Odeion
Parthenon
Erechtheion and Temple of Athena
Temple of Hephaestus
Ancient Agora
Hadrian’s Arch
Statues of Alexander the Great and Lord Byron
Monument of Lysicrates
Parthenon at night
Thursday May 21
WOW! We are having so much fun. On Tuesday we arrived at our apartment met Katerina, our land lady. We walked around the town and got some groceries for making food. There is a fruit and veggie market right outside our apartment and fish (stinky!) and meat (eek!) market across the street. We tried to get into in the evening Klimataria taverna but it was full! We went to a contemporary modal music show that Caleb and my parents liked but I thought it was boring and a bit pretentious. It was at the fanciest record store I have ever seen and the musicians were playing super gentle and quiet which is not my thing, but there was a cute little toddler girl and a dog so it was ok. The place was called Underflow record store and they had MUGA merch “make Underflow great again” haha. Then we were hungry and the door guy Alex (after Caleb bonded with him over metal music) recommended a 24 hour restaraunt and it was good. Sophie got chicken nuggets, Caleb and I got burgers, Aba got stuffed cabbage, and the waiter even gave us Mastika shots on the house! I didn’t like the music but the food and drinks made me feel better. 🙂
On Wednesday we went to the Acropolis! We saw the theater of Dionysus, Odeion, Temple of Athena, Erechtheion and Parthenon. It was cool to sneak near the tour groups and overhear the guides explaining history and significance. We went to a total tourist trap place for lunch, Caleb and I got chicken gyro, Sophie got hot dog, Aba got greek salad and mousakka, and Mom got baked feta on tomatoes and dolmas! Then Mom and Aba went home on the subway with Sophie while Caleb and I walked and adventured around. We planned to walk home but then we saw a special rock Aeropagus which was the seat of the Supreme Court of Athens and where Apostle Paul gave a famous sermon. The hill looked down over the Ancient Agora and we wanted to explore it but we needed tickets so we just walked around the town. We went into a crowded touristy area, got gelato, and explored a flea market and found a record store where I got a Stelios book! We asked a guy working where to find traditional music and dancing and he said maybe in another decade but not really anymore right in that area in center of Athens, but he recommended to look in the neighborhoods of Plaka and Psirri. We went home and Aba and I did some research to find Rebetadika places, we found an excellent place called Argo and I made a reservation in Greek 🙂 It was everything I wanted and more! The menu was all in Greek and everyone there was Greek except us. The band was bouzouki, guitar, and singer and they played so many songs I know, by Stelios Kazantidis, Sotiria Bellou, and even a Thanassis song I learned from my Greek teacher Antigoni! We danced and sang and I couldn’t stop crying because I was overflowing with joy! We danced a mean Hasapiko with a cool guy, we met this super fun woman from Chios island and she thought we were from the islands because we were dancing, and the singer Stella couldn’t believe we are American YAY! She even got me up to sing harmony on the last chorus of Zigkouala! Also all the food was so amazing, we got eggplant rolls, garlic mushrooms, bougiourdi (spicy baked cheese and tomato), greek salad, steak, lamb chops and Sophie got chicken and for dessert yummy chocolate trunk fudge thing. Aba texted Katerina that we were there and she called the owner and got us each a drink which was so kind! Sophie started falling asleep around 12:30-1ish so Aba took her home while me and Caleb and mom stayed till the end at 2am, also an OG (old greek) lady gave me thumbs up for singing and dancing! Horray! Everyone was so fun and everything was just right and aligned. BH SO MUCH LOVE AND JOY!!!
Friday May 22
On Thursday, me Caleb and Aba hiked up Mt. Lycabettus and we could see a 360 view of Athens from way up high! Caleb got records and shipped them to US and met some cool metal guys in the flea market. Last night we went to a bar to hear really nice Smyrnaika music but I decided to leave after the first set because I got a scary email from my school about my graduation degree not being conferred because of missing requirements but they made a mistake NOT me, so I was upset last night but now I know it is ok. So me and Caleb and Sophie left early and mom and dad stayed for the second set. Today we went to the Ancient Agora of Athens which was so amazing and full of history! We saw Temple of Hephaestus, Simon the cobbler shop ruins (who was the first guy to write down Socrates dialogues), prison of Socrates ruins, Stoa of Attalos which is now the museum with a bunch of old jugs and statues and stuff. They had Ostraka, the voting system used to kick out the least liked citizen for 10 years! They needed a group of 6000 people and they would all write the name of the guy they didn’t like and the guy with the most votes got kicked out for 10 years bye bye! We also saw ruins of a water clock that they used to keep time for meetings of court and senate and stuff. We also read that they found an ancient tablet with Sukkot symbols from Jewish synagogue! Yay! Then we went to a yummy restaraunt and got so much yummy food! Chicken, beef, salad, eggplant bougiourdi, zucchini croquets, fava, everything was delish! We packed up leftovers for dinner tonight. Now Caleb and I just showered and we are going to have coffee and go walk to a square with lots of cool things to see. Happy Shavuot and Shabbat Shalom!
Sunday May 24
On Friday Caleb and I walked around Athens and saw Hadrian’s arch, Roman baths, Temple of Zeus, and statues of Alexander the Great and Lord Byron! We ran into some amazing street musicians busking, one was a Greek American guy playing bouzouki called Bobby Damore who lived in Brooklyn for a while and he has been to Golden Fest and knows some Balkan dancing people from NYC, and the other guy was playing oud and singing Turkish songs. We also walked through a street with restaraunt with some shmaltzy live music and joined a syrtaki. It was fun and spontaneous and cool! We got back to our apartment, packed up our bags, and me Aba and Caleb went out to the rooftop bar for a beer and we could see the parthenon all lit up! It was so beautiful and a great conclusion to our Athens adventures.
May 19
Arrived at airport, took the train from the airport to our beautiful lodgings in Omonia (neighborhood near center of Athens, not far from the Acropolis). Rested and explored, then went to hear some contemporary music at a cool place called Underflow, recommended by Peter Jaques, a musician whom we sort of know through Balkan camp, and whom we actually met at the venue. Beautiful music and great musicians, although it was not our usual folky genre.
Afterwards we ate at a 24-hr diner, conveniently named 24-ώρα. What was extra special, for me at least, was that our waiter gave us all complimentary shots of mastika to end our meal! Definitely “not in Kansas” anymore!
May 20
We started the day visiting the Acropolis, which was super interesting for us and apparently for the many other tourists from all over the world.
Afterwards, we lunched at a nearby restaurant—and found out that *anything* anywhere near the Acropolis is priced [€€€] for tourists. After a necessary afternoon siesta, we went to a Rebetika restaurant called Argo ΑΡΓΟ. There we had the best immersive Greek experience so far, with wonderful music that was right up our alley. Dalia has really immersed herself in this genre and was singing along with a lot of the songs. We all got up and danced with the locals, who thought that we were Greek! (Like, what [crazy] Americans would show up here and dance and sing?). The singer, Stella, even invited Dalia to share the mic for Zinguala! Later, the musicians as well as the owner of the restaurant thanked us profusely for “bringing the energy.”
Dalia told them that it was the best night of her life, and the owner was almost moved to tears.
While enjoying ourselves at Argo, Noel texted our landlady Katarina to tell her what we were doing, and she ended up calling the restaurant and treating us to a round of drinks. Amazing hospitality!
We arrived in athens to a warm welcome from our first host Katerina at “Above the Fruits” apartment. The entrance is through the open air fruit market, around the corner are meat and fish markets. Also around the corner is a nondescript entrance to a sixth floor rooftop bar with this view! What a great beginning!!
Dalia received her MS in Speech and Language Pathology yesterday from SUNY New Paltz. Here is a photo of us along with Dalia’s friend Caleb.
Stay tuned for travel blogging…..
Much of my life revolves around music & dance.
This year we put together a great big party (festival), the 40th annual Golden Festival. One of the many highlights was a return visit by a dance vlogger named Mickela Malozzi. Below is a link to her video report of the 2012 Golden Festival, starting with Zlatne Uste playing. Note me dancing with friends in the background starting at 1:44
https://youtu.be/0VToobMdSLg?t=72
In January 2020 Lake Celeste froze for skating in a beautiful way!
Flat Stanley arrived in Garrison, NY, 55 miles north of New York City. He found lodging at Lake Celeste on the historic Old Albany Post Road. On Saturday, April 3, 2021, Stanley headed north along this dirt road, which is listed in the National Register of historic places.
While traveling along the Old Post Road, he passed several Revolutionary-era stone mile markers. The red stone with original inscription was originally 6 feet long and buried in the ground. The stone frame and bronze plaque were added to protect this pre-Revolutionary artifact.
Soon Stanley came upon the Appalachian Trail, which crosses the Old Post Road on its way from Georgia to Maine. You can see the “AT” sign just to the right of Stanley’s head in the picture below. The trail is right behind him going north.
Stanley wanted to visit West Point Military Academy next. West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military institution in the USA and played a big role in the American Revolution (1775-1783). Unfortunately West Point was closed to the public due to COVID-19. So Stanley decided to hike up Sugarloaf Hill in Castle Rock Park on the east side of the Hudson River to get a good view of West Point. The hike starts below Garrison Castle which was built in the 1880s for a very wealthy railroad magnate named William Osborn. His family still lives in the area.
After hiking up a few hundred feet Stanley found an open spot with a fantastic view (below). The US Military Academy (West Point) campus is made up of stone buildings and fortifications that were used during the American Revolution to prevent British ships from sailing upriver beyond Peekskill. The Hudson River weaves around the “point” of land jutting out. The Hudson is an estuary in this area, meaning ocean tides reverse its flow and the water is a mix of fresh and salt, with high and low tides. The local indigenous Lenape people called it Mahicantuck, “the river that flows both ways”. Just above and to the right of the campus are the cliffs of Breakneck Ridge, Storm King mountain is top left in the picture. Storm King was preserved by a 1965 US Supreme Court decision that grants “standing” to individual citizens to sue the government for harm to the environment, which was a major breakthrough for environmental accountability.
Stanley just HAD to get a closer look so he took us down to the river bank at Garrison Landing where we took this final picture. Whew what a great day!
