I have to admit I've been rushing around quite a lot these last few days. After a bit of a debate with myself I decided to take things a bit more quietly on Sunday. nstead of munching some nuts and wholemeal breadsticks in my hotel room I had breakfast out (yoghurt with fruit salad) and then I strolled up the stepped streets of Plaka to the Kanellopoulos Museum.
This is a gorgeous small museum on the slopes of the Acropolis, showing the former private collection of Pavlos and Alexandra Kanellopoulos. They collected small items of Greek and Byzantine art, from Cycladic figurines and stone vases through to 18th century icons, and they had excellent taste; if I were as fabulously wealthy as they must have been, I would happily buy every single item there if it came up for sale.
The result is a display that catalogues the development of the figurative arts of a whole culture, across almost four millennia, but on a scale one can visit in a morning.
They allow photography, so here are just a tiny selection of their little treasures.
After that, I had a lazy lunch out and a stroll. The Plaka was humming with activity; people having coffee or lunch out, whole families out for the day, crowds of friends meeting up, and of course plenty of tourists like me. The stray cats snoozed in the shade, music played in the cafes, buskers played on street corners, tour guides talked. One of the churches had balloons and ribbons tied around the gate, and a smartly-dressed young woman was setting up a stack of wedding favours and packets of confetti and rice on a decorated table in the little courtyard inside.
I visited a couple of Byzantine churches that weren't holding weddings. I managed to find the Old Mitropolis open, as it was a Sunday. That made a nicely circular end to my visit to Athens, and I lit a candle there and put some money in the donation box.
Then I had a cup of tea at the Café Metropol, where I'd had morning coffee my first day here, and I watched the Sunday crowds strolling and chatting in Mitropolis Square. And then I went back to my hotel to pack. Monday, I leave Athens for the island of Aegina. This has been an excellent few days in Athens. I could have done with far longer here; another time, I would like to visit some of the other sites in Attica, Eleusis and Brauron and Marathon. But on the other hand, I'm looking forward to my ferry trip, and to being by the sea for a while, with open spaces and fresh sea air...
This is a gorgeous small museum on the slopes of the Acropolis, showing the former private collection of Pavlos and Alexandra Kanellopoulos. They collected small items of Greek and Byzantine art, from Cycladic figurines and stone vases through to 18th century icons, and they had excellent taste; if I were as fabulously wealthy as they must have been, I would happily buy every single item there if it came up for sale.
The result is a display that catalogues the development of the figurative arts of a whole culture, across almost four millennia, but on a scale one can visit in a morning.
They allow photography, so here are just a tiny selection of their little treasures.
Archaic figures of horsemen
Bronze age swords. Homer's heroes like Achilles and Odysseus would have carried weapons like these
A relief of two animals facing one another with their feet resting on an altar. It reminds me a bit of the relief above the Lion Gate at Mycenae
The bronze fitting from the front ram of a trireme, one of the fast multi-oared warships of Classical times. This was the ship's main piece of weaponry; the basic manoeuvre in sea battles was to try and ram the side of enemy ships. I loved the fact it's made to look like the snout of a snarling dog
A perfume bottle in the shape of the head of an African
An agate amulet; I liked this for the engraved inscription, which according to the labelling reads "They can say what they want, let them, I don't care". In case anyone thinks that feeling insecure about gossip is a modern phenomenon...
The goddess Hygeia, the daughter of Asklepios, holding a snake and something that might be an egg or a pine cone (?) - no help from the label here, I'm afraid, but those are my guesses
Sorry, I couldn't resist the dick amulet. As well as the healthy erection on the right, that's another little penis in the middle. I wonder what was hanging from the three loops?
A Ptolomaic-era mummy portrait from Fayyum in Egypt
A Coptic (Egyptian early Christian) textile with a woven pattern of stout little men playing tambourines and dancing
After that, I had a lazy lunch out and a stroll. The Plaka was humming with activity; people having coffee or lunch out, whole families out for the day, crowds of friends meeting up, and of course plenty of tourists like me. The stray cats snoozed in the shade, music played in the cafes, buskers played on street corners, tour guides talked. One of the churches had balloons and ribbons tied around the gate, and a smartly-dressed young woman was setting up a stack of wedding favours and packets of confetti and rice on a decorated table in the little courtyard inside.
I visited a couple of Byzantine churches that weren't holding weddings. I managed to find the Old Mitropolis open, as it was a Sunday. That made a nicely circular end to my visit to Athens, and I lit a candle there and put some money in the donation box.
Then I had a cup of tea at the Café Metropol, where I'd had morning coffee my first day here, and I watched the Sunday crowds strolling and chatting in Mitropolis Square. And then I went back to my hotel to pack. Monday, I leave Athens for the island of Aegina. This has been an excellent few days in Athens. I could have done with far longer here; another time, I would like to visit some of the other sites in Attica, Eleusis and Brauron and Marathon. But on the other hand, I'm looking forward to my ferry trip, and to being by the sea for a while, with open spaces and fresh sea air...
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