First morning breakfast I wondered why pedestrians walking past the hotel kept crossing themselves. Turns out there is a chapel across the street from the hotel. Tonight there was something going on as Ieft for dinner. I didn’t wait to see what it was. Monday vespers? Tuesday matins? With the Orthodox, it is hard to tell.

My cardiologist says, “Mediterranean diet.” Greece is Mediterranean, right doctor?  So shrimp and spaghetti at an upscale restaurant. Messy eating because the shrimp was still in the shell. But still good eating. The bread came with a suspicious looking substance which turned out to be an olive paste. Tasty. I only ate about half the spaghetti, so had room for heart healthy dessert.

So here’s the Chocolate island. Hard chocolate disks interspersed with chocolate ice cream on white chocolate and pistachio nuts. And red wine. Can’t get more heart healthy. Actually my blood pressure is about where it needs to be.

In Athens you are never more than about six feet above history. Right behind my table there was a window which looks into an ancient cistern.

I am convinced that Athens taxi drivers don’t know much about Athens. Coming from the airport to the hotel, I gave the driver the name of the hotel and the street address. When we got to the district, Syntagma, I had to show him on an Athens map where it was. Today the plan was to check in to the bus tour I’ll take beginning tomorrow and then take a cab to the ancient agora and Stoa Museum. The driver went on a wild goose chase, stopped somewhere no near were the agora and said ‘here?’ I said, ‘no.’ So I haul out a map and showed him. More random driving and he drops me off in the maze of streets near the agora but there is no clue how to get there. This may not be on a scale with the Acropolis and Parthenon, but it is a major historical site in the shadow of the Acropolis. I wandered around a bit, totally lost and unable to figure out exactly where I was. I eventually came across a taxi to take me back to the hotel. He did figure that out without my guiding him. He also offered me visits for massage, casinos, women and boys.

There was a hot time in old Athens today. The high was 108°F! That is 10 degrees hotter than Dallas. I didn’t do much other than ride around on a sightseer bus and train. (Not a real train). There are a lot places boarded up, but then it was Sunday and a lot of businesses may be closed for the day; certainly that is the case for the banks. Of course, all the tourist places were open for business. You could buy anything from fur coats (I can’t imagine they were doing a brisk business) to Orthodox church furnishings and vestment, to sandals, to ‘oriental’ rugs, musical instruments, pottery, statutes, paintings and jewelry.

I’m not sure, but I may have seen the beginnings of a demonstration at Syntagma Square around noon. A cameraman with an old fashioned 16mm camera showed up about the same time as a hundred or so senior citizens marching down the street. At the same time a bunch of taxis showed up and started double parking and blocking intersections. Motorcycle police showed up and started making the cabs move on. No signs, though. Who knows? Greece will be holding elections for a new government in a few weeks, but I’ve not seen any evidence of campaigning.

Much too hot for a big hot meal, so I did a Greek salad.

Left via ShuttleBus for DFW around noon on Thursday. Arrived at Frankfurt around 8 AM on Friday. Forgot all about the hassle at the airport there. Arrivals are bused a long way from a parking lot to the terminal. Since I was arriving in the European Union from the U.S., I had to go through immigration, customs (nothing to declare so quick) and the airport security again. And it was about a mile walk to my Athens departure gate. One thing about being old, hearing impaired and carrying a cane (nice prop, but not really necessary) is that I get to ‘pre-board.’ Otherwise the flights were uneventful.

Arrived in Athens on schedule around 5 PM on Friday. Grabbed a ΤΑΞΙ to go to my first hotel. (Some cabs are TAXI; I’m not clear as to the difference — they are all yellow.) This driver didn’t know where the hotel was. It didn’t show up on his GPS directory. He got me to the district, handed me a map, and asked me to find it for him. Fortunately, I knew roughly where it was and was able to locate the street intersections. What made it a bit strange is that the hotel is located directly across the street from what is obviously a ΤΑΞΙ/TAXI stand, where there are usually a bunch a cabs waiting for anyone who wants a ride.

The hotel is pretty much ‘American Best Western’ with European sized rooms. It is located about halfway between Πλατεία Συντάγματος (Parliament Square) and the Flea Market.  I ate the free breakfast at the hotel. They seem to cater to a wide variety of folks.
A bit of Britain on the left — sausages, eggs and stewed tomatoes. I prefer my tomatoes raw, so I skipped those. A croissant, orange juice and coffee would be a French petit déjeuner . On the right is Greek — watermelon, cantaloupe, raw tomatoes, zucchini, olives and feta cheese.

 After breakfast I walked toward the Flea Market — lots of tourist souvenirs — but no fleas. Rugs, clothes, and tourist junk. And then on to revisit Hadrian’s Agora.  I was thinking of going on a bit further to the Tower of the winds and the ancient Agora. But Athens is experiencing a heat wave; it is cooler in Dallas! And I’ve not recovered from jet lag. So I had a frappe and headed back to the hotel for a nap and to cool off.