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.