It was only 80 degrees at 7am, so while Addie slept in, the rest of us headed out to hike the nearby Hill of Muses. Yesterday at the Acropolis we spotted the temple that sits at the top of this hill.
Midway we stopped to see the ‘Prison of Socrates’, the legendary holding cell for Socrates before he was executed. This probably wasn’t his actual prison, but the Greeks did use these caves to hide museum artifacts during WWII while the Germans occupied the area. They sealed everything inside with a wall of concrete that was reopened after the war.
We spotted a few tortoises along the way up.
That’s the Roman-era monument that lies at the very top of the Hill of Muses, in the center of this photo:
Eli scrambled to the edge to enjoy the view of the city.
To the north-east was a great view of the Acropolis.
From this angle we can finally see the section of the Parthenon that was bombed in the 1600’s:
To the west we could see all the way out to the Saronic Gulf/Mediterranean.
Later in the day we grabbed Addie and walked in a new direction. She was excited to do some shopping along the way, and found a dress and some jewelry. I think she also tries to make awkward faces any time she’s in a photo. Exhibit A, below:
We found a 1,000 year old church with some amazing murals inside, but no photos allowed.
At lunch Eli tried Damiana’s radler, describing it as “like lemonade, but worse”.
I think Addie has eaten a Greek salad for every meal we’ve had in Greece so far, and this is our third day here!
I finally found some loukoumades (fried dough with honey and cinnamon) this evening. They are really giving crepes a run for their money as the best tasting dessert of the trip. Gonna try them again tomorrow to double check 🙂
Eli is catching an Uber to the city of Marathon at 6am tomorrow morning. His plan is to retrace the path of the original marathon and run the 26 miles back to the Panatheniac Stadium here in Athens. This will be his first marathon, and what an epic story (and Strava post) it should make!