Kick my bike through Athens them, on a bumpy road from the caravan and when I'm in Gazi in a moment I'll cycle door. :-). (melody 'on bicycle by Skik - Dutch popband)
It's great to cycle through Athens, but before we get there we first visited Delphi.
Delphi
At camping Delphi we have the most beautiful view so far in Greece. We look out over the valley, all the way to the Gulf of Corinth and even see the mountains of Peloponnese. What a fantastic place.
From the 8th century, Delphi was the residence of Apollo. He communicated through the Oracle of Delphi. Unfortunately he didn't speak to us during our visit, but we also didn't have an animal with us to sacrifice (Misty is obviously not an option).
We did see a lot of tourist buses with Italian and Spanish students and the many buses with Americans from the cruise ships from Athens.
It was so busy at the entrance. While waiting in line, we bought a ticket online.
We immediately made our way up - via the Sacred Way - past the groups that were also on their way with a guide. It is a fairly steep climb up, but definitely worth it. The theater is very nice to see and the stadium which is even higher is also very nice. It remains special to see how they built this against the hills at the time.
It is a pity that you do not get a brochure at the entrance, because it is crowded at the few information boards on the site. Because not everything has been well preserved, you need some imagination to discover what it was.
Fun fact to mention, we heard a lot of languages at Delphi, but no Dutch. The campsite owner also wondered where the Dutch were. Normally there are many more in Greece according to him, but now very few.
Athens by bicycle
There are many ways to get to the center of Athens from camping Athene. By bus and then the metro, by taxi, by car, on foot or by bike.
We looked up the walking route via google.maps and we cycled it. It was about 8 km to the center.
The nice thing was that we could immediately stop at sights along the way. We passed a small church with a tent in front of it. The tent was actually completely decorated as a church with lots of flowers. Here I clearly saw that the Greeks cross the cross differently. We (at least the Catholics I know) hit the cross from top to bottom and then from left to right. The Greeks also from top to bottom, but then from right to left. So exactly the other way around.
A little further on we passed a flea market. You have flea markets and flea markets, which was a real flea market with the rugs still on the floor. It didn't look like much, but it was very busy.
First we cycled in the center through the Gazi district. A fairly new entertainment district with many terraces. There is also an old gas factory that has now been converted into a museum. We decided to cycle clockwise around the center.
Arriving in the Monastiraki district, we end up at a flea market again. However, this one is more like a bazaar. If you need something, you can find it here. Chairs, lighting - also from the 1970s, curtains, jewellery, crockery, they have it all.
This is an old district of Athens where there are still Turkish influences. We also saw the remains of the Emperor Hadrian's Library. We had completely missed the fact that we had almost run into this, and then cycled quite a bit for this. Oh well, that way you experience a lot in the city.
We also had lunch at the 'flea market' square. It's great to see what's going on, which languages are being used and to take a break.
I order crepes with berries, but what was not on the menu is that they were triple crepes with a large hazelnut paste on each crepe. Wow how powerful this was. Fortunately I have Rudolf, who is almost always willing to help me clear my plate.
We cycle through the Plaka district with the beautiful mini church Mikri Mitropoli to the parliament building. There two men dressed in traditional costume stand guard and later we see two guards in the same costume, at the president's house.
What we did not expect is the beautiful performance of an orchestra from the army and/or navy and/or defense. (I don't know at the moment). What I do know is that there was a festival and several orchestras performed in front of the square of the parliament building. It was very good and the audience was very enthusiastic. They even sang 'the phantom of the opera' beautifully clean. What an atmosphere in that square.
We cycled through the National Park to the Panathenaic Stadium (Kallimarmaro Stadium). A huge stadium that was also used for the Olympic Games. It was the finishing place of the marathon, which started in the town of Marathonas. The current complex is a reconstruction of how it once was in 300 BC. but that doesn't detract from how impressive it is. The stadium can hold 60,000 people and concerts are also held regularly.
We quickly photograph the Temple of Zeus. This temple is being restored, and only seven pillars are still standing. We have seen much more beautiful and complete temples for example in Pasteum in Italy.
On to the Acropolis. We have already decided in advance that we are not going to visit this one. An entrance fee of €24.50 is charged per person, which is quite a lot and we just as happily use that money to go out for dinner.
You can, however, see the Acropolis from many different districts/points in the city. On top of Areopago Hill, which is next to the Acropolis, you can see the entire city from above. And you see the Acropolis from very close. Great view, so definitely recommended.
It is very easy to cycle from the Acropolis to the Gazi district and you are back around the clock.
How did you like cycling through Athens?
Mighty beautiful!
The walking route is easy to cycle, here and there you have to pay attention and occasionally you go against the one-way traffic - but it is very doable.
And the old roads around the Acropolis are quite bumpy :-).
Still, I would recommend it to anyone. You see so much more, you stop where you want, you go faster than the walkers and therefore don't have sore feet from all those kilometers.
To be honest, maybe saddle sore.
Chairetismoi apo Athens
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