ELAINE QUEHL, Quilt Artist, Teacher, Dyer, Designer

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

My Big Fat Greek Bucket List Trip, Part 1, Athens

I've been back home for a week today, but hit the ground running. Finally taking some time to share some visual inspiration from my big fat Greek bucket list trip. We start with two days in Athens. Athens is a very large city with pretty intense traffic, and lots of high rise buildings. We did our research on where to see the old part of the city.  We began our walk in the Anafiotika area. This is a small and lovely neighbourhood close to the Acropolis. It has the old winding streets I love, but offers the added contrast of some colourful graffiti.



There are lovely little restaurants here with colourful seating.

Classic blue and white of course!

Looks like someone did some zentangles on the wall at this restaurant!

We walked and walked and walked, past the Agora (ancient market) where Socrates, Aristotle and St. Paul all made speeches.

One can't visit Athens with out visiting the Acropolis and its temples.

But like many well-known tourist attractions, there were way too many people, even in September.

The Temple of Athena seemed the best preserved to me, and held the most visual appeal for me.

We met a lot of dogs in Athens. They just drop to the stone and cement and sleep wherever they like. These two were found near the Acropolis. I guess the coolness of the stone gives relief on a hot Mediterranean day.



This orange tablecloth caught my eye. Just up the stairs is a lovely little restaurant.

Of course cats are plentiful everywhere in Greece. Many of them are homeless but are fed by kind people.


I hope you enjoyed this little slice of Athens. Next post we will move on to the main events, the Greek Islands, which were the destination on my bucket list.


2 comments:

  1. We went to Greece in 2002 in May and had one of the best vacations in our lives. The weather was perfect, we did not notice crowds, the people were nice, the food was delicious. We had a driver explain to us that the animals were not strays but "they are free". Free to come and go and live their lives as they want, and people take care of them. Hopefully, they are taken care of when they are sick and old.

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  2. Hi Anonymous. Cats that run free usually don't make it to old age. I know that because I grew up on a farm. Cats on our farm when I was a child were not spayed or neutered and did not receive care from a vet. Many did not make it to adulthood. Those that did often were victims of road or farming accidents, or illness, etc. Just like in the wild, life is short.

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