Marc's Public Blog

Now that this is out of the way, I'll summarize what I've read and seen, partially to help others, as well as encourage someone who actually knows this stuff inside and out, to tell me if I'm wrong, why, and show me supporting evidence like clear FDA regulations and how they apply to what I'm going to explain below. I will however say right now that I will only consider "you're wrong" opinions with clear supporting evidence in a well written reply with references and ignore you if you say "I know this stuff, but I don't have time to write the details as to why I'm right and you're wrong".

Summary:

So there you go, this is why you can buy and use a 1.5 ATA+ soft chamber in the US, and why many resellers or US manufacturers seem to keep repeating it's not legal, when it totally seems to be for now. I'll now repeat that if somehow it were to be not super legal for US resellers to sell those chambers, as a buyer, do you really care as long as you can buy the chamber you want and need? Obviously my own answer is no :) In Canada, some users have found that they cannot get a soft chamber shipped to their home, but they can get one sent to the US and drive it across the border themselves. That's more of a pain obviously.

I have seen other posts talking about non FDA standards related to construction, fire risk, maybe electrical norms (like anything sold in US is supposed to be UL certified). I am certain those chinese made chambers were not tested to meet each and every of those non medical, non FDA certifications, but apparently it's not against the law to sell, buy, or use them either, or if it is, no one seems to care or enforce that, so you can decide if you care yourself. I'll point out that a lot of stuff sold today on amazon or elsewhere also does not meet some of those other regulations either, or maybe they do or even exceed them, but they never paid to get certified to the US test/norm.

The one thing you should hopefully care about is "is that soft chamber going to burst?", which would be a catastrophic failure that can cause injury and potentially really damage your ears if it happens at the wrong time at high pressure. This is where you have to decide how much you trust each product. Whether it's US made or not, does not make me feel that much better, and honestly a lot of "US made" stuff is really made in china anyway, just saying.
The truth is that some Chinese manufacturers do care to make properly engineered and tested stuff, it's the same than when I was sourcing computer and electronic hardware from there, some was utter crap and would fail because it was cheap. Others were well made and tested to be durable by companies that did rigorous engineering and testing, using chinese testing norms that were equivalent or even superior to the US ones.
The tricky part is to find which chinese companies you can trust, and which ones you should not. I used my experience in dealing with those vendors and knowing what questions to ask to get a good feel for my own purchase. Whether you want to trust my experience, research and feel, that's entirely up to you. I'm sharing the work I've done and the points to consider, so you can redo that work for yourself if you wish, but don't simply assume that if you're buying form a US manufacturer, everything will automatically be ok. There are enough clear examples of the opposite. I would say that it's true that if you get a 1.3 ATA only chamber, it's easier to meet those specs and limit the risks, but you're also settling for what I consider a lesser chamber compared to a 1.5 to 2.0 ATA capable chamber. It's your call at this point.

There are US made 1.3 ATA chambers that have failed catastrophically (exploded). There have been fires in hard chambers with people dying because they couldn't get out, and the operator was not there to watch them and let them out. I have heard from a practitioner I worked with, of 1.45ATA soft chambers that failed slowly (leakage in seams or zippers that prevented reaching full pressure), but nothing catastrophic. I have seen 2 vendors of $8000 2.0 ATA chambers on meubon that sold chambers with no reviews and did not fill me with confidence (they are listed in my previous blog linked below). Those 2 Meubon listed chambers made me nervous enough that I would not use them and go in them even if I got them for free.

So applying all of the above, this is what I did to get my own chamber:

This is the Olive 2.0 chamber I got for myself:

For the rest, please read my previous blog on chambers and how I compared them. I also list 3 1.5 ATA only chambers you can pick from and that I would reasonably trust. The price is similar enough though that the only reason I would not buy the Olive 2.0 ATA chamber is if you don't like the car seat belt straps you need to use in addition to the zippers and that are needed for extra structural integrity. You can use them as a single user without help, but they add I would say 20 to 30 seconds of work getting in and out of the chamber without help.
I will repeat this point because it's important: in engineering it's always better if you can to get a product that will exceed your requirements so that there is more of a design buffer between your use and the engineering limits. In my own use, I may end up using my 2.0 ATA Olive chamber at 1.7 ATA, haven't full decided yet.

Here is the previous blog: Learning about HBOT/Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy I was referring to. I would also repeat from that previous blog that aside from the actual chamber safety, you should very much care that the concentrator and compressor can deliver at least 7lpm of 95% O2 at your target pressure. I will say right now that too many products (even some 1.3 ATA chambers when OMG, it's not hard to deliver at that low pressure) fail to deliver the right amount of airflow, or if they give you the airflow, they fails to deliver enough O2 percentage at that airflow level.

So there you go, hope this all helps, good luck on your selection and purchase.

After writing this, I did find two resources people cite as problematic:

So, this is what I got in the end:

To all the armchair HBOT experts on FB (including those who have worked in facilities with hard chambers), and keep telling everyone that only hard chambers can be trusted, I wish they would open up to the present a little bit and recognize that one can make 2.0 soft chambers that worsk fine for a much cheaper price than a hard chamber.
Obviously hard chambers are more polished and easier to get in and out of, so if many is no issue, go ahead and get one, but if you'd like to get 2.0ATA for $10k or less, Olive is the way to go.

Important points with this chamber:

Now that you know all this, you can skip the shortcomings I had to deal with, and are now all fixed for me. I'm also being honest with what I experienced to point out that I got a great deal money-wise, but it did involve a bit of time to iron everything out. The good news is that you can skip all of these issues now as the vendor is aware of them (I Was one of the first buyers).

Let's look at pictures. This is how it arrived from China, in 2 boxes, the smaller one had the soft chamber and parts, and the bigger heavy box with the oxygen concentrator and compressor:

not something you can lift on your own

I managed to figure out how to open it and got the heavy concentrator that has wheels

what it looks like

plus parts. The manual didn't really say hwo to assemble it, but it was reasonably obvious

first job was to use the compressor hose to inflate the two stands

all done

the chamber does look like a mess with the seat belt mesh

thankfully all parts had different size hoses or thread so it was not possible to get things wrong

taking shape

a small remote that was meant for some other device that only allows on/off functionality

building the chamber the first time was still a bit of trial and error, especially with the belts and hoses

first pressure test at 1.7 ATA

As explained above, the chamber without the frame takes a long time to inflate, and it very cumbersome to zip up from inside, so after telling Olive "why on earth did you not sell me the frame", I got it and installed it. It also came with limited instructions, and I found it was best to half built it outside and then then bring it in side for final assembly:

not super easy to put together, but doable

connecting the bars was 'fun'

and now the chamber doesn't collapse to the ground when it's empty

it looks a bit flimsy, but does the job

once the chamber is inflated, the frame does not matter anyway

This video shows the pressure going down after I opened the release valve inside the chamber, and how you can open it and get out, on your own:

How long does it take to inflate?

takes around 5mn to get to chamber fully inflated and pressure going up

and another 5mn or so to get to 1.7ATA

Then, the next problem was fixing heat:

unsurprisingly, the compressed air is very warm (it's celcius of course)

had to buy this peltier cooler, it helped

it was ok at start

but by the end, it was starting to get warm

problems with it creating water, though

due to a bug in this relay to release water

and yeah, the first cooler was only so good, 32C output was still warm

Because the first cooler didn't cool enough for me, I waited until Olive had a new cooler (that works more like a fridge) and it was more seriously built without exposed high voltage and easy risk of shorting and smaller risk of fires (the peltier one was a bit of a joke safety-wise). Sadly, it still din't come with anything to route the water that would just fall on the floor, so I had to get my own tubing and a bottle to capture that:

the older cooler is smaller and in the back

So, I did use the chamber at 2.0 ATA, but in the end I elected to use it at 1.7 ATA so that I don't have to worry about oxygen toxicity, and as a middle ground between higher pressure treatment and lower pressure ones (some actually work better with slightly lower pressures). I did check that the Olive compressor did a good job doing the right pressure and O2 concentration:

note 95% at 10lpm, while a Hugo test I saw showed numbers that were terrible

I confirmed it did deliver around 10lpm inside the chamber

Now the last bit I need to mention is nose canulas are worthless for giving you 100% O2, and most masks are also crap as they let outside air in. I recommend you get this kind of mask with a bag so that the bag fills up when you're not breathing and you get a real full breath of O2 when you're actually breathing:

So there you go, this is what the chamber really looks like and how it works. Despite Olive not selling me everything I needed when I first got it, and having to order in pieces, I'm very happy with the end result, and I'm still convinced it's the only soft chamber that can do 2.0ATA safetly for that price.

How do you get one?

While I'm at it, Olive did not provide me any discounts or payment for this blog. They did however help me timely when I was buying and working through the problems I mentioned above, so I was satisfied with their customer support, but if you work with a local distributor, you will be better taken care of and avoid the trial and error I went through.

In the last years, a lot of people are now camping by EDC, which helps the traffic somewhat:

Great to start with this reminder:

yes to plur and good vibes!

This is what the craziness looks during the day:

but of course that's nothing from the magic at night:

So, let's go back and look around:

The Grounds:

The VIP areas were cool:

this rain/water maze was definitely fun

nice raised area by Kinetic Fields

Passport is also a nice area as always and good vantage point of the craziness:

great views from there

Of course you'll also find random stuff like video games:

Downtown EDC was moved, but the square area in the middle is lots of fun:

kandi casino was awesome again

More nice areas:

And more:

Plenty of vendors. Most were fine, but I wasn't a huge fan of the vaping one looking to hook more people to nicotine, and I don't overly mind the pot vendor(s) since honestly at least that provides some benefits to some and isn't nearly as addictive:

So many rides again, too bad the lines were so long...

yes, you can get help :)

As always, a good way to see EDC, is from higher up, and the ferris wheels are the best way to do it:

Fireworks and Drones

Fireworks video here:

The People

TFSF Group picture:

Of course, running into friends is a good part of the fun:

and fun totems, 'this is the way'

I've made some great friends from EDC/Dreamstate shows, some are engineers like me :)

Hi Ulrich! :)

TFSF Crew

Kandi is serious business :)

More TFSF Crew

The Insomniac entertainers were fantastic as always:

check out the costumes!

Pixie again! Much love.

And it was so much fun to be able to meet favorite DJs as always:

Got to see Daxson 4 times in 2 weeks :)

haha, normally I clean my lens better than this :)

Kepik, the new 7 lions!

But anyway, let's get on with the festival:

Day #1

interesting new church design for Kinetic Fields

Quantum Valley was again fantastic this year

Paul did a nice set this year

seeing GO again just a few days after Rong/Malta

Video Summary:

Day #2

Great to see Miyuki rise all the way to EDC, congrats!

seeing sunset is always lovely

Video Summary:

Day #3

Made sure not to miss Seven Lions at Circuit Grounds, epic set!

Then Cosmic Meadows:

And finished the night all the way to sunrise at Quantum Valley:

Stayed mostly until the end, always nice to see sunrise on the way out:

Video Summary:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

EDC Vegas is probably the most impressive EDM Night Festival in the world. Tomorrowland is a rival but it's not a night festival as more challenges I'm not as much a fan of (never mind of course the distance for me or the fact that you mostly can't buy tomorrowland tickets, while you can for EDC).

Like previous times:

Conclusion/Other thoughts

Thoughts about this year:

Thank you to everyone at the insomniac team, all the performers, all the volunteers who put so much effort into making so many details right all over the place, with the great result that we all got to enjoy..

So long, see you next time!

So long, my dreamstate girlfriends :)

This year, we got to get in via the normal area15 entrance, which is prettier and more fun:

cool entrance

This year had a great lineup, and some very interesting B2Bs:

Great to see Daxson again just a few days after just a few days in Malta

Miyuki!

lovely to see thorgodofbass again

good crowd

Rinaly!

:)

Then we had cool B2Bs:

Then the night ended with a unique B2B between Blastoyz and Infected Mushroom, I have most of the set recorded below:

And here is a video summary of the rest of the night:

Good night and pre-party for EDC 2024!

Flew over Chinee Peak, a ski resort I didn't know

unusal straight in approach to LAS with low pass over the strip

LAS was super busy, that was the one time that taking uber/lyft was not a better idea than a cab

Not a lot of time in Vegas because EDC is all encompassing, but a few pictures nonetheless including a quick walk through Wynn:

I wish I could have seen that new show, but it didn't run the night I could have gone and no matinees

Mclaren dealership inside

As a tradition of doing at least one buffet, did the Wynn:

Rong Events is not new at festivals, but it was their first time organizing one in Malta, and it went really well. I think the best way you can summarize the festival is that it's a Malta version of Unkonscious in Thailand:

The one slight downside of both festivals is it's a bit harder to figure out where to stay or whether to change hotels. In the case of Unkonscious, you had to move at least once (from Pattaya to Bangkok). In the case of Rong Open Air Festival Malta, things were close enough that you could stay anywhere and use bolt to get around within 20 to 30mn at most, not bad. The festival did come with a hotel package (Bora Bora hotel), but in hindsight it was probably not the best choice as most things happened at Uno, and I found the $150 "booking" fee in the package (added to the hotel price) a bit steeper than necessary.

Malta Day 1, Thursday: Bora Bora Hotel Pool Party: 15:00 to 22:00

reorder closed that evening at 22:00

Video Summary of Day 1:

Malta Day 2, Friday: Uno Malta: 16:00 to 04:00

the bars were well equipped

Our new swiss festival lover friends

Daxson threw a great set

finally got to see Alex Morph play again

and finally got to take this picture with him with an outfit I had gotten ready years ago

Always nice to see Lange, I've listened to him since the ASOT 100 days

Paul Van Dyk went next

and he graciously met the crowd after his set

Rob and Anna both from Dublin, got re-united after some 20 years :)

last time I saw Dave Pearse was 20 years ago in Ibiza

Scott Project ended the night

Video Summary of Day 2:

Malta Day 3, Saturday: Cafe Del Mar

surviving in the sun :)

our lovely new swiss friends

Woohoo, we got 2 more sets from Ruben

don't laugh, so many pictures, so many festivals, I have to keep up real time, or there is no way I can keep doing these reports before it's 3 months later and no one cares ;) I actually finished writing this festival report in the shuttles to/from EDC Vegas 4 days later ;)

And finally came the magical time of sunset

magical!

and to finsh the day party, a few bonus fireworks!

Malta Day 3, Saturday Part 2: Uno Malta

Craig Connelly was next:

Uno had 2 stages, and easy to stage hop. Metta & Glyde were on stage 2:

And then, got so lucky to get another performance of gouryella, I was in heaven:

I wasn't prepared for it, so the first 10mn were hand recorded, and then I managed to do this for the last 50mn

the visuals are always the fun part for me

So, I really really love Gouryella and recorded the whole set (shaking goes away after 10mn):

Next, was key4050, John O Callaghan and Bryan Kearney:

Maria Healy on stage 2:

and the night went on until 04:00, but for me it was time for a bit of sleep :)

Video Summary of Day 3:

Malta Day 4, Sunday: Boat Party

Anselli opened

Markus Schulz played most of the trip, nice set

nice views along the way

Liam Wilson took us home after Markus

Video Summary of Day 4 Boat Party:

Malta Day 4, Sunday Part 2: Uno Day Party

hi Craig!

Sander Van Doorn

To be honest, it got nicer as things got cooler, and at 22:00 the rest of Uno opened for the followup night party.

Malta Day 4, Sunday Part 3: Uno Night Party

Christina Novelli took over after that for a banging set:

she took time to meet many fans afterwards

FactorB, OMG, what a set. I wasn't ready for it, didn't get to record it outside of a few clips, not sure it was recorded, but pure joy it was:

he also went to meet the crowd afterwards

Then Aly and Fila did a lovely melody and dreamy set:

he also nicely met his fans afterwards

Giuseppe Ottaviani took over:

And I had just missed Maddix in SF because I had alrady gone to Europe but got to see his set in Malta:

And Will Atkinson closed the night. I was only able to stay for half his set due to having to run to the airport and catch the flight back home. As always, he was full of energy:

And boy, just like that, it was over. It went by so fast, but at the same time I was *sooo* exhausted at the end, of course with a huge smile on my face. Barely made it to the 2 planes home, and caught up on sleep there.

Video Summary of Day 4:

Pricing

merch was not cheap

alcohol was 'festival priced' :), water half the price of lumi

food was mostly ok, only downside is you couldn't buy any food anywhere without wristband money

How about the festival price? $188 for 4 days and all the parties (not including boat party) was honestly a very good price. The bora bora hotel package was overpriced in my opinion though. $250/night for a room here that ultimately wasn't well located for most parties except the first day, was not the best in hindsight, and I was not impressed by the additional $103 booking fee for the hotel only, which was totally non refundable or changeable (I booked the package early trusting that the hotel was the place to be, and when I realized later that not so much, I was told I was stuck with that package and no hotel refunds were possible, not even after losing the booking fee). That is honestly the only thing I regret getting, but the festival itself was super well priced, definitely fantastic value.

General Admission Festival Tickets 2024 - GA | Second Release:          $188.28  ×2
BORA BORA HOTEL - Superior Triple Balcony Urban View May 8 - 13 2024: $1,035.52
Subtotal                                                              $1,412.08
General Admission | Second Release - Booking Fee	                 $18.82
Superior Triple Balcony Urban View - Booking Fee	                $103.55
General Admission | Second Release - Booking Fee                         $18.82
Total:                                                                $1,553.27

Other Thoughts

Parting thoughts:

Let's talk about security. The security staff was not a bunch of untrained bar bouncers. They looked like commando style military and I'm not saying this in a bad way. They looked highly trained and did a great job looking over the event, making sure people were safe and exercising restraint if they had to get involved. They looked friendly and were always helpful. That was about as good as I've ever seen anywhere. As a bonus, they didn't have pointless over the top searches focussed on stealing your sunscreen or beauty products, or tampons (yes, you probably know what other festival I'm referring to)

If you think this is a small deal, it's not. Security is a huge part of whether festivals are both safe and enjoyable. Achieving both at the same time is no small feat and the Malta team used by Rong was stellar. Thank you!

Pictures and Videos

How does it compare with other festivals?

Should you go? Would I go Back?

And if Alessandra Roncone came, you know it's a good party :)

Alessandra!

Left around 03:35 (25mn before the end), went back to Bora Bora to pick up luggage (hotel totally in the wrong direction for airport, as stated it was a mistake to stay there), drove back down to airport and arrived around 04:30 for a 05:55 flight out. Lufthansa as always managed to be terrible and after refusing to assign us seats on the phone for 2 days, also had a 48H computer outage (yes really) that prevented online checking, so we had no seats and got the last 2 random middle seats on the plane while being told we should be lucky to have seats at all because the plane was oversold again (same deal as flyoug out of Cluj after Untold last year). F you Lufthansa, this repeated incompetence and total lack of respect for the customer is unacceptable (they couldn't care less if we missed our connecting flight to SFO after that or that we could at least get a window seat to lay our head and attempt to sleep a bit until the longer flight FRA-SFO leaving at noon, that one with Condor). Ironically while Condor is kind of a new long haul Ryanair, they were much better than Lufthansa on this trip...

Thank you all of you I met there, came to say hi, all the DJs, and the organizers. You made this time fantastic, thank you!

Notes below:

Thoughts about Greece:

All in all, definitely recommended trip and Santorini was an unexpected highlight:

Boat arrived quite late (close to midnight), it was nice inside and fairly empty:

the boat being chronically late, opens its doors while still arriving in port to save a few minutes

better late than never...

I'll skip the terrible experience with the rental car dropoff at the boat, and the village idiot we ended up being stuck with and that wasted an entire hour making himself feel important, and eventually arrived quite late at the beautiful hotel with fantastic views:

The next morning, after some needed rest, enjoyed a great breakfast with view:

and then it was time to drive around the island to see the many viewpoints:

still a volcanic island

A lot of history on this island, all the way to potentially being the lost island of Atlantis (the part of it that ended up being swallowed by water after a volcanic eruption)

this used to be an entire crater filled with water

how things changed

One level down, there are actual leftovers of a city:

this is one of the most famous paintings

From there, I went to downtown Fira to enjoy some tourist stuff:

Lots of viewpoints on the road:

cable car from old town

The heart of santorini is a nice hole in a rock:

Next was another archeological site, interesting ruins:

Plenty of cats in Santorini too:

Then continued the island tour:

From there, drove up to ancient thera, another archeological site, which unfortunately was closed early and closed the next day. It's supposed to not be essential, but kind of sucks to get all the way there, just to be turned back at the gate. At least there were good views form the top:

So instead, I opted to visit a couple of wineries. Santorini is very arid, but somehow they still have a tradition of making wine:

The first winery also had an art gallery:

The 2nd winery had a fantastic wine museum that was beyond expectations, literally one of the best such museums in the world:

Then went to the museum:

Cool to see what happened to Santorini:

After that, time to grab dinner and enjoy the view from the hotel and sunset:

Fun to compare with the next morning:

For the 2nd day, I picked a boat tour recommended by the hotel, which ended up being the wrong choice. I did want to see the craters and actually "do stuff" like get off the boat and be on islands, however this boat did not offer that, and felt like mostly a waste of time, even if it did offer some views:

intersting colors on the rocks

other people in the boat went to bathe, but water was kind of cold and I don't really go in the water unless it's to snorkel or dive :)

they offered a nice lunch

After the boat tour that burnt most of the day, there was a bit of time to drive around:

While I thought it would be a tourist trap, in the end Lost Atlantis Experience was actually an interesting interactive museum that makes plenty of fair points that the Lost City of Atlantis, if it existed, may very well have been in Santorini as a good portion of it did sink under water level due to volcanic activity:

This video does a good job explaining what happened to the island:

From there, it was time to drive to the north side by Oia to visit this charming little town where many go see the sunset. The route there was interesting:

Finally, Oia:

then an early morning flight the next day to fly to Malta. Santorini was a beautiful island, great to have seen it.

The Island is still an active archeologic site, it's a bit amazing that they let us walk around unsupervised, walking on the actual site, and probably causing some light damage to it:

the famous Delos lions

Friendly cats were an unexpected part of the attraction:

I might have had a few snacks for them :)

After about 2h on the island, it was time to get back, the boat was waiting for me :)

not bad for a boat, but not fast compared to a plane.

The first stop was another island, further delaying the already late arrival:

finally, 1H late....

After arriving, picked up a higher power quad (thankfully, the cheaper lower power ones would have been totally useless on that hilly island):

A few museums to visit:

wonderful old mosaics left over

Mykonos has lots of friendly cats:

And of course Mykonos is well known for its pretty painted houses and churches, as well as windmills:

The old town was fun to walk through, lots of small streets:

Then, due to timing not lining up, time to burn before the late boat to Delos:

absolutely overpriced dessert, not bad, but sold for 27 times its price of 1E

Eventually it was time for the late boat to Delos with a good guide who actually used to be part of the team working on the escavations (clickme):

After the tour, went back to the very nice hotel for the night:

The 2nd day was a toss, either take an early-ish ferry around noon, or go around the island. In hindsight, going around the island wasn't that interesting and the noon-ish boat was probably 1H late anyway, so it would have been possible to go around for a while and then take the boat to Santorini. Taking the later boat to Santorini was a mistake, itwas very late and got there past midnight.

found a nice bakery

Then had some time to burn for late lunch and then time to check out a few beaches, although they were windy:

rode by the airport I never used and maybe should have

And after the ride, went to the boat, and waited for it over 1H since it was late like every day...

Initially going to Delphi didn't seem like a fun drive, just going to Olympia was already a fair trek, but I didn't originally factor it as a day trip from Athens with a tour bus (to avoid the 4H+ of driving). But due to limited time, I picked from getyourguide, which offered 2 tours, one that stopped 2H at Arachova and said pretty much nothing about what Arachova was or why it was a good idea to stop there.
As a result of the very poor getyourguide site (and you had one job), I picked what they called the "most popular" day trip which was indeed to Delphi only. Once on the trip, driving through Arachova and realizing how beautiful it was and why it was on the other tour that I didn't pick because I had no idea, now I had deep regret. Thankfully I was able to work something out to rescue to the day, do both Delphi and Arachova (With 2H in Arachova), and still catch the bus back to Athens.

Let's start with Delphi, though. It was another one of those pretty impressive places back in the day, of which there is only so much left today, so you have to read the descriptions and use your imagination along with the audioguide:

found a beautiful and probably poisonous spider on the way ;)

For comparison, thi is what the site used to look like back in the day:

The highlight was the top forum that is still in good shape:

From there, the rest higher up was apparently closed, but I managed to miss that and went to the top:

the top arena was not well maintained and probably hadn't been for a while

From there, I felt I saw all that could be seen, so I went to check out the museum which had a decent collection:

Once done with the museum, took a cab to nearby beautiful Arachova:

super colorful church

Lots of yummy and cheap shopping:

Cute little museum inside town:

The town was full of friendly cats

and after about 2H in town, walked to the bus pickup area, for the IG crowd ;)

and then, longish ride back to Athens, but so happy I didn't have to drive :)

storing black powder and ammunition there during the war

turned out to be a big mistake and responsible for most of the damage seen today

We was available of the collection, though, was first rate:

found lots of cats all around athens, many on this site, and they were friendly

more cats :)

christian church added later

Good views from the site, of course:

parthenon doesn't look nealy as good

The museum was good:

this was actually a sensus counter for voting

The temple was in pretty good shape:

Also found that athens had wild tortoises roaming around

took the less busy south entrance, got in a few mimutes

While expectations were probably higher than they should have been, overall the place had suffered too much damage over the years and looked a bit disappointing to me. The fact that it used to house a church for a while, and was also used a munition depot and that a lucky shot during a war, ignitied and exploded all the black powder, causing a huge explosion, did not help. I was disappointd that after 40 years of renovations, it still looked like mostly pile of rubble, but was told later that there is apparently some rule that says you can only add 30% of missing materials, beyond that you're supposed to leave things alone. This is not my field, but I'd have been happy to seen it rebuilt, even if other material, to get a better feel for it. Of course the fact that the british stole half of what was left of the 2 triangle roofs and are keeping it in the british museum, did not help.

what is left of the decorations, the rest were stolen by the british

michoko bird!

The side temple, Erechtheon, looked a bit better:

One big plus of that location is that you can see all of athens from it and see many other sights:

what left of the temple of Olympian Zeus

and the rebuilt Panathenic Stadium where the 2004 olympic games were held

So maybe it was a bit bittersweet, but still very nice to see this site that was on my bucket list for sure

Athens had been on my TODO list for a long time of course, and while Rick Steves recommends 3 full days to do a good visit, it became clear after the first day that most everything else would fit on the 2nd day, so that freed up the 3rd day for a day trip to [Delphi and Arachova, the latter city was actually super fun and pretty (blog clickme)|].

So, I'll start by mentioning cabs. They have a monopoly and too many are crooks that refuse to use their meters. If you step in one, they'll decide how much they want to charge you (usually double or triple the meter rate). Also, they hang out outside monuments and wait for "customers" to fall into their trap:

The only way around is to uber which calls a cab, about half will refuse to take you unless you turn off uber and give them the same flat fee, but eventually one will be honest. Still, pain in the ass...

Athens Day1: Parthenon, Agora and Roman Agora, Pssyri, and Kerameikos

Some of the sights are on their own page, starting with the obvious:

View from the top to scope the next destinations:

After the Parthenon, a somewhat steep climb down through small streets, brings you to other sights included in the ticket:

saw multiple tortoises in the city

Lots of touristy streets:

The Rick Steves Book recommended a Pssyri and Central Market walk, so I did followed that:

they added nice murals to a run down area

food stops :)

On that tour, found this gem:

The spices and market area was very cool to visit:

lots of cats to pet :)

Ther other big site for that day was the:

A church or two on the way:

more museums, kerameikos cemetary and museum:

This is where I'll admit that it was only 16:00 and therefore there were 4 more hours of museums that could been done, but due to travels, lingering cold and short nights, the day ended here. That said, still time for dinner:

Athens Day2: All the Museums, and More

A short walk away was the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Honestly there is very little left of it and it's skippable (nice history, but there isn't much left of it, and the unfinished restoration didn't bring it back to its original grandeur). The Roman Hadrian Gate outside is more interesting in my opinion.

Hadrian's Gate still looks good today

From there, lots of museums to see:

From there, museum street was next, and five different museums to visit:

it's an interesting fork of christianity, with its own written language

ouch

also ouch :)

Athens Day3 Evening: Walk Around the Parthenon

A walk down Anafiotika

more cats :)

checked out a few tourist stores:

AFter finishing the loop of the Parthenon, ran into an easter parade, so I knew it was time to get the hell out before everything got blocked. By then many streets were already blocked and the uber had a hell of a time to get us back (took more than twice as long):

And that was it for Athens, time for bed and an eearly 07:00 ferry to Mykonos the next morning