Athens City Sights - Acropolis

We slept in until 10:00am. The dark curtains made it feel like it was only 6:00am.

Breakfast was scrummy. Hooray for hot breakfast!! Bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs with tomato seasoning and also scrambled eggs with bacon bits, toast, mushrooms, cereal and some beautiful fruit. There was also a table of pastries and cold cuts. Breakfast was also very big.

We were off to see the Parthenon today at the Acropolis. For those of you playing at home an acropolis is a citadel or elevated part of an ancient city, but in Greek literally means ‘City on the edge’. Our afternoon adventure began at 12:30pm. We walked down the street of Athinas toward the Acropolis and on the way stopped into a Greek shop that sold clothes and souvenirs. We were tempted to buy a pack of Greek Sex cards but thought better of it. We both bought a shirt each and a calendar. We walked up the back streets past a cafe and weren’t sure where we were going. We though we were walking up someone’s driveway then saw stairs which led on to a stoned pathway where other tourists were. We bought ticket at the front desk not realising it would give us access to all of the sights day. Well worth the 12 euro each. It was a warm day in the sun and we forgot to bring water with us so we asked at the drinks stand for a couple of bottles but they didn’t have water, only fresh lemonade, Gatorade and orange juice.

Ancient Agora

We climbed the Areopagus also known as ‘Mars Hill’ named after Mars, the Roman God of War. The jagged stairs of red, green and white marble were slippery to walk on especially in rubber thongs. The view from the top of the city was spectacular and we still had the view from up at the Parthenon to go. We took some treasured photos of the city of Athens and the Acropolis and a kind vendor sold us two bottles of frozen water which quenched our thirst. We stayed on the hill for a good fifteen minutes before coming back down past the ticket box.

On 'Mar Hill' with Parthenon in the background

Areopagus looking out to Athens

We made our way up the and the first thing we passed was the Odeon of Herodes Atticu which was built in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla. The amphitheatre seats around 5000 people and is still in use today for live concerts. Workers were packing up equipment from a concert held a few nights before. Andrea Bocelli performed there a couple of weeks earlier. We were in awe of the beautiful white etched stones stacked on top of each other, another perfect time for a photo.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

As we climbed the marble stoned stairs to the pillared entrance we passed the temple of Athena Nike built in 420 BC and the Propylaea built in 437-432 BC which form the gateway of the Acropolis which led us to the great Parthenon. The Parthenon was built between 447 and 438 B.C. to honour the goddess Athena Parthenos. This structure truly took our breath away. Still standing after a couple of thousand years and so well preserved we enjoyed the view, observing the finely crafted statues in the walls and other traditional Greek patterns.

Parthenon

We moved toward the Erechtheion which was built in 420 BC and is a temple dedicated to Attica, Poseidon-Erechtheus and Athena then took more photos of Parthenon.

Erectheion

Not far from the building we stood near a wall in the open to take in the city on the south western side. We could see the ocean in the distance with the city in between. This gave us views of Philopappou and Lycabettus Hills.


We walked along Dion Areopagitou to a street vendor near the exit and bought a book on Athens and some postcards and gave some money to some buskers playing wonderful Greek music on guitar and violin. Going back the way we came we continue on to the Acropolis Museum which has glass floors at the entrance to show current excavation works underneath the Museum. One of the archeologists were working. We paid our 5 Euro for entry and left our cameras and backpacks in the cloakroom. The Museum was incredible with many statues, antique cups and plates, coins, and stuff and some other stuff. The place was huge and deserved more time than we could allow.

Acropolis Museum

Ancient Agora

Temple of Hephaestus

We went back into the Acropolis and sat on the stands of the Dionysus Theatre which was an amazing feeling to in the ruins of the same theatre that saw tragedies and comedies written by Sophocles and other playwrights. We admired the detail in the statues on the stage front.

Dionysus Theatre

Walked to Ancient Agora which was the centre of the Greek Government. Saw Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos.

Walked back to hotel exhausted and had KFC for linner at 5:30pm. Tomorrow we’re going to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  Dan really with girled it up with Ev and watched ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’. Ev was pretty sure Dan had tears rolling down his porcelain like features at the end of the film. It’s a beautiful story of love and life in modern society which featured Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and for some reason Justin Long as a ladies man. Sure, he provided comic relief in Die Hard 4, but a player?? C’mon!!...Dan’s words...True story.

Tonight news reports showed some footage that's making us reconsider our trip to the Galapagos Islands. Police are on strike and have taken over the airport and major streets are blocked from protesters. We are strongly recommended to ‘Reconsider our need to Travel’ by Trip Advisor and in other parts are advised ‘Not to Travel’ i.e. Peru. Good thing we have already cancelled the Inca Trail. Here is an excerpt from the website about Ecuador:

We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Ecuador at this time because of civil unrest, the risk of crime, and the general threat of domestic terrorism.

A widespread strike and protest by police, including some military, is underway in Ecuador. The security situation, particularly in parts of the major cities, has deteriorated significantly as a result, with protestors seizing the airport and Congress in Quito. Currently the airports in Guayaquil, Quito and other major cities are closed. There is a high likelihood that the major transport routes into and out of the major cities will be blockaded by protesting police. There are reports that the land borders with Peru and Colombia have been closed. For more information see Civil Unrest/Political Tension below.

All in all, this does not sound good for Ecuador. If we don’t get to Galapagos, we’ll survive, but if we do and things work out very badly, well, we’d rather not take the risk.

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