Monastiraki

According to the website Monastiraki is the place that most of all represents tradition and tourist sightseeing in Athens at the same time. It's next door to ancient agora, so it was serendipitous that the three places we wanted to see were next to each other. Who knew right? And there's flea market too.
My husband and I and the couple with us all agreed to spend time here, to do some souvenir shopping or even just browsing. We were there on a weekday and it wasn't crowded. Correct that, there wasn't anyone there.
I spotted many of these "dolls". Are they dolls? Help here if you know what these are. But at these prices, 50 euros for a doll? I'm not spending more time on them.
So we just decided to go in and get the typical must-buy souvenirs - postcards [I collect them], tee-shirts and little stuff for give aways.

We passed by a food stall and this friendly proprietor who spoke very little English insisted we try his food. It's good he said. And he smiled a lot and smiled some more while he pushed the menu in our hands while we were still deciding whether to eat or not.
We were hungry so we sat. He was after all pretty convincing. However, when the food came, we ate right away. Too late when I realized that I again forgot to snap food photos. I never learn. That's why I will never be any good at being a food blogger.
We walked some more and found the train station, that's the building here. This is the square where people congregate, ambulant vendors wheel their produce, and tourists like me stop and snap photos.
And after getting our train tickets from the automated machine [we eventually figured out how to get one], we saw the sign that would take us back to the port of Piraeus.

For the very limited time that I had in Athens I was able to check off the three major items on my list: Acropolis, Agora, Monastiraki. I was happy that I wasn't rushed at all.

While researching for the trip, all the travel sites have warned tourists to mind their belongings when taking train in Athens. The trains are notorious for pickpocketers. I have seen why. They are crowded, very crowded. But again it is just common sense. Where ever you are, you must know where you put your cash. And you know to put cash in different pockets or location. You all know that. If you are mindful of your surroundings, I think you have nothing to worry about.

However, we heard from the ship's front desk guy that many from our cruise had been victimized. A guy lost a thousand dollars on the train - a victim of pickpocket. No man in his right mind would carry a thousand dollars exploring a foreign city.

I hoped you enjoyed my Athens leg of the tour. Dennis of Nomadic Pinoy asked if I had overload from all the ancient antiquities and ruins. My answer is not yet. This turned out to be like an archeological tour. You'll see if you tune in for the next series.