There was small church on the Agora, and Juan learned that there had been dozens that they tore down not too long ago to open up the space. This one was fantastic.. even if you could only invite eight people to your wedding ceremony.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
The Agora
A
An Agora is a central spot in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city.[1] The Ancient Agora of Athens was the best-known example.
Early in Greek history (18th century–8th century BC), free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid colonnades.
From this twin function of the agora as a political and commercial space came the two Greek verbs ἀγοράζω, agorázō, "I shop", and ἀγορεύω, agoreúō, "I speak in public". (With thanks to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora.)
And so this is us exploring the Agora..
and looking at the Acroplois..
Food and flood
Before exploring old rocks, we needed to eat. We stopped at a cafe with an outdoor terrace near the Agora and somewhere towards the end of the meal, the skies opened up. It felt like we had brought the Jakarta rainy season with us as the whole street began to flood. It was pretty exciting! The great thing about Athens and all that long experience managing water was that it only took a few minutes for the water to disappear (unlike Jakarta where it sits around for hours). And, when you've eaten and you're hanging with friends, even floods are fun!
Our table
Retro metro rocks
When we Americans think about ancient history, we mostly think about digging up Indian arrowheads. In this town, there are underground houses, shops, aqueducts, pottery shards.. everywhere. Including at the metro stop. That whole 'cradle of civilization' becomes more real when you see how many people lived here for how long and did so much..
The Poet sandals
Shopping also factored in to the trip... though we only went out of our way for this one guy that Rachel had read about. His shop was packed, but Rachel got a rockin' pair of custom-fitted sandals in about 20 minutes. Lots of style to choose from and friendly people. Not sure what her poem said..
Meanwhile, Juan and the kids patiently waited on the funky street.
And I took the opportunity to smooch Jaffa!
Men in wool tights
One of our first stops was the Parliament building in Athens where they have traditional guards. No wool hats on these guys.. but rather wool tights. Probably better given how short the skirts are..
So we saw them march and we got some pictures with this one.. very careful not to TOUCH them at all. The boys thought these guys (there was another on the other side) were pretty cool..
...Jaffa thought the whole thing was pretty funny.
Let's start with cherries
Greece. It was about three things, really:
- meeting our friends Juan, Rachel and Lorenzo
- the food
- the beaches
We had a GREAT time. It's really important to have common interests with the people you travel with.. and we did. The grown-ups agreed that it was all about food. The kids agreed that it was all about the ipads. We were golden.
So we hooked up with the Gomez-VanDongens the first afternoon at the apartment we had rented for all of us together, and Juan had brought me cherries. Okay, they weren't really onlyfor me because he didn't know that I have a long history with cherries that began in Nice when I was about 5 and I ate ALL of the cherries off of a tree that belonged to the friends we were staying with. The cherries were meant for a pie. The fact that I remember this should give you an idea of how much trouble I got into for that one. But, now my mom buys me cherries all the time :) and these cherries were mine. And, because Juan loves me, he got me more the next day.
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