Sunday in Athens was an extremely quiet and peaceful affair this weekend as many people had left the city for the long weekend. Nevertheless, the people remaining behind were out and about and early in the morning were doing the regulation buying of the Sunday newspapers. This is an amazing experience in Greece as there are enormous numbers of newspapers, magazines, periodicals and books that are offered for sale daily, but on Sunday there is the added bonus of the “free” offers that are included with the publication. These range from CDs and DVDs, to magazines, to books, cosmetics, sunglasses, clothing, bags, and whatever else you may imagine. It is interesting to note that many newspapers come in two forms, the “no-frills” cheaper version (newspaper alone or with a basic TV guide magazine included) for about one euro or so and the same newspaper with the added goodies (for example, I bought a newspaper with a CD, a DVD and a special interest holiday magazine) for 4.50 euros. Both the CD and DVD were commercial quality and relatively recent (i.e. not new releases, but certainly within the last 10 years).
One can have great fun in newsstands and kiosks that sell these publications and it is mind-boggling to work one’s way through the various offers and finally decide on one’s purchase. Some are not worth it, but others are a great way of getting some great music or films relatively cheaply. We made our way to Monastiraki and had a last forage in the second-hand bookstores. On Sunday, there is a trash and treasure market held here and this is a good place to wander in and there is no predicting what one may find here and one may pick up a great bargain, as we did! My discovery was a wonderful edition of the Bible in Greek, in large format and copiously illustrated with Gustave Doré’s full page etchings on every second page, in remarkably good condition for the paltry sum of 2.50 euros! The down side was it weighed about 4 kilos, but I was not leaving this treasure behind.
After walking around for several hours, making a few more purchases, we finally flopped down on the seats of a café and had much needed refreshment. It was interesting to watch the people (mainly tourists) going back and forth and to enjoy the glorious weather, knowing that in 48 hours we would be braving the elements of a Melbourne winter once again. We walked back to our hotel to deposit our treasures, freshen up and rest a little before heading off to our friends’ house in Aigaleo, where we had been invited for the afternoon and to dinner.
The afternoon was very pleasant and we spent it chatting and then playing cards. The highlight of the afternoon was me excusing myself to go to the bathroom and locking myself there because the key snapped the lock. This was an interesting state of affairs as the only exit from the windowless room was a small (50 cm x 35 cm) skylight that led to an attic above the bathroom through a light well that went up to the roof almost two metres above. We firstly tried to get the door open on both sides by unscrewing the door handle (unsuccessfully). Then by using a similar key from the outside (to no avail). And finally, me climbing up (very athletic!) through the skylight (a tight squeeze) onto the attic through the light well. When I climbed down from the attic and outside the bathroom, I was able to use the key that George had tried to open the door with and successfully unlock the door.
With that excitement over and the keys being banished from the bathroom door forever (a simple latch on the inside would ensure privacy) we had a delightful dinner on their terrace overlooking their lush back garden. It was soon time to make our goodbyes and such times are always sad, but we did promise to try and return to visit them soon. We took a taxi to our hotel and were surprised at the low fare (about 3.50 euros), but this was due to light traffic and a very direct route taken by the taxi driver. We had a good night’s sleep knowing that tomorrow was going to be a long and busy day of unrelenting travel.
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