Scenes from a visit to Athens (April 2023)

Late 2022 I started a new gig and in spring 2023 I was on my first research trip through Greece. I was not on social media much then. And I didn't resurrect this blog idea until earlier this year. But now I'm going to backtrack and bit and create posts from the past couple of years. Looking back, my photo game was sub par in the early days. Definitely left a lot unsnapped, which is a shame. But some photos are better than no photos, eh?

Athens was the entry point. Coming in from Mexico City the flights get in a bit later in the day than the typical early/mid morning arrivals from the US. Think I had a mult-hour layover in Madrid if I remember correctly. But I got to the Royalty Suites Psyrri around 4 or 5pm and had time for a quick walkabout. I managed to take zero pictures of the room, but grabbed a couple looking in either direction from my juliet balcony.

Location was good once I got oriented. On the far northwest side of the Psyrri neighborhood. As central Athens is all pretty walkable I got to see a good amount walking from my spot on the western edge over to the eastern side with Syntagma and such.

I was a little hungry. First time in Greece. So of course I stopped at Ancho Mexican Grill for a burrito and some people watching.

Then strolled around a bit. Weather was not terrific. Cloudy / rainy. Bad luck. Snapped a few pics of places that looked like they'd be pleasant to revisit in some future, longer stay. Finewine Athens was one. And based on the reviews, looks like many people agree it's a nice spot to sit, drink, soak it in.

Just down the street, Brettos also looked nice.

On my way back to the hotel I also snapped a shot of Krasopoulio tou Kokkora, which coincidentally is where my colleague and I had dinner later that night. Turns out it was on the list of our company's recommended restaurants and she had decided that's where we'd be eating. No pics because for whatever reason I wasn't taking pics. But I remember it being the first of a string of very nice meals in Greece.

We covered a lot of ground in a relatively short visit. One aspect that I did get some pictures of was the full historical tour we took of the Acropolis and its surrounding.

I had a big mythology phase in college. Took some class fully dedicated to it and even wrote my own version of a Sophocles style play, if I remember correctly. But that was 30+ years ago and a lot of the info has been pushed out of the brain now. (Though we did enjoy KAOS on Netflix last year.) Still was very interesting to hear the stories of the various gods, goddesses, and their temples. And the theater.

One thing I noted while up there was the view of the metropolitan Athens area, which according to the internet has a population of 3.6 million or so. Sprawling. Reminded me a little bit of the visual effect when you fly into la CDMX. But with one key difference being that everything here appeared to be some variation of white, whereas you get a few more obvious pops of color in Mexico.

Took some obligatory pics of the Parthenon and our tour / team while there.

One benefit of starting this blog is that I'm now taking pictures a bit more mindfully, thinking about what kind of narrative thread might apply later. That concept/connection obviously not in my head back in Athens. Regardless, had a nice little visit and captured some fractions of it for posterity.