Athens - ancient Agora

On Monday we slept late, had a nice breakfast and took a train back to Frankfurt, for our flight to Athens. We arrived fairly late in the evening, and I just rested, catching up on all the lost encuentro weekend sleep. On Tuesday morning, we took a VoiceMap tour of the ancient Agora. We were there back in 2012, and did a Rick Steves tour, but didn’t remember much. Our knowledge of Ancient Greek history and of Athens highlights was in strong need of a refresher. Last time we were in early June, and it was now definitely much better to walk around in cooler weather and without bus loads of tourists. Agora was an ancient marketplace, but also the seat of the newborn democracy, because this is where people would gather to debate and legislate, and where the seat of the first democratic government resided. There were also, of course, many religious temples, most in ruins, but the Temple of Zeus was incredibly well preserved. It was great to walk the same pathways as Aristotle and Socrates. We also saw the ruins of the prison where Socrates was being held before being executed by eating hemlock - a highly toxic poisonous plant. After Agora, we did another VoiceMap tour - the Greek gastronomy tour that took us to the food market and various food stores and eateries. We ended up eating at another restaurant near our hotel - quite inventive cuisine - incredible Greek salad and super fresh grilled sea bass filet.Read more