Looking for a 19th century abandoned mineral railroad bridge

I ignore Google's recommendation about the most convenient route as I follow a more scenic shortcut instead. It doesn't make my car's suspension happy but it definitely fills my eyes with much better views than just tarmac and concrete. Right after the village of Agios Konstantinos I'm already happily driving through an olive grove:

On the hunt for a 6th century Hellenic Christian church

I am not religiously motivated to go hunting for such stuff but if it is as old as they say (and that's 1500 years old!) then that's enough motivation already. Besides, let's be honest, can you regret a route like this?

19th century mining site

WWII fortifications SE of Athens

Abandoned marble quarry

H αβάσταχτη αντιφατικότητα της Αθήνας...

WWII rock "art" sculptured on a hilltop

Winter walk in summer(ish) weather (part 5- final)

I hope you don't have calluses on your feet from walking with me through all these parts but no worries, this is the last one. This time I'm walking eastbound still taking advantage of this brilliant weather:

Winter walk in summer(ish) weather (part 4)

Had enough sea beauty from my previous parts or there's no thing like enough?

As I continue walking West I have to get back on tarmac as the coastal path led me to a dead end:

Winter walk in summer(ish) weather (part 3)

If you follow my posts or are a native one you know how kids (of various ages) like to spray their attitude on every blank space around here, even outside the urban web at coastal areas where you can only find hotels and cottages:

Winter walk in summer(ish) weather (part 2)

I keep walking West by the sea and feels like there's nothing better to do on a day like this:

Winter walk in summer(ish) weather (part 1)

Or in other words the wonders of spending your time over Hellenic soil. You wake up, take your breakfast and start walking by the coastline of the Athenian riviera:

Του Οδυσσέα ωδή στον Άδη

Βλέπω και ξαναβλέπω το βίντεο με το τραγούδι της Suzanne Vega για τη Μαριούπολη:

Underground marble quarry

How exciting that sounds right? Never seen one. Is it too good to be true to be the target of my next URBEX? Let's find out:

Winter has arrived here but my exploratory attempts stay on. Of course I'm speaking about South Greek winter hence things look like this:

DIY front wheel stand

From a Medieval Tower to an Ancient mineral workshop

Let me show you around my neighbourhood

You saw me moving in my previous post, time to show around now.

I start my walk relatively early in the morning and I love those days that you can still see the moon up in the clear blue sky as a bright white dot:

The pros and cons of moving

It's been a while since my last post but the title is a spoiler of why. Now that begs the question - my absence is among the pros or cons? 😄

So, here's my fully loaded bike ready to transfer some of my stuff to my new place:

(One more) Birthday on the road

The title of this post used to be an unthinkable case before I started travelling intensively (mostly on 2 wheels) but for the last decade (plus) it has been rather a normality for me, unless weather sucks big time making it time to stay home. Well, "home" has also become relative as the saddle of my bike frequently feels more like home than my official one but that's another story (and another post maybe).

There couldn't be a longer middle finger to the energy war we all experience than this beyond superb weather that we still have here over Hellenic soil even in the beginning of November, embarrassing the summer days. Simply couldn't get any better under this bright was sunshine so I'm leaving the big city named Athens behind and head West.

West of Athens there's lots of industrial/dodgy areas so I'll spare you that part of the route but as the traffic drops after Mandra I start enjoying the good tarmac and the sweet bends on the E962:

Βοτανικός - Ελληνικό ένας κορμοράνος δρόμος.

Αν θέλετε να βάλετε δύσκολα σε ένα δημοσιογράφο πείτε του να σας βρει μια επένδυση στην Ελλάδα που δε βρήκε απέναντί της την Αριστερά ή την KGB/FSB/MYT ή όλους μαζί.

Nature does it better

Τα καλώδια των τηλεοπτικών κεραιών, εκτός από αηδιαστικά, στα μάτια μου πάντα φαίνονταν σαν ομφάλιος λώρος με τη σαχλαμάρα. Και μπορεί στο παρελθόν ελλείψει εναλλακτικών να υπήρχαν δικαιολογίες για αυτό το ελεεινό δάσος των κεραιών που μετέτρεψε τις ταράτσες των κτιρίων σε οπτικό βασανιστήριο αλλά σήμερα είναι ακόμη περισσότερο αδικαιολόγητο αυτό το χάλι.

Έρχεται όμως η φύση και σου λέει σε άπταιστα Ελληνικά "hold my beer":

Απλές σκέψεις

Σε χτεσινό δημοσίευμα σχετικά με τη συμμορία της Πολυτεχνειούπολης αναφέρονται μεταξύ άλλων τα εξής:

The ancient sites of Athens and their 4 legged fauna (part 4 - final)

It already took 3 parts to cover 3/4 of my walk around the historic center of Athens - betcha you can write books about those ancient sites if you wanna go into details. Speaking of books, fancy a visit to a Roman library?

Let's go:

The ancient sites of Athens and their 4 legged fauna (part 3)

Takes many parts to cover only part of a casual walk around Athenian antiquities - if nothing else we the citizens of this important city are very lucky. Walking down the pedestrian (and most commercial) street Ermou brings me outside the ancient cemetery of Athens named Kerameikos:

The ancient sites of Athens and their 4 legged fauna (part 2)

Continuing my walk in the Ancient Agora of Athens from part 1, here's where I have the luck to spend my time at:

The ancient sites of Athens and their 4 legged fauna (part 1)

Among my favourite hobbies is experiencing my birthplace as a visitor. It makes me more objective about Athens and freshens up my point of view which is an intriguing procedure. Luckily enough, you can just sit and watch what I harvested during my last walk around the historic center, or maybe unlucky enough to not experience this bright sunny Athenian day.

Let's go!

My initial intention is to visit Acropolis (yeah, surprise surprise eh?) the site of sites. This brings me outside the museum of Acropolis early in the morning in my attempt to skip the crowd:

As you can see (it's the building on the left) it doesn't really blend with the rest much older buildings around but that's my only criticism about it as they have done such a wonderful job inside. However, I can't wait to enter Acropolis itself so I pass it and steps later I have my first view to it in the background right in front of Acropolis metro station:

Not close enough yet though. As soon as I reach the pedestrian street that connects several antiquities around the center I take a couple of distant shots:

This next building is so lucky to be decorated like this only because the museum of Acropolis was built next to it:

Of course the most lucky thing about all the guys staying around is that they are THAT close to this:

This might be the most important thing around by far but it's not the only one. Here is Herodion theater, a gem from the Roman period which today is venue for some of the most important gigs in Athens:

Aaaand finally I walk up to the entrance of Acropolis in full excitement to revisit this place for the Nth time...only to see this:

I hate queues like no one else does. Sorry to disappoint you but can't wait for all these guys to enter. However, a local always has a plan B and I certainly do. Follow me;)

You see this?

Empty as it gets right? Extremely rare image as it's a very popular destination but not for early birds like me. It's the Areios Pagos hill, named after the ancient supreme court which used to be there. So, let's see what's on top.

There's two ways to make it to the top, one is the old rocky stairway which today is slippery AF:

And the other is this metal stairway:

The early bird catches the best images so here I am (almost) all alone taking the first picture:

I intentionally left my shadow in it so you have an idea of how low the sun still is. I love the overview of Athens this spot offers so, be my guest:

Sorry for the absence of Acropolis, here is its West side though:

I take a walk on the pedestrian streets around Acropolis on this lovely early morning enjoying the green surrounding area as well:

Lucky residents in these cute houses - view to Acropolis every single day!

And this nice walk right in their front door:

OK, I skipped Acropolis but this doesn't mean I'll leave you without ancient sites.

Fancy visiting the Ancient Agora? Follow me:

As you can already see, nothing like the crowds Acropolis attracts but that's because I'm early enough there. Later this will be flooded too. This area is one of my favourites. You get a good amount of vegetation,

and an even greater amount of ancient Hellenic art:

However, the most impressive part of this site is (IMHO at least), the Temple of Hephaestus, the one you can see in the background in the middle:

Still there's nice bits around,

And important ones like this headless statue of Emperor Adrian:

But I can't wait to walk up to my favourite temple:

And as soon as I manage I adore its beauty complimented by the early morning warm sunlight:

As you can see I struggle to fit its entirety in one image but I hope you literally get the picture. I'd better let images do the talking for this temple which is the most well preserved of its kind:

The view from the temple is gorgeous too. Acropolis included:

Gives you a good overview of the Ancient Agora though the harsh sunlight drying up the night's moisture is not camera friendly.

Bye temple, see you later:

Hello kitty!

That's the first 4 legged sweetheart I meet and discretely picture in order to not spoil her sunbathing. Glad to see that actually she needed some company so walked towards me hence the last catwalk shot.

To be continued...