#328 August in Greece

When most of the locals head out of Athens for the August vacation season, we head in. That's good because we dealt with small crowds and light traffic in this destination city otherwise known for its traffic snarls and tourist throngs.

So we enjoyed quiet time with the Antikythera Mechanism, a 100 BC computing marvel that's attracted much attention and is housed in Athens at the National Archealogical Museum.

And the summer heat kept the crowds down at the Acropolis where we saw the Parthenon in restoration surrounded by scaffolding and cranes.

The magnificent natural landscape surrounding Delphi took our breath away.

As did the climb past the temple up, up, up to the 6500-seat athletic stadium, the site of the ancient Pythian games where Greek athletes competed every four years.

Back in Athens we dined on gyros in relative tranquility in the historic Plaka district just below the Acropolis.

The August temperatures kept the crowds away and we kept finding things we like about Greece.

Yours in the heat,
Kelly

#327 Mamma Mia!

Seeing Mamma Mia! in Greece may have been the best movie-going experience ever, due to...

Preparation. We practiced saying 'Mamma Mia' in Italy, so we were ready.  
Leading men. Colin Firth plays one of the Dads.  
Setting. The movie (and us) are set (or sitting) in Greece!  
Music. Abba's classic songs Waterloo, Dancing Queen, and Winner Takes it All are fabulous.  
Theater experience. We watched the movie in a 'gold class' theater on a HUGE screen from comfy recliners while munching scrumptious Greek appetizers.

The best movie-going experience ever? I think so!

Yours in singing loudly along,
Mary

#326 Hadrian's Library

Another day, another library. We're in Greece now, docked in Piraeus, and historic Athens is just a quick train ride away. Once there, we made our way to the Library of Hadrian, built of limestone and marble by the Roman emperor in the 2nd century.

Some of the rock still exists, but I couldn't find a scrap of paper or even one of those ultra-short pencils librarians like to provide.

The Library is located on the north side of the Acropolis, near the Roman Agora. So scholars there would have enjoyed this good view.

Yours in imagining what is lost,
Mary