Day 4 | Roman Agora & Arrival of 2 NEW Travelholics

Flashback 1 hour earlier.

Wahidah and I were anxious on what to do, what to expect and especially whether the 2 guy can get to the hotel safely and CORRECTLY.

Oh yah! Did I mentioned that 2 of our friends (basically ex-colleague/ex-IBMer [Biq, ntah ntah ko lenal kot]) will be joining us today? Hemm.... they have been PM-ing us via Facebook as well sms-ing us. Panic kot, this is their first trip DIY.... I can just imagine what's going in their mind, perhaps like how I felt during my first trip with Wahidah to Morocco & Spain a couple of years back. Kesian ler pulak.... Hhehehe... tapi tak pa, kan anak jantan (ceh wahhh......)

Oh! GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT?

It's free entrance to Roman Agora on Sunday (well, perhaps only this particular Sunday, I seriously don't know), I thought it was a great way to encourage locals to visit own country historical site right. Hemm.... Malaysia gomen...????? Apa lagi, do something!?!?

Anyway, as some of you might know, one of my "mission" to cover as much as possible the Wonders of the World or Unesco site for my love of history and travel. Hhehhehhe.... So, this is truly exciting for me ler kan...

My first impression of this place is.... SUPER HUGE! And it also reminded me of Rome's Forum which is in a smaller scale I think (I didn't walk thru Rome's Forum during my previous trip...sigh... looks like I have to revisit then *wink wink*), those that visited both, do advice yah.

This one really caught my eyes, Altar of Zeus.... I thought it was a good idea (jeng jeng jeng) to climb up and took a pic of me (as if I am THE ZEUS), YUP! As you have guessed, the guard blew his whistle and screamed for me to get down. OPS!!!! Tuh ler, terlebih pandai sapa suruh...

OK, Yang ni is for Chawana, nak panjat seksa... so, stroller out!

The rest are ruins which I will share again later in this entry however, this is the ONLY building that is still in one piece, I assume if Parthenon were in one piece, this is how it'll look like. Cantek gak kan.... this is much smaller obviously! MUUUUUUCH SMALLER.

There were few details that I like, the columns, the carving, the location etc; and of course no one is allowed to go into this building for obvious reason. I certainly don't want to be screamed at twice on the same day, in the same compound. Kuang kuang kuang...

Hemm..... Civic Office? Hemmm..... depa dok langgar aku siap tak cakap sorry pun, tanya direction siap tak nak cakap...nor tolong.... ish! Rugi duit buat sivik opis jek.

Last man standing? Or is it last armor suit standing.

Chup! Even the museum entrance is FREE as well! YEAY!!!!

Cik Wahidah kita trying hard to understand the body, torso, face, statue etc of the carving at the museum. By now, every statue or body parts looks the same to us. Hahhahah......

It's fairly a small museum but still a museum nonetheless, thinking that this is probably the ONLY museum we will visit and since it's FREE; might as well right!!?!?!?! RIGHT???? Pandai dak, bende tak plan memang best when it happens. RIAK!

Dang! Simon had an open house without me!!! Hahhaha.... I tagged Simon (my exboss in US), he said " they left a mess in his house that is so bad, now it is in RUINS" Hahhahahah...... miss my boss!

By the way, do you know how we got to know this place? Hehehheh..... we decided to check out the flea market at Monastiraki as we heard and read that it is a MUST visit place, we dutifully took the train, but to our surprise; it doesn't stop at Monastiraki, in fact it stop at the station after. We got sooooo panic! (Lerrr.... mana lak nak bawak kiterang nih, negara nih memang huru hara giler!)

Thus, we decided to get down at the next stop and hop to the next train going the opposite direction, thinking that was the smartest thing to do. But as we about to step out of the train, we realised 2/3 of the folks getting down too... Hemmmm.... I said, they must be going to church or something (since it was a Sunday). As we walk upwards out from the train level, we realised that they are moving towards "a noisy" area. That's when it struck me that the flea market is closeby or at least connected to this area.

We walked out form the station and follow the crowd lar, thinking how wrong can it go right, yeay! we were right, it IS CONNECTED to Monastiraki Flea Market. Sungguh PERASAN sesangat!

Tah dah..... found thou thee flea market.

Yup! I insisted to look for this... Mosque, but it is part of the ruins and it was converted to a museum some sort, it was closed when we were there for a year for restoration.

Tuh diaa.... this is the view of Monastiraki from one of the building, the flea market is at the small lane on the left.

While walking looking for lunch, we saw this guy trying to hard sell us, check out the menu!!!! on iPad ok!!!! Changgih giler... Kalau kat KL, tobat kene rembat dah kan.

We went back to our hotel for a rest while waiting for the guys to arrive to the hotel, we estimated they will be here around 3ish or so. True enough, they arrived safely, tak panic kan? Tak susah kan? Pandai puuuuun....

We decided to take them around Monastiraki to buy some souvenirs reason being the next day we were to fly to Santorini, we left after solat Asar to Monastiraki.... Wahidah & I jadi tour guide sekejap, langgak pandai woh...

Ahh...... this is the mosque that I mentioned earlier, this is also part of the Roman Agora. By the time we arrive here, the sun beginning to set, pic perfect I thought.

Finally a pic of Wahidah and I, heheheheh...... background? Acropolis! I told you that it can be seen from everwhere right. So, just imagine how huge it is.

Night view from "A for Athens" Hotel, we managed to get permission to sneak up to the roof top bar to take this pic. Cool huh!

Tomorrow, new adventure - Santorini!

Hyperlink credit : Wikipedia