Day 3 - The Hills of Athens

Today was bright and sunny. I took my breakfast out on the terrace and let the sun warm my bones. I decided today would be a good day to visit the hills of Athens.

Athens, near as I can tell, is built in the basin of number of hills which surround it. The 2 most popular hills are Filapaplou [Fill - a - pop - low] and Lykavitos [likka - vi-toes]. But first, I wanted to visit another ancient site that was closed the first day I toured the ancient area, Kerameikos [kera -me-koes], the ancient cemetery. The walk to Kerameikos takes me through the open market on the big day - the Sunday flea market. So the walk was very interesting, and very busy - I think all of Athens was there. I cannot imagine what it must be like in the high season, with the hundreds of thousands of tourists as well as all the Athenians. The flea market has a little bit of everything there; stalls have everything from old used car parts to antiques.

I finally made it to the cemetery. It wasn't quite what I expected. I knew it was in ruins and had been heavily excavated, but I had no idea it held public buildings and the main gates to the city as well. It makes sense, in many ways, because traditionally, the dead were always buried outside city walls. Two main gates into the old city were here and very important gates they were, too. The Dipylion Gate was the start of the Panathenaian Way, an annual procession honoring Athena. The Sacred Gate marked the entrance to the sacred city of Eleusis (hence, the Eleusian Way). What I liked about this area was that nothing was blocked off, so you could really wander into the ruins.

There is a little museum on the grounds, which holds the different types of stele found during excavations in the area. These are basically the different types of tombstones. The area is also known for the tortoises that roam the ruins - and I was luck enough to see two - a larger one and a very small one, warming themselves in the sun.

From the cemetery, I walked to Filapapou Hill, the ancient "hill of the muses". The archaeological grounds are also home to the Pnyx, which anyone who lives in a democratic society should be fascinated to see - it is the original democratic meeting place of the ancient Greek representatives. Pericles used to speak here from the Orator's bema. Today there are 2 retaining walls and the Orator's bema, but the rest is hard to interpret - I wasn't sure if there were seats carved out of the rock, or if the reps just sat on the ground. But it was the birthplace of democracy and that's pretty cool.

From here, you climb a series of confusing paths and switchbacks until you reach the summit. At the summit is a tomb with a huge frieze depicting one Carius Julius Antiochus Philoppous (hence Filapapou), who so loved Athens that he was granted honorary citizenship - this allowed him to build his tomb here. It dates from 116 AD. The main reason to climb this hill is to see the breathtaking views of the Acropolis, and that's why I climbed the hill. Today, because the pollution wasn't too bad, I could see straight out to the sea - the Saronic Gulf.

I hiked back down the hill, walking towards my hotel, where I drop off more shopping I had done on the way. Then I head the opposite direction to Lykavitos Hill.

The walk there took me about 1/2 an hour, past the Parliament buildings and National Gardens. I knew the approach would take me up one of the famous "stair streets" of Athens, but I was still unprepared for what this actually meant. What it meant was easily another 1/2 hour climb up terraced steps. I have to confess, I had to stop and take a break more then once. I nearly gave up, but I'm glad I didn't.

When you get to the top of the steps, you still aren't at the summit of the hill - you are only about 1/2 way. From here, you can continue to walk up winding paths or you can take the funicular. I took the funicular.

At the summit, there is another small Byzantine church (have I mentioned that there are literally hundreds of these in the city?) and the views are spectacular! I arrived as the sun was setting on the sea and out over the city.

I walked back down, then down all those stairs. I met a retired couple at the bottom, who decided after speaking with me not to climb to the top. They told me about a famous restaurant, called Psaras, which means fisherman in Greek. It was perched on the side of the Acropolis. So I made my way there and had a really lovely meal. It was only 7:00 by the time I finished dinner, but all that fresh, sunny air and walking made for one tired girl, so after reading a book for a while, I went to sleep.