Finishing off the ancient and a trip to Piraeus.

On the 27th of December all the ancient remains opened up again. We had two still to do on our combination tickets. We started with the one we had not heard of before the trip and that we were only visiting because it was on our multi-entry ticket. This was the The Lyceum of Aristotle. We got there by taking a train to Evangelismos Station, we passed a beautiful Greek church on our walk from our flat to the metro. The lyceum was very close to the metro stop, but we went the wrong way and wandered around hopelessly for a while until we found it. While lost, we did find a statue of former U.S. president Harry S. Truman. Apparently this statue was bombed in 1986 by people protesting against American imperialism.

Greek Church.

Harry S.Truman statue.

The Lycaeum was a temple dedicated to Apollo Lyceus. It is best known for the school of philosophy founded here by Aristotle around 334 or 335 BC. Plato and Socrates also taught here.

The remains of the Lyceum were only discovered quite recently - in 1996 - when workers began construction of a new art museum. The Lyceum is right next to the Museum of Christian and Byzantine Art and they share a pleasant garden you can stroll around. The remains of the Lycaeum really only consist of the outlines of its walls.

The Lyceum of Aristotle.

The Lyceum of Aristotle.

Garden of Museum of Christian and Byzantine Art.

Museum of Christian and Byzantine Art.

Museum of Christian and Byzantine Art.

After visiting the Lyceum of Aristotle, we walked back to the metro, took a train to Acropoli station and walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We found this more interesting than the earlier site as there was more of it left.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, or the Olympieion, was once a colossal temple dedicated to Zeus, head of the Olympian gods. Construction of this temple began in the 6th century BC, but it was not completed until the days of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD - around 638 years later.

The temple was pillaged during a barbarian invasion in the 3rd century AD and was never repaired. It began to fall into ruins and people took materials from its remains for other building projects. It was first excavated in the late nineteenth century.

This temple is interesting to see in its own right, plus it is possible to take a photo of it with the acropolis perched on the hill behind it.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We then took a train to Piraeus. This is where our holiday could have been ruined. We jumped on a really crowded train, which we should not have done. We should have waited for the next train. A young Greek woman kept talking to us and indicating she wanted to pass us, but then did not pass us when we moved for her. I pushed my way through the train away from her as she was annoying. Instantly this girl and three others formed a sort of human cage around my husband. Also suspicious of them he kept his arms tightly wrapped around his body though they kept trying to get him to hold on to things or move in certain ways. We are both convinced these people were pick pockets. The girl distracts you and the others steal your stuff. We had on us money, my husband's passport, cameras and phones. I am relieved to say when we got off, none of our belongings were missing. This is due to the fact the money and passport were well hidden. We were lucky to still have cameras and phones. This incident was very, very unpleasant and to some extent it spoiled Athens for us as we were extremely cautious after this.

Piraeus itself was worth seeing. It has a massive port area where ships leave for the islands. It also has lots of beautiful buildings though there was a lot of construction work going on round about them. We walked to Piraeus's two marinas. The first, Zea marina or Pasalimani, was lined with boats. The second, Mikrolimano, was surrounded by restaurants. There is a long stretch of beach, called Votsalakia Beach, in between the marinas.

Piraeus Port.

Georgios Karaiskakis statue.

Church in Piraeus.

Zea Marina.

Votsalakia Beach.

Votsalakia Beach.

Sunset over Piraeus.

Mikrolimano.

Mikrolimano.

Mikrolimano.

Instead of walking all the way back to Piraeus Station after visiting the second marina we followed a river all the way to Faliro Station which is located next to a football stadium, home to Olympiakos, F.C.

On the way to Faliro.

On the way to Faliro.

Peace and Friendship Stadium.

Home of Olymiakus F. C.

We took the train back from Faliro to Acropoli Station and went for a lovely meal in Old School Restaurant I had chicken souvlaki and Peter had pork meatballs, all washed down with pints of mythos beer.

Dinner in Old School Restaurant.