Greece

Athens | Acropolis | Poros & Galatas | Argolis | Corinth | Athens again

I travelled to Athens in autumn, 2004 to participate in an urban history conference. Unfortunately I had to fly (by Lufthansa via München) which I usually try to avoid when travelling inside Europe. After the conference I had a couple of days time to visit some places outside Athens, too.

Map of my journey
Map: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Athens

I arrived in Athens on Tuesday, October 26th.

Street view and the wall of Acropolis
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Art Gallery Hotel where our group stayed
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Dinner in a restaurant on Drakou street: Matti, Katri, Jussi and Miika
Photo by: NL | All rights reserved ©

Next day was still free and I decided to visit the archaeological museum with Markku and Matti.

A dog which we saw on Erechthiou street
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The wall of Acropolis
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

An alley in Plaka district
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The Archaeological Museum
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Markku, Matti and someone unknown looking at a vase
Photo by: NL | All rights reserved ©

Poseidon
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Garden of the museum
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from the archaeological museum.

Traffic on street '28 Oktovriu'
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Roman agora
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

After returning from the museum we went to registrate to the conference.

Panteion University
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Conference desk
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Having beer with Matti in the following evening
Photo by: NL | All rights reserved ©

Entrance to the Syngrou-Fix underground station and a dog
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The Finnish Institute in Athens
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Reception at the institute
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Greek pastries
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Ouzo parties in the hotel later in the night: Anne, I, Jussi and Katri
Photo by: MH | All rights reserved ©

Next evening we had a reception in the Byzantine Museum
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

That's me in the reception
Photo by: KL | All rights reserved ©

Syntagma Square at night
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Going to the next place
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Acropolis

On my last day before leaving Athens I went up to Acropolis.

Entrance to the museum district
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Parthenon
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Parthenon and I
Photo by: Anon. | All rights reserved ©

Theatre of Herod Atticus (Irodou Attikou)
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Acropolis railway
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Eastern end of the Parthenon
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Roofs of Athens and Likavittos hill
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Erechteion
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

View to Agora
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Path leading to the Theatre of Dionysus
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Dionysus Theatre as seen from the Acropolis
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

A dog near the theatre
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from the Acropolis.

Before the conference dinner in the evening I made a walk in Plaka and in the city centre.

Plaka's shopping street
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Syntagma Square and the Parliament
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

In a taverna later in the night
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More photos from the taverna and from Athens in general.

Poros and Galatas

Early next morning which was Sunday, October 31st I left most of my luggage to the hotel and went by underground to Piraeus. There I took a ferry to the island of Poros.

Fisherman's boat with the Peloponnese in the background
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Island of Poros
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The ferry arrives to Poros
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Central square of the village
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

A narrow alley
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Church tower
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Fishermen and an anchor
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Poros seemed to me as an idyllic small island but I was lacking time I decided to go on already in the afternoon. I traversed the 200-metre wide channel by a regular boat to the opposite village of Galatas. There I looked around for a while and continued by foot toward the village of Kaloni.

Poros as seen from the boat
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from Poros.

Galatas
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Citrus trees near Galatas
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

It became dark while walking
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

I had thought that the would be a guest house or something in every Greek coastal village. I was wrong - in Kaloni there was not. I had to call a taxi and take it to the town of Epidavros.

More photos from Galatas and its vicinity.

Argolis (Peloponnesos)

I stayed overnight at Marialena Apartments
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Palea Epidavros town
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I missed the morning bus and had to take again a taxi. My namesake Niko drove me to the nearby Epidaurus Amphitheatre.

Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Stairs and seats of the theatre
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Ruins of a spa (Asklepeion)
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Ancient stadium
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More photos from Epidavros.

From the amphitheatre I took a bus to Nafplio which used to be the Greek capital before Athens took its place. Now it's the capital of Argolis prefecture.

Nafplio (showing also the bus which I took to the city)
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

A cargo ship (Lady Georgia) in the port of Nafplio
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The railway station seemed to be quite quiet
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Island fort of Bourtzi
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Palamidi fortification and a square
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Stairs to Palamidi
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Nafplio as seen from Palamidi
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from Nafplio.

As the train would have left so late I decided to leave for Corinth by bus. The ticket-collector, however, did not have change and I had coins only to go to nearby city of Argos. Hence I stayed there for a couple of hours and took the train to Corinth.

Argos
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from Argos.

Corinth

I arrived in Corinth late in the night and left for Athens early in the morning. The city itself didn't seem too interesting to me but on the other hand I did not have much time look around there.

Fishermen's boats in the port of Corinth at night
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The central square and Hotel Akti where I stayed overnight
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Fisherman fishing in the morning
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The Corinth Canal as seen from the train
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from Corinth.

Athens again

I returned to Athens on Tuesday, November 2nd. My intention was the visit the Agora but I was not allowed to enter the museum area with my backpack. Hence I just walked on the open side of the Agora and took few photos from behind the fence.

Athens railway station
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Kerameikos Square
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

The Agora
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

Another photo of the Agora
Photo by: NL | License: Creative Commons by-nc-sa

More photos from Athens.

From the Agora I walked back to the hotel, took my luggage and went to the airport. My return flight was again by Lufthansa via Munich to Helsinki.

Photographers

NL = Niko Lipsanen
KL = Katri Lento
MH = Matti Hannikainen
Anon. = Unknown tourist at the Acropole