Art and Photography Blog

Photos of Food and Music from the May New Orleans Art Mart

This is a great monthly event with multiple art vendors and food vendors, along with some good music. I plan to some day have a booth there fo rmy paitnings. Here are images from this May’s event. 

                                

 

 

 

Photos from the Bayou Boogaloo Festival in Mid-City on Bayou St. John

I was lucky to attend the 6^th annual version of this festival with great food vendors and three stages of wonderful people. Some attendees said it was like what JazzFess used to be. Here are the images. 

                                                                                          



































 

 

Photos of Sunset at Lycabettus Hill, Athens

After exploring ancient Athens (see other posts) I took a cable car to the top of Lycrabettus Hill for sunset. It is the highest hill in Athens with amazing 360 degree views. I watched the sun set over the surrounding mountains and then walked down. Here are the views.

                                 

 

Photos of the New Acropolis Museum

The new Acropolis Museum is very informative with models of how it appeared at different ages. They did two inventive things. You can see through glass floors the old neighborhood underneath the museum site.  There are many layers to this city. The top flow is shaped like the Parthenon and has its size. They have placed the remains of the decorative sculptures in the correct position so you can get a sense of scale and placement. 

               

                             

Photos of Ancient Sites in Athens

This post covers some of the other sties besides the Acropolis (see separate post). They include the Roman Agora (market), the ancient Athens Agora, Hadrian’s Arch, Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Thession. 

                               

Photos of the Acropolis

I saw the Acropolis first thing before it got too hot. Very impressive but they are doing a lot of work on it. When I first saw it in 1966 there was no renovation going on so it was uncovered. But this is essential work so I am glad they are taking care of it. It still remains impressive. The Parthenon is the centerpiece but they are other beautiful buildings and areas. 

                                           

 

Photos of “Modern” Athens

I loved Athens as I stopped here for two nights and a day and a half after spending almost a month on Samos. I titled this post modern Athens as opposed to ancient but I spent most of my time in the older parts of the existing city. It was an unexpected desert at the end of a long time in Samos. The people at my hotel, Acropolis Museum Hotel, are very friendly and want me to tell everyone good things about Athens, as people are afraid to come. I told the receptionist that it reminds me of my hometown New Orleans when people where afraid to go and it needed the tourist revenue. So I said I will write wonderful things on my blog.  My coverage is divided into five posts, this one, the Acropolis, the other ancient areas, the new Acropolis Museum, and sunset from Lycabettus Hill. I also got one of the receptionists to show me where not to go on the map. But this is the case in any large city.  All of the interesting areas are quite safe and full of people at all hours.

The first afternoon I walked around the Plaka neighborhood with a lot of old buildings and had dinner on a rooftop restaurant with wonderful view of Acropolis at sunset. Then went to a roof top garden restaurant with great live music, Stamatopoulos Old Tavern 26, Lissiou Plaka. I decided to come back there the next night for dinner to hear more music.

The next day between exploring the ancient sites, I had a nice lunch of friend calamari and fried eggplant at a sidewalk café. I also saw some markets in the Monastiraki area and the uniformed band below. After watching sunset on Lycabettus Hill (see separate post), I went to my live music restaurant that had a different but equally good band.  They have music every night. I had grilled calamari and zucchini fritters. Another magical night in Athens with sunset on the highest hill and the dinner in roof top garden with live Greek music. I recommend it as a destination city or certainly a place to spend time on the way to or from the Greek islands. 

                                                                           

Photos of South Coast of Samos Island

I have covered sections of these two areas in Samos in other posts but here are scenes from the areas in between. Here is the south coast with equally good beaches. It has a more gentle tone. I spent a quiet afternoon at one of them sitting under the tree in the large picture and reading. The only time I actually read while I was on Samos. There were too many other things to do. Next I will do a five part series on Athens. 

                
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Photos of North Coast of Samos Island

I have covered sections of these two areas in other posts but here are scenes from the areas in between. First, I will start with the North coast where the main road goes along with sea for much of its length. It has great beaches that are often windy and wind surfing championships are held here. On my last afternoon in Samos I had lunch at Avlakia with some friends and you can see it in the last pictures.

                                               

   

Photos of Karlovasi, Samos Island

Karlovasi has the university and so has a more student orientation. It is also embedded in the more mountainous western part of the island. I spent much more time here as George Mattea and his friends live in this area. I walked around the old town there with George and his girl friend Mytro. Myrto said they build the old town up on the hillside out of sight of the sea so pirates could not see them. The pirates were mostly from Egypt. When a pirate ship was sighted the watches who light fires on the hilltops and then others would do the same warning the villages. The era of the pirates was about 1600 – 1800. We walked from the old town down to the port and had coffee at the port.