Spent 3 hours at the American Embassy to get a new passport for Bill and listening to everyone elses’ stories on how all their stuff got stolen – in parks, in a hotel restaurant, at rock near Acropolis. We got off easy with just a phone and a passport in the portfolio that was lifted. Lesson learned: hang on to your stuff; fasten zippers on backpacks, stay together and don’t take the Green metro line from the port with luggage. Metro is actually quite safe but not right at the port. And have copies of important papers stored separate from the passport.
One last stroll through the shopping and tourist district Tuesday evening because what else are we going to do on groundhog day. We went back to Cafe Avissinia, the rooftop restaurant in Monistiraki where we had eaten with our friends two weeks earlier. It is located in the plateia where the antique shops are open during the day. It’s a very bohemian quanit place and they had a table for us and we got to watch the moon rise and the sunset with a view of the Parthenon. And the food at this place is excellent. We tried a Macedonian stuffed cabbage dish with a peppery sauce. One last carafe of the local red wine – it is decent at this restaurant. Then time to go back to the hotel and start packing.
We noticed there was a service going on at 9:30pm when we passed by the church in the Monistiraki Square so we popped in. The chanters were wonderful and it was very peaceful to sit for the rest of the service. I’m still not sure whichfeast day it was but we did get blessed with oil. The church is called Panagia Pantanassa. It used to be called the Great Monastary and then later Monistiraki (Little Monsastary) which is where the area got its current name from. When the metro station was built, the church lost most of is monastic buildings and thus its status downgraded to the little monastary. The first church was built in 11th century on this site and the current church probably in the 17th century.
We are ready to go home now. Done eating local foods, done with shopping, sightseeing, taking pictures. Time to get back to work. A month was nice but it is time to leave when we are about to see our second full moon on this trip.