Monday, May 29
This is our last day and we explored the city. We went to the Central Market, wandered the aisles of slabs of meat of various kinds and leftovers like hooves, piles of fish and weird seafood, pungent and colorful spices, and a sleeping cat in a meat display case. Then we walked to the Parliament building and watched the traditional changing of the guard.
Back in the neighborhood we’re staying in, called Psyrri, we explored the back streets. It’s an interesting mix of old-fashion cluttered little shops and sleek eateries. These shops are specialized and often cluster together. For example, on one side of our hotel there are 9 shops for decorative hardware (eg towel racks, door knobs) and on the other side of the hotel are shops for what we used to call sewing notions--ribbon, cording, buckles, etc.-- that looked like something from the 50s. Most of these have signs in Greek and only Greek. Interspersed are sleek, modern, open cafes and hotels with signs in English. We took pictures since we see these old shops (and maybe even the Greek language) disappearing.
Tomorrow we head home. We’ll get up at the normal hour and go to bed at the normal hour but in between will be 26 hours. Whew. Well, that’s the cost of being able to explore a very different and exciting part of the world.