Athens, day 2

Good thing my flight to Croatia wasn’t until the mid-afternoon: this granted me time to visit the last two ruins included in the Acropolis multi-site ticket. I got to Hadrian’s Library first. Hadrian was a Roman emperor who donated this library to Athens in 132 AD. Part of the entrance is still standing, but the rest has been decimated over time.

Still looks okay

Again, you can see the Acropolis from here.

Wave hello

A small museum houses a few excavated items, including a 3m-tall statue of Nike and the head of Emperor Hadrian.

Emperor Hadrian

But the best part about visiting here was seeing the resident turtle crawling around the ruins.

Slowly keeping pace with time


Much like the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora is in relatively bad shape. The Romans had some kind of complex against the commercial center being at the Ancient Agora, so they wanted their own agora 100m away.

Okay columns Bad columns

I spotted a cat roaming around the ruins acting like it owned the place.

Get out of my sight meow

The only building that is still standing is the Tower of the Winds, which was built by astronomer Andronikos from Macedonia. It’s an interesting piece of architecture because it is octagonal and has reliefs carved near the top that show personifications of the different wind directions.

Cool tower


With my sightseeing complete, I celebrated by returning to Thanasis and trying their veal souvlaki (€11.50). The beef was so tender and flavorful. Although it was supposed to come with tomatoes, they must have run out and substituted fries instead. I was kinda okay with that.

I love Mediterranean food!

By the time I was done enjoying my lunch, it was time to head back to Thanos’s place and pack up for my next destination. We drank a couple of beers that I bought on the first day I arrived before I headed out.

Written on August 21, 2016