Athens, Part Two

I spent about an hour our first afternoon in Athens trying to find out about how to take the bus directly from Athens to Tirana, Albania. According to many sources online there was a daily night bus, but I was not having any luck finding out where it left from or how to buy tickets. Like in Turkey, all the international buses in Greece are run by individual private tour companies. The front desk at the hostel sent us to a nearby travel agency, but I knew from their website that they didn’t offer bus services. We went on our second and last morning in Athens hopeful that they could point us in the right direction. Luckily they were able to because all of the tour companies that go to Albania are located near one particular metro stop. So off we went to the metro and the when we arose from underground directly across the street from the metro station was a line of tour agencies all with buses to Albania. Within five minutes we had our tickets for that evening at 8:30 and were back on the metro.

Triumphant we returned to our hostel to book a place to stay in Triana and then went out for some last-minute sightseeing and shopping. Located near the northern slope of the Acropolis is the ancient Roman Agora. Built in the 1st century BC by the Roman leaders of Greece you enter the sight through the well-preserved Gate of Athena Archegetis.

The Roman Agora is also the site of the Tower of the Winds, built by Syrian astronomer Andronicus. It functioned as a sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass. Each side of the octagonal monument represents a point of the compass. The reliefs around the top depict the eight winds. The tower was later used by the dervishes during the Turkic period.

Very close to the Roman Agora is the Library of Hadrian. Built in the 2nd century AD, the library is the largest structure built by the Roman emperor Hadrian. It was home to books, music halls, lecture rooms, and a theatre.

Next we made our way through the nearby shopping district and down the narrow lines of shops for a little window shopping (or in my case actual shopping). From there we headed for the Panathenaic Stadium, home to the first modern Olympic Games in 1986. The stadium was build from recovered Pentelic marble from the original Panathenaic Stadium built in the 4th century BC as a venue for the Panathenaic athletic contests.

To complete our loop of central Athens we walked along the edge of the National Gardens and past the Presidential Palace. The palace was being guarded by one of the Evzones, which are the Greek army's elite ceremonial unit, but as I like to call them they are the guys in the skirts with the pom-poms on their shoes. We made our way back to Syntagma Square and down the Plaka to our hostel. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the hostel until it was time to meet our overnight bus to Tirana, Albania.

Next Stop: Tirana, Albania