Day 2-Athens and the Second Hardest Hike of the Entire Trip

There still protests going on while we were staying in Athens, but they had lightened up a bit compared to the previous week.  It amazes me how organized their protests were.  Half of the street was blocked off, they had a sound system in the bed of a truck and were peacefully handing off the bullhorn to each other.

In the early part of the day we went to the first modern Olympic Stadium










Then we were off to the Parliament building in Syntagma Square for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guards.  The Evzone is mostly a ceremonial position in the Presidential Guard; however they are trained to be fully alert the entire time they guarding even though they maintain little to no movement and remain expressionless.  The guards switch every hour.

Parliament Building--Note the marble sidewalk

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Changing of the Guards

Obligatory 'Evzone and Me' Tourist Picture

We were on our own in the afternoon, so a few of us ventured out into the city to find lunch.  The best plan for meals is for everyone to order something different.  That way we got to try eight different entrees at one time!  It also works better price-wise as well.  You end up with a lot more food if you do family-style sharing as opposed to ordering a salad, entree, and dessert just for yourself.

 
That evening we took a hike up Lykavittos Hill to the Chapel of St. George.  Coming from someone who is not very athletic; this hike kicked my butt.  I honestly think that it was our second hardest walk on the entire trip.  Once we go to the top we had our first play about St. George and we got a beautiful view of Athens below.

Joe Telling Karey Where We are Geographically Located According to All the Cool Things Around Us

St. George

Ladies at the Top of St. George

After our lesson, we walked to dinner.  The Greek Seafood Adventure of 2010 began on this night:

Marithes

I tried to enrich the groups cultural experience and have them try some of the Marithes, unfortunately most people were too scared of the fact that they still had faces attached, so not a lot of people tried them.  Good.  A little salty; and I kinda wish I had some starch with them, or actual vegetables not just a tomato slice, but overall not bad.

After dinner we all got into the Benaki Museum for free.  The group was slightly past exhausted at this point so most of us were falling asleep, but the museum did have some really interesting things.  It was really interesting that I recognized most of the religious icons that were on display.  Apparently the Greek Orthodox church likes to keep things a little more traditional than I had realized, because some of the icons were the same as the ones in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension in Oakland (the Church I've been attending my entire life).