Plateia Syntagma

I came to Athens' busiest square only to find out where the X95 bus left for the airport. While I was here, a changing of the guard broke out in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Parliament building.

I had a passing familiarity with the evzone soldiers' fustanella skirts (400 pleats ― one for each year under Turkish rule) and pompommed shoes, but the slow high-kick choreography? No, I was not prepared for this level of Balkan/oriental strangeness. Two and half weeks ago this was the site of a pitched battle as police dodged firebombs during a protest over soaring energy costs. Greek politics are wild. Check out Costa-Gavras' 1969 movie "Z" if you haven't already. It's in French for some reason.

Anyway, if you have an early flight, here's where to catch the bus. (The metro doesn't start running till 5 a.m. and a taxi ride before then will cost $70.) A guy in this kiosk will sell you a ticket for 6E or so. It's in front of the Chinese restaurant at the top of the hill on the right side of the square as you face Parliament.

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Parting observations

The city has a lovely, decaying quality — both doomed and beautiful. I suspect that inheritors of many properties are waiting for just the right offer. Athens is the size of Chicago but in many ways remains a village. As for the rest of Greece? After emerging from bankruptcy, it is back in the EU's good graces. Yet prices are uncomfortably high, tax evasion is real problem, and people continue to arrive on little boats. The capital is an intoxicating place. Waiting for an elevator that is just wide enough for my elbows, I hear Arabic and Indian music leaking from my neighbors' doors. I want so much for them to invite me inside, offer me tea and an uncommon biscuit. Yes, I have an active fantasy life. So many dogs to pet! I home in on the handsomest breed, telling this guy his beagle was well-marked. "Thank you. But he is a little crazy." You don't say! Half the traffic in the city center involves small-displacement motorcycles carrying puffy tourquoise food

Culinary Backstreets tour in Athens

In search of the good stuff, we are to hunt and gather through the capital's buzzing market streets. Guiding us is Carolina Doriti, Athens bureau chief for Culinary Backstreets and author of ”Salt of the Earth ," a cookbook set for release in spring 2023. She writes beautifully in the English language, apparently possessing a kind of mental flypaper for grammar and vocabulary. Imagine growing up in one language and becoming not only proficient in another, but able to develop a refined voice on the page. I guess Nabokov would be the ideal example. A cheery, curious couple from Los Angeles makes four. I could not have picked a better group. Many history lessons and small plates await. The five-and-a-half hour walk features a slight emphasis on so-called "superfoods," but not distractingly so. As we begin our stroll into the Psiri neighborhood, a train trundles past the Museum of the Ancient Agora. Steps away we encounter the Stoa Poikile, where an American team continu

336 hours in Athens

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