Day 4 was a bit overcast so we decided that it would be our inside-the-museum day. We started at the Christian and Byzantine Museum. We hopped on the metro and rode it to our destination, got turned around when we got off and went the wrong way. It didn't take us long to figure out that we went the wrong way. It turns out that the metro stops are not on the exact size of the street that the maps says they are... The metro is super cheap if you buy a week pass for 10 Euros each. You buy it, validate it, and then all week you just hop on and off.
The museum was nice outside. They have a courtyard with palm trees. And it turns out we picked a great day to go to the museums. Some of the museums were free. There was also some event focused on the theme of "water" but we never really figured out what it meant so we didn't participate by leaving a drawing of what water and the museum meant to us.
The museum collection is housed in a very up-to-date space and when we arrived it was practically empty. We had the place to ourselves up until the end... when a boat load of kids arrived for a school field trip. NOISY! I don't think they even bothered looking at any thing. Such a collection is wasted on youth. ;) Alan's favorite piece here was a piece that was large but cut into 9 pieces and stolen in 1976 from a church. It was recovered and has been repaired. It is about Prophet Elijah and his life.
We then walked a block away to the Museum of Cycladic Art. This museum was not free. It is a small but lavish house with chandeliers and marble floors. The collection is on 4 floors and each floor is unique. On some of the pieces they have a picture of the object in use hanging behind. It gave it a very different perspective. There was also a video projected on the wall, the part I watched showed an ancient marriage ritual. The male drank something and the female ate an apple or some fruit. Then they walked in front of a bench and that was it.
After this small but lovely museum, we headed to the Benaki Museum. This place was fancy. It was free! This housed a very nice collection, including clothing on dummies so you could see how it was worn. Some of the clothes were very colorful and elaborate. They also had some really ornate jewelry. The earring looked really heavy and were longer than 3 inches. Yikes! My favorite piece was a vase. I saw it immediately in the case from a far. It was short but perfectly shaped and had the prettiest pearlescent shine. It amazes me that there are such old pieces intact. They had some gold leaves from what looked like an olive head wreath and they were as thin as paper. How did they not crumble?
From here we wandered back past the Parliment building on our way back to Syntagma Square and guess what we ran into? Riot police! It was nice because the stopped traffic through that part of town so there were no scary cars when we crossed the streets. It was bad because it was scary and because it meant a strike. There were buses and buses of police with their riot gear. The museum we went to, the Museum of Popular Instruments, was closed due to the strike. A bit defeated we wandered in search of lunch and found it at Restaurant Hermion. We ordered a mix of hot appetizers and a kebab plate.
Refreshed and a bit more energetic, we wandered in search of the Museum of the City of Athens. We got a bit lost again but eventually found it. It is in a house where King Otto and Queen Amalia lived. It was a bit run down. Not as nice as the other museums. The collection was small. They did have some nice pieces of furniture.
From there we headed back to the hotel room for a bit of rest. Our hotel, Hotel Hera, was pretty centrally located and provided a nice home base and bathroom break when we were out and about in the city. It was also nice that there was a metro stop a block away.
For dinner we headed back to Taverna o Thespis. Let this be a lesson. Just because a place is nice and gives you extras one day doesn't mean that happens every time. The second visit to this place was not a nice as the first. We ordered olives, which were good, a green salad, which was actually wilted spinach (yuck), and Bekri meze (pork in a spiced sauce, good). No extra drinks or dessert. It was still windy and chilly out so we ate inside. It wasn't nearly as pleasant.
After dinner we wandered a bit below the Acropolis on Dionysiou Areopagitou and Apostolou Pavlou streets but then headed back to the hotel and called it a day.
Day 4 was a bit overcast so we decided that it would be our inside-the-museum day. We started at the Christian and Byzantine Museum. We hopped on the metro and rode it to our destination, got turned around when we got off and went the wrong way. It didn't take us long to figure out that we went the wrong way. It turns out that the metro stops are not on the exact size of the street that the maps says they are... The metro is super cheap if you buy a week pass for 10 Euros each. You buy it, validate it, and then all week you just hop on and off.
The museum was nice outside. They have a courtyard with palm trees. And it turns out we picked a great day to go to the museums. Some of the museums were free. There was also some event focused on the theme of "water" but we never really figured out what it meant so we didn't participate by leaving a drawing of what water and the museum meant to us.
After this small but lovely museum, we headed to the Benaki Museum. This place was fancy. It was free! This housed a very nice collection, including clothing on dummies so you could see how it was worn. Some of the clothes were very colorful and elaborate. They also had some really ornate jewelry. The earring looked really heavy and were longer than 3 inches. Yikes! My favorite piece was a vase. I saw it immediately in the case from a far. It was short but perfectly shaped and had the prettiest pearlescent shine. It amazes me that there are such old pieces intact. They had some gold leaves from what looked like an olive head wreath and they were as thin as paper. How did they not crumble?
No comments:
Post a Comment