Athens, once again, 2026!

The Acropolis from the Agora

We are so happy to be back in Athens. These first two days are all about seeing our dearest friends. We arrived in Athens after leaving Copenhangen at 6:55am, ensuring an extra day of jet lag. We took the metro to Evvangelismos, a very familiar station, but it has been 8 years since we were last here, so we weren't sure of the bus protocol, and our bag's wheels were destroyed (sorry Ellie) by the airline.

 So we walked around until we found a safe place to hail a cab, always an adventure in Greece. They don't have to take you. This was a very short trip, so the first guy refused. The second agreed, but didn't start any kind of meter, so we knew he was going to overcharge us. It wasn't too bad, and we were glad for the ride. We were dropped off at Eurydice's latest Athens pad, this one complete with  a dog, Yuri, who is perhaps the calmest, quietest dog I've ever met. She fed us (of course!) and we enjoyed sitting on her balcony. The weather is quite hot, in the 90s already. We caught up and laughed a lot. Eventually Marilena joined us, kindly offering to drive us to her house. We chatted a bit more and then went to Marilena's house. We worked together on dinner, met her son, Stephanos, and her boyfriend. Leonidis, and enjoyed a nice evening. We fell into bed at midnight.

The next day, we had to get up early to visit Jackie Meyer, a friend from UNF, who was excavating at the Agora, along with one of her (and Phil's) students, Tia. 

Jackie and us in front of the Hephasteion from the Stoa of Attalos

We made our way down to the Agora, an hour's trip that included walking, getting a little confused, meeting a very sweet woman at the bus stop who took responsibility for us and escorted us nearly to our final stop in the metro, and a bus-metro trip. At the Agora, We got a delightful tour of the excavation from the director, who talked a lot about how they were teaching archaeology, but also transferable leadership skills. 

The excavation

The improvised sieves and wheelbarrows for finding small pieces from the excavated dirt

We enjoyed tea with the excavators and others who process the finds, saw Susan Rotroff, who remembered us from 1994-5, and generally felt glad to be back on such familiar territory. The American School for Classical studies has its own traditions (in this case, the tea, which was hot or iced with British cream crackers with butter and honey). We swapped stories with the crew who is active at the American School now and generally enjoyed ourselves. 

Updated photo of Phil and Herodatus

We did our traditional "market walk" from the ancient agora to the nearby modern meat and vegetable market. We were in search of some ingredients to try to contribute to the evening's meal, a reunion dinner with friends from Oxford. We felt a bit like ghosts: in a sort of half life, seeking evidence of our vivid memories of Greece from 32 years ago at the American School and 8-15 years ago in the modern city.  We remembered old restaurants and shops, old friends, and experiences from our youth. The ancient bones of the city were still there, of course, but even those are a little changed: there is a whole other building gone from the Agora and we were seeing what had been buried on our last visit. The more recent past, and even some things from our multiple previous visits were there, but again, changed. Dipylon restaurant was still in its old spot in Monastiraki, but now offering rooms to rent but no kolikokeftedes or dolmadokeftedes any more. The bougatsa shop in Psyrri is still there, but is half the size. 

Unable to find the French ingredients from Leslie's manitaropita recipe, we came home with one unnecessary leek, some amazing strawberries at the peak of ripeness, and a new suitcase. We spent the afternoon cooking and talking with Marilena and making cookies or resting up for the evening.

The evening was the main event. Leslie contacted Mort, suddenly realizing that it was important to share photos of this same group as young people. And here we were, in 1990:

Making pizzas in Wales

Various parties in Bear Lane

 

I don't know what was so funny, but SOMETHING had us in stitches.

Much of this group was back together again, for one night only:

It was a wonderful evening. Thank you to Dad for spending an hour and a half sending me photos.