Museum of the City of Athens

And so for my last afternoon in Athens. After having lunch at a sushi restaurant I had been to before, Nakama (decent food, not very expensive and good service) I decided to try the Museum of the City of Athens.

Actually I tried to go to the National Gallery which wasn't too far from my hotel. According to my guide book it was closed fr renovation until Christmas 2015, so obviously should have long bee re-opened as an attractive cultural venue. But this is Greece. So this is what it actually looks like. Colourful hoardings, lots of equipment, but no work going on. And nowhere near a working gallery.

There were another couple of minor museums I would have fancied, but they were closed as it was a Monday.But instead there was the Museum of  the City of Athens, housed in a pair of grand houses which were the first residence of the new King Otto while awaiting the now Presidential Palace to be built.

Indeed here is the Presidential Palace, on an interactive screen on the ground floor which allowed on eto summon little videos on various major buildings throughout the city. As i was the only visitor it seemed, I could lay on this as long as I wanted.

Upstairs were the Royal apartments. Nothing too exciting and I doubt you would make a bee-line for the place but a pleasant enough way to spend an hour. Most attractive things to see were some watercolours of the ancient ruins from the 18th and 19th centuries.

This is Lord Byron in ethnic garb.

The throne room.

Lykavittos Hill

This entry should have been titled "Corinth", as I had booked a coach trip there. But despite having booked through my hotel the previous day, and got up early, the coach never arrived. The booking hadn't been confirmed was one story, whatever confirmed meant. Another was that they didn't have my name (although they were given it) and as there was only one of me, decided not to pass by the hotel. Most likely the driver just couldn't be arsed. Another small addition to the Greek economy foregone. These guys must be rolling in money.

Anyway, that left me with some emergency planning for an alternative way to spend my last day, especially as I had packed and checked out before 8 am so had a lot of morning to us up. So I took the funicular railway up the nearby Lykavittos Hill. This is effectively a park, but on a hill. Lots of winding paths for a walk, and good views across the city.

Panathenaic stadium

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Acropolis

Parthenon

 Up on the top of the hill is a small 19th century church, Agios Georgios

 At the other end of the hill is a theatre used for rock concerts and the likes.

Athenian views

After quite a long stay at the stadium, I just went for a potter. Firstly back through the Plaka and to find a roof top restaurant for a late lunch.

  A nice restaurant too, but the roof terrace didn't have a dumb waiter. It just had waiters, going up and down a lot of steps. Understaffed. Service not great. Would have ordered dessert, but just didn't think I could face the wait, either for the order or its arrival. The bill itself took long enough.

So then I continued to walk around the Acropolis

 I also went up on to the Areopagus, an ancient meeting place. And indeed a modern one too. Very crowded on a Sunday afternoon.