If I felt my knowledge of history was inadequate when visiting Spain in March, its times two in Athens.
Unfortunately, it didn’t really improve during our 3 days in the city.
The big event on the day of our arrival was torrential rain and crazy flooding. The taxi ride from the airport was intense; we witnessed a woman literally being swept off her feet by the water rushing down the street. HVW won’t let me post the video. This picture gives you an idea of the experience, but it is by no means representative of how bad things were.
We visited the National Archeological Museum, which was not very impressive. There were lots of cabinets with ancient vases, and other artifacts, but unless you were already an expert on the history of civilization (actually civilizations) in the eastern Mediterranean it was hard to appreciate the significance of the collection. In a place like this, you need a guide; but none was offered.
A walking tour of the city was basically “meh”. Tour groups with so many people that you need headphones to hear the guide are sub-optimal. The tour of the Acropolis and the Parthenon was better (though still too many people),
Our next destination was the island of Paros, but the stormy weather had returned and the ferry crossing was wild. The boat was rockin’ and rollin’ on the waves, and people were barfing in bags all over the place. No pictures were taken, to protect the dignity of those involved.
