Athens

I expected the worst when I read the Lonely Planet's description of the city as "choked with traffic" and "a city few fell for". I don't know where these guys been to but the Athens I saw was nothing of that sort. It was a pleasant and strollable city.

I stayed in the area called Omonia which is notorious for its reputation of being a rough area but seriously I've seen rougher places than this. Basically it's just an immigrant area and you know how people are like when they describe these places. To me, it's great. It such a lively place. It's not Singapore squeaky-clean I can tell you that but it's just as dirty as any average Sheffield street. I had roti and chickpeas everyday for breakfast here so I've got no complaints.

The gate to the Acropolis

Old and New.

Athens is quite similar to Rome. Ruins and archaeological sites are literally everywhere but there's one that will be on every traveller's itinerary: the Acropolis, the symbol of Athenian civilisation. I loved how everything was close by and concentrated around the ancient centre. The old town area, Plaka was touristy but I loved the atmosphere of the small streets with cafes.

The museums in Athens however put the ones in Rome to shame. Here it's well presented and the curation is world-class. The history is easier to understand as well because it was more homogeneous and mostly focused on pre-historic and Ancient Greece. Rome on the other hand was way too complex to understand. Best of all I've been getting free tickets for showing my expired student card (I was broke by then so I had to be dishonest!).

The Acropolis dominates the Athenian skyline and rightly so.

My birthday at Parthenon.

The National Archaeological Museum is a must for any tourist. I finally got to see the famous Mask of Agamemnon and the crazy gold treasures from the Mycenean civilisation. Trying to place this into the context of some 2000-3000 years ago is disorientating for me. I come from such a young country. Malay civilisation is (probably) not as old or at least they haven't found any 7000 years old cities in the dense rainforest. But in any way I was just stunned by the sophistication of Ancient Greece. The Acropolis Museum was another beauty (Tschumi please come to Malaysia and redesign our museums!). Anyone going to Athens should not miss this. I loved it, let's say it again!

Zeus - I never get why they like to depict naked people!

The Mask of Agamemnon

Plaka, touristy but nice.
Plaka

Where I had my birthday meal.

It was my birthday as well when I was there and what a great place to celebrate (on your own lol). This is after all the birthplace of western civilisation. (Okay that might be slightly random connection). I had a really nice meal in the Plaka area, where I spent hours just watching time went by.