A Perfect Day

As the final post of my Athens journey, I thought I would share my day of serendipitous experiences which turned into the most perfect day of my time there.
On Sunday I had no plans other than to walk around Athens some more.  When Karina came in and said she had missed her bus to the beach that morning and was going to hike around Philopappou Park which has monuments to saints scattered throughout the very large area, Brittney and I decided to join her.   On our way, Brittney got coffee so that we could use the bathroom.  It was the most disgusting toilet ever!!  I didn't take a picture because I could only hold my nose for a moment in there.  We continued walking to the park, strolling through the shops on the way.  Karina and I both bought paintings.  We arrived at the park and saw one of the monuments and then down an overgrown path, we saw a sign for a dance theater.  We assumed it was another ruin, but went down to check it out.

After a few minutes, we saw an old fence and a sign to a ticket booth which was empty.   We were just turning around when we heard someone calling us over.  A man was behind the fence with a key to unlock the gate, but couldn't reach the lock from that side.  After Brittney unlocked the gate, he opened the fence and indicated that we could enter for free.  Then he walked off.  Feeling a bit like Alice, we went in and wandered down a stone path.  As we turned a corner, we saw a man dressed in a sheet.  Had we stumbled upon a nude beach?  We were just about to turn around and head back to the more populated area of the park when we saw an open-air theatre.  It was not a ruin and there were plenty of people sitting in the seats, chatting and eating snacks.  On the stage were some Greek masks and a signboard.

We found some seats at the edge of the stands in case it was incomprehensible and boring (we assumed that it would be in Greek and we wanted an easy exit.)  We were so happily surprised.  The entire performance was in English with the exception of singing by the Greek Chorus.  It was a comedy, an argument between Euripides and Aristophanes on the merits of tragedy and comedy and which was more important for humanity.  The dialogue was witty and the acting was fantastic!  To support their arguments, each had the chorus perform a bit of Antigone, Medea, and Lysistrata.  We sat through the whole performance.  At the end, we discovered that it was a dress rehearsal and there would be feedback and questions from members of the audience--obviously people from the theatre community in Athens.  At that point we left and continued to walk up to the viewpoint in the park.  We all agreed that it had been fortuitous that we had stumbled across this and there had not been a fee (since we probably wouldn't have paid to attend a Greek performance) and that this had been a highlight of our times in Athens.  Little did we know that the day was only going to get better...

We decided to stroll through the shops and perhaps find a cafe before heading back to the apartment.  We checked out several menus, but none seemed to be what we wanted.  Brittney and Karina got enormous ice creams from a shop which had a bird cage hanging out the window with ice creams in it.  For some reason this reminded me of A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

A Bad Decision

Finally we wandered into the area of Monastiraki which has antiques and junk shops.  We found a cafe and I went in to check the menu.  While I was standing inside waiting for someone to help me, I noticed that the place seemed full.  A very friendly waiter came over and, when I asked for a table, gestured at all of the diners and said there weren't any.  I must have looked very disappointed because he asked if we were staying to eat.  Normally I wouldn't commit to that without looking at the menu, but the atmosphere in there was obviously affecting me and I recklessly said yes.  He found a table squeezed right in front of the musicians and a post, seated us, and gave us a menu.  

Although the prices were a little higher than what we would normally pay, the dishes were not stereotypical ones, so we ordered food and a carafe of the house wine.  Everything was delicious.  Seated at a table across from us were about 7 women in their 70s who obviously had a tradition of getting together on a Sunday afternoon after church.  They would take turns dancing to the traditional Greek music in the very small space between the tables.  Next to us was a table of 8 or 9 younger women (late 20s) who were also all friends out for an afternoon together.  The rest of the cafe was filled with Greeks and one tourist couple.  We were enjoying watching the dancing and listening to all of the Greeks join in on the songs with the singer when suddenly the Greek circle dance started to play.  2 of the older women grabbed a couple of the younger ones (whom they didn't know) and started to dance together. Then they grabbed my hand and pulled me into the dancing.  Luckily it is the one Greek dance I know.  It was so much fun.  We sat back down when the music stopped; a few songs later, the same thing happened, but this time there were a whole bunch of us (Brittney and Karina had been pulled in as well) and we were dancing in a line through the tables.  We were laughing and trying to keep up and not trip on any of the tables or other diners.  Brittney and I both got emotional because we were thinking that in 40 years or so the younger women would become the older ones and the cycle of traditions would continue.  There was even a 2 year-old there with her family who participated in the line of women dancing.

We stayed until the band stopped sometime around 7 and I thanked the waiter for finding a place for us.  It had been an incredible day, a perfect day of real Athenian life and traditions, and it had been completely unplanned.  Perhaps that is the only way that one gets to enjoy authentic cultural experiences.