My Trip to Athens

I am just back from a pilgrimage to Athens, the city of Athena, Socrates, and Zeno.

Last time I visited, in 1996, I was a mere seventeen, and just out of school. So this time, I saw it with very different eyes—showing that we see not only with our eyes but also with our mind.

The ancient agora, the cradle of Western civilization. Back in the day, there were many more shops and stalls, and fewer trees.

Athens too has changed: many of the museums I visited, such as the Acropolis Museum, had not even been built. I spent two days in the amazing National Archaeological Museum, and I also recommend the much quieter Benaki Museum and Museum of Cycladic Art. In the Museum of Greek Technology, I was reminded that Plato, whom we do not normally think of as an inventor, designed the world’s first alarm clock. It was as tall as a man, and hydraulically operated. Hydraulics was also the basis of the world’s first robot, the automatic servant of Philon, designed to… serve wine.

A rare mature Augustus in the National Archaeological Museum. Augustus was quite vain, and would always have himself represented as young and handsome.

In the evenings, I turned to the city’s wine bars. Greek wine too has come a long way. Back in 1996, it was mostly about the horrid pine-infused Retsina—which is now nowhere to be seen. At Vintage Wine Bar, where they have hundreds of wines by the glass, I was so impressed by the mineral wines of Santorini that I have already booked a trip for next spring!