The Greek Αλφα Βετα(Athens: Part Ένα)

Over the weekend of my birthday, I flew to Greece, a place I have wanted to visit for a long while. Greece has been in the news recently because of its poor economic situation and the many protests and riots surrounding it. While I was there, I noticed some of this, but it was not always on the surface. I visited the capital city, Athens, which was once the capital of art, philosophy, and splendour in the ancient Greek world. Athens has had a tumultuous history since its rise to prominence in the 400s BC. The city saw the rise of Alexander the Great to the north, then was later conquered by the Roman Empire. Athens remained a center of learning throughout the period of the Roman Empire. When Rome fell around the fifth century AD, its legacy remained in the east with the wealthy Byzantine Empire, which Greece was a part of. Much of the attention of the Byzantines turned away from Athens to its capital, Constantinople. Athens, and the rest of the Byzantine Empire split from the western world in terms of religion as well. While the west remained under the auspices of the Pope in Rome, the Byzantines followed a more traditional Christianity based on ancient traditions and fewer rituals. This became known as the Orthodox Church. The population of Athens declined, but the city experienced a revitilization in the 1000s and 1100s when most of its medieval Orthodox churches were constructed. As the Byzantine Empire declined, the control of Athens switched between the hands of various merchant companies from Burgundy, Florence, and Catalonia. In 1458, Athens, now sparsely populated, fell to the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. The city and the rest of Greece remained under Turkish rule until the Greek War of Independence in 1833. At this time, Athens had fallen far from glory and consisted of only a few houses around the Acropolis. Nonetheless, the new Greek government chose the city as the capital for its new nation because of its symbolic place in Greek history. Athens grew rapidly over the following decades. It saw the rise of Ioannis Metaxas' dictatorship in the 1930s and was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War. Heavy fighting took place within the city in 1944. A military dictatorship followed briefly after the war and, since then, the city has attempted to revitalize itself as a major European capital.

Many people who visit Athens admire the Acropolis and the surrounding area but complain about the run-down look of the rest of the city. Its true that the outskirts of Athens consist of mostly poured-concrete apartment complexes, but there is still some charm there, as well as a strange sense of familiarity. After a three-hour flight I landed at the Athens airport, which is about twenty minutes outside of the city, and took a little time to orient myself. I found some free maps of the city as well as some information which would direct me to my hotel at Voula, an Athenian suburb. I found the bus I needed and sat in the back. On the way there, the bus passed many familiar sights: billboards, movie theatres, large hardware and appliance retail stores, and weeds growing up alongside highway guardrails. I began to think about all of my travels and how, with each trip, my destinations seemed to feel less foreign. The bus dropped me off right outside my hotel:

The elderly Greek woman at the front desk spoke quite a bit of English. I learned later that she was one of two owners, the other being a British expat. The hotel was nice and had recently been remodeled:

Across the street was the last stop of the tram which traveled straight to the center of Athens. As it was getting late, I decided to stay in the area of Voula and look around. This was a new town, founded in the 1960s and it gave me a good sense of what suburban life is like in Greece. I walked through neighborhoods, spotting several stray cats and dogs (stray dogs are a common theme in Athens) and hearing children yell to their friends, "Yia su!" ("Hello!"). Here are some scenes of the Voula neighborhoods, which seemed far away from the Greek economic crisis forbiddingly headlined on every European newspaper:

I wandered past Voula Beach:

and a relatively new Orthodox church:

I then found a food stall and was able to use the limited Greek I had obtained from a travel book to order some souvlaki:

This contained lamb, lettuce, tomato, carrots, and tzatziki (a cucumber/yogurt sauce) wrapped in pita. All around this food stall were several kiosks (something which the Greeks seem to love more than other Europeans) which sold newspapers, soft drinks, and snacks. I then went back to my hotel for a good night's sleep before my full day in Athens.

Is This Spain? (Barcelona: Part Dos)

The next morning I had breakfast at a café near my hostel, some pastries and a coffee. I then walked down Las Ramblas toward the sea. I walked past this mosaic, a symbol of Las Ramblas made by the Catalan artist, Joan Miró:

I walked to Port Vell, then turned to the right where this modernist sculpture stood:

Not far from this stood the Museu Marítim, which is located within the gothic-styled 13th-century former shipyards of Barcelona. I was pretty excited about this as I'm fascinated by naval history and sea exploration. The museum was under renovations, and most of it was closed, but I got to see the two main exhibitions which intrigued me. Here is the exterior of this gothic shipyard:

Outside the museum there rested this device, which I soon learned is a life-sized replica of the first submarine to use a combustible engine, Ictineo. It was used for exploration purposes:

The interior of the building was quite eerie:

The replica of a 16th century warship used by the Spanish against the Ottoman Empire during the Battle of Lepanto was on display:

This lantern from a lighthouse was also on display near one of the large windows. The light passing through created a preternatural glow:

The museum also had an exhibition dedicated to Narcís Monturiol, the Catalan engineer who invented the Ictineo seen outside. The story of Monturiol was interesting. He lived in the late 1800s and supported revolutionary ideas, being a supporter of the First Spanish Republic and women's rights. He also had a passion for the sea and believed humans should explore its depths to better understand our world. He thus invented the Ictineo in 1858and a following submarine, Ictineo II. The legacy of this exploration was shown with several modern submersibles on display:

An engineering team is currently building a new submersible device which will hold three people and be used to explore the Mediterranean Sea, Ictineo III, within the museum.

I had some coffee and a Iberian ham sandwich at the museum's restaurant before leaving to explore more of the coast. Back at Port Vell, I saw some awesome boats:

Past Port Vell is a street called Passeig de Colom, which revealed some interesting sights, such as this statue by American painter/sculptor from the school of pop art, Roy Lichtenstein. He also made the sculpture of the brushstroke found in the courtyard of the Reina Sofía in Madrid:

I also came across the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, which I visited. The museum featured many artifacts of Catalan history from Prehistory to the 21st century. The museum had many interactive displays, such as a model of a Muslim irrigation system, which allowed you to turn a wheel which opereated a water-wheel that pumped water into connecting channels, and a pulley which let you lift the armour and weapons of a Medieval knight, giving an idea of the weight these soldiers were burdened with. A replica of a bomb shelter from the Spanish Civil War was a highlight. At the end of the museum was a room with displays on famous contemporary Catalans like film director Isabel Coixet and revolutionary chef Ferran Adrià.

I then walked to Platja Barceloneta, Barcelona's most popular beach. This sculpture on display is dedicated to the small box-like restaurants which once lined the beach:

Here's some more of the beach:

I backtracked, walking back to Las Ramblas and then to Plaça Catalunya. From here I walked down one of the city's most famous streets, Passeig de Gràcia. This is where much of the city's most examples of modernisme architecture, such as the 1902 Casa Lleó Morera, built by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner:

But the crown jewel of the Passeig de Gràcia has to be Casa Batlló, which was completed in 1906 by Barcelona's most famous architect, whose influence is felt through his many projects in the city, Antoni Gaudí:

Gaudí was supposedly inspired by Jules Verne's Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when he designed this house, which seems to hint at marine landscapes and creatures inside and out. The interior of the house was incredible. Here is a fireplace:

and a light which seems to serve as the centripetal force in an overhead whirlpool:

The interior had some other interesting features such as this doorway with a column before the entrance:

and several arched hallways:

This all led to the roof which held several twisting chimneys covered in mosaics:

I left Casa Batlló:

then walked further down Passeig de Gràcia until I came to Gaudí's other famous house, Casa Milà, built in 1910. It is also known as La Pedrera, which is Catalan for "The Quarry" because of its stony appearance:

The house had a very interesting courtyard with irridescent features:

One of the original apartments was open for tours with period furniture and household items on display:

The attic of La Pedrera was a series of snakelike arches which supported the roof. A museum of Gaudí was placed in this area:

The rooftop was one of the most beautiful areas in the city. Words cannot describe it, so here:

From the roof I was able to see another Gaudí building, the as-of-yet incomplete church Sagarada Família:

As the sun set, I walked back down Passeig de Gràcia and took some photos of Casa Batlló lit up:

I also walked to Sagrada Família to get some night shots of it. I'll say more about it in my next post:

I went to a nearby restaurant called La Muscleria and had some muscles cooked in cider and garlic. It was served alongside a traditional Catalan serving of pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomato) which is toast rubbed with tomato and garlic: