Today Lauren and I set out to the flea market while Cameron slept in. We spent the better half of two hours working our way through the various crowded alleys and plazas of the Monasteriki neighborhood which houses the market. Sunday is apparantly the most crowded day, as the whole place was flooded with people. There was a lot of cool things, but for either price reasons or the lack of space to take things back, I didn't buy anything but a super old postcard of Athens to add to a planned travel college that I'd like to make upon getting home. Since we were in the neighborhood, we walked through the Ancient Forum that borders the market area. The Ancient Forum was the old cultural and commercial center of the city after the Acropolis could no longer contain the growing population.
The Forum was where the schools of music and philosophy were located, and were the majority of the education citizenry would gather. The site is now primarily ruins, similar to the Acropolis, after the consecutive destructions of the city by the Persians and Spartans in the 400s B.C. The best-preserved part of the site is the Temple of Hephaistos, a Doric temple similar (in construction, though not in scale) to the Pantheon. The rest of the grounds are just scattered with columns and wall foundations similar to the Roman Forum that we visited yesterday. Apparantly on Sunday all of the government museums and sites close at 3, so we were ushered out without getting to explore everything.
After the Forum, we were about ready for lunch so we headed east to the Plaka neighborhood on the other side of the Acropolis. The Frommer's book I had recommended a number of nice tavernas in this area and we decided on Damigos, an old-school codfish place that's been under the same family since 1865. We split some fried feta and dlomates (the stuffed vine leaves from yesterday) for appetizers and then I got the fried codfish for my main plate. That's apparantly what they're famous for, so I had to get it. We lounged around Damigos taking our time until about 5pm (late lunch, right?) and then walked back through the area toward home. We took a side trip to Syntagma Square to see if we could find these dessert places the book recommended, but both ended up being closed. Sunday must not be the best day to try and do everything you'd like to in Greece. We settled on a different bakery and sat down for some baklava and coffee. Cameron, finally up for the day, was able to make his way south to Syntagma and met us there. Afterwards, we walked home to our hostel for an easy night in so that we are able to plan a day trip tomorrow.
Today Lauren and I set out to the flea market while Cameron slept in. We spent the better half of two hours working our way through the various crowded alleys and plazas of the Monasteriki neighborhood which houses the market. Sunday is apparantly the most crowded day, as the whole place was flooded with people. There was a lot of cool things, but for either price reasons or the lack of space to take things back, I didn't buy anything but a super old postcard of Athens to add to a planned travel college that I'd like to make upon getting home. Since we were in the neighborhood, we walked through the Ancient Forum that borders the market area. The Ancient Forum was the old cultural and commercial center of the city after the Acropolis could no longer contain the growing population. 
The Forum was where the schools of music and philosophy were located, and were the majority of the education citizenry would gather. The site is now primarily ruins, similar to the Acropolis, after the consecutive destructions of the city by the Persians and Spartans in the 400s B.C. The best-preserved part of the site is the Temple of Hephaistos, a Doric temple similar (in construction, though not in scale) to the Pantheon. The rest of the grounds are just scattered with columns and wall foundations similar to the Roman Forum that we visited yesterday. Apparantly on Sunday all of the government museums and sites close at 3, so we were ushered out without getting to explore everything. 
After the Forum, we were about ready for lunch so we headed east to the Plaka neighborhood on the other side of the Acropolis. The Frommer's book I had recommended a number of nice tavernas in this area and we decided on Damigos, an old-school codfish place that's been under the same family since 1865. We split some fried feta and dlomates (the stuffed vine leaves from yesterday) for appetizers and then I got the fried codfish for my main plate. That's apparantly what they're famous for, so I had to get it. We lounged around Damigos taking our time until about 5pm (late lunch, right?) and then walked back through the area toward home. We took a side trip to Syntagma Square to see if we could find these dessert places the book recommended, but both ended up being closed. Sunday must not be the best day to try and do everything you'd like to in Greece. We settled on a different bakery and sat down for some baklava and coffee. Cameron, finally up for the day, was able to make his way south to Syntagma and met us there. Afterwards, we walked home to our hostel for an easy night in so that we are able to plan a day trip tomorrow.
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