After exploring the Acropolis of Athens, my sister and I made our way down and had a pleasant walk in the Akropoli (Acropolis) neighbourhood. Most of the pedestrian paths/streets in Athens are shaded by trees and plants, offering shade from the sun. The weather in Athens wasn’t that hot anyway because it was late autumn.
A Peaceful Stroll in the Neighbourhood
Many people were seen strolling down the streets with young children in hand. The Greeks enjoy a rather slow-paced, relaxing life. They work hard, but they enjoy life too. 🙂 It’s not difficult to see why because undoubtedly, they have good food, great wine and a fine company of close-knit family and friends to share life with.
My sister and I took the opportunity to admire the buildings and its intricate Greek architecture. Some of the buildings had intricately carved doors made of steel or hardwood and even life-sized marble statues on both sides of the entrance! Wow…talk about a dramatic welcome/entrance!
The walls of the buildings looked as if they were made of marble. Some even had beautiful paintings/murals depicting the life of ancient Greeks decorating the wall. It was an amazing sight! My sister and I fell in love with the beauty of Athens and its friendly people.
Train Ride From Akropoli (Acropolis) To Monastiraki
To get to our next destination – the famous flea market in Monastiraki, we need to take the train/metro. As I mentioned before in my earlier blog post, it’s easy, convenient and cheap to travel around Athens city by public transport.
The city’s public transportation service is one of the best I’ve ever experienced in all of Europe. Read the story and get valuable info on Athens’ excellent public transportation here.
So, from the Akropoli (Acropolis) Metro Station, we boarded the M2 Anthoupoli train to Syntagma, changed trains and boarded the M3 train headed to Agia Marina. Monastiraki Metro Station is just a stop away from Syntagma Metro Station. 😀 To learn how to take the train from Syntagma Metro Station to the Acropolis of Athens and gather info about our 24-hour train/metro ticket, click here.
Remains of Various Ancient Settlements in Athens
As always, taking the train in Athens is a delightful and enlightening experience. Previously, my sister and I saw various priceless artefacts and marble statues being displayed at the Akropoli (Acropolis) Metro Station.
This time however, we got to see the remains of an ancient settlement dating from the 8th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. at Monastiraki Metro Station. It’s good to know that the government of Greece has taken great care and measures to protect and preserve the ancient Greek sites and artefacts in spite of the rise of urban developments.
Instead of destroying a part of their history and heritage in the name of modernisation, they cleverly incorporated it into the modern buildings/structures or relocate it to another location or the national museums.
Tickets Validation Machines Without Barriers
We arrived at our destination in less than 15 minutes. Before exiting the Monastiraki metro station, we validated our train tickets at one of the ticket validation machines located at the entrance of the metro station.
One interesting thing we observed is unlike the machines we have in our county, there are no barriers placed at the brightly-coloured ticket validation machines in Athens! This means that the ticketing system relies entirely on the honesty and responsibility of the people to purchase and validate their tickets appropriately and correctly. This is a quality we lack back home. 🙁
However, don’t anyone dare to take advantage and try to beat the system in a distasteful manner, especially fellow visitors (I know a few individuals who wouldn’t hesitate to go across the machines without a ticket just to save some petty money) because there’re 24-hour security surveillance cameras placed in strategic locations, plus security officers on guard in every metro stations. Errant users will be caught and slapped with a hefty fine. 😛
Up next: Exploring the famous flea market in Monastiraki, Athens city