Greece: Part 4

Double Cool With Knobs!
Vissis Street in Athens

Okay, this set is a little weird, but I had to put it in. Athens has an entire street dedicated to doorknobs! I read about it online before we left (the article said "every doorknob known to mankind can be seen here") and I knew we had to go there. I NEEDED a new (Greek) doorknob for my room, I tell you! So on our last day in Athens, I dragged part of our group with me to go see what was sure to be the most doorknobs anyone would ever see in the same place at the same time ever. And it was! There must have been 20 different doorknob stores with every imaginable shape, size, and style. It was magnificent. Unfortunately, we were there on a Sunday and all of the shops were closed, so I didn't get my Greek doorknob after all. But I feel honored just to have seen such a collection of doorknobs.

Also, here is a super cool doorknob we found on the island. The Greeks really know their doorknobs!

Okay, so that was me geeking out about doorknobs. I don't even know. But to redeem myself, I would like to close by showing you a lovely compilation of graffiti in Athens and cute kitties on Alonnisos:

When I saw this parking job, the first thing I thought was. "Who let Maggie park their car??"

There were so many cats on the island!

Honorable mention to these dogs who, despite not being cats, were very cute.

Thank you for looking at my pictures from Greece! More non-Greece stuff coming

Greece: Part 2

Athens
I decided to set this up a little bit differently than the last post. Here I will lump together all of the pictures from Athens and then I will do a post about our time on the island!

 Hadrian's Arch- Right next to the temple of Zeus

Temple of Athena

Temple of Zeus

 On the walking tour we went into this building to see a more modern (1800s) example of Ionic columns

Trees in the national garden, located in the historical district

The Olympic stadium! This was used in ancient times, and then refurbished for the first official Olympic Games in 1896

Left- This tunnel led ancient athletes onto the track.
Above- Maggie and Me sitting where the king and queen would sit to get the best view of the events

Above- Flags decorating the entryway to the stadium
Right- At the end of the tunnel leading from the stadium, torches from many of the modern Olympic Games are on display. These are from Beijing 2008 and London 2012!

I got first place in the "being born" contest!

  The changing of the guards in front of the Parliament building- We learned that the guards wear pom poms  on their shoes because they used to use them to conceal spikes when they weren't supposed to have weapons 

A beautiful church being built in the historic district. The blue marble (left) used for the facade is incredibly stunning. The church is still under construction and most of it is covered so we couldn't see it

The Temple of Hephaestus, in the Agora. This was Tom's favorite stop because Hephaestus is his favorite mythological character!

Some marble statues on display in the Agora - I was shocked by how beautiful they look in real life

A mosque in the middle of a pedestrian square

 

(Mostly) Group picture! My dad is not in the picture, but this is the rest of the group. We are in front of the church I talked about above

Thank you for checking these out! Pictures from the island to come!