Last Day in Athens & Bucharest

Wednesday, June 16th: this was a day full of sites and walking. Our first stop was the Acropolis, which was amazing. I am so impressed with the reconstruction done thus far as it seems like it would've been very impressive already. The views were fabulous and we managed to get some good pictures of them and ourselves despite the milling crowds.

We made our way down to the Acropolis Museum and had a look around their preserved and copies of Acropolis marbles - they are not fans of Lord Elgin in that place (he took many pieces and used them as decoration in his home; when he needed some money he sold them to the British Museum, where they now remain. Greece would like them returned.)

After lunch, we walked to the Agora. The Roman forum was on the way but we didn't go in, only glimpsed it from outside. We did go in to see Hadrian's Library though. Then finally the Agora was in sight!

This place contains one of the best preserved temples: the Temple of Hephaestus. It had both inner and outer colonnades, and parts of the friezes were still there. It was after 2:00 in the afternoon when were visiting, and I turned to Ashley and said "Have you noticed there's a whole lot of trees but no shade?" She frowned a moment and agreed - trees everywhere except lining the pathways. It was about 44 degrees Celsius at this time, so we were glad to wander through the air-conditioned Agora Museum.

From there we walked to Karameikos Cemetary, another famous ancient site and included on our tickets. But it was closed! Who closes a site at 3:00? But anyway, we decided to take a cab to the National Archaeological Museum. This museum came highly recommended by friends and books. It did not disappoint. We got to see the finds from the graves at Mycenae, including the famed Mask of Agamemnon, as well as arrowheads from Thermopylae and finds from the Antikythera shipwreck. On the whole, it's a really cool place and very big so we spent a good chunk of time there.

The metro was on strike that day (it appears to have been an ongoing dispute, they were closed the day before we came as well) so we elected to cab it back to our area and we'd walk the rest of the way to the hostel. We spent the rest of the night packing and settled in for an early sleep.

Of course, the one day we get a good night's sleep and they turn on the air conditioning, and we have to wake up at 5:00 am. After a taxi ride, an airport flight (just before takeoff, I finished A Clockwork Orange) and a bus trip, we are now in Bucharest. Lauren has just arrived at our hostel and we'll be going out for dinner soon.

It feels great to be back in Romania. And in just a few days I'll be back at Porolissum. Exciting!