Sunday March 19 was another beautiful sunny day with a high of 21C. It was also the day of the Athens International Half Marathon and 5km and 3km race. It happened that we ran into the 5km race as we were heading out for the day. Perfect weather. Looked to be about 22,000 people participating in all of the races. A number of streets were closed off for the run.
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| The 5km race |
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Drummers encouraging the crowd
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Getting crowded
We walked towards the Acropolis area to visit a Jewelry Museum. We stopped to share a sheep yogurt with bergamot at Fresko Yogurt Bar.
Beautiful warm day-- with yogurt outside Fresko's
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We also stopped to pick up a simit to share (we had them in Istanbul- like a thin large bagel-- I believe they are called koulouri in Greece and are made in a slightly different way).
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| Simits on the right-- donuts on the left |
The view of the Acropolis was stunning in the bright blue sky.
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| View of the Parthenon and other buildings of the Acropolis |
We stopped to check out the Acropolis Museum shop which was closed when we left the museum earlier in the week. We liked the story of the owl--the sacred bird of the Goddess Athena.
We walked a little further to the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum. The Museum was founded in 1993 as a private non-profit cultural foundation devoted to the art of jewelry. It opened to the public in 1994 and today houses over 4,000 pieces of jewelry and microsculptures from 50 collections designed by its founder, Ilias Lalaounis (1920-2013) between 1940-2000. The permanent collection has been organized into six sections featuring works from his 50 collections.
The sections are (1) the Golden Dawn of Art; (2) the History of Ancient Greek Jewelry; (3) Jewelry Inspired by the Art & Architecture of Diverse Cultures; (4) Collections Inspired by Nature;
(5) Collections Inspired from Space, Biology and Contemporary Technology; and (6) Special Commissions and Private Collections. Lalaounis was an incredibly creative and innovative jeweller with an international reputation and presence.
It was the perfect museum to visit after our visit to the Benaki Museum on Saturday, where jewelry from ancient and past centuries are displayed. Lalaounis was one of the first jewelers to take the ancient jewelry as a starting point for his modern collections. He also moved on from Greek inspiration to the ancient jewelry of some 15 cultures, which he based later collections on. The Museum was very well organized and the descriptions of the work were all in English as well as Greek.
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| Paleolithic-Neolithic Collection |
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| Necklace in shape of bull, a sacred animal of Minoan religion |
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| Owls and Anthema Collection 1975 |
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| Body Jewelry |
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| Classical Hellenistic Collection |
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| "For Every Woman's Victory" Collection |
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| Place Vendome Collection (1983) |
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| Wonderful collection devoted to dance |
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| Moon earrings for Jackie Kennedy-Onassis |
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| Motion in Space Collection-- necklace inspired by the Leo constellation |
We stumbled onto a lovely design store called Athena Design Workshop, a few blocks away from the jewelry museum. The owner takes a cutting-edge approach to traditional Greek themes in block- printed T-shirts. She told us the stories behind her designs. I bought one with Athena written in an interesting design on the front and Alain bought one with Polis (city) (in Greek letters, of course).
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| Outside of Athena Design Workshop |
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| Owner (on right) with another customer-- jewelry and some ceramics are also sold there |
It was then time for a coffee at the Underdog- definitely the best coffee of our trip so far. I learned that Greeks typically drink their coffee cold with ice (with a nice crema on top from being shaken). They drink either a freddo espresso or a freddo cappuccino (with milk). The place was packed both outside and inside.
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| Underdog bar |
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| We sat at the brew counter- there are three freddo espressos ready for pick up |
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| With my freddo espresso |
After our coffee, we walked a bit further down the street and decided to get a bite to eat at The Sowl Gallery Bar Restaurant- a very cool space, that was also packed. We had an avocado toast with cherry tomatoes and a poached egg (listed in the menu as a pouched egg) on very nice bread.
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| The Sowl-- signage on wall says "ART washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life" |
We walked back to the apartment passing a number of outdoor eateries where folks were enjoying big Sunday lunches. We checked out a recommended coffee shop called Tailor-Made, that was jammed. We may go back when we return to Athens next weekend.
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| Tailor-Made micro roastery and cocktail bar |
As we headed back to the apartment, we passed a more elaborate changing of the guard at the Parliament buildings in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There is always a small crowd that gathers to watch the ceremony.
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| Changing of the Guard on Sunday is more elaborate |
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| Two other guards in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
We went back to the apartment to start to get ready for our trip to the Island of Hydra tomorrow. We caught an absolutely gorgeous sunset over the Acropolis.
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| Picture of the Acropolis taken from our balcony |
Alain made a wonderful fish dinner, comme habitude. On Monday, March 20, we head to the Island of Hydra for the next leg of our adventure.
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