Museum of Greek Folk Art

This morning I visited the Musuem of Greek Folk Art, located in the Plaka. This was an extremely interesting museum, with five floors of exhibits of Greek folk costumes, embroideries, jewelry, photos, and wall paintings. Its extensive collection of folk costumes dates back to the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

More folk costumes.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

More costumes.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

More costumes.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

More costumes.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

More folk costumes.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Much of the jewelry worn with the costumes was exquisite. In this display, the jewelry was placed on a photo to show how it was worn.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

This jewelry was also placed on a photo.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Some of the jewelry worn with the folk costumes (costume jewelry?).

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Carnival/masquerade costumes. Masquerades have ancient origins and are held to ensure good health and bountiful crops. There are masquerades of various types that take place at different times all throughout Greece.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Animal costumes are often worn to ward off evil spirits.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

This costume will certainly do the trick.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

This room of wall paintings by the primitivist painter Theophilos Hadzimichali was transported from his home on Lesbos, one of the Greek Islands.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Close–up of the painting.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Another close–up.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

A side wall.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Embroidered material.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Photo of one of the photos on display.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Museum of Greek Folk Art

Vases and plates from the island of Skyros. The vases and plates are used as wall decorations.

Museum of Greek Folk Art

The Plaka

After having a wonderful visit to the Museum of Greek Folk Art, I walked around the Plaka and took some photos of items for sale. Window shopping is great fun in the Plaka. Olives, etc.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Pistachios.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Icon paintings and silver eggs and jewelry.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Dolls.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Gold jewelry.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Statues, etc.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Time for lunch. This sign caught my attention, and since I was going back to my hotel and could take my take–away back there to eat, I only had to spend 1.60 euros for my lunch. You, of course, don’t need to go back to your hotel to buy take–away food, but you really need to be able to sit down somewhere to eat a gyro without dripping it on yourself. The main problem with buying take–away food in Athens is that there are few places where you can sit down to eat it. All seats seem to belong to restaurants, and if you take a seat, you then need to pay restaurant prices for your meal, prices which are very much higher.

The Plaka

The Plaka

Take–away menu.

The Plaka

The Plaka

The pork for my gyro was sliced off that big piece of meat. My gyro was absolutely delicious, actually one of the best meals that I had in Greece.

The Plaka

The Plaka

The famous Greek Salad––tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, Bermuda onion, and olives (sometimes there is a tiny bit of lettuce in it), topped with a large slice of feta cheese, usually, but not here, with herbs sprinkled on top of the cheese, and a light Greek olive oil dressing. I can’t even count the number of Greek salads I had on my trip––numerous, as it was served very often. It was very tasty.

The Plaka

Sardonic Gulf

A tour bus picked me up at my hotel at 2:30 p.m. (G.O. Tours) for a trip to the Sanctuary of Poseidon, south of Athens. We drove along the Sardonic Gulf where there are many beaches. There are both public beaches (free) and semi–public beaches (fee charged). The fees for the semi–public beaches range from 4–6 euros up to 12–15 euros per person. At the fee beaches, you get certain amenities such as beach chairs, umbrellas, changing rooms, showers, and snack bars. You can take a tram from central Athens to these beaches. This is a view of the Sardonic Gulf taken from the bus.

Sardonic Gulf

Sardonic Gulf

We passed several expensive resorts. If you want to live in this resort, you first buy a plot of land and the shell (seen in the photo) of your house (about 300,000 euros). Then the inside of the house is custom–finished for many more euros. There are very strict building codes in Greece because of their earthquakes. The frame is made of steel with concrete covering the steel. These houses are only two stories, but we saw many three–story houses elsewhere in Greece, some with only the top floor finished with the middle floor still awaiting a buyer. Often, the lower floor was left unfinished and used as open garage space.

Sardonic Gulf

Sardonic Gulf

In this photo, you see more flat roofs, left flat so that water can be collected on them (Greece is a dry country). We also saw many houses with solar panels on their roofs.

Sardonic Gulf

Sardonic Gulf

Another view.

Sardonic Gulf

Sardonic Gulf

Church overlooking the gulf.

Sardonic Gulf

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Our destination: The Sanctuary of Poseidon at Cape Sounion seen from our bus.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

The Sanctuary of Poseidon (also called the Temple of Poseidon). It was built in the 5th century B.C. and is the third temple that I visited that makes up the Sacred Triangle of Greek Antiquity (the other two being the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina). This temple was dedicated to Poseidon, god of the sea.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

You had to make your own pathway over these rocks to reach the top of the hill.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Another view of the temple. There are two rows of the 16 remaining Doric columns. The marble is white as there were no traces of iron in the marble that was used. This temple is said to have been designed by the same architect as that of the Hephaisteion (the Thesion) in the Ancient Agora in Athens.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Another view.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

The trip to Cape Sounion is given in the afternoon so that you are given an option of staying longer here in order to view the sunset (then you take a public bus back to Athens). Lord Byron, the poet, was entranced by the view and the sunset here and even carved his name into one of the pillars––not shown to us by our tour guide, but one of my guidebooks said that no one knows exactly where he did this and you are not allowed to wander around the temple to try to find it. However, you can see some carvings of names in this photo of part of the temple.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sanctuary of Poseidon with a view of the Sardonic Gulf. It was difficult to take photos from some angles as the sun was in the way.

Sanctuary of Poseidon

Sardonic Gulf

A chapel in the hills seen on the way back to Athens.

Sardonic Gulf

Sardonic Gulf

A last view of the Sardonic Gulf. I had a very good dinner this night, again at the restaurant near my hotel: Delicious grilled shrimp, Greek salad, bread, and cappuccino––22.10 euros plus tip.

Sardonic Gulf