Visit to Athens (3)
This morning, we visited Lykavittos Hill for the finest panoramic views of the city and an especially impressive view of the Acropolis through the urban haze created by the heat and the traffic. The name ‘lykavittos’ means ‘Hill of Wolves’ and in ancient times the location was covered in pines and inhabited by wolves.
Silvia is a great walker so we walked all the way there from our hotel and all the way up which involved countless stone steps and then endless winding paths. However, she does not like precipitous slopes and the journey up the paths was somewhat vertiginous, so I had to walk on the outside and hold her hand all the way to the top.
Back at at street level, we spent the afternoon at the Benaki Museum where we had a delicious salad lunch and viewed some of the 20,000 pieces displayed over four floors. The building is named after Antonio Bernakis who accumulated the contents of the museum during 35 years of avid collecting before donating it to the Greek nation. The historical range of artefacts goes all the way from the Bronze Age to the era of independence and the objects include everything from two entire rooms to Greek regional costumes.
On our way to the hill and from the museum, we passed through Syntagma Square which houses the Greek Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is where there have been countless demonstrations – some quite violent – against the austerity forced upon the Greek Government and people by the troika of international lenders. Finally we strolled through a district called Plaka which is full of souvenir and clothes shops plus restaurants.