Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 5

  

On Wednesday we decided to visit the other archeological areas that were on our ticket that we had purchased on Monday. We took the subway to Syntagma and started with another walk through the botanical gardens.  Our first stop after walking through the gardens was at the Panathenaic Stadium, which is a restored stadium built on the site of ancient games and which was used during the modern olympics and still used.  It is a stone stadium.  We didn't have tickets inside,  and opted not to pay to walk around inside, but we got a very good look at it and were very impressed.  [We had a lot of fun watching the last season of Amazing Race when they had a task in the stadium.]

Waking through the park (again).

Lexa was taking a lot of pictures with her camera. Here it is outside Zappeio Hall near the gardens.

Looking down from Zappeio Hall on the fountains.

Looking back at the hall.

Yulia matching the lilacs.

Stadium was made entirely out of marble!

Getting more use out of the new selfie stick!

After seeing the stadium we walked to Lykeion, which is a newer site.  We got a bit turned around and did some extra walking, but found the site without too much trouble.  This is the site of Aristotle's school.  It was a gymnasium where they did athletics and learning and was at the site of a stream that ran through Athens at the time.  The site was quiet and was still in the process of renovation, but it had a lot of interesting information.  It was one of my favorite places on the tour.

On the way to Lykeion we passed the National Defense Museum and took some pictures with the equipment that was outside.

Looking at planes.

Lykeion site in the midst of archaeological restoration and study.

Looking and reading.

Lina!

After visiting the Lykeion, we decided we'd take the funicular to the top of Mount Lycabettus.  We had enjoyed riding funiculars in other places.  It was a bit of a hike and a lot of stairs to get to the base of the mountain. The Funicular ride was very inefficient and expensive.  The view from the top of the hill was nice, but the cost of the trip and the amount of time we had to wait to go up and down (one trip each way every hour) wasn't worth it.

Climbing the stairs to the foot of the Lyccobettus Hill.

More climbing!

Church at the top of the hill.

Looking out over Athens.

More view down on Athens. Athens is huge!

Looking out to the sea and Acropolis.

The mountains!

Going down the stairs was easier.

We took subway to Monastiraki square and found a nice little pastry shop there.  We ate our pastries and rested for awhile before walking from there to Syntagma station through an area that had a lot of shops.  We stopped and went inside The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea which is a Greek Orthodox church and one of the oldest churches in Athens and really enjoyed the peacefulness of that experience.

Eating lunch on the square.

The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea or just Kapnikarea was built in the 11th century. It is still working today.

Shopping district.

The weary band of explorers.

Yulia posing next to our favorite pastry place near our apartment.

We rode the metro home to Dafne.  We got the kids settled in and then Yulia and I went on a date. Earlier in the day we received a message from the doctor who did a second colonoscopy and a surgery saying that the biopsy results came negative and I do not have cancer.  We wanted to celebrate! We wandered around until we found a little place to eat. This was the only place where the waiter didn't speak any English, but we managed to order some delicious Greek food anyway.  It was nice to sneak out for a bit of a date in Athens!

Love those Greek salads!

Salads in Greece are fantastic!