Outside The Mall, Athens |
Ancient sculpture in modern Athens..The Acropolis Metro station |
I am sure whenever you hear Athens you think of Acropolis and Hercules. Its not faulty though, we have been programmed to associate Greece with history. Ancient history means Greece and all the Greek Gods associated with various mythological stories. I covered all the parts of quintessential 'Athens' in my previous posts. When we were chalking out our itinerary, I wanted some time for the modern parts of Athens. Like I wanted to visit the malls, stadium, etc etc. The fact that my plan backfired on me is a different story.
While returning from the Odeon part of Acropolis, we were handed over a flyway of an Indian restaurant. I being the wildly experimental eater have no qualms with food. However my pure vegetarian husband has of course reservations. So we decided to have Indian Food. The pamphlet said walking distance from the Acropolis but we were quite clueless after walking ahead. Whenever we asked anyone, they said it is just a 5 minute walk. In the meantime we found a couple of Bangladeshis (at different points). They first assumed us to be Pakistanis (God knows why) but were happy to find me Bengali. Their ancestors had immigrated from Bangladesh and they were now Greek nationals. Strange life is..work compels people to go to various corners of the world.
With the daughter of the owner of Desi tadka |
Moving on, we finally spotted 'Desi tadka' It was run by a Punjabi family with the beautiful daughter of the owner, the hostess. Hubs ordered a deluxe thali which was around 15 euro. I preferred not to order anything as I wanted to have something later on. They were very sweet people and we had a long chat during and after the meal.The family visits Punjab very rarely but the girl spoke good Hindi. Its all about how we try to preserve our cultures. You may forget Hindi while living in the heart of Delhi while you may be fluent even if you have not visited India for years!
The train had art all over it...unlike the Delhi Metro |
Getting into the Metro |
After the hearty meal, we walked to the Acropolis metro station and boarded the metro to 'The Mall', the largest mall of Greece. After a ride of 45 precious minutes, we reached. As soon as we entered, I was taken aback. The stores were closed! Whaaat? A mall closed on Sundays? In India, malls are the busiest on weekends. How can a mall be closed on Sundays? I was totally crestfallen. Our precious time was wasted and we were on the other side of the city. Anyways the food court was open and I had wings from KFC. After that we headed right back. We had the most beautiful part of the city 'Plaka' left to visist. Unfortunately by the time we reached, it was pitch dark. Daylight till quarter to nine in the evening was not enough for us it seems! Anyways it was a huuuggee waste of time in our tight schedule :(
View of the modern Athens from 'The Mall' |
Top: Zara
Hat: Accerorize (Malaysia)
Purse: Aldo
Sunnies: from Bangkok
Skirt: Designed by Mom