Our day started as normal as any other day, looking for Tom’s Garden, a place where a Irish political refugee creates art from trash somewhere near the Plaka in Athens. Unfortunately, aside from a few mentions on Google, it’s SUPER HARD to find. So, we stopped for a bite to eat first. Promised by the enthusiastic hosts we sat down for the “best gyros in Athens.” I can’t wait! While eating the best gyros in Athens, which I will say was delicious we figured out where Tom’s garden was and departed for it shortly after lunch.
What is Tom’s Garden you ask? Nile Guide describes it this way “It’s a small lot of land given to Tom, a political refugee of Northern Ireland, by the landowner of the lot, the Greek Orthodox Church. He lives in an adjacent, equally derelict building and expresses warm wishes to visitors with his characteristic, toothless smile” which sadly we never experienced. Our main reasons for visiting were (1) It’s a unique sight (2) He repurposes trash into art which is fascinating. However, the doors were closed so we couldn’t see in. Al we saw were these bright walls and a donation box. Still… we’ve been there.
As we walked through Athens with high hopes of seeing the rest of the sites we missed, we realized we were just to tired. So, we did like Athenians and Romans do and we sat on some steps to collect our thoughts. We decided if nothing else we will watch the sunset from Mars Hill overlooking Athens. Like that’s second best to anything… While on our way we walked up a street of vertical restaurants. By this I mean the restaurant face was pointing towards a staircase and all of the seating was on the stairs. If we hadn’t just eaten this would be the place to stop. We were assured by the host that their roof garden has the “best view of the Acropolis in Athens.” I have the sneaking suspicion he was just trying to get my money…
On our way to Mars Hill we found out why there are so many cats in CAThens. It’s this guys fault. We named him the Cat Whisperer. He sat with his flute, seemingly playing to the passing crowds, surrounded by 12-15 cats laying at his feet or nearby. Clearly cats are suckers for the flute and The Cat Whisperer knows just how exploit his power.
Finally, we arrived at Mars Hill for sunset. Sadly, it was an hour and a half before sunset so we sat in silence, eyes glazed over and bodies tired on a bench waiting for the right time. We went up on the hill thirty minutes before sunset and sat and waited more. Turns out the most exciting part of a sunset is the moment five minutes before and after the actual event. Other than that? Just a lot of waiting. In the end though, it was worth it. The sunset was beautiful and felt like a nice capstone to our main time in Athens.
Headed home we walked through the Plaka with one goal, get gelato. I took a selfie with a host earlier who promised “best gelato in Athens” and I was going to take him up on it. Bethany got a cone, I got a cup and we started eating. Sweet delicious gelato. The roof garden was lovely, the overweight shirtless man on the balcony directly opposite… not so much. At least he’s confident… and hair, so hairy… The gelato was good, but it did not hold a candle to Italian gelato. The mojito I tried which again was “best in Greece” was good but very sugary. I think I was duped again. These guys are good, it’s like they saw me coming.
We headed home around 10:30 at night to catch the metro at Syntagma station. As we approached we saw hundreds of people standing around talking, laughing, music playing, street food being served and a multi colored fountain. Did we mention Greeks hang out late? They do, very late, perhaps they don’t work as early? I imagine that if I walked up to a Greek and asked “What’s the occasion?” Referring to the large gathering of people and vendors the response would be “It’s Wednesday!” Whatever the reason, we bought some street corn on the cob and caught our train home.
Gotta wake up early tomorrow, hooray for travel days…
Cheers,
B&B
