10%

Athens Day 4

Syntagma, Panathenaic Stadium, Kolonaki, Mount Lycabettus, Areopagus

By Mundane Babble

December 22^nd, 2023

On our fourth day, we wanted to take it easy and stroll the quieter nearby neighbourhoods.

Our hotel was near Syntagma Square and we moved in and out for several days but somehow missed walking past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We decided to make it our first stop of the day.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a war memorial located in Syntagma Square, at the bottom of the high wall of the Parliament Building. It is a cenotaph dedicated to the Greek soldiers killed during war. The sculpture represents the naked male figure of a dead warrior lying on the ground. He holds a circular shield in his left hand and wears an Ancient Greek-style helmet.

The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day by the Elite Greek Presidential Guards called Evzones. There is a change of guard every hour and we managed to catch the ceremony.

Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium is the only stadium in the world that is made entirely out of marble. The current stadium was rebuilt and renovated in 1896. In that year, it served as the venue for the opening and closing ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games.

When we arrived. the sky was overcast and stormy. We were in no hurry so we sat and waited for 2 hours for the clouds to clear and the sun to come out for the photos to have the blue skies as the backdrop.

Lunch

We were headed to Lycabetturs Hill but we wanted to have something to eat before heading to the top. We chanced upon this restaurant and saw the Michelin Guide stickers on the shop front. We asked if they had a table for us because we did not have any reservations. It was noon and there was not a single soul in the restaurant. They said yes so we had a wonderful lunch here at this cosy restaurant called Oikeio. The portions were large and generous. I had the grilled pork chop and ever since that meal, I have been on a quest to look for equally good bone-in pork chop.

We gradually realised that the Greeks have really late lunches and dinners. Lunch for them is usually 2pm because that is when we see people streaming in when we are already done with our lunch. Dinner time is like 8pm while we usually eat at 6pm. We often found ourselves in empty restaurants or we were turned away because they were not ready.

Mount Lycabettus

We took the 3-minute cable car up to the top of Mount Lycabettus and the view was breathtaking. There is a small St. George Chapel which sits in the viewing gallery area. It was quite crowded with tourists and there was quite a bit of jostling to take photos of the view. We did not stay long, it was too busy for us.

Kolonaki District

On the way to and from the Lycabettus Hill, there is a fair bit of climbing of stairs. On this day, AppleWatch recorded 32 flights of stairs climbed! And we did not even climb up the hill, all we did was getting to and fro the cable car station.

Athens is really hilly and we gather that most of the locals just use the car to get everywhere. The hotel staff would often tell us to catch a taxi because 'you'll have to walk about 2-3 blocks'. Not an issue for us to walk but they will be quite insistent that taking a taxi is better.

Areopagus

On our second day when we were at the Acropolis, we climbed up this rocky outcrop called Areopagus to catch a view of the Acropolis. It was not easy to walk as the rocks were slippery and loose.

On the wife's insistence, we had to come back for the 'money-shot' of the Acropolis in the night. I was a little reluctant because it was already difficult to walk in the day time. I was afraid that either one of us may fall and break some body part in the process. It was pitch dark and we had to make our way all the way to the front of the rock to have an unblocked view. It was crazy but we did it. Beautiful night shot of the Acropolis. Credit to the wife.