Day 20  - The Acropolis & Areophagus

 

Today was a big day for Flat Paul.  He revisited the Acropolis... and Mars Hill (really Ares Hill … ie. Areophagus for the  Greeks).  It’s a noticeable climb, but the Greeks have done a better job of creating paths through the ruins… parts of it were even paved, or at least leveled out with a coarse aggregate concrete in places (and slick marble in others).

We had another Rick Steves audio tour and that definitely added to the mix.  For example, the Parthenon has been “being repaired” for more than 20 years… and it apparently only took the original Greeks 10 years to finish it the first time around.  Modern technology isn’t really helping them.  The gold statue of Athena had a full ton of gold on the surface of it.  The Principal did the math on how much that would cost in today’s dollars.  HOLY COW!  Talk about putting your money where your faith is.  Funny how pagans can be so dedicated.

The base of the monuments offered a MUCH better detour around the rather persistent taxi cab drivers/street vendors, so we opted to head down that way and end up taking the subway home.  Here is where we learn that Greek pickpockets are no less plentiful… and no better at their craft.

 

 

 

A group of 3 (1 man & 2 women) start pushing & shoving their way into the already pretty crowded metro train.  Not too unusual, but The Principal had to convince one of the women SEVERAL times that she was NOT going to get his wallet.  They quickly moved past me and I made sure they didn’t get to my purse either.  This clearly wasn’t going as they expected.  They left me behind and went through a noticeably LESS crowded area to get to the back where BIL was standing with DN.  The Principal made a motion indicating what was about to happen and BIL indicated he knew.  One of the women repeatedly went after his wallet… and BIL repeatedly thwarted her efforts with his walking stick… looking down, smiling & laughing at her the entire time.

The train stopped… the 3 of them exited… we had no further incidents.  It makes me wonder what would happen if they had random “air marshall” types.  These pickpockets make NO bones about what they’re doing… and yelling, “GET YOUR HAND OUT OF MY POCKET” does little to deter them.  I wonder what would happen if they suddenly had random citizens handcuffing them to the poles in the subway trains.  There IS security outside the trains… but inside… there are posters warning of pickpockets.  Funny how “violent crime” is extremely low… but “petty theft” is RAMPANT.  Very annoying for travelers.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly subdued for the adults.  We are clearly not in our 20’s anymore and so after lunch we opted to take a nap while the kids begged to go to the kids’ area.  The boys decided they wanted to have dinner with their new friends, but the requirement was a “shirt & tie” for the evening, and this was fine by them.  They were quite handsome in their dress up clothes while the other 4 of us ate at the regular dining room.  They’ve really managed so well getting around the ship on their own… making their scheduled activity times… making new friends… making good decisions… having a good time. 

Tomorrow is another big day for Flat Paul… we journey to Ephesus… and while I understand we won’t meet any real Ephesians… it should still be really cool!