Greece
28 May – 01 June 2016
28 May 2016, Fly to Athens
We took evening flight from
Amsterdam to Athens. We departed at 08.35 pm and arrived at 00.25. From Airport
we took taxi directly to our hotel, Astor Hotel in Syntagma Square area.
29 May 2016, Athens
We woke up early and enjoyed
breakfast in the hotel roof terrace with Acropolis View. Since the hotel
located in Syntagma Square, it was easy to go to main attractions by foot.
First, we went to Acropolis site. On the way to Acropolis we can see some picturesque lane with nice cafes. When we reached Acropolis, there was already quiet long queue to buy the ticket. We bought ticket pass for EUR 30. It included
6 sites.
After we got our ticket, we entered
the site and just follow the entrance direction. Before we reached the
entrance, we got a magnificent view of
Odeum of Herodes Atticus. It was built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus in memory
of his wife. Today it is used to held artist performance.
We entered Acropolis from west side
as it was easier and less steep. We pass through The Propylaia, the monumental
entrance to Acropolis. Just befor we entered The Propylaia, on the right side,
there was Temple of Athena Nike, for worship Athena as a protector of Athens in
war.
After we passed through Propylaia,
we got a clear view of Acropolis. On the left side, we can see The Erechtheion,
temple that dedicated to Athena Polias-protector of the city and to Poseidon
Erechtheus. The two gods had quarrel over the protection of the city, that’s
why this temple had been divided into two parts and had two entrances.
Across the Erechtheion, we can see
the iconic building of Acropolis, The Parthenon. It was the biggest temple in
this site. It was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron of their city.
Not far from the Acropolis, there’s
Ancient Agora of Athens. Inside this complex, we can see the Stoas (colonnades)
of Attalos, which was reconstructed and become a museum, with a selection of
thousands of objects from 3000 BC to AD 1500. Also Agii Apostoli, the Byzantine
church was restorated.
There was also restoration for Temple Hephaisteion. From
this point, we can see the beautiful view of Acropolis. Another thing that had
been restored was the statue of Hadrian. Besides those, we can see some ruins
from temple of Ares, Temple of Apollo and others building.
There was also restoration for Temple Hephaisteion. From
this point, we can see the beautiful view of Acropolis. Another thing that had
been restored was the statue of Hadrian. Besides those, we can see some ruins
from temple of Ares, Temple of Apollo and others building.
The Ancient Agora has two entrances.
One was near the Acropolis and the other from Monasthraki area. As we entered
from Acropolis, so we got out to Monasthraki Area. There were lots of resto in
this area. So it was a good thing that we can had our late lunch after
exploring Acropolis and Agora. Monastiraki is a place where we can find almost
everything. From food, clothes, souvenir. It was also famous for its flea
market.
From Monasthraki we took metro to
Syntagma Square and from there we walked to Temple of Olympian Zeus. As for its
name, this temple was dedicated to Zeus. From the first construction, tt left
unfinish until 700 years later Emperor Hadrian completed. The temple was big
with 104 tall columns, but because the temple was burnt and badly damaged, and
later on there were earthquakes, now all we can see just the remains of the
temple. We can also see the Arch of Hadrian which was erected as a gate between
the ancient city and the Roman city of Athens.
As we had
mistake in reading the map, from Temple of Zeus, we must go back to Acropolis
area to visit Theater of Dionysus. Unlike Odeum of Herodes Atticus, we can
enter this theater. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and theatre. Theatre
of Dionysus is regarded as the first sample of Greek theatres and the
birthplace of the Greek drama. Today, we can see the ruin of this semi-circle
theater. All the
temples that we visited, include in the ticket pass.
Just across the theater, there’s New
Acropolis Museum, an interesting museum with lots of informations, displyas of
ancient artefacts. The entrance fee is EUR 5. At the entrance of the museum, we
can see the remains of ancient Athenian city through the glass floor. Besides
the collections, from inside the building we can get a nice view of the
Acropolis. It is also a child friendly museum. Children can borrow a family
backpack. Inside the backpack they will find a book (with information about
goddess Athena), memory games and magnetic sticker book. 
From museum, we walked to Plaka. A
nice neighborhood in Athens with lots of nice resto and café. Also it is a
place to find souvenirs. We can see the traditional part of Athens here, with
narrow streets and picturesque houses. It is a oldest neighborhood in Athens.
Keep walking, we finally reach
Monasthraki. We had our dinner here. We tried the chinese food. After that, we
tried Loukoumades (Greek donut) at Loukoumades (LUKUMAΔΕΣ) Monasthraki then we went back to hotel.
30 May 2016, Delphi
We took 2 days tour to Delphi and
Meteora. Our tour guide picked us up at 8 am. With a big bus, we went to
Delhpi. Along the way, our tour guide explained about Greek mythology,
including the story about Delphi. We arrived at Delphi at around 11 am.
Delphi in ancient times was
considered as the center of the world. In this site, we can see the Omphalos
(navel) of the earth, a stone artifact, marking the meeting place of two eagles
released by Zeus. Their meeting point was the center of the earth. Delphi is
also known as the center of worship for Apollo, god of music. Here, if someone
had question that need answer, they will pray through Pythia, the priestess.
From the site, the tour took us to
Amalia Hotel, just to had lunch before we continue our trip to Meteora. The
Hotel had a great location with a great view. They also served a good food with
very reasonable prices. We had Greek Salad and Pasta for our lunch. We still
have some times to rest before our long trip trip Meteora. The trip from Delphi
to Meteora took about 4 hours.
We reached Meteora at around 7 pm.
We stayed at Amalia Hotel. At 7.30 we had our dinner (included in the tour
price). After that, we just rest and relax in the hotel.
31 May 2016, Meteora
We had a good breakfast. The hotel
served nice food, with many kind of food, bread, pasta even we can find rice!
They also had a nice orange and chocolate cake.
At around 8.30 our bus ready to
depart from the hotel. Meteora is located at Kalambaka. The special things
about Meteora is the unique shape of the rocks and the monasteries on top of
the rocks. It used to be 24 monasteries, but now we can only 6 of them.
these monasteries were built by monks who were previously
hermits in the area, living in individual caves. Once united, these monks took
months and years to carry the construction material to the top of rocks, using
ropes, folding ladders, nets and baskets, and with much determination.
We had a chance to visit two monasteries.
The first was The Holy Monastery
of Varlaam. It is the second biggest monastery, after The Great Meteoron
Monastery. It was founded in the mid 14th century by Monk Hosios Varlaam. We
can reached this monasteries after climbing 180 steps. The ticket entrance was
EUR 3. Inside the monastery, we can visit the main church, which was decorated with magnificent frescoes
based on religious stories. The tower of the old preserved net, used by the
first monks for their ascent and descent from the rock. Also we can see the
huge barrel that used for water storage. 
The next monastery
was St. Stephen’s monastery. Unlike Varlaam, this monastery was very easy to
reach, no need to climb stairs, just need to across the bridge. In this
monastery, there were two cathedrals. The old cathedral was damaged duing world
war II. The new cathedral, we can visit and see the beautiful frescoes covering
all the walls and ceilings. 
Along the way to the monasteries, sometimes the bus will stopped to let us taking pictures. And there was a nice spot that we can see 5 monasteries in one scene. The tour already knew the best spots to capture this beautiful and breathtaking view.
After visited the monasteries, we stopped by at a workshop that make the icons. The workshop’s name was Zindro. Inside the workshop, they showed us how to make icon picture, step by step. We also can buy the icons and other souvenir items.
Then we went to Kalambaka city to had our lunch. We tried Restaurant Meteora
which was a very good restaurant. Serving homemade greek foods. We can go to
the kitchen, and choose whatever we want from their food tray. They had spicy
chicken, must try eggplant saganaki, beef meatball, served with noodles, rice
or baked potatoes. They gave a very big portion, with a price around EUR 8 per
plate.We had our free time after lunch. So we can browse the city. There were small shops, bakery, coffe shops and many tourist buses. Then, it was time for us to go back to Athens. It was a long journey. We made one stop to stretch our legs, had snack and toilet time.
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| Cheese Saganaki |
01 June 2016, Back to Amsterdam
We had a very early morning flight (6 am), so we left hotel at around 4.30. We walked to Syntagma Square to the bus stop and waited for bus no X95 that will go to the airport. The bus arrived a bit late from schedule, but we still had plenty time at the airport. The trip from Syntagma Square to the airport was around 45 minutes, and the price EUR 6 per adult and EUR 3 per child.
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