away in a side room of the National Archaeology Museum is this statue. You’d think it would have more pride of place, but it’s actually Roman. It’s a Roman copy of the twelve foot statue that sat in the Parthenon of Athena in all her glory. And this is how the Greeks know what the statue looked like because the Romans loved it so much, they copied it. And it’s in a side room, because it’s important, but it’s not Greek. Everything in that side room was a Roman copy. It’s very sad that the original doesn’t exist but it was moving to see this representation of once gloriousness.
And that concludes My Little Greek Odyssey. It was so much fun and I cannot thank Emily enough because she offered up the opportunity to go away together and I asked her to organise everything because I was busy at work and she did and tootled off and created a fantastic holiday for us both to go and relax, try new things and have the best time.
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