Shimmering Athens

Athens has been part of my imaginary since I was pretty young, firstly, because it was the center of a culture that worshiped beautiful and powerful gods whose names and stories always amazed me, and secondly because of their aesthetics. The way they lived and their love for creating beautiful things always impressed and inspired me, and thinking that it all happened about 2500 years ago makes me think about how society forgot that chapter of history and lived in darkness for so long.
So seeing all the treasures that Athens holds was a dream come true.

I was told by some people that visited Athens before that the roads were dirty and that it was way poorer than Portugal. I have to say that I couldn’t disagree more. The roads are full of fragrant orange trees (they’re in bloom at this time of year). The buildings have beautiful faded colors and all balconies have plenty of plants, which gives the streets a very tropical and exuberant vibe! For me, Athens it is a very original mix of Barcelona and Telaviv. We stayed at a cute neighborhood (Negri Fokionos) with lots of cafes and restaurants filled with locals and their dogs.

Monastiraki Square and all the Monastiraki neighbouhood is a lovely place to start exploring the old part of the city, which is bursting with life. From there, you'll be just a few meters away from Melissinos Art - The Poet Sandal Maker, a 3rd generation Greek sandal maker (open since the 1920’s), whose family has been making sandals for celebrities such as Jackie O, The Beatles, Prince Charles and Sarah Jessica Parker to name only a few. The sandals are made there at their workshop and after you select the model you want and the size that fits you best, they give them final adjustings like beveling the edges of all the leather in the sandals or making small adjustments like tightening or making some straps more loose. The natural colored leather comes from tanneries in Crete and is tanned using traditional methods. There are a lot of shops in Athens selling industrially made copies. They’re cheaper but not a lot compared to Melissinos but there you won't have such a genuine experience! I couldn't have left without my own pair - Maria Callas style!

The first sight we visited was Hadrian's Library, apart from the wonderful ruins we met some beings that made it their home: tortoises! Then there is lovely Plaka the most famous zone for chilling in street level or rooftop taverns, some streets that go up the hill have cafes and restaurants that have adapted their terraces to the stairways - perfect postcard scenario. Oh! And there are vases with plants and flowers everywhere, which makes the whole environment more heavenly alive! There we had some lentils with dried tomatoes and mint at Yiasemi while we drank some white wine and cold coffee (everybody was drinking it everywhere!). Near there's a very sweet and charming neighborhood called Anafiotika. Between the houses of the hills inhabitants there are winding and steep alleyways, full of secrets and sights waiting to be found.

Going up to Mount Lycabettus was a perfect choice for the end of the day. The views are totally overwhelming and we stayed there till dusk, absorbing all the beauty around us. Athens is a huge white city that glimmers day and night but the piéce de resistance in the middle of such eye catching shimmer will always be the Parthenon, that golden star, the ancient above modernity.

As it is said, the early bird gets the worm! Waking up early is far from being something I enjoy , but life has rewarded me several times for my efforts and this was one of those days, in Monastiraki you can find amazing views and guess what? We had a rooftop only for ourselves. We were expecting huge crowds up at the Parthenon and down at the Agora, where the Temple of Hephaestus is located (the best well preserved building from those times, made circa 460BC), but instead, the places were quite peaceful early in the morning (most of the sights open at 8am). I can't find the words to describe how wonderful those buildings are. I've already seen them from afar but being so close to them, transmitted me a lot of calmness. They're as ancient as it gets and all the things they've been through, all the people that passed inside or in front of them had their own story. So imagining the 'city' as it was since 5BC is a thought worth having while you're there. I like to think about the people that lived in those times: what they did, how they looked, where they lived.

We were so lucky to have visited all we wanted before a big downpour! On our way we got ourselves totally soaked in rain but we had some time during lunch to dry up our clothes and hair. As the rain wouldn't stop we decided to visit the Acropolis Museum, which has most of the ancient Athenian artifacts and fragments of buildings and temples that need to be preserved.

Next to the huge columns that are left from the Temple of Olympian Zeus there's the beautiful Panathenaic Stadium and the National Gardens with beautiful blooming flowers. After it all and a walk in the gardens we were starving so we had Loukoumades and luxuriously tasty but humbly made Souvlaki (at Lefteris O Politis).

All the food was so amazing! I’ve always disliked feta cheese but now I’m in love with it! Oh, and the yogurt... We had an amazing one with honey and walnuts at a place pretty near the Souvlaki one called Stani.

Athens was actually a city where we were only going to stop a few hours to catch a plane to Turkey, but I’m glad we stayed long enough to get to know it! I’m absolutely coming back to discover Greece further!

California, I need you again and again!

After Death Velley and Yosemite we went to San Francisco. I wasn't prepared for all the wind and for the 17ºC, and because of that we didn't get to explore it as much as we wanted to because we didn't have warm clothes with us. We drove up and down the beautiful hills and I got to do some shopping in the most amazing thrift and vintage shops. I strongly recommend Decades of Fashion for real vintage. In the same street you'll find a bunch of other vintage and second hand shops. Sadly, Mission Thrift was my second favourite but it closed some months ago. There I found the most amazing ethnic and sequinned skirts as well as cool scarves and tops for really cheap prices.

We went to a very cool curiosity shop called Paxton Gate. And in the end of the day we got to see the amazing Golden Gate, we have a copy of it in Lisbon, so for us it was like 'Ooooh! So this is the real deal!!'. We slept somewhere near Point Reyes National Seashore before going South, so unfortunately we only spent 1 day in San Francisco. We only had a few days left till our flight back to Portugal from LAX, so we went down the Pacific coast freely. Next stop and an absolutely amazing one was Point Reyes itself. What a beautiful and calm place, we felt such peace there and we felt like life was moving slower. Apart from the natural wonders we found little villages with cute shops and art galleries.

As we went up the hills in the direction of the cliffs and the ocean, we were welcomed by a dense fog and fast swirling winds, which made all even more whimsical.

Between the golden fields and the friendly cows we found the bluest shores. Down at the beach, a family of elephant seals was resting, raising the curiosity of two deers that were strolling down the rocks. We couldn't stop staring at those fascinating creatures in the wild.

After we went South, stoping only for curiosity sake at Silicon Valley. We drove to Santa Cruz. We visited the funfair and got to see some really sociable sea lions at the wharf. We heard about a place called Mystery Spot, we usually don't go to these kinds of places but I have to say that if you have kids it's a pretty awesome place to visit. It consists in a house that's totally crooked, located on a hill, so all perspective points are distorted, thus when you think that something is going up it actually goes down and vice-versa (they say it's a gravitational anomaly.. hum...). As I said before, we're not very into guided tours or any situations that include a guide, but it was quiet ok.

After Santa Cruz we went to Monterey, a lovely city with hundreds of sea lions swimming around the fisherman's wharf. We also got to see some cute harbour seals catching some sweet hot sun rays in the morning after.

It's a pity that we don't have a lot of photos from this part of the journey, but I guess we were really soaking up all the beauty from places like Carmel-by-the-sea. Which was the place where we really started feeling the Spanish influences when it comes to architecture, since we visited the Carmel Mission Basilica Museum. After it, Point Lobos was absolutely glorious. There we were able to spot, right from the coastal trails, and really near us, a few dolphins, harbour seals and even blue whales! We didn't want to spend our money in those boat trips where you have like 50/50 chance of seeing a whale. We got really lucky, they were far, but totally visible without binoculars. In the afternoon we passed by San Luis Obispo, a place where my dear Luis had already been and that's where Madonna Inn is located, a super kitsch inn/shop/restaurant, very Disney style.

We spent our evening in Santa Barbara, a place I regret not having seen in daylight. The next day we reached Santa Monica, passing through Malibu, but it looked too crowded when compared to the places we've been the days before. It has the tall buildings so typical of seaside resorts and we only went to a Camera Obscura that's near the beach just for fun and we drove away right after it.

LA was amazing but I felt we didn't have enough time to explore it. We were also tired as it was the end of the trip. After all we drove more than 8000 km (about 5000 miles) in 17 days. We walked around Venice Beach and drove around the city. I did a bit more vintage shopping at Melrose Trading Post flea market (which happens every Sunday), located in Melrose Avenue, which is also where you can find a lot of vintage shops. We drove around Beverly Hills, and the mythic Mullholland Drive. I really wanted to see the Sheats Goldstein house and nearby there was a house with loads of things for people to take as they pleased. I got a lovely hat and some cool books that I brought to Atlas Hostel in Leiria. We went to Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights, a very old neighbourhood with beautiful Victorian-era houses, that was used countless times as set for movies and tv series.

There was still so much to explore. I guess I have to go back and stay longer. I'm sorry the posts about this trip were published so slowly but I've had so much work lately that it was impossible to keep a fast pace. If you have any questions about what to do or places to visit don't be shy. I hope to be able to post as I travel on my next trip (which is in about two days!!!). I'm really excited about it! See you soon!

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