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Today we both felt a bit travel weary so we took things a bit easier and didn't venture too far afield from our hotel.
In the morning we visited the Jewish Museum which was interesting and quite sobering. The museum's lower levels had displays explaining Jewish alter furnishings and paraphernalia and their significance. tAnother level had displays of clothing, religious rituals, celebrations etc. But several levels were devoted to the Greek Jewish people and their history in this country. One section related to the Shoah, or genocide of WWII. On the eve of WWII 78,000 Jews lived n Greece. By the end of the war and the genocide only 10,000 Jews still lived in Greece. The genocide claimed the lives of about 65,000 Jews. Some survived by fleeing the country, but many were rounded up and sent off to the extermination camps. This is a part of modern Greek history that I was not aware of as I only studied Ancient History at high school. This country certainly has had a turbulent history over the centuries.
We discovered a great vegetarian cafe (this is where you roll your eyes and laugh Dad!) on the way to the Jewish Museum, so on the way back to the hotel we stopped in for some lunch. I was overjoyed because I finally found a place in Athens that served soy cappuccinos!! Bliss!!! I have been having to make do with espressos (yuck!!) to get my coffee hit so this was just a miracle! This cafe felt like an oasis in a desert - finally a menu that I could relate to! They even had gluten free food!! Which in Europe (bread centre of the planet) is a very, very rare thing to find.
In the afternoon we just meandered around some of the flee market areas looking at the shops. There is literally shop after shop trying to sell you the same o similar products, mostly jewellery, clothes, leather shoes and bags. There are some real bargains to be had however - not all of the stuff is junk. I nabbed a really good leather satchel type bag of a very unusual sky blue colour (which I have never seen anywhere before), for €60. Compared to Aussie prices the shopping is really cheap here. I guess the GFC has hit pretty hard here in Greece. Unfortunately my suitcase is only so big and I can only carry so much weight, otherwise I could go crazy buying just handbags and jewellery alone.
Tonight, we are being adventurous and trying a Japanese restaurant just up the street for dinner. You can only handle so much eggplant, feta cheese and spinach in 52 hours!
- comments
Christina Japanese restaurant? How far has the fish had to travel ? that'd be my concern. Mediterranean is poor for marine life! Good luck and I hope you survive ;)