Today didn't start very well: I was still coughing merrily but I also managed to pass my viral infection onto my wife. As a result, she was feeling very weak and returned to bed after breakfast.
Left to my own devices, I thought that I would check out the Plaka district, find where the Segway base is, and also go to the parliament building by Syntagma Square in order to film the guards. The first two tasks were very easy: I started off at Monasteriki Square, turned left, walked a bit, turned right and then I was on Adrianou Street, which leads almost all the way to the Segway base. From there, I realised that I was in front of the temple of Zeus, which is only a short walk away from the parliament.
I arrived there just before 11 am, which was serendipitous as at 11 am exactly, there was the 'changing of the guards'. Two guards in grey uniforms were replaced by two in white uniforms; the ceremony is most peculiar and involves what might be termed a dance. Almost all of the crowd was right in front of the guard posts, but I was right to one side: not only did I get an unobstructed view, I also got a very good view of the ceremony.
After this, I walked back the same way that I had come. I was interested in measuring how far it was from the Segway base to our hotel: 1.25 km, which took me about 15 minutes to walk (the streets were crowded). I walked past the Diogenes restaurant which is mentioned at the beginning of 'The little drummer girl' (it's where Charlie meets 'Joseph' to start their Greek trip); there is nothing particularly interesting about this place that I could see.
After resting, my wife felt a bit better and joined me for the Segway tour. She wasn't feeling well enough to walk there, so we hailed a taxi which took us there - at the ridiculously low price (for us) of less than 4 euro.
After waiting a while (I think that one group had to return so that there would be enough Segways for the eight people who turned up to ride), we were each allocated a machine and taught how to use them. People say that once one has learned how to ride a bicycle, one never forgets; I don't think that this is the same for the Segway (we took a Segway tour a few years ago in Florence).
After about ten minutes practice, we set off on our ride. Almost all the area around the Acropolis is pedestrian only, so we didn't have to worry about cars. We embarked on what might be called 'the back road' behind the Acropolis, stopping at a few places. This stretch helped us to get used to riding. From there, we carried on to Mars Hill, which is where we went a few evenings ago. Carrying on, we went to a site which the guide called a hidden gem, as few people seem to know of it. The site includes the old Athenian observatory and the site of what was the first parliament.
From there we carried on moving further away from the Acropolis (from our hotel, this would be moving to the right) until we came to what the guide called the edge of the old city. We then turned right and continued along another pedestrian street until we came to the far end of the flea market. We travelled down the narrow alleys, successfully managing to avoid all the people who were oblivious to the passing of the Segways. By this time, we had developed enough skill riding not to hit anyone or anything.
This path led to Monasteriki Square; instead of carrying on through the market, we went up a side road which allowed us to see more ruins. From there we twisted and turned until we ended up on Adrianou Street; we passed successfully down this street but at the end, disaster struck. Instead of there being a 'lip' which would allow Segways - and wheelchairs - to get onto the pavement, there was a step of several centimetres. A Segway can go up this step if driven fast enough, but my wife didn't hear the warning and so crashed. Fortunately there was no damage done.
After a few minutes resting (one of the other participants also fell off her bike), we carried on with the tour which anyway was almost at its end. After the tour finished, we sat in the shop recovering - it's actually quite tiring riding a Segway as it utilises muscles which we don't normally use. We ending up sitting there for nearly an hour, talking to the staff about Israel - they expressed a desire to visit, especially to Jerusalem. I snapped the photograph on the left in the morning, and looking at it now, I see that the woman pictured was our guide (Ellie?).
We were going to walk home via Adrianou and probably stop at a restaurant to eat something, but after a few minutes my wife starting feeling weak again, so we returned to the main road where (coincidentally) a taxi was waiting for us to take us back to the hotel.
I went out again afterwards as there was a shop which I was looking for which I had missed in the morning: the Bouzouki shop. It turns out that I had walked within about 10 metres of it in the morning: it was one of the first shops on a side road which was along my route.
In the picture, I have tried to mark with an arrow the bouzouki which I bought: it's the white one on the second to bottom row. This is a real instrument, albeit smaller than a professional bouzouki and with a more modest finish. I hope that it will arrive home unbroken - it's packed with bubble wrap at the moment.
Although we have a few hours spare tomorrow before we have to go to the airport, I doubt that we will do anything interesting.
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