Continuing on from part 2 and documenting my final few days in Athens.
The man in the hat is Spyros Tarapossos and he sits on Ermou Street with a laterna — an automatic piano on wheels, operated by a hand crank. I was searching for more information about the instrument and discovered that he has been doing this for over 20 years. This article says the laterna was made in 1942 and belonged to his grandfather. Now I’m extra glad I stopped to take a photo.
The secondhand shops had plentiful amount of ceramics, cameras and paper goods (I have a soft spot for all of these things). I only ventured inside a couple in the end, to avoid being tempted by a million things. My plan was to save bag space for foodie things that me and Scott could enjoy together at home. I did pick up some handmade cookie plates from a ceramic shop though!
Can’t visit Athens without stopping by the Panathenaic Stadium! I sat on the ginormous steps for a while and basked in the scale of everything. The opposite side was sunnier but then I wouldn’t have had a view of Lycabettus Hill (highest point in central Athens). There was also a small but nice Olympic Games poster exhibition at the end of a tunnel tucked under the stadium itself.
The Teleferik is a funicular railway running to the top of Lycabettus Hill. Although the experience feels more like a journey to the centre of the Earth — the tunnel is pitch black and a small patch of light either end are the only reference points. Quicker than hiking up though!
I sat on this step and enjoyed the remaining sun on my face. The last sun of the day, but also my last chance to soak some up before returning home to Sweden the next morning.
We stopped for a drink at this precariously perched bar. It was incredibly gusty up here; branches scratched against the windows and the roof creaked occasionally. A couple of stray cats greeted us inside, probably sheltering from the wind too.
My trip to Greece spanned ten days. It flew by in many ways, and at the same time, it also felt like I’d been away for much longer. Arriving home to fresh snow was fantastic but I really felt the cold for the first 24 hours — going from +21 °c to -13°c was a quite of a jump! Thankfully, Scott met me with a big puffy jacket and a woolly hat.
I always love arriving back at Central Station and admiring piles of nice buns, seeing ä ö å everywhere (vowels are a funny thing to miss but hey ho) and hearing people speak Swedish again ❤
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