DAY 12 - PIRAEUS

12) SATURDAY, 9 JULY 1977 :  10KMS. - PIRAEUS

 
We chose to visit Greek National Museum in the morning, there were many wonderful  sculptures of  deities like Apollo, Poseidon, Satyr etc. and decoration accessories. Greek pottery is characterized by a reddish orange and black stripes painted and portraiture and geometric designs . 

Photo : Bing images search

Most of stone sculptures and designs of their pottery (vases and water jugs, etc.) are carved and painted with military patterned nude warriors or gods rather than a naked woman.  Perhaps on the same vase one side is painted with deities/worriors wearing  clothes but naked on another side. Admission fee in general was  50.- Drachmen but I paid only 5.- Drachmen  by showing my  International Student Card.

Most of artifacts on display in the museum are not completely perfect ones but they were broken pieces bonding  together again in original shapes .  I had seen more perfect artifacts displayed in the museums in PARIS and ROME.

Poseidon - Photo : Bing images search

 

Apollo - Photo : Bing images search

 

Athena the goddess of Athens - Photo : Marsyas (wikepedia.org) / Bing images search

ATHENS  itself looks dirty and not beautiful as I have thought. The climate is very hot and despite the scorching hot sun, we scrambled up to the Acropolis for a closer look. We had to pay additional 5.- Drachmen  for viewing outside of the Acropolis. 

There was no fine decorations on the Acropolis left for appreciation but there were  marble pillars and broken down pieces of the Parthenon temple - the major part of the Acropolis.  However,  there are many  tourists visiting this place which brings a large sum of income from the admission fee  for the city every day.

Photo : Bing images search

In the museum building near the Parthenon we can see broken pieces of carved pediments  of the Parthenon  on display.  Most parts are shown mainly at the British Museum in London.  There was also a replica of the perfect Parthenon, demonstrating traditional aesthetic quite well.

Photo : Doriero / Bing images search caption

Around the Parthenon, especially at each corner, there were policemen on duty to warn visitors by blowing whistles at people pretending to climb on or in Parthenon to take photos, which is currently under restoration.  The condition of Parthenon is worsening every day due to the bad condition of the air in ATHENS.

 

Photo : Bing images search

Greece weather  in the summer month of July is really hot, like in Thailand but much drier.  People seem to prefer  having  cold drinks during this time as well.   There is also cold water dispenser in most restaurants;  a coffee or soft drinks is often served with cold water (not common in Germany) . At night many Greeks prefer  to sleep outside on the decks or balconies as it should be cooler. There might be less mosquitoes than in Thailand. Some Greeks may pour water on  terraces to cool down the temperature of their surroundings.

ATHENS shops are located in the specific areas like in China town of Bangkok, such as fabrics, bikes  and accessories,  sanitary wares and etc.  Down from the Acropolis, we walked through a market selling fresh fruits, from where we bought some nice fresh peaches .  We stopped at  the coffee shop to taste our peaches and ordered  a cups of coffee for each because it is very hot and we were thirsty.

Here we met 2 Greeks, one of whom had been in Germany  and speaks German fluently.  They asked to join us at the table and finally volunteered to take us for  a walk in the park where there was a fair similar to the local annual Volksfest in Germany .  We ended up with going to the beach for swimming !  A big surprise for us, many Greeks  went for swimming at night because the weather was very hot.

After swimming,  one of these 2 new  friends  asking Tilo to drive him at his sister’s home in ATHENS. A German-speaking guy  whose home in PIRÄUS nearby  but he himself was not familiar with the way home, we had to ask all the way since he had recently returned home from Germany  for soldier recruitment.    

We reached his sister’s home later than midnight and thought of finding a parking nearby but were invited to sleep in the house of his sister.  The house has a nice terrace and empty so we accepted his invitation. The weather was very hot still, we thought sleeping on the house terrace open space would be better than sleeping in our campervan, although there is a  fan and air channels fixed to the floor for sucking the wind / fresh air into our sleeping section as well as an air vent on the top.