More Graffiti from Athens

Thrice Denied

Yesterday we tried to go to the National Archeological Museum. Online it said that it was open until seven in the evening. When we arrived, we were told that the museum closed at four. The woman working at the museum told us that the next day it would be open until eight in the evening. Today we tried to go to the Acropolis around four. We arrived at the gate at four thirty and the woman told us that it closed at four thirty. We then decided to go back to Archeological Museum since we believed it would be open until eight. We walked fourtyfive minutes from the Acropolis to the Archeological Museum and when we tried to enter, the guard on duty (who had seen us the day before talking to the woman who told us what time the museum would be open until) told us that the museum was closed for a cultural event! We tried to tell him what we had experienced the day before, and since he remembered us he tried to get us in, but the man running the cultural event would not let us. Three times we have been denied, and on the morrow we will attempt it all again! Who knows if the museum will actually be open or not! Wish us luck.

A Walking Tour of Athens

Today at nine thirty we went on a free walking tour of Athens. I have never been on a guided tour of the city before... Mostly I just wander by myself through a city and end up at the places I want to see. Usually I see lots of huge groups of tourists and think, "man, I really would hate to be a full blown tourist on a tour of the city!" This tour was great! The guide was very nice and extremely enthusiastic about the history and culture that he was explaining. We also had a very small group which was nice. He took us around the city and we visited what he though are the most important historical sites. I found that I remembered less of Greek mythology than I hoped, but more than he expected, which was nice. We did not go inside any of the museums or historical/archeological sites but he made sure to let us know that if we bought a ticket to the Acropolis we would also be buying entrance to all of the other sites. 

The entrance to the Roman Agora

Dranks on Dranks

Come very nice beers we had at the Indian food restaurant across the street from our hostel.

KING GOBLIN!

GINGER BEARD!

Ginger beer is very popular here, not only the alcoholic kind.

Photos of Athens

The view from our hostel.... Hello acropolis 

Same view at night

A bunch of the cooler graffiti that we have seen in Athens today!

Back Track to Barcelona

Here are a few photos from our first visit to Barcelona.

More Gaudí

More cool graffiti from BCN

Wind and rain can delay your trip

A few days before we were planning to leave Lipsi we heard that there was a massive storm headed our way and that it would interfere with our travel plans. Instead of taking the big ferry from Lipsi on Wednesday night and arriving in Athens on Thursday morning, we took a small ferry to Leros Tuesday night, then spent two nights in Leros and took the big ferry from Leros to Athens last night. We arrived in Athens around 7:30 this morning. This place is wicked cool! There is so much graffiti and the buildings in the neighborhood we are staying in are really quite beautiful. Our hostel room is on the fourth floor and we have a view of the back of the Acropolis!!!!!!!! I will post photos soon!

Thanksgiving a la Greek

Bella and I made a feast for thanksgiving last week, including a turkey...

Pie and cobbler...

And it was delicious! We made pumpkin pie out of yuka instead of pumpkin because pumpkin was not in season, but it tasted great all the same! The cobbler was an orange jelly that we made from scratch with a layer of pie crust on top, covered with cinnamon, nutmeg crumble. 

Here is a photo of some of the oranges and all the lemons that we picked straight off the trees!

All in all a great meal that also had mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravely, and a pomegranate orange sauce that Bella and I invented because we couldn't find cranberries. 

More artwork

Charcoal, graphite, and water

Graphite

Graphite

Watercolors and ink

Dimitris Farm

We have been working on Kostas' farm for three weeks now, and it has been very different from the other two farms. Here we are digging around the grape vines to make room for the yearly fertilizer that Kostas put around each vine, building a patio, harvesting olives for oil, painting signs, and a few other tasks. It is not as varied as at Finca Salude, and it is better than all the chores we did at Isabel's farm in Ferrielola, but it is not quite as exciting work. The one day that I have so far enjoyed the best was when we harvested the olives for oil. Hard work when you harvest by hand, but rewarding!

A few pictures of the farm and the olive oil process.

Also, a week ago the mama goat had a baby!!!!!! Super duper cutie pie!!!!!