Saturday, October 22, 2011

Day 3 | Temple of Olympian Zeus & The DIET Tree

Terasa diri nih pendek... cis.... they are the few pretty Greeks that I met, they're from different HoHo company both operates from the same stop. Got to know that they are students working thru their summer holidays.

After discussion with Wahidah, we decided hari nih we should bow to Zeus (hemm... never knew Zeus participated in Olympic before, HAHAHAHHA) as well and go to the nearby park (they have mini zoo - YEAY!!!! I suka giler zoo okay). Plus we thought of taking the 2nd route which is heading to the port. That's our changgih plan ler.... as usual, we played by ears; if we reach the venue and decided it's no big deal, we switch immediately. Eksen giler ok! Isk isk isk, sure tuhan mawah...

Our first stop was the park, which was nothing much when we compared to those that we have been in NZ, Granada, Tokyo... but still a nice stroll was good, keep us thinking straight after the hectic schedule from the work, the flight, the journey, the rush and yesterday's strike. Pening.....

I was asked by Chawana, how the weather was, dia cam nih....
It's a Europe country, if you take into consideration that October being autumn thus the weather should be cooling, then you are right. BUUUUUUT, because it is located by the Mediterranean Sea, thus it is slightly hotter and the cool chilly autumn arrives much later. MEANING, it's cooler at night, an extremely light jacket is sufficient (in fact a cardy alone will do). And during day time, its sunny with cool chilly breeze blowing your face which to me; was PERFECTO for walking trip.

Don't ask what animal is it on the top pic as I couldn't find the signage to decribe it. Whatever it is, CUTE huh!

This was the only cool one that was there, the rest was chicken, duck, goose, ish! Dekat belakang umah pun ada (umah atok nenek ler kan). Memang dasar depa orang bandar, ayam pun masuk zoo.

Posing maut atas pokok nih dah berapa ribu tahun bro? Sampai jadi batu tuh! Kesian lak, nak ayaq dak?

The zoo was not huge, but substantially enough to take 2 hours or so if you want to terhegeh hegeh ler... we only cover 1/3 of the part ie move directly to the mini zoo. Hahhahha.... Wahidah actually put up with me when it comes to park & zoo, she knows me well then I love them and insisted it's in our itinerary (those that have been to Australia, would have guessed right; I LOVE their wildlife sanctuary).

We move out of the zoo looking for the president residence but could find the right way out... BUDUH betul. GPS tinggal kat hotel lak tuh, can one uses GPS for a walk in the park? Hemm.... I kept getting lost in the park (sama macam kat NZ Botanical Garden). What is wrong with me?!??!

Udah udah ler tuh, depa kat Greece gemuk semuanye, nih bukan nye Paris! Udah, stop dieting! Ingat!!! Die is DIE with a "T"

So, we came out near to the door which we came in just now and decided to walk towards the parliament, and guess what....?????

We arrrived at teh time where the allows the tourist to take a pic with the guard (but NOT to touch them at all!!), I pun apa lagi, terkinja kinja ler..... (my pic was in Wahidah album, belum copy lagi) but I do need to share this; CHECK OUT their POM POM SHOE!!!
COMEIIIII

Apa apa lah.... we continued walking, agak jauh gak the whole walk, I think we easily covered 1-2 km by the time we reach tempat bertapa Zeus nih. This place was huge but only columns was left from zillion years ago.

And guess what??? Hehhehehe..... YUP! Here too you can catch a glimpse of Acropolis, apahal kiasu benor depa bina polis polis nih, seantero Athens leh nampak. Hahhaha.... RIAK RIAK! Dosa woh...

Excerp from Mr. Wiki :

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus, is a colossal ruined temple in the centre of the Greek capital Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods.

Fifteen columns remain standing today and a sixteenth column lies on the ground where it fell during a storm in 1852. Nothing remains of the cella or the great statue that it once housed.

Tuh dia eh.... god of the god pun main Olympic, Raja raja negara should do the same kot kan... ehhehe..

Mr. Wiki told as well that (macam ler kenal sangat kat Wiki nih) :

This Arch of Hadrian was built to celebrate the adventus (arrival) of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and to honor him for his many benefactions to the city, on the occasion of the dedication of the nearby temple complex in 131 or 132 AD.

I bump into this, stop right on my TRACK, err.... kopi katak? Why FROG? WHY? WHY? WHY?

We took the HoHo to Pireaus port, we did stop at the terminal to take pics of the liner but it wasn't great. I post my Facebook link below if you want to see more pic.

What I like about this area is the cafe facing the port, best giler but too far from town for us to lepak at nigh...sigh...

How hard is it to take the train in Athens, it is seriously VERY EASY PEASY. Anywwhere you go is EU0.70 ONLY and you can take as many time as you want for the next 1.5hours. Then they have the day pass, 1 week etc, all can be purchase at the machine (works both in Greek & English) as well as human counter. Where else cost you EU8/= per pax ONLY.

Above is the cost for city to Airport, do take the train versus taxi as taxi cost is very expensive - EU40/= per taxi.

Their train too is modern as I guess, time of arrival is clearly stated and so far they have been punctual. No worries, clean and have English direction (kot kot risau).

I shall tell you this 2 auntie story in the Metro subway, they are both Greek and I believe 1st time taking the subway (we were behind them ofcos). They were trying to understand the Greek instruction and we thought of helping them but obviously we can't as we don't speak Greek and they don't do English. So tengok je ler, kang depa kata Asian undermining them lak kan.

You know what happen? They press everything correctly ie 2 tix (for 2 peson), EU0.70 each which totaled to EU1.40. They then took out the dollar NOTE, and SLOT INTO the COIN hole. We were "EHHHH!!!! WRONG!!!!" They kept pushing the note in, they even took another note to push the earlier in and deeper. What!??!?!? TIDAK!!!!

I can't take it any longer, I said "Excuse me! No! No!.... Showed them the coin, and show them the coin hole/sign. Then I took the note, point to the note slot portion. They go "Ahhhhhh......". Ek elaaa..... the instruction was in Greek! Even I knew! Tak pa, orang tua!

What they did next? They try to pinch the money out ler... not sure how much was the note but I guess it wasn't a small value. HAHAHHAHHAAA....

I hope I don't do that when I am old!

Anyway, the Metro subway even have a screen in the subway to tell the weather and news. Cool kan kan kan

Chawana, bab nih depa ok, ada lift & escalator for stroller/wheelchair folks.


Day 4 will be on Roman Agora and the arrival of my ex-colleague Zali & Wan.



For more pic, please click on my Facebook link here.

23 comments:

Travel With Lulu said...

Looks like a great trip! We'd love to visit Athens one day to see all the sites. Looks like beautiful weather too

Jim said...

Beautiful shots of Greece. Thanks for the comment on my blog. :)
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Biqque said...

sumpah ayat2 dia tak bleh baca...banyak sungguh bulat2! hahaha!

ok la if cerah tapi berangin sejuk :D

eileeninmd said...

Great photos from Greece and Athens. I would love to go there someday. It is on my list of places to see for sure. Thans for sharing your trip. Happy Scenic Sunday!

just.HY said...

lily! i got ur postcard...

gonna post it soon on my blog! thanks a lot!!! love it!

btw, it's from romania?

Lily Riani said...

Happy Homemaker UK,

thanks for dropping by, do pray you get to visit athens.

J Bar,

thanks for visiting my blog. have a nice weekend.

biq,

kot ler aku tak paham sbb bulat, depa pun blur.... apa hai kan kan kan

Lily Riani said...

eileeninmd,

i do hope you get to go, i be waiting for your story.

bdk2@john,

finally sampai tanah melaya... ehheh.... i tak ingat postcard mana anto sbb i anto half way dring my trip :

ada masalah kat romania, postcard n magnet seksa nak cari, bila dpt postcard; post office takda, jumpa post office, tutup pulak. airport pun cam tuh... mmg tak suka tulis menulis kot depa nih. so tak choice lain, kirim dari athens postcard romania tuh. ehehhe...

kemang~ said...

kopi katak ? euwwwww...

Wenny said...

Great info for me when I visit Greece. Don't get wrong ... all the pics are great but my fav is the beautiful ladies! Tall medium and the cutie short one!

kaykuala said...

Lily,
You have a treasure trove of travel logs here I see! Been told Greece is best known for the ruins of the old civilizations and Greek food. Not been there. Hope to. Enjoy yourself. Thanks for dropping by at 'birdhouse'

Hank
P/S You may wish to look up my 'Rainbow' poetry blog at imagery77.blogspot.com and do make comments. Thanks

Marie said...

I so love that place! Great scenes! <3

Visiting you from Scenic Sunday.
High Lang Escapades

Lily Riani said...

kemang,

do you know there's an expensive coffee is from an animal pooh, nnt i cari and blog abt it.

weny,

ehhehhe.... thank you :D

kaykuala,

saw your rainbow blog, will def drop a line. thanks for nice comment, do drop by often.

mc,

thanks for dropping by. appreciate it. will drop by your blog :)

Leovi said...

Beautiful photos of Athens. I have a photo with one of those guards fall back. I lift the leg out too well in the photo, ha ha ha. Happy Sunday.

Marie said...

I just find you so cool! :) That's why I followed your blog.

You seem like a free one, like a bird! Unlike me.. I would love to read more of your trips.. that way I could feel like I'm also travelling! :) Looking forward for a great friendship! <3

- MC

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

POM POM SHOE!!!Looks cool. Why katak? After drinking expresso jump like katak ada umphh..

MasZuber said...

mak aih makcik tue,lagi dahsyat dari ahjuma di seoul..heheheee

Jim said...

Hi Lily ~~ I am liking your blog. Thank you for your visit and nice comment on my Halloween acrostic.

Thank you for this nice Athens write up. When we visited there we climbed to the Acropolis. Like you said there wasn't too much there but there was lots of evidence that at one time things thrived up there.

We too have been globetrotters of sorts. We have visited most countries in Western Europe (Russia also). Somehow we missed Portugal and Wales. Wales we will see this year. Possibly Portugal also. One time we drove from Paris up to Normandy, down to Gibralter, over to Granada (Spain) and up to the Madrid area.
Also we have been to all 50 of the U.S. states, China, Malaysia, and Japan. Missing again is South America and Australia.
Some of our later travels are on my other blog.

I will be back to read. Enjoy your 'trotting' while you can. Age is starting to catch up with us, especially for the driving (auto) visits.
..

Short Poems said...

Looks like a great trip and beautiful weather! Great images, I so love your blog :)

take care

Lily Riani said...

Leovi,

thanks for dropping by, i wanted to take pic of the change of guard but the timing wasnt right.

mc,

gee... thx, i shall follow you back :)

MasZuber,

nasib baik dia kata ok and thank you, iramai kat sana tak da sopan santun or at least those yg i bump into. bad impression giler.

Lily Riani said...

Bananazஇ,

hahahhahah..... i also wonder abt the katak.... i went like eyeeeuuuuwwww.... the pom pom shoe on man...hemm.... i went hunting for the magnet infact... FOUND IT!

jim,

thanks for lovely comment. WOW!!!!! those 50 of US state... and loads more. i really envy you (in a good way). i plan to bloghop to your's over the weekend, some ctries that you mentioned; i have visited as well. it will be interested to hear another travelers experience.

looking fwd for a weekend of reading pleasure.

Short Poems,

happy that you enjoyed my blog :D

Mie said...

Great vacation...

Mcm saya susahlah nak sampai ke sini...

Ola said...

You have been to Athens - my favourite city! When were you there? I was going through Athens this September from Aegina Island

Ren said...

Heheh sultan tengganu main spot tau, equestrian ..hehehehe







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