Panathenaic Stadium is built entirely out of marble, and was used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. It’s possible to tour the stadium so that’s where we headed this morning, about a 25 minute walk from our hotel.
On the way there, we passed by the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, so stopped to check it out. It’s the preeminent church in Athens, used for state funerals and the like. It’s worth a stop to check out.
Carried on along the pedestrian street to the National Garden. We walked through the well-maintained park to reach the stadium. We could see the marble seating as we approached, it looked pretty cool.
Today was Melina Mercouri Day, where a lot of national sites are free. Unfortunately the stadium was not one of these :( We started by climbing up to the top of the stands. There’s a great view of the Acropolis from the midpoint of the stands. It was a bit breezy today so the flag was flying too. (Yesterday Heather waited a few minutes for the flag to show for her pic but there was no wind).
The marble bleachers made for great pics. There was a group of school kids on the field participating in relay races, they looked like they were having lots of fun.
We circled around the stands to the other side (it’s horseshoe-shaped, open on one end). Then we descended to field level, and explored the access tunnel, I guess this is where athletes would enter from. At the other end of the tunnel is a mini-museum of The Olympics, including relay torches and posters from every Olympics. It was pretty cool, and we didn’t even know it was there!
Next we walked over to the Arch of Hadrian. It’s close to the Acropolis Museum, and gets lots of spillover guided tour traffic. Right around the corner is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It’s mostly under scaffolding, and right now not worth the 20 EUR entrance fee, except it was free today (see Melina Mercouri Day above). So we got our free tickets and entered. It will look nice once it’s restored.
We crossed over the street into Plaka, a trendy neighborhood, in search of a lunch place. Tried the souvlaki and gyros at The Greco’s Project, it was good. We get great Greek food at home in Toronto so maybe that’s why we’re not as excited :) it hit the spot though.
We got back to our hotel and relaxed until dinner. It was chillier this evening so preferred a restaurant with indoor seating (lots have only patio seating). Our hotel suggested Via Maris, about 100m around the corner from the hotel. It was a Friday night and a lot busier than the previous two nights, luckily we still got seated. We shared a number of small plates, they were all excellent. Our favourites included a Moroccan-inspired ceviche, a coppa dish and a sashimi dish.
After dinner we walked around Psiri (our neighbourhood). It was really hopping on a Friday night!
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