Oh!— Athens, part two.

So, I wandered along Avenu Andreanou looking for Savvas Roof Garden but why look further when the Stoa of Attalos rises before me, and a friendly waiter beckons :-) After a quick discussion about grilled fresh catch, I sat, admired the stoa and went, via iPad, from the waiter's few words to some history.

 Draped in a peplos, your travel-weary feet strapped into swarthy leather sandals, you can imagine engaging in business affairs at this stoa attached to the the agora...modern day: business exchange and "farmers' market."  The stoa, destroyed in 267 a.d. by Germanic barbarians, lay in ruins until the John D. Rockefeller fortune provided funds for rebuilding in the 1950's. 

Timely coincidence: the treaty expanding the Eurozone was signed here in 2003. Will this month bring about its collapse or slide into decline? Athens is busy, cellphone shops are full, outdoor restaurants have few empty tables. Not many visible signs on Athens streets that the eurozone is on shaky ground, but there were plenty of sidewalk beggars (were they always there?) vying for position against graffiti-scrawled classical stone walls. Some revolutionary images but most graffiti was Greek to me.

No ordinary apple for this teacher : Attalos build the stoa in gratitude for the teachings of the Skeptic philosopher, Karneades. Great setting for this retired "kitchen table philosopher," as one professor called me, to dine on fresh fish and grilled veggies with a glass of dry white wine!