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Athens, the fifth day
Aug. 16th, 2011 04:50 pmMy roomie's departure woke me at 0700 this morning. I managed up-ness myself at about 0745, showered, and popped around to the post office and the bakery. Who wants a postcard? I have three whole stamps!
Breakfast was a tyropita and a tiny spinakopita, and I spent a couple of hours catching up on the internets before I gave up on the Institute's A.D. arriving much before noon. So I saddled up and walked past Exarcheia Square to the École Francais, uphill along inward-focused tree-lined narrow streets that head towards Lykavittos Hill.
L'ÉFA has a beautiful setting, late 19th - early 20th century buildings set beside a small garden bright with a profusion of colours and a gravel path. A friendly cat owns the courtyard, and a very helpful young Greek secretary-type person gave me the keys to the Argos house and a small map. My chances of getting lost have dropped from definitely to merely probably.
Back to the Institute, mostly downhill, where the youthful plump-and-bearded A.D. got me my new ID card, we touched base on a couple of things (Epidavros, most particularly, and arrangements to use the other foreign institutes' libraries), and I set out again, this time for Areopagitou, the Theatre of Dionysos, and the Athenian Asklepieion. Let us pass lightly over the bus to Syntagma, the metro to Akropoli, and the short walk in the blazing heat to the Theatron tou Dionysiou entrance, in favour of making some observations about the site itself.
First, the Asklepieion is almost directly above and behind the Stoa of Eumenes - a little offset to the east, perhaps. It's a steep rise. The sanctuary is practically on a line directly underneath - well, a drop down the curtain rock - the Parthenon. The eastern boundary of the sanctuary backs onto the cava of the theatre, approximately on a line with the choregic monuments. From here, standing by the top of the wall of what I believe was once the corner of the imperial-period Ionic stoa, one can see (on a diagonal line) the Temple of Olympian Zeus and one is on the same line as the Arch of Hadrian, hidden by modern buildings. Therefore in antiquity, assuming a slightly lower average roof height and some clear space around Olympian Zeus, one could see from that Temple to the Asklepieion.
Outside the south boundary line of the sanctuary, facing south, the sea is visible (hazy; through binoculars. The southwestern corner is where the propylaia is believed to have been: this would have looked onto the top/back of the Stoa of Eumenes. West is the terrace with the shrine of the Nymphs, and later, probably, Aphrodite and almost certainly Isis; further west on a lower terrace is the Odeon of Herodius Atticus, and the acropolis section of the Panathenaic Way leading up to the Great Propylaia. Visibility of further landmarks: poor, thanks to curvature of hill, monuments, growth of sturdy coniferous trees. But there are hills in that direction. And, depending on the line of the ancient road, the way to Eleusis.
Walked back around the east side of the acropolis, roughly contiguous with the ancient Choregic Way, through Plaka's old 18th century buildings, to the Tower of the Winds, the Roman forum, and the back of the (reconstructed) east stoa of the agora. It wasn't deathly hot, but by the time I reached Andrianou and the nice restaurant at which I ate on Sunday - with a friendly waiter called Vangelis who seemed to want to make it his project to help me improve my Greek - I was more than ready to sit down, drink cold water, and eat keftedákia and kolokythákia.
Back by metro and trolley to the Institute, where I proceeded to sit in the chill of an airconditioned room (24C! What luxury!) and write some fictions. About 700 words total, on three different projects. None of them will ever be either good or done, of course. But one tries what one can, and personally, I think taking pictures and notes is good enough for thesis work today.
Tomorrow I must away by bus to Oropos, to see the Amphiareion. (The bus leaves at eight.) Hopefully I'll get to visit a beach near Skala Oropou, because the site is 3 klicks from the bus stop, and I'll be oh-so-sticky on the way back. (Hopefully I won't get too lost.)
How are you, dear internets?
Breakfast was a tyropita and a tiny spinakopita, and I spent a couple of hours catching up on the internets before I gave up on the Institute's A.D. arriving much before noon. So I saddled up and walked past Exarcheia Square to the École Francais, uphill along inward-focused tree-lined narrow streets that head towards Lykavittos Hill.
L'ÉFA has a beautiful setting, late 19th - early 20th century buildings set beside a small garden bright with a profusion of colours and a gravel path. A friendly cat owns the courtyard, and a very helpful young Greek secretary-type person gave me the keys to the Argos house and a small map. My chances of getting lost have dropped from definitely to merely probably.
Back to the Institute, mostly downhill, where the youthful plump-and-bearded A.D. got me my new ID card, we touched base on a couple of things (Epidavros, most particularly, and arrangements to use the other foreign institutes' libraries), and I set out again, this time for Areopagitou, the Theatre of Dionysos, and the Athenian Asklepieion. Let us pass lightly over the bus to Syntagma, the metro to Akropoli, and the short walk in the blazing heat to the Theatron tou Dionysiou entrance, in favour of making some observations about the site itself.
First, the Asklepieion is almost directly above and behind the Stoa of Eumenes - a little offset to the east, perhaps. It's a steep rise. The sanctuary is practically on a line directly underneath - well, a drop down the curtain rock - the Parthenon. The eastern boundary of the sanctuary backs onto the cava of the theatre, approximately on a line with the choregic monuments. From here, standing by the top of the wall of what I believe was once the corner of the imperial-period Ionic stoa, one can see (on a diagonal line) the Temple of Olympian Zeus and one is on the same line as the Arch of Hadrian, hidden by modern buildings. Therefore in antiquity, assuming a slightly lower average roof height and some clear space around Olympian Zeus, one could see from that Temple to the Asklepieion.
Outside the south boundary line of the sanctuary, facing south, the sea is visible (hazy; through binoculars. The southwestern corner is where the propylaia is believed to have been: this would have looked onto the top/back of the Stoa of Eumenes. West is the terrace with the shrine of the Nymphs, and later, probably, Aphrodite and almost certainly Isis; further west on a lower terrace is the Odeon of Herodius Atticus, and the acropolis section of the Panathenaic Way leading up to the Great Propylaia. Visibility of further landmarks: poor, thanks to curvature of hill, monuments, growth of sturdy coniferous trees. But there are hills in that direction. And, depending on the line of the ancient road, the way to Eleusis.
Walked back around the east side of the acropolis, roughly contiguous with the ancient Choregic Way, through Plaka's old 18th century buildings, to the Tower of the Winds, the Roman forum, and the back of the (reconstructed) east stoa of the agora. It wasn't deathly hot, but by the time I reached Andrianou and the nice restaurant at which I ate on Sunday - with a friendly waiter called Vangelis who seemed to want to make it his project to help me improve my Greek - I was more than ready to sit down, drink cold water, and eat keftedákia and kolokythákia.
Back by metro and trolley to the Institute, where I proceeded to sit in the chill of an airconditioned room (24C! What luxury!) and write some fictions. About 700 words total, on three different projects. None of them will ever be either good or done, of course. But one tries what one can, and personally, I think taking pictures and notes is good enough for thesis work today.
Tomorrow I must away by bus to Oropos, to see the Amphiareion. (The bus leaves at eight.) Hopefully I'll get to visit a beach near Skala Oropou, because the site is 3 klicks from the bus stop, and I'll be oh-so-sticky on the way back. (Hopefully I won't get too lost.)
How are you, dear internets?
